Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the country's advancements in its defence industry have shown the world the power of the Turkish Armed Forces.
Erdogan congratulated graduates at the Turkish Military Academy's graduation ceremony on the centenary of Victory Day in Ankara.
(AA)
Türkiye has acted as a "game changer" due to its experience in the fight against terrorism and its advancement in the defence industry, the country's president says.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the Turkish Military Academy's graduation ceremony on the centenary of Victory Day in Ankara on Tuesday.
"Türkiye has become a country that preempts instead of lagging behind, by adopting a strategy of preventing threats at their root," Erdogan said, speaking at the ceremony.
He said that Ankara made the "first big and serious blow" to the Daesh terrorist group, which was a major regional threat, via its Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria.
"Followed by operations Olive Branch, Peace Spring and Spring Shield, we showed the entire world the power of Turkish Armed Forces in protecting the interests of our country and to ensure peace in the region," he said.
READ MORE:Türkiye to continue with anti-terror operations: President Erdogan
President Erdogan at graduation ceremony of the Turkish military academy:
- Our army is of high quality, must be supported - We’ve taken on game-changing role in defence - Türkiye is increasingly effective in its region - 80% of our defence industry is domestic, its increasing pic.twitter.com/7HdFIBDfgU— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) August 30, 2022
More manpower
The Turkish president also criticised the hostile attitudes of the country's "so-called allies" and the support those allies give to other hostile entities.
He added that Türkiye weighs the pros and cons of its existing political relationships, but does not hesitate to establish new partnerships.
On Türkiye's military education and training system, Erdogan said the country has now "completely abandoned" the system "damaged by the putschist mentality for 70 years."
"Global and regional developments indicate that we need to reinforce our army with more qualified personnel and more manpower," he said, adding that Türkiye will use all of its "energy, concentration and opportunities for this matter in the future."
READ MORE:Erdogan: Türkiye's 1922 offensive most successful example of all-out war
Source: AA
US retail giant Walmart plans to buy out shareholders in Massmart and delist the company, which owns Makro, Game and Builders Warehouse, from the JSE.
Massmart shareholders will be offered R62 in cash. This is 53% higher than Massmart's closing share price on Friday.
Walmart bought control of Massmart in 2010, which proved to be a disastrous deal. The value of its investment has slumped by 80% since then, as the retailer struggled in a weak economy with increased competition.
In its half-year results, released on Monday morning, the company reported a large headline loss of more than R903 million, from a loss of R359 million in the same period last year. Sales grew almost 2% to R38.1 billion.
The US giant said that it has had to provide "increasing levels of support" to Massmart, including R4 billion in liquidity during the 2020 lockdown, over recent years. Walmart converted half of the R4 billion loan into equity.
Apart from Covid-19, the civil unrest in 2021 and flooding in KwaZulu-Natal earlier this year have compounded "weak consumer demand for general merchandise and an increasingly competitive operating environment", Walmart said.
As part of its turnaround plan, the company plans to sell or close more of its non-core assets. While this will be crucial to the long-term strategy of Massmart, it will worsen losses in the short term and will require additional capital investment into the business, Walmart said.
The development of its e-commerce strategy will also require significant additional financial investment, the company said.
"The potential offer will enable Walmart to continue its overweight support as a long-term shareholder and allow eligible Massmart shareholders the opportunity to realise value now."
“With an expected inflow of foreign direct investment estimated at R6.4 billion, this potential offer, if finalised, represents a positive vote of confidence in South Africa by the world’s leading retailer,” Walmart said.
Massmart has established an independent board to review the terms of the offer. The independent board is advised by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Both PwC and the independent board have already considered the offer and conditions as "fair and reasonable", and will recommend the offer to the board.
In addition, shareholders representing almost 25% of Massmart shares have been canvassed and support the offer.
Massmart CEO Mitch Slape will step down from his role at the end of the year, with Jonathan Molapo becoming the new head of the company. Molapo was previously CEO of Astron Energy before joining Massmart last year.
A Duke University women's volleyball player was allegedly harassed by a fan with a racial slur while playing in a game against Brigham Young University in Utah on Friday, according to BYU.
