The number of people who have lost their lives due to massive forest fires in southern Turkey has risen to eight, the country’s agriculture and forestry minister announced Sunday.

After examining the affected areas of Mugla from a helicopter, Bekir Pakdemirli said they have completed 75% of the damage assessment work in the province and that four planes and 17 helicopters are still busy with dowsing efforts.

Pakdemirli said on Twitter that 119 of 126 fires across 32 cities that erupted since Wednesday are under control.

A total of 16 aircraft, nine drones, 45 helicopters, six management helicopters, one unmanned helicopter, 708 water tankers and water sprinklers and 120 construction machines have been used to put out the wildfires, the minister said, adding some 4,800 personnel are active in the region.

Earlier, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter that 497 of the 507 people affected by the fire in Manavgat district of Antalya have been discharged from hospitals.

Similarly, he added, 186 of the 203 people struck by wildfires in Mugla's Marmaris and Bodrum districts have also been treated.

Turkish authorities are maintaining their tireless efforts to put out the forest fires through both aerial and ground operations. Firefighters, including a group of 100 Azerbaijani firemen, along with locals are at work./aa

Although the East African country of Kenya boasts a healthy rate of breastfeeding at initial stages, according to a study, it decreases sharply from 84% of infants of age 0-1 month to 42% of infants aged 4-5 months.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency on eve of World Breastfeeding Day and Week that starts from Sunday, Elizabeth Kimani, head of the Maternal and Child Wellbeing Unit at the African Population Health Research Center (APHRC), said there are higher chances of morbidity if a child is not exclusively breastfed for the first six months.

“There is also the risk of obesity, as the substitute has been found to have ingredients that increase fat. There are also problems with asthma and getting diseases such as eczema, so breast milk is protective of such kinds of things,” she said.

In rural Nyeri County in Kenya, it has been observed that most families do not stick to exclusive breastfeeding either out of ignorance or challenges in their lives like work shifts, lack of support especially for first-time mothers, and financial issues.

Nyawira Gakuhi, a 24-year-old mother who had taken her child to a hospital in Nyeri county for a check-up, said that she stopped breastfeeding three months after delivery.

Another mother, Lucy Njeri, 33, said that she had breastfed her firstborn for five months, but abandoned because it was exhausting her.

According to APHRC the ignorance and misconceptions are the main reasons behind abandoning breastfeeding especially in urban areas besides socio-cultural factors.

Dr. Dorcas Lealo, a specialist in pediatrics, told Anadolu Agency that extreme poverty also forces mothers to abandon breastfeeding.

“Most of the people in slums and rural areas are living in poverty. The mothers do not have any food to eat to produce enough milk for breastfeeding. I have seen mothers who have to do menial jobs to earn less than $2 a day. They would spend the whole day washing clothes, fetching water, or doing house chores,” he said.

In a bid to address these patterns, the Kenyan government has put several initiatives in place to promote exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of a baby’s life.

Experts say that interventions are needed to support urban poor mothers in Kenya to optimally breastfeed.

One of them is the baby-friendly hospital initiative, launched in 1991, which aims to scale up 10 interventions in maternity facilities to support successful breastfeeding. The initiative has been effective in promoting exclusive breastfeeding during the first weeks, but not as effective in sustaining it through to the recommended six months.

In 2016, Kenya launched a Free Maternity Care Program for $49.7 million. The government says the free maternal care services aim to improve access and quality of maternal, newborn, and child health care services towards attainment of Kenya’s Vision 2030 and the Sustainable Development agenda./aa

The southern regions of Italy, especially on the island of Sicily, were struggling with fires in forests and rural areas on Saturday.

Fire officials said on Twitter that 250 operations were conducted in Sicily in the past 24 hours, 130 in Puglia and Calabria, 90 in Lazio and 70 in the Campaniia region. Operations are still underway.

Nearly 200 people stranded on the coastline due to fire and heavy smoke in the southern part of Catania were evacuated via the sea by police teams.

“We have received 558 requests for help in extinguishing fires from the regions since June 15,” Civil Defense General Manager Fabrizio Curcio said at a news conference.

The number was 160 in 2020, Curcio said, adding that 33% of requests were received last week.

Last weekend, 20,000 hectares in the Oristanese countryside in the west on the island of Sardinia burned and 1,500 people were displaced./aa

Tunisian authorities on Saturday briefly arrested lawmaker Maher Zaid in connection with a criminal charge, days after the country's president sacked the government and suspended parliament.

"Maher Zaid was arrested in the Sidi Hussein area, west of the capital, Tunis, in connection with a case that has been settled since 2018," Inas Harath, the MP’s lawyer, posted on her Facebook account. Zaid was released hours later.

Lotfi Brahem, the former minister of interior, had filed a lawsuit against Maher in February 2018 accusing him of "defamation and spreading false information."

In May 2018, he was sentenced in absentia to two years in prison for insulting late President Beji Caid Essebsi. The ruling, however, was reversed the next day after an appeal.

Under the recent exceptional presidential decisions, MPs no longer have parliamentary immunity that protects them from being arrested.

Tunisia is seen as the only country that succeeded in carrying out a democratic transition following the popular Arab Spring uprisings. But it failed in achieving economic and political stability, and the recent spike in coronavirus cases fueled further public frustration./aa

With morale boosted by recent reunions, families continue to protest in southeastern Turkey for the return of their children abducted by the PKK terror group.

Families have been camped for 695 days outside the Diyarbakir office of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), a party the Turkish government says has links with the PKK.

Aysegul Bicer, one of the three mothers who started the sit-in protest on Sept. 3, 2019, was recently reunited with her son Mustafa, along with two other families, raising hopes for others still yearning for their loved ones’ return.

Mevlude Ucdag, a mother at the protest, said the families are confident they will eventually be victorious and none of them will leave without getting back their children.

“Our fight will continue until not a single son or daughter is left in the mountains,” she said.

Ucdag called on her son, who she said was tricked by the HDP into joining the terror group, to immediately surrender to Turkish authorities.

Nurettin Odumlu, a father, said his son Yusuf went missing eight years ago at the age of 16.

“We want our child back from the HDP. We will not leave until my son comes back,” he said, accusing the party of being involved in his child’s disappearance.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants./aa