More than two dozen gunshots were fired in the vicinity of George Floyd Square in Minneapolis. Minnesota, according to reports Tuesday.

The shots occurred as spectators gathered to commemorate the first anniversary of the police killing of Floyd, which rocked the nation and the world.

According to local TV station Fox 9, citing Minneapolis Police Department spokesperson John Elder, police responded to the 3800 block of Elliot Avenue South on a report of the sound of shots fired around 10.09 a.m. local time.

A suspicious vehicle was spotted speeding from the area, according to officers.

The report also said one person suffering a gunshot wound went to Abbott Northwestern Hospital.

Elder told the station that the person was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center.

The situation is an "evolving incident," said Elder.

Floyd was killed on May 25 last year after four Minneapolis police officers, including Derek Chauvin, fatally arrested the 46-year-old Black man.

Floyd was pinned to the ground for more than nine minutes, repeatedly saying he could not breathe and pleading for relief until he eventually became unresponsive.

Nationwide events are being carried out to remember Floyd's death, and President Joe Biden is set to meet Floyd's family at the White House./aa

Turkey has administered over 28.23 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since the launch of a mass vaccination campaign in mid-January, with as many as 170,000 given on Tuesday, according to official figures.

As of Tuesday, more than 16.16 million people have received their first doses, while over 12 million have been fully vaccinated, said the Health Ministry count.

The ministry also confirmed 9,375 new coronavirus cases, including 693 symptomatic patients, across the country in the last 24 hours.

Turkey's overall case tally is now over 5.2 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 46,621 with 175 fatalities over the past day.

As many as 11,192 more patients won the battle against the virus, raising the total number of recoveries past 5.04 million.

Over 52.81 million coronavirus tests have been done to date.

The latest figures put the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition at 1,667.

Local, regional figures

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca also released the latest weekly infection rates across the country’s various regions.

Sharing the data for May 15-21 on Twitter, Fahrettin Koca touted the country's falling case numbers.

“The biggest drops in the number of cases per 100,000 people were seen in Erzincan, Istanbul, Karabuk, Agri, and Karaman. The positive course continues. We will succeed by striving together,” Koca said on Twitter.

In Turkey’s largest cities, the number of cases per 100,000 people was 123 in the metropolis of Istanbul – home to nearly one-fifth of Turkey’s population – and also 123 in the capital Ankara and 72 in Izmir on the Aegean.

The provinces of Hatay, Osmaniye and Adana had the lowest COVID-19 infections per 100,000 people.

Turkey on May 17 started a gradual normalization process after a 17-day lockdown that brought infections in the country down significantly.

Until June 1, the country has weeknight curfews from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., while weekends are under full lockdown.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 3.4 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with more than 167.4 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US-based Johns Hopkins University.

Turkey will become one of the top 10 countries in the world to develop a coronavirus vaccine, according to Turkish officials in a high-level meeting on Tuesday about domestic vaccine research, chaired by Vice President Fuat Oktay.​​​​​

Measures on mass vaccine production once a manufacturer receives permission for emergency use were discussed in the meeting attended by Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank and officials from institutions working on domestic jabs.

Officials also discussed developments concerning an inactive vaccine developed by a team headed by medical microbiologist Aykut Ozdarendeli of Erciyes University in central Turkey, along with Phase 2 tests and the latest preparations for Phase 3 trials.

Phase 3 studies set to begin in the first week of June will be applied to a wider group of volunteers and it is expected that a vaccine will receive emergency use approval by October./aa

Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Tuesday that Turkey's unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are "proven and effective" and will empower the Polish armed forces.

He was speaking during a press conference in Ankara alongside his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar, following a meeting between defense delegations of both the nations.

Recalling Monday's agreement to purchase Bayraktar TB2 drones, he said Poland signed the contract to "buy the best weapons" for its army.

"It is a proven and effective weapon. It will significantly strengthen the capabilities and potential of the Polish army," he continued.

Poland will buy 24 Bayraktar TB2 drones from Turkey's Baykar company. It is the first time a NATO and EU member state acquired drones from Turkey.

Noting that they also discussed further areas of military cooperation with Turkey, the minister said: "We share the threats that concern our countries, but also the entire North Atlantic Alliance. We are trying to find the best answers to these threats."

He said Poland already has a "very good" and "dynamically developing" cooperation with Turkey as Polish soldiers remain present in Turkey within NATO commands.

Akar said the meeting was "very positive" and the two countries are trying to improve cooperation in several areas, besides defense.

