ANKARA
Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments in Turkey, around the world and the coronavirus pandemic.
– Developments in Turkey, coronavirus pandemic and other news
Turkey has administered more than 74.92 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it launched a mass vaccination campaign in January, according to figures released Thursday. The ministry also confirmed 24,297 new infections and 108 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, while as many as 6,636 more patients recovered.
The Turkish health minister on Thursday announced the latest weekly infection rates for COVID-19 across the country’s 81 provinces.
A massive blaze that reached the edge of a power plant in Turkey’s southwestern Mugla province was contained early Thursday, said authorities.
A new team from Azerbaijan arrived in Turkey on Thursday to help in efforts to douse wildfires raging in the country for over a week.
Some 150 personnel and 40 fire trucks are part of what is the third team sent by Baku to assist Turkey’s fight against the wildfires.
Battling wildfires for over a week, Turkey said Thursday that it aims to bring all of them under control on Friday. “We managed to prevent the blazes from advancing further despite strong winds today,” said Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. “We aim to bring them totally under control tomorrow.”
Turkey expects the actors involved in the Cyprus issue to help find a solution to the long-standing dispute on the island rather than drag the process into a deadlock, the Turkish National Security Council said Thursday.
– Worldwide developments related to COVID-19
The number of COVID-19 vaccine shots administered worldwide surpassed 4.31 billion Thursday, according to Our World in Data, a tracking website affiliated with Oxford University.
Drug maker Moderna said Thursday that its coronavirus vaccine is 93% effective six months after injection.
China will supply at least 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide during the current year, President Xi Jinping said Thursday.
The highest constitutional authority in France ruled in favor of controversial measures for a COVID-19 “health pass” Thursday, along with compulsory vaccination for health care workers.
Amanda Pritchard, the new chief executive of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), urged young people Thursday to get vaccinated. She revealed that more than 20% of those admitted to hospitals with the coronavirus are between 18 and 34 years old. The same group comprised just 5.4% in January, at the peak of the winter wave.
– Developments across the world
Tunisia’s Ennahda Movement on Thursday called for national dialogue for political and economic reforms in the country. The party stressed the need for a return to “the normal constitutional situation and end to the suspension of parliament,” said a statement issued after a meeting of Ennahda’s Shura Council.
Israel’s military said early Thursday that it struck targets in southern Lebanon, warning that raids will continue to thwart “terrorist attempts.”
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Thursday condemned Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
Lebanon on Thursday decided to lodge an official complaint with the UN Security Council over the Israeli aggression on Wednesday, according to a government statement.
Suspected bandits in Nigeria have abducted the father and several other family members of the state House of Assembly speaker in northwestern Zamfara state, officials confirmed Thursday.
Top Iranian conservative and former judiciary chief Ebrahim Raeisi was sworn in as the country’s new president Thursday in the presence of high-ranking foreign dignitaries.
The EU on Thursday called for an “urgent, comprehensive and permanent” cease-fire in Afghanistan to “give peace a chance.”
Thousands have signed a petition demanding the charitable status of the Canadian Catholic Church be revoked because of the church’s treatment of residential school survivors, Canadian media reported Thursday.
The UN human rights chief sounded the alarm Thursday for civilians in the southern Syrian city of Daraa, which is experiencing intense fighting and indiscriminate shelling by regime forces and armed opposition groups.
Amid major wildfires across the country, Greek authorities on Thursday ordered the evacuation of several cities. Blazes burning for a third day in the Attica region, where the capital Athens is located, have destroyed thousands of hectares of rich forestland and damaged houses, darkening the sky with smoke and ash.
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