Mobile crews of the Ministry of Family and Social Services have taken some 30,000 children off the streets in the past two years across the country. The ministry pursues efforts to save children forced to beg and other work on the street by adults while also aiming to boost their schooling rate. A total of 1,103 children were enrolled at schools after being saved from a lifetime of child labor. The ministry also sheltered 642 children at risk in its care homes for children while legal action was taken against the families of 1,138 children who forced their children to work.

Children begging or forced to sell water, paper tissues and other petty items on the streets are common sights in big cities. Gangs often exploit the orphaned children while in some cases, families themselves force their children who are of schooling age to beg. Turkey has a national program in place against child labor, which also covers children who are illegally employed by some businesses. The issue is most common among disadvantaged communities.

The ministry increased the number of mobile crews who comb the streets for beggar children and other disadvantaged minors to 314 and the practice is now implemented in all 81 provinces, rather than focusing only on big cities. Crews take the children to care homes where they can attend school as well and, if the children are forced to work because no other members of their household are able to earn a living, their families are included in social service programs, which financially support them. More than 8,000 families benefit from these services.

Families of more than 16,000 children benefited from counseling services for vocational education for their children, drug treatment for underage addicts and other services. Children enrolled at schools are also monitored to prevent them from dropping out again./aa

The Foreign Ministry issued a message commemorating a Turkish diplomat assassinated by an Armenian terrorist group in the U.S. in 1982.

"We remember with respect our martyr Kemal Arıkan, Consul General in Los Angeles, assassinated in a heinous attack by the Armenian terrorist organization JCAG in the USA on 28 January 1982," the Foreign Ministry said on Twitter.

Arıkan was killed by terrorist Hampig Sassounian and his accomplice Krikor Saliba on behalf of the Armenian terrorist group JCAG.

Sassounian was arrested and sentenced to life in prison, while fugitive terrorist Saliba is said to have been killed in the Lebanese civil war in 1982.

Last March, Sassounian was released on parole by the Los Angeles County Superior Court and was later returned to Armenia, both moves condemned by Turkey.

Armenian wave of terror against Turkish diplomats

According to data compiled by Anadolu Agency (AA), a total of 77 people – 58 of them Turkish citizens, including 31 diplomats and members of their families – were killed in attacks from 1973 to 1986 carried out by terrorist groups the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), Justice Commandos of the "Armenian Genocide" (JCAG) and the Armenian Revolutionary Army (ARA).

The deadly campaign began in 1973 with the assassination of Turkey's Consul General in Los Angeles Mehmet Baydar and diplomat Bahadır Demir by a terrorist named Gourgen Yanikian.

ASALA was the first Armenian terrorist group to wage war against Turkey. It not only targeted Turkey, but also other countries, and it became notorious for a 1975 bomb attack on the World Council of Churches' Beirut office.

JCAG initially gained notoriety after claiming responsibility, along with ASALA, for the Oct. 22, 1975 assassination of Danis Tunalıgil, Turkey's ambassador in Vienna.

The ARA is believed to be a continuation of JCAG under a different name.

Founded in 1975 in Beirut, Lebanon, during the Lebanese Civil War, ASALA is responsible for hundreds of bloody terrorist acts. While the Marxist-Leninist ASALA not only targeted Turkey but also other countries and became infamous for a 1975 bombing on the Beirut office of the World Council of Churches, the nationalistic JCAG has only targeted Turkey because it believed that attacking other countries would damage the so-called “Armenian struggle.”

Armenian terrorist attacks intensified from 1980 to 1983, when 580 of the 699 attacks – over 80% – occurred. The attack at Esenboğa airport in the Turkish capital Ankara on Aug. 7, 1982, was one of the most notorious attacks by ASALA, as the group targeted civilians for the first time. Nine people died and over 80 were injured when two terrorists opened fire in a crowded passenger waiting area at the airport.

The 1981 and 1983 Paris attacks are among the group's other notable acts. ASALA terrorists held 56 people hostage for 15 hours during the Turkish Consulate attack in 1981, while a suitcase bomb killed eight people – most of them non-Turks – in 1983 at a Turkish Airlines check-in desk at Paris' Orly Airport. According to some Turkish officials, after the Orly attack, the group lost much of its support and financial backing from the Armenian diaspora and had to dissolve. The terrorist attacks ended in 1986, according to an Armenian study on terrorism./aa

Supplies of Russian gas via the undersea Blue Stream gas pipeline to Turkey reached a record high in 2021, Gazprom said Friday, citing rising demand.

