Job-related stress threatens the supply of teachers in the US, according to a new study by Rand Corporation, an American think-tank.

While teaching was a stressful profession even before COVID-19, it has become more stressful during the pandemic, said the 2021 State of the US Teacher Survey conducted in January and February 2021.

"Teachers are navigating unfamiliar technology, are balancing multiple modes of teaching, and have concerns about returning to in-person instruction. In addition, many teachers are caring for their own children while teaching," said the survey released earlier this week.

One in four teachers were considering leaving their job by the end of 2020-21 academic year, more than in a typical pre-pandemic year and a higher rate than employed adults nationally, it said.

"Teachers were more likely to report experiencing frequent job-related stress and symptoms of depression than the general population," it said, noting Black teachers are "particularly likely" to plan to leave.

While mode of instruction and health are the highest-ranked stress factors for teachers, other common reasons to quit teaching include stressful working conditions and increased personal responsibilities.

Technical problems while teaching remotely were also linked to job-related stress, depressive symptoms, and burnout.

The study recommended schools to implement COVID-19 mitigation measures to allow teachers focus on instruction, collection of data on teacher working conditions and well-being on a state and district level, and providing them mental health and wellness support./aa

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said Thursday that the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of the country had caused $9.157 billion in losses. 

"I denounce before our people and the international community that between April 2019 and December 2020, the blockade caused economic damages of 9.157 billion USD," Rodriguez said in a video posted on Twitter.

He pointed out that a resolution calling for the end of the blockade will be submitted on June 23 before the United Nations General Assembly.

In his final address before stepping down in April, Raul Castro, the leader of the Cuban Communist Party, said that Cuba was willing to “build a new kind of relationship with the United States," which has not yet occurred.

Although US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month during the 51st Conference of the Council of the Americas that Washington “will condemn the repression of human rights on the island,” President Joe Biden has maintained sanctions against Havana.

“President Donald Trump applied 243 new blockade measures and opportunistically took advantage of COVID-19 to intensify it to new extremes. The government of Joe Biden applies the same policy,” Rodriguez said. “The human damage, suffering and shortages caused to Cuban families are incalculable," he added.

Two weeks ago, Cuba accused the US of making it impossible for the island nation to manufacture enough doses of coronavirus vaccines for its population, delaying its vaccination campaign.

In a report released in May, global charity Oxfam urged Biden to lift sanctions that have been in place since 1962.

The country is struggling with food and medicine shortages and its worst economic crisis in more than three decades. The coronavirus pandemic has also contributed to Cuba's economy declining 11% in 2020./aa

Turkey on Thursday condemned a Greek court's decision to sentence the elected mufti, or Muslim official, of the city of Xanthi to time in prison with a three-year deferment of the sentence.  

A criminal court in the city of Thessaloniki sentenced Ahmet Mete to 15 months in prison for "disrupting public order by sowing public discord."

Under the judge’s decision, Mete will go to prison to fulfill his sentence if he commits a crime within the next three years.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry in a statement described the decision as "another manifestation of the legal pressure and intimidation policies by Greece against the Western Thrace Turkish Minority's elected Muftis by their own will."

Citing previous European Court of Human Rights decisions against Greece on violating muftis’ activities in the country, the ministry said the legal proceedings carried out via "baseless accusations" against muftis aims to "prevent the aforementioned individuals from carrying out their religious and social duties freely."

Turkey further expressed hope for the "unfair decision" to be corrected in the later stages of the legal process.

"We invite Greece once again to put an end to its oppressive practices that violate the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority and its elected Muftis," it added.

A ministry statement also noted that Turkey will continue to support "the rights of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority, which are guaranteed by international agreements and conventions."

Xanthi (Iskece) is part of Greece’s Western Thrace region, which has a population of 150,000 Muslim Turks dating back centuries.

The election of muftis, or Islamic clerics, by Muslims in Greece is regulated by the 1913 Treaty of Athens, a Greek-Ottoman Empire pact which was implemented by Athens in 1920.