"On the one hand, we are trying to improve our activities in the fields of military, education and cooperation ... we are also trying to improve our cooperation in the defense industry by using the potential of the two countries effectively," the Turkish minister said.

He said the Bayraktar TB2 drones have been tested in various fields not only inside Turkey but abroad as well. "Therefore, everyone agrees on the success of UAVs ... there is no doubt about that."

Bayraktar TB2 entered the inventory of the Turkish army in 2014 and are currently used by several other countries, including Ukraine, Qatar, and Azerbaijan.

Turkey has used its cutting-edge drones effectively over the years in cross-border, anti-terror military operations such as Euphrates Shield, Olive Branch, and Spring Shield, to liberate its Syrian border from terrorist entities.

Turkish drones are also said to have played a crucial role in last year's six-week war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan managed to liberate Nagorno-Karabakh and other territories with the support of Turkey./aa

The glacial lakes formed by melting snow in the Mercan Valley in eastern Turkey are a popular destination for camping, photography, and trekking enthusiasts.

Located between the Munzur and Mercan mountains in the province of Tunceli, the Ovacik district at an altitude of 1,500 meters (4,921 feet) attracts nature lovers with its majestic beauty.

The district, featuring natural wonders such as Lake Kara, Munzur Valley, Kirkmerdivan Waterfalls, Munzur Springs, Katir Lakes, and Kepir Plateau, attracts many eager visitors, especially between April and August.

The glacial lakes formed by melting snow are among the most attractive beauties in the valley, which stretches for kilometers between steep mountains.

Glacial lakes located at two different sides of the valley create picturesque views with their azure view between the high mountains surrounding them.

Travel groups who want to go to the glacial lakes in the valley for daily trips depart from the district center by car and first arrive at the village of Sahverdi. From there it takes around three hours to climb to the glacial lakes.

Cagdas Kayaoglu, a visitor to the snow-covered glacier lakes, told Anadolu Agency that he came to see the beauty of the Mercan Mountains.

“The glacial lakes here still show the traces of winter, there’s snow and ice-cold water,” Kayaoglu said.

He said that they reached the largest glacial lake after visiting ponds large and small, adding: “The glacial lakes have an excellent view and we enjoyed the nature.”

Noting that the valley is rich in wildlife, Kayaoglu said: “Here we often encounter species such as pigs, brown bears, wild goats, and partridges.”

“We even saw six brown bears looking for food on cliffs while coming to the glacial lakes.”/agencies

Since Narendra Modi has become Prime Minister in India, Muslim lives, their properties and religious places have become far more vulnerable to destruction than earlier they were. Muslims can be attacked by a mob at any point of time in any part of the country. They can be killed in the police custody on any justification or without justification. Their properties can be damaged and their business can be destroyed.

Examples of all these atrocities can be cited from the recent incidents. A mob killed Asif Khan in Haryana’s Mewat in this week. A vegetable seller Faisal was killed in the police custody in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao on 21 May. In Jabalpur, a Hindutva mob attacked a Muslim shopkeeper alleging him of having relationship with a Hindu girl. Apart from these loss of Muslim lives and attacks against them, there is another incident which has not caused much outrage is the demolition of Ghareeb Nawaz Mosque in Ramsnehi Ghat of Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh.

The story about demolition of Ghareeb Nawaz Mosque in Ramsnehi Ghat shows that how vulnerable is mosque in India. The mosque, which had been standing there for around a century, has suddenly become a throne in the eyes of the administration. On 17 March this year, the Tehsildar of Ramsnehi Ghat suddenly sent a notice to the committee members of the mosque that the existence of the mosque at the place is violation of Allahbad High Court order 2016 which prohibits the religious activities at the public places. In its reply, the mosque committee head made it clear that the Allahabad High Court order does apply to the mosque as it is situated far from the road, street and any public places. It also does not create any public inconvenience in the public movement.

However, the local administration did not take into account the facts submitted by the mosque authority and prevented Muslims from offering namaz at the mosque. A few days later when the administration came to bulldoze the wall of the religious structure, Muslims protested against administration’s action. Then, they launched brutal crackdown against the protesters beating them up and vandalizing their houses. The mosque committee members went to Allahabad High Court against the notice of the administration but the Court rejected their apprehension that the administration would pull down the structure and asked them to file the reply of the notice. Amid this, on 17 May, the administration came with heavy security forces and pulled down the mosque leveling the ground.