The 15.98 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas marks the highest annual volume via this major trans-Black Sea gas pipeline since commissioning.

“Record shipments via Blue Stream inspires us and proves the effectiveness of direct supply via offshore gas pipelines,” said Elena Burmistrova, head of Gazprom Export.

Russian gas exports have been in the spotlight amid Moscow’s standoff with the West over Ukraine, with Kyiv seeking membership of NATO while Russia has amassed troops near the border with Ukraine.

The West has threatened Russia with sanctions if it invades Ukraine. Russia, meanwhile, denies that it has plans to invade.

Ties between Russia and Turkey, one of Moscow’s biggest consumers of natural gas, have been patchy in recent years. Though relations have been beset by issues including conflicts in Syria and Libya, Russia and Turkey still enjoy relatively close political and economic cooperation.

The Blue Stream pipeline, launched in the early 2000s under the Black Sea, is Russia’s first pipeline directly connecting its gas fields with a major gas-consuming country.

Gas consumption in Turkey rose to a record high of 61 bcm in 2021, Gazprom Export said.

Russia also intends to supply gas directly to Germany via the Nord Stream 2 pipeline below the Baltic Sea. That pipeline remains idle ahead of the required regulatory clearance from Berlin and Brussels./aa

Europe's option for meeting the demand for gas in case Russia decreases its exports to the bloc is an increase in liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from the United States, Qatar and Australia as well as storage drawdowns, experts told Anadolu Agency (AA) Friday.

Tensions in Ukraine have been on the rise for months after Russia amassed tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine's border, a build-up the West says is in preparation for war. NATO and the European Union have warned the Kremlin of severe economic consequences if it invades its neighbor.

The escalation in tension in the region immediately fueled worries over a new energy crisis in the EU, with the continent's supply security put at risk amid the probability of a halt in Russian natural gas imports.

Kadri Simson, the European Union commissioner for energy, said last week that the bloc is actively discussing options with partners over an increase in gas supplies to the EU. Simson is scheduled to attend meetings in Azerbaijan and Washington next month.

U.S. officials also announced on Tuesday that the U.S. administration is in discussions with major natural gas producers in response to a potential cut by Russia due to sanctions that will take effect in the event of an invasion of Ukraine.

US, Qatar, and Australia

According to Samantha Gross, director of the energy security and climate initiative at Brookings Institution, additional gas supply would need to come in the form of LNG.

"The U.S., Qatar and Australia are the world’s three leading LNG producers and the first place I would look for additional supply. The Biden administration is being cagey about who they are talking to, but these are the most likely candidates," she said.

The U.S. has already been sending significant LNG volumes to Europe as a result of high prices there.

"There might be room for more, but the fact that the U.S. has recently become the world’s leading LNG exporter shows how hard the industry is working in response to high prices. I doubt there is a lot more capacity there, although maybe some LNG could be diverted from other customers," Gross explained.

Gross said that only some redirecting of supplies could take place given that suppliers have contractual obligations to other customers, especially in Asia, but warned that it would not be enough to replace all Russian pipeline supply, should the taps be completely turned off in response to sanctions.

"If Russia decreases or eliminates pipeline exports to Europe, that is a significant loss to global gas supply. Unlike oil, which is broadly fungible and easy to move around, gas travels through dedicated pipelines or through LNG infrastructure, which doesn’t exist everywhere. Demand for LNG would increase immediately, affecting all LNG customers. Much LNG is supplied through long-term contracts, but these would come under intense pressure everywhere," Gross added.

U.S. and European officials are already racing to find short-term alternatives to refill depleted reserves.

More than two-dozen tankers are en route from the U.S. to Europe, according to a report by Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that cited data from oil analytics firm, Vortexa. Another 33 tankers that haven’t yet confirmed their destinations are likely heading there as well, Vortexa data showed.

Storage, LNG flow diversion

Marco Giuli, an associate policy analyst at the European Policy Centre (EPC), said options for the EU to replace Russian gas supplies, if the flow is decreased or halted, largely depends on the type of disruption, the number of routes affected and the length of time any disruption would last.

