The Kuwaiti economy is expected to increase by 5.8 percent in 2022, and about 3.8 percent in 2023, supported by the growth of non-oil sectors and an increase in the production in the oil sector, reports Al-Rai daily.

According to the “Arab Economic Prospects” report issued by the Arab Monetary Fund, which includes expectations of the overall economic performance of Arab countries on a number of levels in the years 2022 and 2023, it is expected that the pace of Kuwait’s economic growth will be affected by the surrounding conditions.

The economic activity in Kuwait will return to the pre-pandemic level by 2023, in conjunction with the recovery of oil production in 2022 on the background of increased production in accordance with the decisions of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the continued recovery of the nonoil sector./ arabtimesonline

Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Mohamedou Ould Slahi, filed a $35 million lawsuit against the Canadian government for his 14-year detention, local media said Saturday.

According to a statement filed Friday on behalf of Slahi in the Federal Court of Canada, authorities took actions that "caused, contributed to and prolonged (his) detention, torture, assault and sexual assault at Guantanamo Bay," according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

Slahi, 51, a Mauritanian citizen who lived in Montreal from November 1999 to January 2000, was investigated by security services during that time.

He claimed that Canadian authorities harassed him during the investigation and forced him to return to Mauritania.

The "false information" about his activities by Canadian officials, led to his arrest and transfer to Jordan, Afghanistan and then to Guantanamo Bay.

The process leading up to Slahi's arrest in Montreal in 2002 started after he prayed at the same mosque with Ahmed Ressam, known as "Millennium plot" because he was an al-Qaeda member and planned to bomb the Los Angeles Airport during millennium celebrations.

Canadian authorities detained and arrested Slahi, who was praying at the mosque in Montreal, on suspicion of terrorism.

US interrogators, suspecting Slahi of membership in al-Qaeda, employed "enhanced interrogation techniques," which are now considered torture. As a result of torture, he confessed to all charges.

Released from Guantanamo in 2017, Slahi is working as a writer in a Dutch theater and has written several books.

"The Mauritanian" movie, shot last year, was based on one of his books.

Will Biden shut it down?

US President Joe Biden stressed during his vice presidency under Barack Obama and during the 2020 presidential race that Guantanamo should be closed.

Since taking office, Biden has released just one Guantanamo detainee.

The Pentagon announced July 19, 2021, that it extradited the last Moroccan citizen, 56-year-old Abdul Latif Nasir, from Guantanamo to his home country.

With that release, the number of detainees in Guantanamo fell to 39 but there are still questions about Biden's ability to close the notorious prison.

According to Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby, two of the remaining 39 detainees have been sentenced, while military court processes for 10 others continue.

While 13 other detainees are eligible for extradition, 14 are subject to periodic review.

After the completion of the military court process, detainees are then evaluated as to whether they are suitable for extradition.

It turned out that 85% of those released or extradited under Obama were not related to terrorism in any way, but it still took years for 197 detainees to be released from Guantanamo.

While most believe it may take time for Biden to release the remaining prisoners, closing the notorious prison is also considered very unlikely, especially under pressure from Congress./aa

A boat carrying 60 irregular migrants, sank off the coast of the Lebanese city of Tripoli, according to the Lebanese Red Cross on Saturday. 

"The boat, 60 people on board, sank. For the people, the Lebanese Red Cross has sent seven ambulances to the port of Tripoli," it said on Twitter.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that one girl was killed and 27 others were missing while naval forces rescued the remaining migrants.

Transportation Minister Ali Hamieh said later that the number of migrants rescued rose to 45 while efforts to find 14 others continue./aa

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received a group of children at the Vahdettin Mansion in Istanbul where they followed an annual tradition of taking the seats of Cabinet ministers. 

During the event that was held to celebrate National Sovereignty and Children's Day and also the 102nd anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish parliament, Erdogan symbolically gave his seat as head of state to Sukru Emre Eren.

After celebrating, Erdogan gave the floor to Eren.

Later, the eighth-grader gave a speech and introduced his Cabinet.

The day started with top government officials and politicians attending a morning ceremony in the nation’s capital of Ankara at Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. Those in attendance included Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop, National Education Minister Mahmut Ozer and other dignitaries.

The special day in Turkiye is marked by a festival for children and public offices, schools, and the private sector also hold programs.

The April 23 celebrations focus on children after Ataturk, the first parliament speaker. dedicated the day to children as the nation's future.

The Grand National Assembly met for the first time in Ankara in 1920 during the War of Independence to lay the foundations for an independent, secular and modern republic./aa

At least six people were killed and more than seven others wounded after a heavy explosion targeted a restaurant in Mogadishu’s Lido Beach on Friday evening, a police officer said. 

