A shooting Wednesday outside a mosque in the US state of Maryland left one person wounded. 

The Diyanet Center of America said in a statement on Twitter that the incident took place shortly after a funeral at the mosque, which is located in Lanham.

"We are deeply shocked by the shooting incident that occurred at our center today shortly after a funeral. The incident left one individual injured who was immediately taken to the hospital," said the center.

The center is currently under lockdown for an investigation.

"We will make another announcement as soon as the center is ready to be reopened," said the statement.

The gunman was reportedly able to get away before officers arrived./aa

The Arab Parliament on Wednesday condemned recent statements by French President Emmanuel Macron against Algeria, calling them “irresponsible and unacceptable.” 

The parliament said in a statement that it was also surprised by the remarks, “which deny a despicable colonial history.”

It also condemned the attack on Algeria’s ancient history, which is an honorable part of the history of the Arab world, especially with its rich cultural heritage of resistance, sacrifice and struggle for freedom.

The parliament affirmed “its support for Algeria’s leadership and people against every abuse that affects its identity, historical heritage and achievements written with the blood of millions of martyrs.”

It also called for the necessity of adhering to the international principles rooted in the global conscience regarding respect for the sovereignty of states and non-interference in their internal affairs.

It reiterated its support for Algeria’s promising democratic path under the leadership of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

On Saturday, Algeria issued a statement condemning the French president’s remarks on the colonial past.

Last Thursday, Macron made a remark about Algeria and accused Algerian authorities of stoking hatred against France.

“Was there an Algerian nation before French colonization? That is the question,” he said./aa

A Turkish man suffered light injuries after his apartment in the west German city of Solingen came under an arson attack, local authorities said Wednesday.  

In a written statement, the Prosecutor's Office and the police said a bottle containing a flammable liquid was thrown on the balcony of the apartment on Schwert Street around 2:00 a.m. (0000GMT).

The statement said an investigation was launched for attempted murder the public is being asked for help to shed light on the incident.

The 48-year-old victim put out the fire with his own means and called the police, it noted.

On May 29, 1993, a Turkish immigrant family were victims of an arson attack in Solingen. Three girls and two women were killed and 14 others injured, including several children, by the fire set by four young far-right extremists.

Three of the assailants were sentenced to 10 years in prison, while a fourth got 15 years./aa

The UN is "deeply concerned" about what it said was increasing hostilities in northwestern Syria in recent months, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Farhan Haq, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said at a news conference that hostilities are affecting civilians.

He said artillery shelling in Idlib left one civilian dead and four injured on Tuesday.

"Artillery shelling was also reported in other parts of Idlib and in Western Aleppo. Today, several civilian casualties have been reported following artillery shelling in Ariha town, south of the city of Idlib," said Haq.

The recent escalation is the most significant increase in hostilities in northwest Syria since a cease-fire agreement in March 2020.

"The UN condemns all violence in Syria. We remind all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law, including the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks and the obligation to take all feasible precautions to avoid and minimize harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure," he added.

Syria has been ravaged by a civil war since early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.

Idlib falls within a de-escalation zone forged under an agreement between Turkey and Russia. The area has been the subject of multiple cease-fire understandings, which have frequently been violated by the Syrian regime and its allies./aa

The European Parliament decided Wednesday to give the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

“In awarding the Sakharov Prize to Alexei Navalny, we recognize his immense personal bravery and reiterate the European Parliament’s unwavering support for his immediate release,” said President David Sassoli.

“He has campaigned consistently against the corruption of Vladimir Putin’s regime,” he said. “Navalny has helped expose abuses and mobilize the support of millions of people across Russia” with his social media campaigns.

The Sakharov Prize, named after Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov, has been awarded to human rights defenders annually since 1988.

The ceremony will be Dec. 15 in Strasbourg, France but it is unlikely that Navalny will not attend because he is currently serving a 3.5-year prison sentence.

A Moscow court sentenced Navalny in February for violating parole.

He was arrested in Moscow upon his return in January from Germany where he had received treatment after being poisoned by the military-grade chemical agent, Novichok./aa

About 100 human rights organizations around the world wrote a letter to the UN on Wednesday, urging it to intervene in Myanmar's present crisis, which has seen an upsurge in hate speech and persecution of religious minorities since the country's military coup in February.