"If a disruption is limited to flows through Ukraine – which are at historical lows at the moment – EU states that are affected can most likely cope through increases of storage withdrawals. This can be further alleviated in case Russia diverts flows towards the Yamal-Europe route and through minor increases in LNG imports," Giuli explained, noting that a full halt of Russian supplies is considered remote at the moment.

The 2,000-kilometer-long (1,243-mile) Yamal-Europe pipeline runs across Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany to export gas to Western Europe, transmitting 33 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per year. However, the pipeline has been operating in reverse mode, that is from Germany to Poland, since Dec. 21.

Pointing to the global supply tightness as the reason for months of very high prices, Giuli stressed that there is not so much spare capacity outside Russia.

He believes that any replacement for Russian supplies would come from storage and LNG flow diversions if European prices become high enough to signal a change in LNG cargo routes from Asia to Europe.

He also explained that the type of sanctions that Russia could face will also determine the impact on the global energy market.

He cited the example of removing Russia from the SWIFT financial messaging service, which he said “would immensely complicate transactions and likely create shortages and price spikes not only on gas markets but also in crude oil and oil products markets.”

However, he said this is seen as a rather extreme scenario, and in times of tight supplies, Russia’s adversaries might prefer to go for certain exemptions for the energy sector./DS

Five years after a gunman killed six men inside a Quebec City mosque, survivors of the attack and members of the community will gather Saturday to mark the tragedy, but they are also using the anniversary to highlight continuing discrimination faced by Muslims and issue a call for gun control.

Boufeldja Benabdallah, the co-founder of the mosque, told a news conference this week that his thoughts were with six fallen brothers, the five men who were seriously injured and 35 other survivors who live with memories of the bloodshed.

Mamadou Tanou Barry, Ibrahima Barry, Khaled Belkacemi, Abdelkrim Hassane, Azzeddine Soufiane and Aboubaker Thabti were gunned down shortly after evening prayers had ended at the Islamic Cultural Centre on Jan. 29, 2017.

Mr. Benabdallah said this year the community also wants to spark action on gun control, systemic racism and the effect on the Muslim community of Quebec’s secularism law, known as Bill 21.

“We said, not only will we make speeches and appeals, but we must take action.”

He said there’s more openness among the Quebec City population since the mosque attacks, but Islamophobia remains a scourge online, coming from an “active minority” on social media who can influence others. Organizers of Saturday’s memorial event near the mosque, which will be livestreamed, said fighting such hatred requires solidarity from everyone, including political allies.

“In Quebec, our Premier has not yet recognized either systemic racism or Islamophobia as existing,” Maryam Bessiri, a Quebec City resident, told the news conference. “When we name things, we put in place the tools to fight them.”

Mr. Benabdallah said it was initially hard convincing worshippers to come back to the mosque when every unexpected noise would have people looking behind their backs. But renovations and added security measures, completed last year, have helped calm some of those fears, he said.

Said Akjour, who was shot during the rampage, said he stayed away for a long time.

“When I come in [the mosque], it’s like it happened just yesterday,” Mr. Akjour said during the news conference in the prayer room, his voice trembling as he pointed out where he’d seen many of the victims sitting before the attack.

“It’s a big loss, but today, after five years, for me, there’s a sense of pride reciting these six names.”

Mr. Akjour said the injured and survivors are sometimes forgotten when recalling the tragedy, noting at least one victim, Aymen Derbali, now needs a wheelchair.

Personally, Mr. Akjour said he lost much in the aftermath of the attack – his marriage, his house, his job – and struggled to get counselling through an assistance program for crime victims. But he said he is in a good place now and only sees positive things.

“Today, I’m stronger than ever,” Mr. Akjour said, adding he’s happy to still live in Quebec City.

Mohamed Labidi, co-founder and former president of the mosque at the time of the attack, said moving on is difficult when other tragedies revive painful memories.

He gave the examples of 51 murders at two mosques in New Zealand in 2019, the 2020 killing of a Muslim man doing health screening outside a Toronto mosque, and the June, 2021, killings of four members of the Afzaal family from London, Ont., who were run down while out for an evening walk.

“We’re trying to turn the page, with difficulty, because there are always incidents that remind us of the events,” Mr. Labidi said. “There are also things that spoil this peace of mind that we look for, like Bill 21, like the ongoing court hearings involving the killer.”

