Kuwait’s Ministry of Health announced Friday that 81 new COVID-19 cases were detected in the past 24 hours, while no deaths were reported. There are three patients in the ICU while 12 patients in total are receiving treatment in hospitals, the ministry added.

Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior on Friday denied reports that have buzzed the social media about purported suspension or withdrawal of driving licenses for expatriates. The ministry said in a statement that the personnel were actually engaged in routine upgrade of the licenses’ data system, swapping old permits for new digital ones. However, it warned that illegal permits will be withdrawn and the involved person would be subject to legal procedures. (KUNA)

The US Senate approved Muslim American Rashad Hussain to serve as Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, in a historic move.

Hussain, who was nominated by President Joe Biden in July, won Senate approval in a 85-5 vote Thursday. Hussain is the first American Muslim to hold the position.

He served as US Special Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Special Envoy for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications and Deputy Associate White House Counsel during the Barack Obama administration.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the US' largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, welcomed the confirmation on Friday.

"This is a historic day for the American Muslim community and our nation," Deputy Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a statement.

"We are confident that he will defend the religious freedom of all communities threatened by bigotry around the world, including Uyghur Muslims facing an unprecedented genocide by the Chinese Communist Party," said Mitchell.

Also, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom hailed Hussain's confirmation.

"With his years of knowledge and experience, Ambassador Hussain is well placed to advance the U.S. government’s promotion of international religious freedom," Chair Nadine Maenza said in a statement./agencies

The Muslim community in Belgium will appeal at the European Court of Human Rights against the ban on ritual halal animal slaughtering.

“The Belgian Muslim Executive and the Coordination Council of Islamic Institutions of Belgium will challenge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg the ban imposed by the Flemish and Walloon government on the ritual slaughter,” the two organizations wrote in a press statement.

The move comes after the Belgian Constitutional Court approved in October the ban on ritual slaughtering.

In 2019, new legislation on the protection and welfare of animals entered into force in the country’s Wallonia and Flanders regions.

The law banned slaughter by traditional Muslim and Jewish rites by requiring butchers to stun the animals before cutting them.

Muslim and Jewish organizations challenged the bill, arguing that the ban on ritual slaughtering is against the freedom of religion, but the Belgian top court dismissed their appeal.

The Muslim community now decided to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

“After all, the rule of law must not surrender to the political and social pressure of the growing populist movements that fight a symbolic battle against vulnerable minorities across Europe,” the organization wrote.

“Current religious slaughter techniques constitute a full-fledged alternative to stunning animals and are fully compatible with public health, food safety, and animal welfare requirements,” the associations explained.

“The stunning obligation, on the other hand, is only an emotional symbolic measure, which simply serves, to the detriment of religious minorities, to appease the conscience of the average consumer and to obscure the reality that animals are raised as objects of consumption in industrial mega-stalls,” they added./aa

The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) decided Friday to form a three-member international experts’ team to probe claimed human rights abuses in the armed conflict in Ethiopia.

The conflict in the Tigray region has expanded to other areas and forced at least 2 million people from their homes and many civilians are not getting assistance, the deputy UN human rights chief said during a special session set to address the “Grave Human Rights Situation in Ethiopia.”

Nada Al-Nashif was addressing a special session of the Human Rights Council called by the EU.

"The conflict in the Tigray region has, in recent months, extended to other areas of the country. It now involves an even wider range of actors, with serious impact on civilians," said Al-Nashif.

“Acute food insecurity is now affecting more than 9.4 million people in northern Ethiopia, according to OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs). Within Tigray, 5.2 million people – roughly 90 % of the population – is in need,” she added.

The request for the special session was supported by Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Fiji, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, the Marshall Islands, South Korea, Ukraine, and the UK.

The special session was also supported by 36 observer states, including Australia, Belgium, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the US, but it did not have the backing of the African Group.  

Joint investigation

Al-Nashif recalled the findings of the joint investigation by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and UN Human Rights Office.

