Addis Ababa, Dec 3 (SPA/APP): The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance, through its religious attaché at the Saudi embassy in Addis Ababa, launched the seventh scholarly training program for preachers in the Ethiopian capital. The initiative is attended by more than 3,000 male and female participants.
Program activities are being held across several mosques in Addis Ababa and include a series of specialized scholarly lectures delivered in major mosques throughout the city.
TOKYO, Dec 3 (Kyodo/APP): The Red Bull Formula One team announced Tuesday that Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda will not be retained for the 2026 season, demoting him to a reserve role.
Tsunoda, who was promoted to Red Bull from its junior outfit in round three of the current season, struggled against his four-time world champion teammate Max Verstappen, failing to beat him in any of the races the Dutchman finished.
Tsunoda will remain within the Red Bull organization in 2026, as he was named test and reserve driver for both the top team and the Racing Bulls outfit.
“Through his five seasons so far in Formula One, Yuki has matured into a complete racer, good over a single lap on Saturday and capable of exceptional starts and excellent race craft on Sunday,” said Laurent Mekies, Red Bull team principal, in a statement.
“We know he will provide invaluable support to the 2026 projects moving forward.”
The 25-year-old has one race left, Sunday in Abu Dhabi, to try to improve on his best finish in a Red Bull — a sixth in Azerbaijan. Ranked 15th in the drivers’ standings, Tsunoda has scored just 33 points this season, compared to Verstappen’s 396.
Tsunoda could still make a large contribution on the way out, though, as Verstappen remains in the fight for the drivers’ championship, giving the Japanese the opportunity to take points away from his teammate’s title rivals, McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Frenchman Isack Hadjar was named as Tsunoda’s replacement at Red Bull, with the 21-year-old having had a strong rookie season for Racing Bulls, the Japanese driver’s former team.
Replacing Hadjar at Racing Bulls will be British-Swedish Formula Two driver Arvid Lindblad. He will partner New Zealander Liam Lawson, who continues with the team.
CAIRO, Dec 3 (AA/APP): Turkish defense company Aser Technology’s radio frequency (RF) jammers will be used in the armored vehicles deployed in UN operations in Africa, a company representative said.
Aser Technology, a satellite communications and radar systems manufacturer, won the RF jammer supply tender for the UN’s African operations, beating out international competition, and completed the deliveries.
Ertan Murat, general manager of Aser Technology, told Anadolu that the company produces tactical-class electronic warfare jamming systems effective against remote-controlled improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and drones.
Murat said the company took its innovative and effective RF jamming technologies to the highest international level with this prestigious project.
“We served the Turkish Armed Forces in jammer projects for over 20 years and we developed new jamming technologies that meet the conditions and needs of the real field,” he said.
“Our offerings can jam effectively across the entire spectrum, including 4.5G and 5G systems, drones, and GNSS (global navigation satellite system) frequency bands, with a much wider range,” he added.
ANKARA, Dec 3 (AA/APP): More than 180,000 premature deaths in the EU in 2023 were attributable to long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) above World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said in its latest health impact assessment published on Monday.
The briefing, ‘Harm to human health from air pollution in Europe: burden of disease status, 2025’, confirms a continued downward trend over the past 19 years.
According to the agency, deaths linked to PM2.5 have fallen 57% since 2005, meaning the EU has already surpassed its Zero Pollution Action Plan target of a 55% reduction by 2030 — seven years ahead of schedule.
The report estimates that if air pollution levels had met WHO guideline values in 2023, approximately 182,000 deaths from PM2.5, 63,000 from ozone and 34,000 from nitrogen dioxide could have been avoided across the EU.
Despite the progress, the European Environment Agency warns that 95% of people living in European cities remain exposed to pollution levels well above WHO recommendations, with eastern and south-eastern Europe bearing the heaviest health burden.
In addition to premature mortality, air pollution contributes to and exacerbates chronic illnesses, including asthma, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer.
Emerging evidence also links air pollution to dementia — a disease burden that may now exceed several other pollution-related conditions, the report notes.
The findings were released to coincide with the EU Clean Air Forum being held in Bonn, Germany, on Dec. 1-2.
The revised EU Ambient Air Quality Directive, which entered into force in 2024, brings EU standards closer to WHO guidelines and is expected to drive further improvements in the coming years.
The European Environment Agency analysis covers 41 European countries, including the 27 EU member states and other EEA members. The agency has tracked air pollution-related deaths since 2014, using the stricter 2021 WHO guidelines. As in previous reports, mortality figures for different pollutants are not combined to avoid double-counting.
ISTANBUL, Dec 3 (AA/APP): Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with EU’s Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas in Brussels on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said on Turkish social media platform NSosyal.
No further information has been revealed yet about the meeting.
The meeting came as Fidan is in Brussels to attend the NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting on Wednesday.
BEIJING, Dec 3 (Xinhua/APP): Archaeologists in Beijing announced important discoveries in the recent excavation of the Jiankou section of the Great Wall, where a large cannon has been unearthed.
The excavation focused on three beacon towers and their connecting walls, revealing numerous artifacts this year, including weapons, architectural parts, and objects of daily use, according to Shang Heng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Institute of Archaeology, at a press conference on the latest archaeological findings in 2025.
Among these artifacts was a large cannon cast in the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), measuring 89.2 centimeters in length and weighing 112.1 kilograms — the largest artillery piece ever found in this section of the Great Wall.
Shang said that the well-preserved inscriptions on the cannon provide crucial new evidence for research on firearms manufacturing and historical military technology exchange during the period.
Also announced was the research findings of turquoise artifacts at the Xingong site, which is a rare settlement dating back to the Xia (2070 B.C.-1600 B.C.) and Shang (1600 B.C.-1046 B.C.) period in Beijing’s urban area.
The site, featuring burial grounds, moats and residential remains, has revealed 28 turquoise artifacts. Analysis indicates the turquoise likely originated from mines at the junction of the provinces of Hubei, Henan and Shaanxi, providing key evidence of early cultural exchange in northern China, according to Yang Ju, a research fellow at the institute.
PHNOM PENH, Dec. 3 (Xinhua/APP): Cambodia’s construction sector had attracted a total investment of 7.32 billion U.S. dollars in the first 11 months of 2025, up 69 percent from 4.33 billion dollars over the same period last year, said an official report on Tuesday.
Issued by the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, the report said the ministry had granted licenses to 3,503 construction projects during the January-November period this year, up 33.6 percent from 2,622 projects over the same period last year.
To date, the kingdom had 3,254 high-rise buildings (between five and over 40 floors), and 698 locations of new towns and residential complexes, mostly in capital Phnom Penh, the report added.
Currently, a total of 953 construction and home design companies, including 377 foreign firms, are operating in the Southeast Asian country.
“The construction sector has played and will continue to play a key role in boosting our national economic growth and social development,” said Theng Chan Sangvar, a secretary of state of the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction.
Construction, along with real estate, is one of the four pillars supporting Cambodia’s economic growth in addition to garment, footwear and travel goods export, tourism, and agriculture.
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 3 (Xinhua/APP): The search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will resume on Dec. 30, the Transport Ministry said on Wednesday.
Exploration firm Ocean Infinity will recommence seabed search operations intermittently for a total of 55 days, the ministry said in a statement.
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