The British prime minister on Saturday morning paid tribute to Sir David Amess, a lawmaker who was killed in a stabbing attack on Friday.

Boris Johnson, along with leader of the main opposition Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer, Home Secretary Priti Patel, and House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, laid flowers at the scene of the attack at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

All four politicians walked to the church’s entrance to pay their respects individually, before being escorted back to their vehicles by police.

Amess, 69, was stabbed to death on Friday. He had been an MP since 1983.

The police arrested a 25-year-old man at the scene of the attack on suspicion of the murder. He is still in custody at Essex police station, and the police are not currently looking for anyone else in connection with the attack.

On Saturday, the Metropolitan Police said early investigations revealed a “potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism”.

The Met also carried out two searches at addresses in London.

Patel on Friday said she had asked police forces to review their security arrangement for MPs.

Amess’ death has triggered concerns and a debate among MPs about their safety as well as their accessibility to the public.

Patel said: "We cannot be cowed by any individual or any motivation – people with motives who stop us from functioning to serve our elected democracy – so on that basis, we have measures in place.

"We will continue to review and strengthen the measures and rightly so. The Speaker and I will continue to support MPs, policing will continue to support MPs – that work is underway.

"And we will continue to absolutely stand by the principles that we are elected by to serve our constituents in the open way in which we have been doing so, but also recognizing that there are safety and protection measures that we have to undertake too."

Her comments came as another senior Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, chair of the Defence Select Committee, tweeted on Saturday: "MP engagement with the public: This is a vital part of our work – our accessibility with the public.

"But understandable huge anxiety amongst MPs now. Until the home secretary's review of MP security is complete I would recommend a temporary PAUSE in face-to-face meetings."/agencies

Russia on Saturday registered more than 1,000 daily coronavirus-related deaths for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

According to a report by Russia’s coronavirus emergency task force, some 1,002 people died of the virus over the past day, bringing the death toll to 222,315.

The country also reported 33,208 new virus cases over the past 24 hours, the highest daily figure since the start of the pandemic, taking the active cases to 754,162, and the overall count to 7.95 million.

Some 21,883 patients also recovered over the past 24 hours, pushing the total number of recoveries to 6.98 million.

Speaking in an interview with the Russian Rossiya 24 TV channel, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, who is also the head of the Russia's coronavirus emergency task force, said the mortality rate has risen in the country in recent months.

She stressed that vaccination remains the principal means of protection against COVID-19.

Russian authorities link the growing number of COVID-19 deaths to the lax vaccination coverage in Russia, where some 43 million people, or 30.71%, have been fully vaccinated – less than half of the figure needed for herd immunity.

Another factor is the onset of winter and the flu-like illnesses that it brings along.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed nearly 4.89 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with more than 240.17 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US' John Hopkins University./agencies

Iran's former top banker has been sentenced to 10 years in jail over disruption of the country's foreign market and economic mismanagement in a trial that lasted three years.

Valiollah Seif, who headed the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) between September 2013 and July 2018, was charged by a court in Tehran with "disturbing the order" in the forex market and paving the way for "illegal purchase and sale" of foreign currency.

His deputy at the time, Ahmad Aragchi, was sentenced to eight years on the same charges. Aragchi is the nephew of former deputy foreign minister and nuclear negotiator, Abbas Aragchi.

The two former bankers and their accomplices were indicted in the high-profile case in May 2018, soon after the withdrawal of the US from the Iran nuclear deal and reinstatement of sanctions on Iran.

Seif was subsequently sacked and replaced by veteran economist AbdolHemmat Nasser in July 2018. But, in a surprise move two months later, then-President Hassan Rouhani appointed him as his economic adviser.

The former top banker was accused by a prosecutor in Tehran of “wasting” more than $30 billion and 60 tonnes of gold reserves. He was also accused of failing to check the depreciation of the national currency rial and stem irregularities in the fragile banking sector.

One of the controversial decisions taken by him was setting an official rate of 42,000 rial to US dollar in April 2018. While the official rate remains unchanged, the free market rate keeps fluctuating, compounding the misery of traders and investors.