The fan, who was not a student, was sitting in the BYU student section, and was identified by Duke during the game, according to BYU. The fan has since been banned from all BYU athletic venues.
"To say we are extremely disheartened in the actions of a small number of fans in last night's volleyball game in the Smith Fieldhouse between BYU and Duke is not strong enough language," BYU said in a statement. "We will not tolerate behavior of this kind. Specifically, the use of a racial slur at any of our athletic events is absolutely unacceptable and BYU Athletics holds a zero-tolerance approach to this behavior. We wholeheartedly apologize to Duke University and especially its student-athletes competing last night for what they experienced."
Rachel Richardson, Outside Hitter for Duke University Women's Volleyball is pictured in an official team roster portrait for the 2022 season.goduke.com
Rachel Richardson, who is Black, is a sophomore at Duke and was the target of the alleged racial slurs. Richardson heard the slur "every time she served," according to former Texas county prosecutor Lesa Pamplin, who is running for county judge and said Richardson is her goddaughter in a tweet posted on Saturday.
"She was threatened by a white male that told her to watch her back going to the team bus. A police officer had to be put by their bench," Pamplin tweeted. "Not one freaking adult did anything to protect her."
Lesa Pamplin poses with her goddaughter Rachel Richardson in an image taken during the Duke Invitational Volleyball tournament in 2021.Lesa Pamplin
In a statement posted on Twitter Sunday, Richardson said officials and BYU coaching staff were aware of what was happening during the game but she said they failed to stop the fan and end the behavior.
"This is not the first time this has happened in college athletics and sadly it likely will not be the last time," Richardson said.
But she said that after game, Tom Holmoe, athletic director for BYU, was “quick to act in a very respectful and genuine matter,” and said that he is taking steps to better educate his staff and student-athletes on ways to handle inappropriate behavior from fans in the future.
"This is an opportunity to dig deep into closed cultures which tolerate amoral racist acts, such as those exhibited Friday night, and change them for the better," Richardson said Sunday. "It is not enough to indicate that you are not racist, instead you must demonstrate that you are anti-racist."
Holmoe said he met with Richardson and her coach to discuss what had happened, and while addressing fans at a match Saturday night said "As children of God, we are responsible. It's our mission to love one another and treat everybody with respect. And that didn't happen. We fell very short. We didn't live up to our best."
Nina King, Duke University Vice President & Director of Athletics said Friday's alleged incident is unacceptable and all players should be able to compete in a safe environment.
"Duke student-athletes should always have the opportunity to compete in an inclusive, anti-racist environment which promotes equality and fair play," King said in a statement on Saturday.
The Smith Fieldhouse at Brigham Young University has record setting attendance during a BYU vs Duke match in an image posted by BYU Women's Volleyball, Provo, Utah, Aug. 26, 2022.
@BYUwvolleyball/Twitter
Duke Athletics has been in contact with its student-athletes at the tournament, said King, and will "continue to support them in every way possible and look forward to connecting further upon their return from Provo."
BYU and Duke were competing in the doTERRA Classic on Friday and Saturday, which was a four-team round robin tournament in Provo that also included Rider and Washington State University.
Duke's match against Rider on Saturday was moved to a different location to "afford both teams the safest atmosphere for competition," King said. Attendance was limited to staff and family, BYU Volleyball said on Twitter.
"On behalf of my African American teammates and I, we do not want to receive pity or to be looked at as helpless," Richardson said. "We do not feel as though we are victims of some tragic event. We are proud to be young African American women; we are proud to be Duke student-athletes, and we are proud to stand up against racism."
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Head coach Mike McDaniel of the Miami Dolphins addresses the media prior to training camp at the Baptist Health Training Complex on July 27, 2022, in Miami Gardens, Florida.
(Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
However, head coach Mike McDaniel isn't even thinking about what occurred between the team and the quarterback years ago.
"For me, nothing happened," he told reporters on Wednesday.
McDaniel was asked if there was any awkwardness, but McDaniel insinuated that there was no such thing in his own locker room.
"Everyone else is the one making it awkward. It doesn’t occupy a single iota of space with anybody. It’s hard enough to be good in this league."
