An imam representing the Islamic community in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s Beni town was shot dead by rebels on Saturday evening while praying at a mosque, local authorities said on Sunday.

Modeste Bakwanamaha, the mayor of Beni town in North Kivu province, said Sheikh Ali Amin was killed around 7 p.m. local time (1800 GMT).

Military officials in the region contacted by Anadolu Agency said there were "serious threats" to the imam who opposed radicalism and local armed groups.

The assassins have not yet been identified. The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) group, is, however, active in eastern DRC.

The ADF rebels -- originating in Uganda's northeast in the 1990s -- have been attacking and killing civilians, as well as UN personnel in eastern DRC for the past many years.

To contain the armed group, President Félix Tshisekedi declared a state of siege on Friday in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, bordering Uganda.

The ADF raided the village of Kyaninga, bordering Uganda on Thursday night and killed six civilians, according to local authorities.

The DRC has been plagued by violence for years as several rebel groups fight with each other or against the country’s military and UN forces for territorial control.

According to the UN, exploitation of natural resources continues to be a root cause and driver of conflict, with most armed groups having set aside their political demands and being involved in mineral trafficking./aa

A Palestinian engineer, who was in the team that designed NASA’s mini Mars helicopter Ingenuity, is proud of being part of a historic event.

Loay Elbasyouni, born and raised in Gaza’s Beit Hanoun city and now lives in Los Angeles, California, spoke about his success story with Anadolu Agency.

Elbasyouni said he came to the US University of Louisville in 1998 and he would deliver pizza after school to earn his bread and added that he completed his higher education in electrical engineering.

After graduating, the Gazan engineer, who made researches on alternative energy, electric vehicles, and planes, was assigned to the team that built the helicopter sent to Mars for NASA in the last private company he worked for.

Just an idea

Elbasyouni noted that he was selected to the NASA team while specializing and working on super light, electronic power, electric aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles.

“It was just an idea that can you really fly on Mars?” he said, adding then they built a small miniature aircraft that was like “a toy.”

“They actually took that helicopter tested it in the chamber at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and it actually did not perform so good,” Elbasyouni said.
He said with the tests, they learned what mathematics and calculation to come up with to develop a model that will actually fly.

Recalling that he was not sure if an aircraft that can fly on Mars was achievable during the works, he said: “It was very complex, I mean we had to design a motor that actually operates at very cold temperature.”

The project started in 2014 with different teams in different fields, Elbasyouni said, adding he worked with other NASA engineers as chief engineer in Ingenuity's design and construction team for more than four years.

‘My eyes literally tear’

Recalling his joy when he learned that he was part of the team, the engineer said: “That was like really exciting. I knew that that was going to be something on Mars,” he recalled.

“The day it [Ingenuity] landed on Mars safely, I was like okay I made it. I achieved to have a piece of hardware on Mars.”

The day the Ingenuity first flew, it was so much joy, he recalled and said: ”I shouted in the middle of the night waking up half of the building … My eyes literally [filled with] tears [while watching the live streaming].”

He said a lot of risks were taken and he felt himself like one of the Wright Brothers, who successfully flew the first motor-operated airplane in the US at the beginning of the 1900s.

“I mean I'm part of history,” he said, adding that Ingenuity successfully flew four times.

In the second flight, it was able to capture more scenes and it exceeded expectation, he said.

“And I'm really excited for the last and fifth flight,” Elbasyouni said, adding that he will continue engineering studies in electric vehicles and aviation.

Stating that he is interested in new discoveries in the field of electric energy use and that he can establish his own company in the future.

Away from home for 12 years

Noting that his father is one of the best surgeons of Palestine in Israeli occupied Gaza City, he said people living in his country strive for success.

From a young age, Elbasyouni did not see circumstances as an obstacle before his success and said: “I always knew I will succeed. Honestly, I have not reached my goals yet.”

Due to Israel’s occupation, he could not see his parents for 12 years and his brother for 14 years, he noted, saying his parents have moved to Germany.

“There's nothing legally stopping me [from going to Gaza] but there is a risk,” he said.

“In engineering, we can predict everything, we can calculate everything and we can follow a project timeline.

“If I do the same thing with the situation in Gaza, if I say, I want to visit Gaza, what is the timeline? I cannot answer that question,” he said, adding that border closure and opening may occur anytime there.

“I have to be willing to sacrifice my career, my job and put myself at risk.”
He recalled that once his parents were stuck in Gaza for nine months and their visas got expired.

“They used to go to the Rafah crossing every day. It’s not easy,” he said.
Elbasyouni called on Gazan people not to lose hope despite challenges, stating that he worked on a mission he called “impossible.”

“I think they should dream, and they should believe in their hope.”

Perseverance and Ingenuity

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter remains attached to the Perseverance rover that landed on the red planet on Feb. 18 and is currently in transit to an airfield where it will attempt to fly.

On April 19, Ingenuity performed its first flight that lasted around a minute and became “the first aircraft flying on another planet."

Ingenuity, which conducted four flights, stayed in the air for about two minutes at an altitude of five to six meters (16- 20 feet) above Perseverance on each flight and sent to the world the photos taken with a color camera.

As the atmospheric density on Mars is about 1% that of Earth, NASA engineers used ultra-light materials to lift the Ingenuity off the ground, and four propellers, each 123 centimeters long and spinning faster than required on Earth./aa

A child was killed in an attack by the YPG/PKK terrorist group in northern Syria, according to Turkey’s National Defense Ministry.