The names of Seif, Aragchi and others indicted in the case were made public only after Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a letter to then judiciary chief Sadeq Amoli Larijani in August 2018 urged special measures against economic corruption and action against the culprits.

Iran's judiciary has in the last few years launched a full-scale campaign against economic corruption, with many officials of the former reformist administration facing the heat.

Iran has been reeling under the impact of US sanctions since May 2018 when the former US administration launched a 'maximum pressure' campaign against Tehran./aa

Rizq, a Lahore-based startup, along with a consortium of NGOs and private companies, has arranged food packs for Afghan families who are in dire need of aid.

Speaking to a Press Agency, Musa Aamir, 27, co-founder of Rizq, said: “Bags of rations are being sent to Afghanistan that will be helping almost 2,000 Afghan families with essential household items and dry food.”

Highlighting the importance of food on World Food Day, being observed on Oct. 16, he said: “We want to highlight this horrible ratio of food wastage which is happening in our third world countries. Almost 36 million tons are wasted every year in Pakistan. And that is about 40% of the food."

“And in a country like Pakistan which is food insecure and fighting malnourishment, this is nothing less than a crime,” Aamir said.

According to the 2020 Global Hunger Index, Pakistan ranks 88 out of the 107 countries. With a score of 24.6, it has a level of hunger that is serious.

“We started this as our university project in which we were collecting leftover food from weddings and restaurants and after repacking it, we distributed that amongst the needy people. Later on, we continued and today we have expanded to 23 cities in Pakistan. And also helping our neighboring countries,” said Aamir.

Last month, Rizq saved more than 50,000 kilograms (110,230 pounds) of excess food, feeding over 150,000 people.

“This is not just about food distribution. We have created platforms where donors, NGOs, and the people who need our help can come together. Every month, we release a report of food wastage to highlight the importance of food and to tell people how they can help others who are sleeping hungry at night,” he said, explaining how the group expanded.

Sustainable Development Goal 2

Rizq is the only organization in Pakistan working on Sustainable Development Goal number 2 to help people all over the world. One of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015, Sustainable Development Goal 2 aims to achieve "zero hunger".

“As of today, we have prepared more than 9.2 million meals and saved 800,000 kilograms (1.7 million pounds) of food with the help of almost 4,000 donors, 70 partner companies, and 30 NGO partners. Our next goal is to help our brothers and sisters in conflict zones, including Yemen and Syria,” said Aamir.

In 2018, a Global Food Security report prepared by the US National Intelligence Council said: “Declining food security will almost certainly contribute to social disruptions and political instability.”

Food regulations

Salman Sufi, who runs a foundation aiming at women empowerment, said: “Keeping in mind the issue of food shortage, we have started a new venture called The Pasticceria which is an all-women-led initiative, and we do not waste any food. The food is only prepared on pre-orders and also in front of customers so they get to know what ingredients are being used and no extra orders or pre-cooked food would be left as it creates food wastage.”

The Food Authority in northeastern Punjab province first launched its policy in 2018, in which all the rules and regulations regarding food were detailed.

Umer Tanveer Butt, chairman of the authority, said: “Most of the food wastage happens at weddings and restaurants which offer buffet and high teas with so many dishes. We have regulated them to take pre-reservations so they can cook the food according to the need of their customers.”

The authority is also working to educate food safety officers into a skilled force by providing them training locally and abroad.

“Our main goal is to prevent food wastage. We are also training our officers in the hygiene of food being served to people. We can eradicate hunger all around the globe if people start initiatives like Rizq to share meals,” said Butt./aa

A local Libyan NGO has called for suing the militias of warlord Khalifa Haftar for the crimes they committed during their military offensive on the capital, Tripoli, in 2019.

In a video appeal, Kamal Al-Jamal, the head of the Association of the Families of the Martyrs of Volcano of Anger, urged the families “to hurry up to the judicial and executive authorities to initiate a public lawsuit” against Haftar’s militias.

Haftar's militias, with the support of Arab and European countries, launched a military offensive on April 4, 2019, to retake Tripoli. However, the legitimate government was able, with Turkish security assistance, to foil Haftar’s attempts.

Hundreds of Libyan soldiers and civilians were killed and injured in Haftar’s assault, which also left a vast trail of destruction.

