Headline

Turkey-Israel Ties In Tatters Over Erdogan’s Address

Published

2 years ago

October 28, 2023

Israel said Saturday it was recalling its diplomatic staff from Turkey after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered a fierce attack on its military operation against Hamas militants in Gaza.

The decision delivered a body blow to the sides’ nascent efforts to restore political and economic relations after a decade of all but frozen ties.

Israel and Turkey — an overwhelmingly Muslim nation that forms the bulwark of NATO defences on the edge of the Middle East — had only just agreed to reappoint ambassadors last year.

They were also restarting discussions on a US-backed natural gas pipeline project that could have formed the basis for much closer and more lasting cooperation in the coming years.

But their relations have unravelled as Erdogan picks up the pace and venom of his attacks on Israel’s retaliatory military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas militants staged a surprise attack on October 7 during which they killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seized more than 220 hostages.

The Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza has said Israeli strikes have killed 7,703 people — mainly civilians — with more than 3,500 of them children.

Erodgan’s Islamic-rooted party staged a massive rally in Istanbul on Saturday that the president said drew an estimated crowd of 1.5 million people.

“Israel, you are an occupier,” he told the Turkish and Palestinian-flag-waving sea of supporters.

He accused the Israeli government of behaving like a “war criminal” and trying to “eradicate” Palestinians.

“Of course, every country has the right to defend itself. But where is the justice in this case? There is no justice — just a vicious massacre happening in Gaza.”

Israeli ordered the return of all diplomatic staff from Turkey moments after Erdogan finished his remarks.

“Given the grave statements coming from Turkey, I have ordered the return of diplomatic representatives there in order to conduct a reevaluation of the relations between Israel and Turkey,” Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said in a statement.

– ‘Crusade’ –

Erdogan has been a leading international supporter of Palestinian rights during his two-decade rule.

He took a more cautious line in the first days after the October 7 attack by Hamas, but has become much more vocal as the reported death toll from Israel’s military response has grown.

Erdogan told Saturday’s rally that Israel was “a pawn in the region” that was being used by Western powers to stamp their authority on the Middle East.

“The main culprit behind the massacre unfolding in Gaza is the West,” Erdogan declared.

“If we leave aside some conscientious voices… the massacre in Gaza is entirely the work of the West.”

And he accused Israel’s allies of creating a “crusade war atmosphere” pitting Christians against Muslims.

“Listen to our call for dialogue,” Erdogan said. “No one loses from a just peace.”

Erdogan’s address came in response to days of pro-Palestinian protests in Istanbul and other major cities organised by Turkey’s more right-wing and Islamic conservative groups.

But one poll released this week showed the majority of respondents preferring to see Turkey remain either neutral or try to play a mediating role in the war.

The Metropoll survey showed 11.3 percent of the respondents saying they “back Hamas”.

But 34.5 percent said Turkey should stay “neutral” and 26.4 percent said it should mediate.

Just 3.0 percent said they “support Israel”.

Headline

UK Nursery Worker Jailed For Abusing 21 Babies

Published

4 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

A judge on Friday jailed a nursery worker for eight years for a string of “gratuitous” and “sadistic” attacks on babies.

In one incident, Londoner Roksana Lecka, 22, kicked a little boy in the face several times.

Lecka, who blamed cannabis for her crimes, admitted seven counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 and was convicted after a trial of another 14 counts.

Sentencing her for attacks on 21 babies, Judge Sarah Plaschkes said she had committed “multiple acts of gratuitous violence” at two London nurseries where she worked.

“You pinched, slapped, punched, smacked and kicked them. You pulled their ears, hair and their toes. You toppled children headfirst into cots,” she said.

“Often the child would be quietly and happily minding its own business before you deliberately inflicted pain… Your criminal conduct can properly be characterised as sadistic,” she added.

Lecka’s cruelty was revealed in June 2024 after she was seen pinching a number of children.
Police were called in and found multiple incidents recorded on the nursery CCTV.

Victim impact statements submitted to London’s Kingston Crown Court from parents of Lecka’s victims told how they were left heartbroken and guilt-stricken by the attacks.

“These children were so innocent and vulnerable,” one mother told the court.

“They couldn’t speak, they couldn’t defend themselves and they couldn’t tell us as parents that something had happened to them,” she added.

“They were totally helpless and Roksana preyed upon them.”

The hearing was told that she had apologised to the parents in a letter to the court in which she said cannabis had turned her into a different person.

She had been addicted to the drug around the time of the offences, but had not told the nursery.
She was found not guilty of three further counts of child cruelty.

Headline

Italy Fines Six Oil Firms $1bn Fine For Restricting Competition

Published

6 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

Italy’s antitrust regulator said Friday it has slapped Italian energy giant Eni and five other companies with fines totalling more than 936 million euros ($1.1 billion) for “restricting competition” in the sale of fuel.

The authority said in a statement that Eni, Esso, Ip, Q8, Saras and Tamoil “coordinated to set the value of the bio component factored into fuel prices”, which tripled between 2019 and 2023.

A probe following a whistleblower’s complaint revealed that “the companies implemented parallel price increases — largely coinciding — which were driven by direct or indirect information exchanges among them”, the authority said.

“The cartel began on 1 January 2020 and continued until 30 June 2023,” it added.

AFP

Headline

Trump Signs Order For TikTok’s Sale, Valued At $14bn

Published

8 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order declaring that his plan is to sell TikTok’s US operations to American and global investors.

As reported by Reuters on Friday, the order requires companies bidding for TikTok to meet the national-security requirements of the 2024 law that otherwise would ban the app unless its Chinese owners divest.

Speaking to reporters at an Oval Office briefing on Thursday, Vice President James Vance said the newly created US entity would be “valued around $14 billion.

“We actually think this is a good deal for investors, but they will make a determination about what they want to invest and what they think is the proper value,” he said.

The White House on Thursday pushed back the law’s enforcement date to January 20 to allow time for the transaction, investor commitments, and negotiations with Chinese authorities.

The publication of the executive order shows Trump is making progress on the sale of TikTok’s US assets.

However, details remain to be worked out, including how the U.S. company would handle TikTok’s most valuable asset: its recommendation algorithm.

“There was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating, but we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans’ data privacy as required by law,” Vance said.

According to Reuters, Trump’s order says the algorithm will be retrained and monitored by the U.S. company’s security partners, and operation of the algorithm will be under the control of the new joint venture.

Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had indicated approval of the plans. “I spoke with President Xi,” Trump said. “We had a good talk, I told him what we were doing, and he said go ahead with it.”

Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. TikTok did not immediately comment on Trump’s action.

Trump has credited TikTok, which has 170 million U.S. users, with helping him win reelection last year. Trump has 15 million followers on his personal TikTok account. The White House also launched an official TikTok account last month.

“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said.

He said that Michael Dell, the founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies; Rupert Murdoch, the chairman emeritus of Fox News owner Fox Corp, and newspaper publisher News Corp, and “probably four or five absolutely world-class investors” would be part of the deal.