Convicted Quebec City mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette’s sentence remains before the courts, raising concerns for Mr. Labidi that families of the victims may end up having to relive the tragedy again in 25 years. He was originally sentenced to life without parole for 40 years but had that reduced on appeal to 25 years. The Supreme Court of Canada will hear an appeal of the shooter’s sentence in late March.

On Bill 21, Mr. Labidi said it’s clear the Muslim community is directly targeted. The secularism law was passed in June, 2019, and bans the wearing of religious symbols such as hijabs, kippas and turbans by teachers, judges, police and other government employees deemed to be in positions of authority.

Mr. Labidi says there’s great disappointment about the law among the Muslim community and he has a list with as many as 50 people – including children – who’ve left Quebec City since the law was adopted, mostly for other provinces. He doesn’t believe the exodus is over yet.

“It’s clear discrimination that normally a democratic society would not permit,” Mr. Labidi said.

Amid the pain, there’s a desire to make the most of second chances. Mohamed Khabar, one of those wounded in the attack, told a discussion on gun control this week that he is using what he considers a second life to push for a pan-Canadian handgun ban. He co-signed a letter sent to federal and Quebec politicians this week.

Shot twice by a handgun, Mr. Khabar said he was lucky to survive. The six men who died and the screams of children inside the mosque are etched into his memory.

“We want as a minimum for the government to act to prevent a future tragedy,” Mr. Khabar said. “We’re doing this, not for ourselves as we have lived it, but for others to not have to live it.”/ theglobeandmail

Former Vice President of India Hamid Ansari has once again started seeing intolerance in India. He once again sees the country's democracy in danger. In fact, on January 27, 2022, Hamid Ansari, while addressing the event of the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), has expressed concern over Hindu nationalism. The former Vice President said that an attempt is being made to divide the people into religious lines in the country and incite people of a particular religion. On the occasion of Republic Day (January 26), Ansari criticised the country's democracy, saying intolerance is on the rise in the country and it has now deviated from constitutional values.

Expressing concern over Hindu nationalism, Ansari said, "In recent years, we have experienced the emergence of trends and practices that raise a hue and cry about the well-established principle of civic nationalism and encourage a new and imaginary trend of cultural nationalism. They want to divide citizens on the basis of their religion, promotes intolerance, unrest and insecurity.'' At the same time, Ansari praised himself and said that during his tenure as vice-president, the country's parliamentary system and law were completely transparent. It is to be noted here that the 'Indian American Muslim Council' (IAMC) virtual event in which Hamid Ansari attended has already been accused of being associated with Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI.

It is worth mentioning that there is an uproar over the statement of Hamid Ansari. He has done things like this before. Hamid Ansari, who described Muslims as unsafe in India, had given an interview to Zee News in January 2021 last year. Hamid was here to promote the new book 'Bye Manny A Happy Act.' During that time, he had said that Muslims in India are feeling insecure. On the question of mob lynching, the former Vice President had stressed that lynching is indeed religiously motivated. He had tried his best to prove that ever since the Hindu nationalist BJP came to power, the lynching of the country's minorities has increased.

Not only this but Hamid Ansari has also been accused of endangering the lives of intelligence agency officials by exposing raw's setup in gulf countries when he was Iran's ambassador during 1990-92. Former RAW official NK Sood had written a letter to PM Modi in 2019, demanding an inquiry into the role of Hamid Ansari. Sood had also mentioned the kidnapping of Indian officer Sandeep Kapoor in 1991. Hamid Ansari was also accused of negligence in the case. At the same time, in 2019, NK Sood had also said that a person named Ratan Sehgal was an associate of Hamid Ansari. Ratan was in ib during that time. It was Ratan Sehgal who trapped scientist Nambi Narayanan under the conspiracy and ruined his career. Sood had also revealed that Ratan Sehgal often used to scare him because of Hamid Ansari's special. Let us also tell here that the notorious mafia of Uttar Pradesh, Hamid Ansari, who has many cases like murder, loot, rioting, is the nephew of Hamid Ansari, but Hamid Ansari has never seen any threat to the country due to the misdeeds of Mukhtar./ newstracklive

The death toll from a tropical storm that struck three African countries climbed to 78 Thursday as emergency efforts continued to repair damaged infrastructure and help tens of thousands of victims.

