Morning Briefing: Sept. 9, 2024

By Alperen Aktas

ISTANBUL (AA) - Here is a rundown of all the news you need to start Monday with, including NATO condemning a violation of Romanian airspace by Russia, former US President Donald Trump saying he will "prosecute" those who "cheated" in the 2020 election, and Türkiye making efforts to repatriate the body of a Turkish American activist killed by Israel.

TOP STORIES

• NATO condemns violation of Romanian airspace by Russia

NATO condemned an overnight violation of Romanian airspace by Russia.

The alliance’s Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana said on X that “these acts are irresponsible and potentially dangerous,” adding they had “no information indicating an intentional attack by Russia against Allies.”

This comes as the Romanian Foreign Ministry protested the violation of its airspace earlier on Sunday as it also announced consultations with NATO on the nature of the violation.

• Trump says he will ‘prosecute’ those who 'cheated' in 2020 election

Former US President Donald Trump threatened to target those who "cheated" in the 2020 presidential election if he wins the race to the White House in November.

Trump, who lost to Joe Biden in 2020, claims the vote was fraudulent and rigged against him.

“The 2024 Election, where Votes have just started being cast, will be under the closest professional scrutiny and, WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long-term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again," he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

• Türkiye making efforts to repatriate body of Turkish American activist killed by Israel

Türkiye is actively working to facilitate the handover of the body of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a Turkish American activist killed by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank, to her family for burial, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

“We continue the necessary work to deliver the body of our citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who was killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, to her family for burial,” Oncu Keceli wrote on X.

“We are in contact with the deceased's family members living in the United States and relatives in Türkiye."

NEWS IN BRIEF

• Algeria's incumbent President Abdelmadjid Tebboune won his second five-year term in early elections, the country's electoral authority announced.
• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed support for inviting Russia to an international peace conference to end the war in Ukraine.
• Six more Palestinians were killed and several others injured as the Israeli army continued its ground operations in southern Gaza City, intensifying its air and artillery strikes and demolishing residential buildings.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a decree promulgating new regulations on environmental protection within the Chinese military.
• The 33rd anniversary of independence was celebrated in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia.
• Pakistan claimed that at least eight Afghan troops were killed in the latest round of border clashes between the two sides.
• Romania and Latvia claimed that Russian drones violated their airspace.
• Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Seattle for a Turkish American activist who was killed in an Israeli attack during an anti-occupation protest in the occupied West Bank.
• The Palestinian resistance group Hamas said a shooting attack that killed three Israelis at the border with Jordan was a “normal response” to Israeli crimes against Palestinians.
• Three Israelis were killed in a shooting attack at the border with Jordan, according to Israeli media.
• Russia claimed it took control of a city in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, where Moscow continues its offensive along multiple fronts.
• In his first major television interview since entering 10 Downing Street, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer appeared on the BBC to discuss a range of pressing issues, including the rise of far-right extremism and this summer's riots.
• At least two people were killed in an explosion at a motor vehicle enterprise in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.
• Sudan has rejected a report from the UN Fact-Finding Mission which accused warring factions in the country of committing severe human rights violations that could amount to war crimes.
• The Gaza Civil Defense announced the death of its deputy director for northern Gaza in an Israeli airstrike, raising the number of personnel killed since Oct. 7, 2023 to 83.
• At least eight people have been killed and 28 injured when a building collapsed in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh in India, officials said.
• Former US President Donald Trump said that Israel is "doomed" if Vice President Kamala Harris is elected to the White House in November.

SPORTS

• Saudi football league spends quiet 2024 summer transfer window

The Saudi top-tier football league, a hot destination for the sport’s stars, spent a relatively quiet summer transfer window in 2024, unlike 2023.

Big names like France’s duo of Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kante, Brazil forward Neymar, Senegal winger Sadio Mane and Algeria's Riyad Mahrez signed in 2023 with Saudi Pro League teams as clubs spent a fortune to attract the stars to the Gulf country.

The stars have followed Portugal icon Cristiano Ronaldo, who left England's Manchester United for Al-Nassr in the early days of the winter of 2023.