“Justice will not be realized unless the perpetrators are truly held accountable by the judicial authorities,” Al-Jamal said, noting that complaints submitted to the Public Prosecutor have so far been "neglected and placed in the drawers.”

Established in August 2020, the association’s main objective is to support the families of Libyan soldiers and civilians who lost their lives to wars.

A total of 2,180 families are registered in the association.

On Thursday, 55 Libyan lawmakers criticized "international silence" over the mass graves unearthed from time to time in the city of Tarhuna, south of Tripoli.

According to official Libyan sources, Haftar’s forces and affiliated militias committed war crimes and acts of genocide between April 2019 and June 2020.

Since June last year following the defeat of Haftar’s forces in the western areas of Libya, the Libyan government has discovered around 300 bodies in mass graves in Tarhuna and south of Tripoli.

Libya has been torn by civil war since the overthrow and killing of long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011./agencies

The people of Niger have been living in a situation of chronic poverty, multiple reasons and consequences of which were explained to Anadolu Agency by leaders of humanitarian groups on eve of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty to be marked on Oct. 17.

"There is a problem of structural poverty in Niger which makes the population more vulnerable to cyclical situations," Patrick Andrey, head of the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) in Niger, told Anadolu Agency over the phone.

With more than 24 million inhabitants, this West African country located in the heart of the Sahel has reached a level of extreme poverty of 42.9% in 2020, according to the World Bank.

The bank indicates that the country's budget deficit has widened from 3.6% of GDP in 2019 to 4.9% in 2020, and public debt has reached 45%. The growth rate dropped from 5.9% in 2019 to 3.6% in 2020.

The country's economy is based on agriculture at 40%. Livestock farming is also a popular field.

And yet, "Niger remains associated with chronic poverty since the years of independence," Maman Abdou Maman, project coordinator in Niger for the Cooperation for the Development of Emerging Countries (COSPE), an international solidarity association, told Anadolu Agency.

This situation, in his opinion, stems from the poor management of agriculture and livestock, the two economic engines in the lives of the mainly rural population.

He also noted that climate change-related natural disasters are also among other factors.

"Drought, for example, is a hindrance. We have a majority of desert areas and rainy seasons that do not last but create major hazards such as floods. These situations impact on production and contribute to a low income for the population," he said.

This is equivalent to $540 of Gross National Income per capita, according to the World Bank.

Maman also cited instability and insecurity due to terrorist attacks that have displaced people and their access to resources and agricultural production areas have become difficult.

Uranium and oil exports, two other resources of the country, are also low, according to the World Bank, which predicts the impact on government revenues.

"Sudden shocks such as floods, epidemics, the current cholera epidemic, or insecurity and conflicts lead to the displacement of populations. People are vulnerable to these situations because they are already weakened by poverty. Poverty is increasing because they do not have the means to counteract the shocks," Andrey said.

Several corroborating sources report the same causes and organizations are repeatedly warning of the great humanitarian need in Niger.

A ray of hope

This year, 3.7 million people are in need of food protection due to acute and chronic food insecurity caused by recurrent shocks and climate change. More than one million people have been displaced due to persistent insecurity, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

However, Maman, who works in rural development, believes that one day Niger will no longer be associated with poverty.

But for this to happen, he believes several steps need to be taken, especially with regard to livestock and agriculture.

"It is necessary to diagnose the specific flood zones and then through government management, strategies should be made to create infrastructures to favor agriculture more where possible," he said.

He said the challenges can be overcome by involving the population, adding insecurity is also an important issue that needs to be addressed urgently, he added.

Andrey said that many capacity-building programs have been initiated in the country so that people could better absorb and manage stressful situations.

Some 173 humanitarian organizations are providing emergency multi-sectoral assistance throughout the country, including in hard-to-reach areas, according to the UN.

According to Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum, terrorism and poverty are the two "enemies" of his country.

During his inauguration as president on April 2, 2021, Bazoum pledged to fight poverty./aa

Turkey has made significant contributions to the development of the African continent with its human-oriented approach in recent years, the head of the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) said on Saturday.