But in 1991, in violation of international law, Greece annulled its law regarding the 1913 treaty and unlawfully started to appoint the muftis itself.

The muftis appointed by the Greek state have since usurped local Muslims’ rights of jurisdiction on family and inheritance matters.

Most Muslim Turks in Western Thrace do not recognize muftis appointed by the Greek state and instead rightfully elect their muftis.

However, since 1991, the Greek state has refused to recognize elected muftis, and authorities have even put clerics on trial.

Turkey has long decried Greek violations of the rights of its Muslim and Turkish minority, from closing down mosques and letting historic mosques fall into disrepair to refusing to allow local groups to use the word “Turkish” in their name.

These measures violate the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne as well as European Court of Human Rights verdicts, making Greece a state that flouts the law, say Turkish officials./aa

The rate at which Kenyan-Somali girls and children are being kidnapped, abused or murdered if ransom is not paid, is alarming residents in the Kenyan capital on Thursday.

Kenyan-Somali’s are living in fear in the capital after cases recorded by police revealed that criminals were out to kidnap girls and children and then ask their families for money.

Videos have surfaced online showing victims being tortured, abused and barely alive. They are forced to send a video message to loved ones asking for huge sums of money and failure to do so results in the victims being not released.

The latest is of Hamsa Abdulwahab, 23, who was kidnapped in Nairobi. A video was soon released showing her with serious injuries and her asking her family to give kidnappers what they want.

Family member Omar Iso said his cousin was “kidnapped while she had left her business premises. The kidnappers have called us constantly asking for ransom and sharing videos of our tortured relative. We need help.”

The news has been trending on social media across the east African country.

In the Eastleigh and South C areas of Nairobi where ethnic Kenyan Somalis live as a majority, there is panic and fear.

“I will never walk alone without protection from friends,” Halima Yassir told Anadolu Agency. “People are now scared of walking out there, especially for us Kenyan-Somalis. The kidnappers think we have money but we have nothing,”

The Kenya Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) said in a statement that the number of kidnappings and deaths have raised serious security concerns among Kenyans and the group asked Kenyans, in collaboration with the security apparatus, to stop the sad trend of missing, murdered children, girls and individuals.

Sheikh Abubakar Bini expressed concerns about the kidnappings, especially of young children and juveniles younger than 18 years old, females of wealthy families and businessmen, among others.

“We strongly condemn the constant attacks on children and abductions of girls and individuals across the country. This is a gross violation of children’s rights and a horrific experience for young girls and individuals to go through,” he said in a statement./aa

A day after his arrival in Turkey, a 15-year-old Syrian boy, who was disabled by a regime airstrike five years ago, has started Thursday to receive treatment in the Black Sea region.

After Anadolu Agency published an exclusive report on Mohammed Jamil Shahabi on June 10, Turkey-based hospital Romatem Health Group approached Turkey's Health Ministry and the Gaziantep Governorate.

The hospital volunteered to treat Shahabi and the government stepped in to bring the boy and his mother from Syria to Turkey. They arrived in the country on Wednesday and reached the northern Samsun province in the evening of the same day.

In the first examination, said Orhan Akdeniz -- one of the physicians at the Romatem Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Hospital in Samsun -- they found that Shahabi had a bone fracture and spinal cord injury as a result of the shrapnel hit.

Akdeniz said they had experienced good results with patients in similar situation, and added: “Mohammed is a belated patient and he has bedsores, muscle shortening and soft tissue injuries. He also has neuropathic pain, which develops due to injury and the delay in his treatment.”

They will first treat bedsores and pain, he said, with the next move to be the robotic rehabilitation treatment after the lengthening of his muscles.

“Our goal is to discharge Mohammed on foot with an assistive walking device as much as possible,” Akdeniz said, adding that his overall treatment is expected to take almost a month.

I want to play football

Expressing happiness over getting treatment in Turkey, Shahabi said that his primary goal is to walk.