Abdi Mohamud, a police officer in Mogadishu's Abdiasis district, told Anadolu Agency over the phone that they believe that the attack was a suicide bombing that hit a restaurant, killing six people, including security personnel and civilians.

He said that at the time of the attack, several senior government officials were at the restaurant, including Somali police commander Abdi Hassan Mohamed ⁦Hijaar⁩ and lawmakers.

Somali National News Agency (SONNA) also reported that Al-Shabaab terrorists blew up the hotel on the Lido beach of Mogadishu, while 11 members of the Somali parliament and other politicians were at the scene of the blast.

"The number of casualties of deaths and injuries not known yet," SONNA said in a tweet.

Local media reported that heavy gunfire ensued in the hotel after the bomb blast.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack but al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist group al-Shabaab claimed numerous recent attacks in the Horn of African country./aa

The Turkish Red Crescent distributed food packages to 870 families in South Sudan, an official said Saturday. 

Food aid was distributed in the nation’s capital of Juba and surrounding villages. Turkish Ambassador to Cuba, Erdem Mutaf, also participated in the distributions.

Faruk Aksoy, the head of the Turkish Red Crescent Delegation to South Sudan, said officials delivered packages containing flour, rice, beans, oil, dates, sugar, tea and biscuits, to needy people with four different local partners.

The Turkish Red Crescent South Sudan Delegation Office, which has been operating in South Sudan since 2017, mainly carries out water, sanitation and hygiene, food distribution, hygienic material distribution and capacity building activities./aa

Eleven countries in the World Health Organization European Region and the US have reported at least 169 cases of acute hepatitis of unknown origin in children and young people, the WHO said on Saturday. 

Cases have been reported in the UK (114), Spain (13), Israel (12), the US (9), Denmark (6), Ireland (5), the Netherlands (4), Italy (4), Norway (2), France (2), Romania (1), and Belgium (1), a WHO statement said.

The hepatitis, an inflation of the liver, had raised speculation in the medical arena that the cases could be triggered by a new strain of adenovirus or even COVID-19.

COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) has been reported in 20 of the cases, and 19 were detected with the coronavirus and adenovirus co-infection, said the world health group.

"While adenovirus is currently one hypothesis as the underlying cause, it does not fully explain the severity of the clinical picture," the WHO said.

Those with cases are aged 1 month to 16 years, and 17 children (approximately 10%) have needed liver transplantation, and at least one death has been reported.

Britain first reported an unexpected significant increase in cases of severe acute hepatitis of unknown origin in young, generally previously healthy children.

Many cases reported gastrointestinal symptoms, including abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting preceding presentation with severe acute hepatitis.

The common viruses that cause acute viral hepatitis (hepatitis viruses A, B, C, D, and E) have not been detected in any of these cases.

Based on the currently available information, international travel or links to other countries have not been identified as factors./aa

Twitter has announced that it will ban advertisements that deny scientific consensus on climate change.  

“Misleading advertisements on Twitter that contradict the scientific consensus on climate change are prohibited, in line with our inappropriate content policy,” the company said in a statement on Friday.

Stressing that misleading information about climate change can undermine efforts to protect the planet, the statement said: “We believe that climate denialism shouldn’t be monetized on Twitter, and that misrepresentative ads shouldn’t detract from important conversations about the climate crisis.”/aa

Around 190,000 migrants in war-torn Yemen are in “dire” need of assistance, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned on Saturday.

“More than 4 million people who have fled their homes in search of safety, and some 190,000 migrants from the Horn of Africa, are in dire need of assistance” IOM said in a statement.

The UN body said the eight-year conflict in Yemen has not only affected the local population, but also migrants.

“Two out of three people in Yemen rely on humanitarian aid for their survival. Eighty percent of the population live under the poverty line,” IOM said. “Among those most affected are people on the move.”

However, despite the deepening humanitarian crisis, IOM said funding for the humanitarian response has been on “a worrying decline.”

“The people of Yemen must not be forgotten,” the organization said, calling for people to donate so as to support the “vulnerable people on the move and vulnerable Yemeni host communities.”

African migrants, particularly from Ethiopia and Somalia, use Yemen as a transit point on their way to the Gulf for work.

Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability since 2014, when Iran-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

The conflict has created one of the world's worst man-made humanitarian crises, with 23.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and protection and more than 19 million are in danger of starvation, according to latest UN estimates.

The UK-based international humanitarian organization Oxfam has warned that bread prices in Yemen have spiked up to 35% due to the ongoing Russian war on Ukraine.

The NGO said Yemen imports 42% of its grain from Ukraine, but the Russian war on the country has disrupted the supplies of grain and cooking oil to the war-torn Arab country./aa