Dolphins team owner Stephen Ross has been in some heat lately, as former head coach Brian Flores also accused him of offering to pay him $100,000 for every loss the team had in the 2019 season.
Head coach Mike McDaniel of the Miami Dolphins talks to the media prior to the Miami Dolphins mandatory minicamp at the Baptist Health Training Complex on June 7, 2022, in Miami Gardens, Florida.
(Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
While the NFL's investigation did not find evidence of bribes, the league did find that Ross felt tanking was in the best interest of the team.
But McDaniel is focused simply on today's football and not even paying attention to the past.
"As the Miami Dolphins, all of our energy is very coordinated and only has to do with us getting better, and everything else would be an opportunity cost that we’re not willing to expend," he said.
The Dolphins, rather than acquiring Brady, drafted Tua Tagovailoa with the sixth pick in 2020. They stuck with Flores through last season.
Head coach Mike McDaniel of the Miami Dolphins, right, talks with Tua Tagovailoa during training camp at the Baptist Health Training Complex on July 27, 2022, in Miami Gardens, Florida.
(Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Politico is rallying behind President Biden, suggesting legislative progress may turn around his struggling presidency.
In a report titled "Biden enters the Always Be Closing phase of his first term," Politico marveled that "Somehow, someway, Joe Biden is back in the game."
"After enduring a brutal year dominated by economic angst, legislative setbacks and sinking approval ratings, the president is suddenly on the verge of a turnaround that, the White House believes, could salvage his summer — and alter the trajectory of his presidency," Politico wrote Thursday.
The report highlighted the surprise deal on a climate and tax bill that was struck between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., who has long been accused by the progressive base of stalling the Biden agenda.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) speaks at a press conference outside his office on Capitol Hill on October 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Manchin spoke on the debt limit and the infrastructure bill.
(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
"With an agreement in hand, the White House is now expected to play a more significant role in convincing a handful of remaining Democrats to take the victory that’s in front of them," Politico wrote.
While there is newfound optimism among Democrats in D.C., it is still unknown whether the bill will make it to the president's desk as it will need the backing of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., who has so far remained mum about her support for the massive spending bill.
However, buried in the 26th paragraph of Politico's report was the mention that the U.S. economy suffered back-to-back consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, which has long been the indicator of a recession.
Additionally, Biden has taken a pummeling in the polls, averaging just 38% approval among Americans according to RealClearPolitics with recent polls showing majority of Democrats do not want him to seek reelection in 2024.
The president has also been on his heels as inflation and high gas prices continue to have an impact on American households, the lingering COVID pandemic, a surge in monkeypox, the immigration crisis at the southern border as well as the federal investigations of his son, Hunter Biden.
Politico boasted how President Biden is "back in the game" on the same day the U.S. economy entered a recession.
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
Critics panned Politico for offering such an optimistic spin on behalf of the beleaguered president.
"On the day the nation slips into recession, on top of rising inflation on the president's watch -- well, you just can't buy coverage like this," Washington Examiner correspondent and Fox News contributor Byron York reacted.
"Did someone over there get some money or big promotion for this? I mean...huh???? Get out of the upside down! Walk towards the light!" Redstate deputy managing editor Kira Davis exclaimed.
Steve Guest, adviser to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, scolded Politico, saying, "This isn’t journalism. This is partisan cheerleading."
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during an event to celebrate passage of the "Safer Communities Act," on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 11, 2022.
(REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo)
"Three reporters on the byline for this story that could have been written by Ron Klain alone," Washington Free Beacon reporter Chuck Ross tweeted, referring to the White House chief of staff.
"Guys... looked like someone has hacked Politico and replaced their usually sharp coverage with this parody article. SMH," attorney Harmeet Dhillon knocked the outlet.
"The ‘is Joe Biden finally turning it around’ stories are the Democratic president version of ‘the walls are finally closing in on Trump,’" conservative commentator Zachary Faria wrote.
"Yes why are Republicans choosing not to talk to these people anymore. Huge mystery there," Versus Media podcast host Stephen L. Miller quipped.
Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to joseph.wulfsohn@fox.com and on Twitter: @JosephWulfsohn.