“Before I came to Turkey, I had severe pain … I want to play football after the treatment. I want to return back to my school,” he said, adding that he hopes to become a doctor to help those in need.

His mother also said that she is so happy that her son can get treatment.

Shahabi, who lives with his mother and three siblings in the district of al-Bab in northern Syria, was injured by a flying shrapnel from an airstrike five years ago.

Syria has been mired in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Over the past decade, around half a million people have been killed and more than 12 million had to flee their homes./aa

A Turkish-French high school student was questioned by French intelligence officers about his Muslim identity and for alleged extremism after rejecting his teacher's claims about the events that occurred in 1915 in what is now Turkey.

The student, identified as Altay, faced intimidation, threats of jailtime, and attempts to associate him with extremism because he did not accept his teacher's assertions in history class on June 2, despite it not being a crime under French law to object to the Armenian claims.

Altay and his family, who did not share their last name over concerns for their safety, recounted the events to Anadolu Agency, saying that his teacher had devoted half of the 2-hour class to the Armenian claims, continually saying that Turks "killed Armenians" and civilians.

"I couldn't stand it. I endured for 40 minutes and then calmly asked the question: 'Is there evidence?' Then, the teacher suddenly got angry and said: 'How can you say this? How can you object to this?'" said Altay.

He added that his teacher said he could go to prison for a year for his words allegedly denying the "so-called" Armenian genocide, with the school administrators calling his father to discuss what happened.

After doing some research, he found out that none of his comments constituted a crime in France and that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) did not oblige defining the 1915 events as a "genocide."

Questions on alleged radicalism, Muslim identity

After the incident, Altay was called a week later by intelligence forces to answer questions.

He said he was treated kindly, but that despite being told that he had not done anything illegal, they took the usernames and passwords of his social media accounts and asked questions about his religious beliefs and practices.

As a student undergoing exams at the time, Altay emphasized that he had been under a great deal of stress and, seriously worried about his future, was unable to concentrate on schoolwork.

Restrictions on freedom of speech

Altay's Father Aydin said that during his meeting with the principal of his son's school, he had been told that the teenager was "facing a very bad incident," and that he could be fined or jailed.

The administrators "exaggerated the incident" during the conference, he said. In response, Aydin underlined that in France, "people have freedom of speech" and objected to them restricting his son's freedom of expression.

"If he committed such a major crime, why don't you give disciplinary punishment?" Aydin said he told the principal, who said that was not possible.

"I said: 'But you convey everything to the high authorities, why don't you punish him? If he's guilty, then you need to punish him.' Then they were silent. They didn't say anything."

"Since that day, I've been in a little bit of depression. Since I was very worried, they gave me leave from work. My son's mental state also deteriorated. No one came to our support in this matter in France, only my colleagues at work supported me, nobody else...No one from the French administration called me."

Altay's mother Aysel also expressed that she was seriously worried about her son's future after the incident.

Turkish stance on 1915 events

Turkey's position on the events of 1915 is that the deaths of Armenians in eastern Anatolia took place when some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces. A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties.

Turkey objects to the presentation of these incidents as "genocide," describing them as a tragedy in which both sides suffered casualties.

Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Turkey and Armenia as well as international experts to tackle the issue.

In 2014, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- Turkey's then-prime minister -- expressed his condolences to the descendants of Armenians who lost their lives in the events of 1915./aa

In another apparent attempt to suppress Greece’s ethnic Turkish minority, a Greek court on Thursday sentenced the elected mufti (Muslim official) of Xanthi to 15 months in prison.

A criminal court in Thessaloniki sentenced Ahmet Mete to the time in prison, with a three-year deferment of the sentence, over allegedly "disrupting public order by sowing public discord."

Under the judge’s decision, Mete will go to prison to fulfill his sentence if he commits a crime within the next three years.

Telling how Mete objects to the ruling, a statement released by the Xanthi mufti's office said the decision will be appealed through his lawyers.

Xanthi (Iskece) is part of Greece’s Western Thrace region, which has a population of 150,000 Muslim Turks dating back centuries.