The report found that all parties to the conflict, including the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, Tigrayan Forces and Eritrean Defense Forces, have, “to varying degrees, committed violations of international human rights."

"Some of the incidents investigated could potentially amount to international crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity," said Al-Nashif.

The report recommended all parties to the conflict take measures needed "to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure; and to agree, without preconditions, to immediately end hostilities and end any measures that may exacerbate the already acute humanitarian crisis."

"While the government of Ethiopia expressed some reservation regarding the joint investigation's findings, it committed to undertake comprehensive and impartial investigations into the alleged serious violations and to implement some of the report's recommendations," said Al-Nashif.

"The Tigray People's Liberation Front and the Eritrean Government entirely rejected the report and its findings,” she added.

Slovenian Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Anita Pipan, on behalf of the EU, said that the "gravity and scale of violations and atrocities committed against civilians by all sides, including sexual and gender-based violence and ethnic violence, are unacceptable."

The EU is convinced there is no military solution to this crisis, and it reaffirmed its strong support for African Union and regional mediation efforts, led by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.

"The widespread targeting of ethnic groups, hate speech, and incitement should be of the utmost concern," said Pipan.

"In this regard, the EU calls for transparency on the situation of persons arrested since the declaration of the state of emergency including by allowing visits to detention facilities."

Zenebe Kebede, the Ethiopian ambassador to the UN in Geneva, accused the HRC of targeting his country “for defending a democratically elected government,” and the peace and future of its people.

“The initiative of this special session, on the other hand, failed to condemn the pillage, destruction of property, rape and sexual abuse, use of child soldiers by these rebel forces, the TPLF (Tigray People's Liberation Front),” said Kebede.  

Addis Ababa rejects Council session's outcome

Addis Ababa expressed disappointment with the outcome of the special session.

After a UN meeting agreed to form the team to probe human rights abuses in the armed conflict, the government said it will not cooperate with the mechanism decided by the HCR.

“Ethiopia is extremely disappointed to have witnessed once again the use of the Human Rights Council by some to advance their politically motivated agenda,” said a statement by the Foreign Ministry.

The statement noted that regardless of repeated requests by the government for the Council not to hold a special session but rather engage constructively and work in a collaborative spirit with the country concerned, the meeting was allowed to continue.

Ethiopia said the move is,” an attempt to find an alternative way of meddling in the internal affairs of a sovereign state and serves no purpose except exacerbating the situation on the ground.”  

TPLF’s claim


The TPLF claimed that the government bombed a popular market, killing civilians in the northern Tigray region of Alamata.

“On 16 December, the government of Ethiopia has carried out six rounds of bombings (with jets and drones) at a marketplace of the city of Alamata, as a result, 28 people were killed and 76 others are wounded so far,” according to a statement.

Witnesses in the region told Anadolu Agency there had been an attack in the area.

“We have video evidence, the hospitals are nonfunctional so the death toll may go up. We have no medicine. We call for peace and an end to the indiscriminate bombings that are killings us,” one witness said on condition of anonymity.

The regional Tigray TV has broadcast scenes from the alleged attack site showing rubble and dozens of injured people, some lying motionless on the ground while others cried.

A government official, who spoke to Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media, confirmed the government was aware of the TPLF allegations and said that the reports were false.

"The allegation concerning (the) bombing of Alamata town – an area claimed by Amhara and Tigray regions – by the Ethiopian air force is a trumped-up one," the official said. "They had to fake something of the sort to correspond to the meeting now being held by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, a meeting which Ethiopia (is) vehemently opposed to,” the official added.

Last Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that Ethiopia is increasingly facing the prospect of an implosion that would be "disastrous" for its neighbors.

Blinken said Ethiopia's warring parties have the option to turn to negotiations and prevent all-out collapse but warned that if civil war envelops the country, the consequences for the region would be dire.