This case of Ghareeb Nawaz Mosque demolition shows that how easy for the government to pull down a mosque by just citing any baseless ground. In the demolition of Babri mosque, the Sangh group made up a similar baseless allegations against the historic mosque, and pulled it down right under the nose of the government. Now, the scenario has changed. Earlier, it’s mob which used to pull down mosque as happened in the Babri case. Now, it’s administration itself which demolish the mosque. The work of demolishing mosque has now become official task of the government. In Babri case, the judiciary was hurdle for decades but in Barabanki case, the judiciary simply rejected apprehension of the mosque committee members that the religious place can be demolished. In Babri case, those who played a role in the demolition were booked even though later they were acquitted by the CBI court. But in Barabanki mosque demolition case, the police booked the mosque committee members themselves for registering the religious place with the Waqf board. So far, there is no case against those who demolished the Ghareeb Nawaz mosque. In Babri case, there was public outrage against the culprits. But in the Barabanki case, people are not even outraging over it.

This journey of mosque demolition from Babri to Barabanki shows that the demolition of the mosque has been accepted as a norm in India. On the government level, it’s been made official.

In India every now and then, we hear a report of targeting mosque by the Hindutva goons on any excuse. In Delhi’s anti-Muslim riots alone, dozens of Muslim religious places including mosques were targeted, vandalized and burnt by the rioting mob under the watch of police. Hence, the vulnerability of the mosque is very high in India these days. There is a need to pay attention towards this.

Even though the mosques are under constant targets, it did not prevent Muslims from using the mosques to help the distressed people at difficult times. Of late, when the country is undergoing health crisis due to massive surge of covid cases, it fell acute shortage of health facilities like beds and oxygen. Responding to the health crisis, mosques in different parts of then country have been turned into covid care centers providing covid treatment to the patients. In Gujarat, Delhi, Mahrashtra and other states, several mosques have become relief center for the covid patients.

Amidst mounting calls from parliamentarians for equality of expats with Kuwaiti citizens to allow vaccinated expats, the sources revealed that data is being analyzed to lift ban on expats who are vaccinated and have valid residence from some countries. The rules will be similar to Kuwaitis for Expats who have been vaccinated with one of the doses of vaccine approved in Kuwait such as AstraZenca – Oxford, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson with quarantine period and pcr test.

Those in transit will be allowed to enter Kuwait are the ones who have been vaccinated with approved vaccines in Kuwait. Passengers from high risk countries will not be allowed, reports Al Rai. The Government Communication Center will be publishing a list of high-risk countries on a weekly basis in coordination with the Ministry of Health. The list is likely to include names of the countries where infection is high and countries where Indian strain of virus has been detected.
The expected date to allow expats to enter Kuwait the indications are that it will be very soon as the vaccination process is being pushed in the country and figures of infections are showing a downward slope. /agencies

A Bangladeshi hospital in the capital Dhaka has detected two cases of black fungus, which has been declared an epidemic in neighboring India, according to official sources.

One of the patients, aged 45, was diagnosed with black fungus, medically known as mucormycosis, on May 8 and the other, aged 60, on May 23, the local Daily Star newspaper reported Tuesday, citing officials at Birdem General Hospital.

"In our lab, we confirmed two patients with mucormycosis. We are treating them and trying to control their blood sugar," the report quoted Lovely Barai, an associate professor with the department of microbiology at the hospital, as saying.

The country’s health department held an emergency meeting on black fungus last week and sent alert notices to concerned officials at the district level.

Bangladesh shares a more than 4,000-kilometer (2,485-mile) land border with India, which is the longest common border of the country.

Nearly 10,000 people in India have already been infected with black fungus with over 200 deaths while the country’s health authorities have warned that the rare fungal disease with a 50% mortality rate is linked to the global coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Dr. ABM Khurshid Alam, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) of Bangladesh, said they are more concerned about COVID-19, not black fungus.

“Normally, fungus is available in water, soil and air. So our main target is not the treatment after infection. Rather, we are more concentrated on preventive measures so that people are not being infected by it,” Alam said.

He added, however, that the disease is not in any alarming state in Bangladesh.

“We will try our best so that it does not spread amid this global pandemic,” he said.

Dr. Md Shahed Rafi Pavel, chairman of the Bangladesh Doctors’ Foundation, a local medical doctors’ platform, told Anadolu Agency that although the black fungus situation is in a very preliminary stage and not in any alarming state like in India, the issue should be handled properly so that nothing untoward happens in the near future.

“I expect that along with addressing the pandemic, the government will also take necessary steps from urban to grassroots [levels] about the fungus,” he said.

The delta nation has so far recorded 12,401 fatalities from the coronavirus pandemic while the total caseload stands at 790,521, according to official government records./aa