Tropical Storm Ana hit Madagascar on Monday and made landfall in northern Mozambique, bringing widespread flooding and destroying roughly 600,000 hectares (1.48 million acres) of agriculture crops, especially in Malawi’s southern districts.

Madagascar’s National Bureau of Risk and Disaster Management reported 41 dead, with 32 deaths in the Analamanga region, including seven people who died following the collapse of a car park in Ankadifotsy.

The bureau reported 422 classrooms damaged and 25 other schools destroyed across the country.

In Mozambique, 18 people were killed, while in Malawi, the tropical storm left 19 people dead.

On Thursday, rescue workers and authorities in the three countries were still assessing the full extent of the damage.

Tens of thousands of homes were ruined as some collapsed under the heavy rain.

Bridges were washed away by flooded rivers, leaving several hectares of crops submerged and livestock drowned.

In Madagascar, the number of displaced across the country amounted to 110,394 people from 24,050 households.

In the capital Antananarivo, schools and gyms were turned into emergency shelters.

In northern and central Mozambique, the storm destroyed infrastructure including 10,000 homes, dozens of schools, hospitals and power lines.

In Malawi, meanwhile, President Lazarus Chakwera on Thursday declared a state of disaster in the country’s south, where the tropical storm wreaked havoc.

He extended his condolences to the families of the people who lost their lives in flood-related incidents.

“Let me assure those affected that the government through the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) and humanitarian partners has already started providing assistance to the affected people,” Chakwera said.

He also appealed for help from both local and international donors.

“Since most of the areas are inaccessible and considering the large number of displaced households, additional resources are required to provide assistance to all the affected people,” he said.

Earlier, the disaster management department said some 216,972 people have become homeless and 107 were injured as Tropical Storm Ana hit the southern part of the country.

The southeast African nation of over 20 million people also plunged into darkness after floods damaged part of the country’s main hydropower plant, forcing it to shut down.

Water pumping stations into cities have stopped working due to the lack of power, resulting in water shortages in all major cities.

The Ministry of Education temporarily suspended classes at all public schools in the southern region to protect the lives of students in the affected areas.

Heavy damage has also been caused to infrastructure such as roads, bridges and buildings.

Disaster and Management Affairs Commissioner Charles Kalemba said they have deployed a search and rescue team comprising the defense force, police, and the Department of Marine Services.

“They will have to assist the Malawi Red Cross Society in rescuing people feared to be trapped,” Kalemba said in a statement.

Southern Africa, and especially Mozambique and Malawi, have suffered repeated destructive storms in recent years attributable to climate change, which has made weather-related disasters more frequent.

In 2009, Cyclone Ida killed 59 and affected 900,000 people in Malawi./agencies

Major US stock indexes ended in the red Thursday, despite early gains due to positive economic data, as investors remained unsure how the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy will affect companies’ profits and shares.  

Ongoing concerns over supply chain problems also weighed on markets. 

The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.02%, or 7.31 points, at 34,160.78.

The S&P 500 lost 23.42 points, or 0.54%, to close at 4,326.51.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq was off 189.34 points, or 1.4%, at 13,352.78.

Tesla shares dropped by more than 11% during the day after the company said it would not produce new models in 2022 and has not started working yet on a $25,000 electric car.

Asian markets also closed the day on the negative side while European indices and the Turkish BIST 100 index ended positive./aa

Police arrested two suspected poachers with 14 pieces of ivory Thursday which authorities said were taken from seven elephants in western Kenya.

The National Police Service said a joint team of Busia county police officers and their counterparts from Kenya Wildlife Service arrested Mohamed Abbas, 60, his accomplice Paul Wafula Njoka, 70, and recovered the ivory.

“To a few, these are just photos of pedestrian criminals arrested by police for a normal crime as they await their day in court,” police said while displaying photographs of the suspects. “To us and (the) majority of Kenyans who are passionate about the preservation of our national heritage, these are seven elephants of diverse ages killed for ivory, by humans.”

Police said a multi-agency team flagged the pair at Korinda junction in Busia following information that was shared by a civilian.

Authorities said the two suspects are in custody at Busia Police Station awaiting arraignment in court to answer the charges.

They encouraged the public to protect wildlife and reject criminal acts against Kenya’s national heritage./agencies