The election of muftis, or Islamic clerics, by Muslims in Greece is regulated by the 1913 Treaty of Athens, a Greek-Ottoman Empire pact which was implemented by Athens in 1920.

But in 1991, in violation of international law, Greece annulled its law regarding the 1913 treaty and unlawfully started to appoint the muftis itself.

The muftis appointed by the Greek state have since usurped local Muslims’ right of jurisdiction on family and inheritance matters.

Most Muslim Turks in Western Thrace do not recognize muftis appointed by the Greek state and instead rightfully elect their muftis.

However, since 1991 the Greek state has refused to recognize elected muftis, and authorities have even put clerics on trial.

Turkey has long decried Greek violations of the rights of its Muslim and Turkish minority, from closing down mosques and letting historic mosques fall into disrepair, to refusing to allow local groups to use the word “Turkish” in their name.

These measures violate the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne as well as European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) verdicts, making Greece a state that flouts the law, say Turkish officials./aa

Montenegro's parliament on Thursday adopted a resolution on recognizing the genocide in Srebrenica and dismissed the country's justice minister over his controversial remarks on the 1995 genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to the resolution, Montenegro declares July 11 a day of mourning and remembrance for the victims of the 1995 genocide of over 8,000 Muslim men and boys, and the parliament will condemn any public denial of the genocide.

The resolution passed with 55 votes in favor, 19 against and six abstaining.

The parliament also voted to dismiss Minister of Justice, Human and Minority Rights Vladimir Leposavic over his recent controversial statements in which he questioned whether the Srebrenica genocide took place.

Leposavic said that he is ready to recognize that a genocide was committed in Srebrenica "when it gets proven unequivocally."

He argued that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which ruled that the 1995 genocide took place, has “lost its legitimacy.”

On Wednesday, he said that he never denied the Srebrenica genocide and that the accusation is the result of a “campaign of lies.”

He was dismissed with 43 votes in favor, 27 against and 10 MPs abstaining.

Bosnia welcomes resolution

Bosnian Foreign Minister Bisera Turkovic welcomed Montenegro's decision.

The resolution is a "historic step" for Montenegro, Turkovic on Twitter.

"Also a major step towards reconciliation, regional stability and a strong impetus for the fight for truth and justice. I congratulate the people and the authorities of Montenegro on this just and responsible act," he also said.

Srebrenica genocide

More than 8,300 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed after Bosnian Serb forces attacked the UN "safe area" of Srebrenica in July 1995, despite the presence of Dutch troops tasked with acting as international peacekeepers.

Srebrenica was besieged by Serb forces who were trying to wrest territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats to form a state.

The UN Security Council declared Srebrenica a "safe area" in the spring of 1993. However, Serb troops led by Gen. Ratko Mladic, who was later found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, overran the UN zone.

Dutch troops failed to act as Serb forces occupied the area, killing 2,000 men and boys on July 11.

About 15,000 Srebrenicans fled to the surrounding mountains, but Serb troops hunted down and killed 6,000 in the forests./aa

Turkish state-run aid and development agency TIKA inked a cooperation agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday.

Serdar Kayalar, the agency’s president, and Bosnia-Herzegovina Federal Minister for Displaced Persons and Refugees Edin Ramic signed the protocol to carryout joint projects in the Balkan country.

The agreement aims at supporting socio-economic development in Bosnia-Herzegovina, according to a statement by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency or TIKA.

In a meeting with Ramic and the accompanying Bosnian delegation before the official ceremony at the agency's headquarters in Ankara, Kayalar gave a briefing on TIKA's efforts in Bosnia-Herzegovina so far.

Employment of disadvantaged groups and youth, vocational training and manufacturing sectors will be among TIKA’s priority areas in the post-pandemic period, he said.

Ramic acknowledged that TIKA's projects have contributed to prosperity and development in his country.

TIKA, founded in 1991, carries out development projects in more than 150 countries./aa