“We have Turkey Alumni Associations in different parts of the African continent from Mali to Kenya, from Senegal to Somalia. These associations act as voluntary embassies of Turkey, and graduates as voluntary envoys of Turkey,” Abdullah Eren told Anadolu Agency ahead of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s upcoming Africa tour.

Erdogan will visit Angola, Togo, and Nigeria as part of his Africa visit starting on Sunday.

Noting that Turkey provides financial support to the successful students from African countries through its scholarship program, Eren said: “These students act as a bridge between Turkey and their home countries, and also help the development of their own countries after graduating.”

Turkiye Scholarships is a scholarship program that receives applications from the largest number of countries in the world, and this puts it among the world’s most outstanding scholarship programs.

Eren said that they have taken concrete steps in many areas to strengthen relations between Turkey and Africa, and reminded that media training activities are carried out in cooperation with Anadolu Agency and Turkish broadcaster TRT in order to develop media cooperation between the two sides./aa

Zimbabwean cities are facing serious water shortages despite the country recording very good rains during the 2020 - 2021 rainy season.

The capital of Harare is the worst affected with some dams having dried up.

According to a recent alert by the Harare municipality, some dams that feed the eastern parts of the city were left with less than six weeks of water.

The city council reduced water treatment days at the Prince Edward Dam from seven days to three days. Production will be 60 million liters (15 million gallons) per day during the three-day production period.

The reduction follows the depletion of water resources at the Seke Dam which is now empty and the Harava Dam that stands at 35.9%, and can only last for six weeks, said a statement from the city.

Engineer Mabhena Moyo from Harare’s water division, told Anadolu Agency that the city is facing problems with the ever-increasing water demand because of population growth.

“Harare is 20 years behind in terms of dam rehabilitation. Our demand for water is 1200 megaliters (317 mega gallons) of water per day but as the City of Harare, we have the capacity to pump only 780 megaliters.

“Construction of new dams as well as rehabilitation of existing reservoirs has not been taking place for decades, hence this challenge,” said Moyo.

Because of water shortages, Harare has always emerged as the epicenter for cholera and typhoid outbreaks as of late.

For the past two decades, Harare has been experiencing water shortages. Outbreaks started in 2008 when more than 400 people died from diarrheal diseases.

Since then, the capital has been drying up in hot seasons, forcing residents to fetch water from unprotected wells.

Siltation and leakages

The Zimbabwean capital gets water from Lake Chivero -- the biggest man-made dam in the country. Other dams like Harava, Manyame Dam and Seke provide water to Harare.

“Yes, there could be very good rains but there is so much siltation such that the depth of these dams has been reduced.

“We assumed that after very good rains the dams would be full but that’s not the case owing to siltation,” said Precious Shumba, the head of Harare Residence Trust.

Harare has witnessed a sharp rise in stream bank cultivation owing to hunger, which has resulted in siltation, experts revealed.

“Owing to the high demand of land to build houses, some wetlands have also been disturbed, construction of homes in those areas is contributing to the siltation in water bodies that feeds water to the City of Harare,” said Moyo.

According to former Harare City Councilor Kudzai Kadzombe, who also headed the Environmental Committee between 2019 and 2020, the level of siltation in dams near Harare is shocking but the council and government did not have de-silting machinery.

“Last year Lake Chivero had 30 meters of silt while the Harava Dam had more than 80% of silt,” said Kadzombe.

Lack of solutions

Kadzombe said the Harare Council has always been providing the same figures that water demand is 1,200 million liters of water per day while the capacity was at 780 million liters per day.

“In fact, it is all rhetoric as these are the figures the city of Harare has always been providing for years now whereas the actual water provision stands at 420 million liters per day owing to leakages and theft of treated water,” said Kadzombe, who did not explain how water is stolen.

The city and the government should have invested in new methods aimed at minimizing the non-revenue water and strategies of de-silting all the major dams around Harare, she said.

“The rural urban migration should have added more revenue for the City of Harare but it would appear it is actually a burden to the authorities,” said Kadzombe.

Moyo and Kadzombe agreed that Harare requires new reservoirs.

“There is lack of solutions as the matter of building new dams such as the Kunzvi Dam Project has been discussed both by the City of Harare and even in the Cabinet for the past 65 years yet nothing is happening.