The terrorists fired eight artilleries shells and rockets in the Operation Olive Branch zone in Afrin province.

The ministry said the mother of the child and another civilian were also injured in the attack.

Since 2016, Turkey has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).

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

 Parliamentary opposition has grown in Kuwait to paper examinations due to be held later this month amid COVID-19 concerns. The 12th graders are scheduled to take their exams after the Muslim Eid Al Fitr holiday amid opposition from parents and several lawmakers.

“In view of the increasing coronavirus cases and potential perils of holding such tests as well as lack of guarantees to protect students from contracting the virus, it is necessary to reconsider the decision of conducting the paper exams for the 12th grade students,” MP Mohamed Al Hewilah said. He added that students’ health must get top priority.

“The harvest of knowledge collected through the online studies is not commensurate with the paper exams, which rely on in-class teaching. Therefore, it is necessary to cancel the paper exams and instead hold them online,” he added, according to Al Qabas newspaper.

“I share parents of 50,000 students their fears of the paper tests amid the current health circumstances,” MP Mohammed Al Rajhi said.

Political accountability

He added that he would present a request to discuss the issue in the parliament. “Either the nation and its deputies [MPs] are persuaded that there are no perils and that the ministries of education and health are prepared, or the paper exams are cancelled, or officials are held to political accountability,” he said.

The Kuwaiti Education Ministry had earlier advocated the paper exams, saying they are crucial for the 12th graders who must be qualified for the university education. The ministry also said that it will take into consideration the type of the distance learning being applied in the country due to the coronavirus and that the exam questions will be suitable for students’ levels.

SOURCE: GULFNEWS

Agricultural District in the far north of Kuwait under the supervision of his eldest son, the farmer Badr Saud Abdulaziz Al-Saleh, convinced of them of the importance of growing wheat in the Abdali districts. It is an important strategic crop for the entire population of Kuwait, Their father (Abu Badr) was one of the founders of the Abdali Agricultural District and one of the first to plant in it. He responded in the early eighties of the last century to the call of the President and General Manager of the Public Authority for Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources at the time, Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Duaij Al-Sabah, to cultivate wheat on a large scale in His large farm in Abdali, like many of his agricultural track companions at the time and founders of Abdali

He helped them to grow wheat and harvest it, the mechanisms provided by the officials of the Public Authority for Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources, especially the modern harvesting and gathering mechanisms. However, this wonderful Kuwaiti experience in growing wheat in the Abdali districts as well as in the corners of abundance was not communicated and continued, due to the brutal Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. 1990 year.

After the blessed liberation in 1991, most of the farmers of Abdali and Al-Wafra were reluctant to grow wheat, due to the disappearance, theft or damage of harvesting mechanisms. However, the farmer Saud Abdulaziz Al-Saleh continued to grow wheat on his farm, convinced of him, but his belief in the importance of wheat and barley production and the production of dates, to achieve an important part of The food security hoped for in Kuwait, as wheat and dates are food for humans, and barley is food for animals.

(Abu Badr) continued to grow wheat, in Abdali, for family use and to give it to his acquaintances and friends, until illness crippled him, but his children remained loyal and loyal to him, so they continued the journey of growing him on a small part of their farm in Abdali.

Regarding the experience of cultivating wheat at the Al-Saleh farm this season 2020-2021, the supervisor of the farm, Awad Al-Samahi, said, “We spread wheat from the previous season’s production, on a land of a small area of about 2,400 square meters, well mixed and well fertilized organically, in late October And here we are harvesting the yellow ears in the middle of April 4, the production is abundant and the quality is good ».

Al-Samahi added, “The cultivation of wheat in the fertile land of Abdali is successful, although we irrigate it with Crusader water (with little salinity), but the problem is in harvesting it. Manual harvesting is tiring and painstaking, especially as it requires many laborers, and we miss many of them in these difficult days, days. Corona, God is transgressing against us, and you are well and peace. ”

He added, “We will continue to grow wheat every season, even in small quantities,” explaining that “converting wheat to obtain flour from which to make delicious bread is done through the Kuwait Mills Company, which kindly grinds what the farmer Badr Saud Abdulaziz Al-Saleh sends to, and the flour is taken by this farmer and his brothers for use.” The personal family, and to donate quantities of it to their acquaintances and friends to make bread, bulgur, freekeh, and other nutritious and useful materials.

  Zionist entity on Saturday prevented some Orthodox Christians from attending the Holy Fire ceremony at Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Orthodox Christians, including priests, seeking to attend the ceremony flocked to the church -- one of the most sacred Christian sites in the world -- in East Jerusalem, but were blocked by police in the narrow streets leading to the church.

The Holy Fire ceremony symbolizes Jesus's resurrection.

Eyewitnesses said Zionist police erected barricades to block access, adding that some clergymen and a small number of Orthodox Christians were able to advance to the church.

No restrictions on amount of participants

Unlike the COVID-19 measures of 2020, no restrictions were imposed this year on the number of participants taking part in the ceremony.

The keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which has been the subject to dispute between different sects of Christianity throughout history, are kept by two Palestinian Muslim families.

The area is home to religious sites sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims.

Ottoman Sultan Abdulmecid handed over the keys of the church to two Muslim families from the notables of Jerusalem in order to put an end to the fighting between Christians.