In a joint letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) joined 97 other rights organizations and 15 individuals in urging him to "personally lead high-level efforts" to address the increased violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) in Myanmar since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021.

“Since the military coup, we have seen hate speech and targeting of religious groups increase and the release from prison of prominent anti-Muslim activists,” the BHRN, a London-based organization working for human rights, minority rights, and religious freedom in Burma, wrote in the letter posted on its website.

The letter also expressed concern that the military will employ more hate speech and propaganda against non-Buddhist religious groups in order to divide the resistance and deflect and divert attention from the coup and subsequent oppression and economic collapse.

Referring to the recent murders of some Christian figures, it added: “The coup has emboldened the military to further persecute Christians and Muslims living in the country.”

On Sept. 18, 2021, the Myanmar military gunned down a Christian pastor, named Cung Biak Hum, as he attempted to help put out a fire at another resident's home, according to the letter.

“The junta is currently holding another Pastor, Thian Lian Sang, in custody,” the statement said, adding that Sang is the pastor of a church in Mandalay and his family was later reportedly robbed of Kyat 400,000 (Approximately $213) by Myanmar’s State Administration Council officials, which they had received to help cover the cost of burial for Sang’s father.

It added that the same general who ordered the mass killings of Rohingya Muslims in 2017, which the UN Fact Finding Mission classified as genocide, has been carrying out the attacks on the protesters and the religious minorities.

“The Burmese Military must end all hostilities against religious minorities, release all religious and political prisoners, step down from power, and allow the democratically elected government to resume,” it said.

The letter also encouraged Myanmar's civilian shadow government, the National Unity Government (NUG), to fully commit to ensuring religious minorities' full rights.

Rights groups have called on the international community to impose an international arms embargo and targeted sanctions on the military's financial sources in order to put effective pressure on Myanmar's military regime.

“UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres should lead high-level efforts to increase diplomatic pressure on the junta and mobilize countries in the region to deploy their influence to end the military’s violence and repression and seek the release of political prisoners and the establishment of genuine federal democracy and respect for human rights for all,” it added.

The rights defender also emphasized humanitarian assistance, especially for ethnic and religious minorities who have been internally displaced due to prevailing unrest./aa

Global trade remains under the spell of serious container congestion due to bottlenecks without any signs of easing, a Germany-based non-profit economic research institute said on Wednesday.

"Around 9% of global freight capacity is now tied up in four major queues, more than half of which are jammed at ports in the US," the Kiel Institute for the World Economy said in a statement.

"Germany has so far not recovered from reducing its imports in the summer. Global trade has now been stagnating for an unusually long time", it added.

China's trade remains at the same level as in the spring, but its exports are estimated to show a decline of 4.9% in October, while imports are expected to increase 2.7% from the previous month.

The US' trade has been slightly decreasing since the spring, as its exports are expected to fall 1.8% in October, while imports are anticipated to increase 0.4%.

For the EU, exports are forecast to decline 1.3%, and imports are estimated to fall 1.1%.

Global world trade is expected to decline slightly in October by 0.6%, according to the report.

"Global trade is lacking a positive impulse to move forward. It is currently stuck at the level before the outbreak of the Covid-19 crisis and has now been stagnating for an unusually long time," head of Kiel Trade Indicator Vincent Stamer said in the statement.

"Looking at the congestion of container ships dims hopes of a timely increase. For the first time, freighters are now congesting off the major seaports of China and the U.S. at the same time to a worrying extent," he added./aa

Germany is expecting a fresh wave of Afghan refugees amid the worsening economic situation in the war-ravaged country, the nation's interior minister said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a news conference in Berlin on the situation of migrants in Germany, Horst Seehofer said while he is "expecting an increase" in the number of Afghan refugees over the coming months, he could "not predict" the actual size of the refugee wave.

"We are also increasingly registering that Afghans (refugees) who had been flown out to other European countries are moving towards Germany. Refugees from Afghanistan are currently ranked second in Germany with 13,644 people," the minister added.

Germany has repeatedly warned of a looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan after the Taliban's takeover in August resulted in a mass exodus of aid workers and subsequent funding cut.

"A severe humanitarian crisis is emerging before our eyes that we must absolutely avoid," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said last month.

Maas has repeatedly criticized Afghanistan's new government after the Taliban named ministers whose inclusion triggered serious doubts over its willingness to meet international conditions for diplomatic recognition and humanitarian assistance.