“There is clearly a lack of will for that to happen and lessen water challenges in Harare,” Kadzombe said./aa

Munodeyi Muhwandefa, 68, always comes once or twice a month to trade his livestock in return for bags of maize to feed his family in Maranda Township in Zimbabwe’s Masvingo Province.

Muhwandefa said it is hard to get money because his four children, on whom he used to rely, were wiped out by AIDS.

He also has eight orphaned grandchildren to look to raise.

Barter trade fighting hunger

His wife, Maritha, 60, died from the coronavirus earlier this year, leaving him a widower and with the baggage of having to embark on errands to barter and trade the family’s livestock for food.

“My grandchildren are too young and my remaining children are looking for opportunities in the city and I have to be here at the township to trade off one or two of our goats just to get bags of maize or mealie meal in order to have food at home,” Muhwandefa told Anadolu Agency.

But it is not only hunger that has spurred Zimbabweans like Muhwandefa to switch to barter trade.

The southern African nation is currently experiencing serious liquidity challenges, especially in remote areas villagers have no access to cash because of joblessness.

Even if residents trade amongst themselves, cash is rarely circulated as very few or none have access to it.

“Personally, I have no money at all because my own children who used to support us with my late wife, were killed by AIDS, in fact leaving me with some burden to look after their orphans,” said Muhwandefa.

- Barter trade resurrects

Barter trade, which used be an ancient way of trading here, has resurfaced -- an alternative for many bankrupt residents like Muhwandefa.

In fact, pummeled by economic hardships, many like Muhwandefa are having to exchange goods for goods to surmount the liquidity challenges they face daily as they also avoid the defunct local currency.

Lack of financial resources

Economists have pinned the blame for the resurfacing of barter trade in Zimbabwe’s remote areas on the absence of financial services.

“The challenge really has to do with lack of access to financial services including also even mobile financial services like Ecocash,” Prosper Chitambara, a lead economist with the Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe (LEDRIZ), told Anadolu Agency, in reference to a mobile payment solution that enables customers to complete financial transactions directly from mobile phones.

“So, I think that’s the key challenge -- a lot of our districts lack access to financial services like banks, and even mobile connectivity; so, I think that’s a key challenge. Those people staying in those districts have been forced to rely on barter,” he said.

Gloom everywhere

Yet for political activists like Elvis Mugari from the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC Alliance), it is gloomy in remote and urban areas in Zimbabwe as far as liquidity matters are concerned.

“There are no industries in villages, meaning very few have real cash on them and the ones in the cities upon which villagers have depended on, have no cash because many industries have shut down, also meaning they have no access to cash to then spare. So, villagers here have no choice except to turn to barter trade because they have to survive,” Mugari told Anadolu Agency.

Defunct currency problem

Not only has liquidity woes pounded Zimbabwe’s poverty-stricken villagers, but the nation’s currency has been chewed away by runaway inflation and hammered residents who have of late started shunning it, preferring to conduct business using barter trade.

Such are villagers like Muhwandefa in Maranda.

“There is no money of course, but when I say money, I mean the real US dollars to get value for our commodities and surely I can’t take the local Zimbabwean dollar known to everyone that it lost value. Rather, I will opt for barter trade,” said Muhwandefa.

Bartering labor

People now have to exchange goods for goods while at times some, like 26-year-old Tambudzai Msipa based in Mwenezi, have to pay for goods or services using labor.

“In order to get food to feed myself and my family, I have made sure I don’t accept the local currency as payment. If someone doesn’t have the US dollars, I have opted to be given some food parcels as payment instead, which means I give out my labor and someone either pays with the commodity I need or the US dollar,” Msipa told Anadolu Agency.

At the official exchange rate, the Zimbabwean dollar trades at 1 to 84 against the US dollar.

On the black market, the exchange rate is much higher, with the greenback pegged at 1:150.

But the Zimbabwean dollar, hit by inflation, has for the past three years been swiftly losing buying power, resulting in residents like Msipa avoiding it, preferring to do barter trade.

Yet, even as many Zimbabweans like Msipa shun the local currency, in July, the government introduced a new 50 Zimbabwean dollar note, which the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor John Mangudya said was meant to cure mounting liquidity woes.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​/agencies