"I am very concerned about the potential for Ethiopia to implode given what we're seeing, both in Tigray, but also as we have different forces and different ethnic groups that are increasingly at odds," Blinken said at the State Department. /aa

The World Health Organization said Friday it has issued an emergency use listing for the Indian vaccine NVX-CoV2373, also known as Covovax, expanding the basket of WHO-validated vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic to nine.

The vaccine, named Covovax, is produced by the Serum Institute of India under license from Novavax and is part of the COVAX facility portfolio, "giving a much-needed boost to ongoing efforts to vaccinate more people in lower-income countries."

"Even with new variants emerging, vaccines remain one of the most effective tools to protect people against serious illness and death from SARS-COV-2," said Dr. Mariangela Simao, WHO assistant director-general for access to medicines.

"This listing aims to increase access particularly in lower-income countries, 41 of which have still not been able to vaccinate 10% of their populations, while 98 countries have not reached 40%."

The WHO's EUL procedure assesses the quality, safety, and efficacy of COVID-19 jabs and is a prerequisite for vaccine supply under COVAX, a facility to boost vaccine equity.

Speeding up vaccine approval

It also allows countries to speed up their regulatory approval to import and administer COVID-19 vaccines.

Covovax was assessed under the WHO EUL procedure based on quality, safety, and efficacy data, a risk management plan, programmatic suitability, and manufacturing site inspections.

The Drugs Controller General of India carried it out.

The Technical Advisory Group for Emergency Use Listing, convened by WHO and made up of experts worldwide, has determined that the vaccine meets WHO standards for protection against COVID-19.

It found that the vaccine's benefit far outweighs any risks and that the doses can be used globally.

Covovax is a sub-unit of the vaccine developed by Novavax and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

It requires two jabs and is stable at 2 to 8 C refrigerated temperatures.

The vaccine uses a novel platform and creates an engineered baculovirus containing a gene for a modified SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

The originator product produced by Novavax, named NuvaxovidTM, is currently under assessment by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

WHO said it will complete its own assessment of this vaccine once the EMA has issued its recommendation.

This week, a meeting of WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) also reviewed the vaccine.

SAGE formulates specific policies and recommendations for vaccines' use in populations like "recommended age groups, intervals between doses, particular groups such as pregnant and lactating women" and will issue recommendations for NuvaxovidTM/CovovaxTM in the coming days, said the WHO.

As part of the EUL process, the company producing the vaccine must commit to generating data to enable full licensure and WHO prequalification of the vaccine./aa

The Colombian government accused Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega on Friday of being a “dictator" and called on the international community to apply sanctions against his government.

"Colombia’s government expresses its deep concern about the strategy that Daniel Ortega has decided to use to distract the attention of an international community that vehemently rejects the new dictatorship that is being installed in the Central American country,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement. "Today the democratic quality of Nicaragua has the size of its dictator," it added.

The statement was given after Ortega said Colombia has become a "narco-state" where people are killed every day. He also criticized Colombian President Ivan Duque for questioning Nicaragua's government actions against human rights.

"Countries like Colombia, where there are leaders who dare to talk about human rights and they want to give lessons to Nicaraguans on the issue of human rights," said Ortega during a police graduation ceremony on Thursday. "Colombia is a narco-state, yes, it is a narco-state. With what authority can Colombia talk about security and human rights in Nicaragua, if human rights are permanently violated there?"

Nicaragua has been undergoing a political and social crisis since April 2018, exacerbated by a presidential election that the international community has denounced as neither free nor fair.

Nearly 40 of Ortega's opponents were arrested by government security forces months before the country's presidential election. Ortega, who has been in power since 2007, called them "criminals" who want to "overthrow the government."

The Nicaraguan government has started the process of withdrawing from the Organization of American States after the regional body adopted a resolution saying elections in the Central American country lacked ‘democratic legitimacy’.

Colombia was one of the 25 member countries of the OAS that did not recognize the legitimacy of the Nov. 8 elections in Nicaragua.

It also adhered on Dec. 8 to the majority vote which concluded that Nicaragua does not respect its commitments under the Inter-American Democratic Charter./agencies