According to the UN, some 50 % of the Afghan population is in need of humanitarian assistance.

International aid agencies have raised the alarm over an "impending humanitarian crisis" in Afghanistan, with medical charity Doctors Without Borders saying the Central Asian country's vulnerable healthcare system is facing a "potential collapse"./agencies

Germany’s interior minister on Wednesday harshly criticized Greece for its so-called "secondary migration" policy of allowing recognized refugees to travel from Greece to Germany.

"The majority of all asylum applications (in Germany come from migrants) who have already applied for asylum in Greece or have even received protection," Horst Seehofer said at a press conference in Berlin on the state of migrants in Germany.

"We gave Greece a lot of humanitarian aid. We helped more than 3,000 refugees after the fire (in the refugee camp) in Moria. And when you help a country like this, you can also expect a consensus to come when it comes to secondary migration, when people who have already found protection simply move on," he added.

Seehofer pointed out he had personally negotiated a contract with the Greek migration minister, according to which Athens would receive financial help from Germany to ensure that accommodation, care, and medical aid are provided to refugees in Greece.

Germany is ready to pay Greece €50 million, but, according to Seehofer, Athens has "not yet signed the contract."

The minister said: "This can't stay that way! Any delay is not tolerable!"



As a result of the high number of refugees recognized in Greece who applied for protection again in Germany, the German Interior Ministry is now examining the possibility of introducing border controls for flights from Greece.

"That would be a very effective measure, which I will also take if we do not come to a common approach with Greece," Seehofer said.

According to press reports, there already has been a surge in asylum applications of recognized refugees coming from Greece.

Big problem

There has been a significant increase in migration to Germany in recent months of refugees who have already been granted protection in Greece.

Many of the new arrivals reportedly used air travel as their primary means of transport, according to a recent report in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

In other related news, Seehofer accused Belarus of actively supporting a state-organized wave of human trafficking, calling it "hybrid warfare."

Seehofer said Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko was using illegal migration as a "political weapon" against the EU and Germany, saying this was a "big problem".

He added that Russia was responsible for the influx of thousands of migrants who have come over from Belarus to Europe since the summer.

The key is not in Minsk, but in Moscow, said Seehofer, suggesting that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been giving green light to Lukashenko for this action.

Earlier this month, Germany has expressed concern over the deteriorating humanitarian crisis along Poland's border with Belarus, as migrants from mostly the Middle East continue to flock there in a bid to enter the EU.

International aid organizations have warned that with night frosts setting in and winter fast approaching, the conditions for migrants on the Poland-Belarus border region are becoming increasingly critical.

Several migrants are already known to have died in the border area in recent weeks./agencies

A gunman pleaded guilty on Wednesday to killing 17 students and faculty members inside a high school in the state of Florida in 2018, and 17 additional counts of attempted murder.

Reporters in the courtroom described 23-year-old Nikolas Cruz as trembling and rushed when he said the shootings gave him nightmares.

"I am very sorry for what I did," he told the court, "and I have to live with it every day. If I were to get a second chance, I would do everything in my power to try to help others."

Cruz will not get that second chance. When he is sentenced, he faces a minimum of life in prison without the possibility of parole, and at maximum, he could face the death penalty.

He shot his victims with an assault rifle on Feb. 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. He was caught later that day and confessed to police but in court, he had always pleaded not guilty.

Cruz's lawyers had long said they wanted the death penalty removed as a possibility in exchange for Cruz's guilty plea -- an offer prosecutors had rejected. But last week, the defense team abruptly announced they would offer the guilty plea without any precondition, although they did not specify why.

A jury trial is expected to begin next year to decide whether Cruz will be put to death and will likely focus on his mental state at the time of the shootings.

In accepting his fate Wednesday, Cruz told the judge that at a minimum, he understood he would never see freedom again. He also pleaded guilty to charges of attacking a jail guard several months after the shootings.

The shootings shocked the nation and touched off another wave of fierce debates about gun control and the right to bear arms.

Gun control advocates held a rally in Washington D.C., led by a group of Parkland student activists called March for Our Lives.

The group released a statement Wednesday saying that a single guilty plea "does not bring closure as long as it is still possible for another person anywhere in the country to be murdered by a gun at school, in a place of worship or in their very own home."/agencies