WASHINGTON (AA) – The US hit a record-breaking number of drug overdose deaths last year, according to preliminary data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released on Wednesday. The CDC’s provisional estimate of 107,622 overdose deaths represents a dramatic 15% increase from the previous record set in 2020. In a...
ANKARA (AA) – Saudi banks will benefit from the current atmosphere of high oil prices, rising interest rates, and strong credit growth in 2022-2023, Fitch Ratings said on Wednesday. “The banks have largely absorbed the pandemic shock, helped by a strong economic rebound, while the operating environment should remain favourable, sup...
WASHINGTON (AA) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev discussed on Wednesday advances toward peace in the south Caucasus. The officials “discussed recent positive momentum and future concrete steps on the path to peace in the South Caucasus, including border delimitation and demarcation, opening...
HOUSTON, Texas (AA) – A first-of-its-kind federal study of Native American boarding schools has identified at least 53 associated burial sites with 500 deaths reported so far, a number the US government believes could grow exponentially as the research continues. The report by the Interior Department pinpointed more than 400 schools desi...
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – A colleague of slain Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday about his fellow journalist’s final moments before she was shot while covering an Israeli army raid. Veteran journalist Abu Akleh was among the reporters to rush to the scene in the northern city of Jenin in [&hell...
BERLIN (AA) – Germany has announced that it is seeking an extension of the mandate for its soldiers serving in UN and EU missions in Mali. Government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann said the government agreed to raise its contingent in the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) peacekeeping mission to a m...
ANKARA (AA) – The killing of prominent Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is a “potential war crime,” a UN official has said. The UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, said in an interview with Anadolu Agency that the crime constitutes a “serious violation of international humanitarian law and is...
WASHINGTON (AA) – Russia’s employment of hypersonic weapons as part of its ongoing military campaign against Ukraine has not fundamentally changed the conflict, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has said. Testifying alongside Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, Austin said the Kremlin’s forces have used hypersonics “seve...
MOGADISHU, Somalia – Somalia’s Presidential Election Commission has finally concluded the registration of candidates for the May 15 polls. Thirty-nine candidates have registered, including incumbent President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, two former presidents, a former prime minister, a former mayor of Mogadishu, several former minis...
ISTANBUL – The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is jeopardizing food security in low-income countries, especially in the Middle East and Africa, an expert said. Eren Gunhan Ulusoy, head of the International Association of Operative Millers (IAOM) Eurasia, said that some countries in Africa are requesting aid as they cannot find sufficient reso...
