At least 22 civilians were killed Sunday in a rebel attack in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO) carried out the attack on the Ivo displaced people's camp in Ituri state, local media reported.

Members of the armed group opened fire on the asylum seekers and many people fled the camp.

Last week, an attack on the same camp resulted in the killing of 29 civilians.

President Felix Tshisekedi declared a military siege in the states of North Kivu and Ituri on May 7 to ensure security due to escalating violence.

Civilian officials of the region were dismissed and replaced by military officials as part of the siege.

Armed groups have been trying to control gold, cobalt and other mines in the region for nearly 20 years through attacks and clashes in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which borders Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi./aa

Health officials in Canada announced Sunday that two cases of the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 have been identified in the capital Ottawa.

A statement by Ontario’s Deputy Premier and Health Minister Christine Elliott and Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Kieran Moore said the cases were reported in two people who had recently traveled to Nigeria.

While the patients were taken into isolation, case and contact studies by Ottawa Public Health were continuing, the statement said.

Calling on the federal government to take the necessary steps to further protect against the spread of the new variant, the officials said "the best defense against the Omicron variant is stopping it at our border."

They assured that the state of Ontario was "prepared and ready to respond to this new variant" and said Ontario had already expanded eligibility for provincially-funded COVID-19 PCR testing at all testing centers to individuals who have been to South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe since Nov. 1 in order to rapidly identify, trace and isolate COVID-19 and its variants.

"We will continue to monitor trends in key public health and health system indicators, monitor for and learn about this new variant, and we will act quickly if necessary," the statement added.

South African scientists announced last week that they had discovered the Omicron variant, which has several mutations that may carry the risk of reinfection. The same variant was also detected in neighboring Botswana as well as Hong Kong and was first spotted on Nov. 12-22 before being announced Thursday.

On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the strain a "variant of concern," naming it Omicron.

Several countries around the world have now banned flights from over half a dozen southern African nations including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho and Eswatini over fears of the new variant.​​​​​​​/aa

Rwanda on Sunday became the latest country to suspend direct flights to southern Africa in a bid to prevent the entry of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant.

The Omicron variant, which was first reported by South Africa to the World Health Organization (WHO) on Nov. 24, has now been detected in at least a dozen countries.

“While the variant has not been detected in Rwanda, its effects are potentially dangerous, and therefore Rwandans and residents of Rwanda are required to exercise extra vigilance in the practice and enforcement of preventive measures,” said a statement issued by the Rwandan Prime Minister’s office following Sunday’s Cabinet meeting.

Direct flights between Rwanda and southern Africa are temporarily suspended, it said.

With the decision, Rwanda’s national flag carrier RwandAir has effectively suspended flights to and from Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa, Lusaka in Zambia and Harare in Zimbabwe.

Earlier in the day, RwandAir announced that effective Monday, it will not board passengers from South Africa and Zimbabwe travelling to Dubai.

Meanwhile, the government maintained that all arriving passengers must present a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours and quarantine for 24 hours at their own cost.

A seven-day quarantine will be required for passengers travelling from or those with a recent history of travel in the affected countries.

Last Friday, the WHO classified Omicron as a “variant of concern” and called on countries to enhance surveillance.

Several countries have tightened travel restrictions from southern Africa.

The WHO, however, said Sunday that it is not yet clear whether Omicron could easily spread from person to person compared to other variants, even though the number of people testing positive has climbed in South Africa attributable to the variant./aa

Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan signed a trilateral gas swap deal Sunday for up to 2 billion cubic meters per year.

The much-awaited agreement was signed on the sidelines of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat by the oil ministers of the three countries in the presence of the presidents of Iran and Turkmenistan and prime minister of Azerbaijan.

Iran's Oil Minister Javad Owji, who was accompanying President Ebrahim Raisi to the ECO Leaders Summit, told reporters that under the swap deal, Iran will receive gas from Turkmenistan and deliver an equivalent amount to Azerbaijan.

Turkmenistan will sell 5 to 6 million cubic meters of gas per day to Azerbaijan through Iranian territory.

The deal is expected to be implemented in less than a month, before the winter sets in.

Speaking to reporters after the deal was signed, Raisi said it will "strengthen ties" between the three countries, which experts see as a sign of de-escalation in tensions between Tehran and Baku.

Iranian government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi in a tweet late Sunday said the gas that Iran will receive under the agreement will cater to the needs of at least five provinces of the country.

In a swipe at the previous government, he said the "field of foreign relations is no longer limited to a few specific countries."

The gas swap deal comes a week after Iran and Azerbaijan agreed to push ahead with multiple energy agreements, including swap deals and joint development of oil and gas fields in the Caspian Sea.

The announcement came during a meeting between Owji and Azerbaijan's Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev during the latter's visit to Tehran.

On the sidelines of the ECO summit, the long-running dispute between Tehran and Ashgabat over gas debt also came up.

Iran's oil minister assured his Turkmen counterpart that the first installment would be paid "soon,” without specifying the amount. According to reports, Iran owes Turkmenistan around $1.8 billion in payments for gas delivered to Tehran.

Although Iran has natural gas fields in southern parts of the country, it has been importing gas from Turkmenistan since the late 1990s to meet growing demand, especially in its northern provinces./aa

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Sunday it has provided humanitarian aid to thousands of displaced Yemenis in the central Marib province.

"In Marib, displaced families continue to move from one camp to another seeking safety and humanitarian aid," UNICEF said in a statement.

The UN agency said it supported around 7,600 people in one of the new camps for displaced Yemenis.

UNICEF is "providing 113,000 cubic meters of clean water on a daily basis," it said, adding that it distributed 1,330 hygiene kits, installed 78 temporary latrines and 13 water distribution points for easy access water.

The Yemeni government says the Houthi military escalation in Marib caused the displacement of nearly 100,000 people since September 2021.

Since February, Iran-aligned Houthi rebels have stepped up attacks to take control of the oil-rich Marib province, one of the most important strongholds of the legitimate government and home to the headquarters of Yemen’s Defense Ministry.

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

A Saudi-led coalition aimed at reinstating the Yemeni government has worsened the situation and caused one of the world’s worst man-made humanitarian crises, with 233,000 people killed, nearly 80% or about 30 million needing humanitarian assistance and protection, and more than 13 million in danger of starvation, according to UN estimates./aa

The Argentine judiciary has taken “a historic step” to open a court case against the Myanmar military over then persecution of the Rohingya, said a UK-based Rohingya advocacy group on Sunday.

The Second Chamber of the Federal Criminal Court in Buenos Aires on Friday confirmed that it would launch a case against senior Myanmar officials under the principle of universal jurisdiction, according to a statement by the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK (BROUK).

“This is a day of hope not just for us Rohingya but for oppressed people everywhere. The decision in Argentina shows that there is nowhere to hide for those who commit genocide – the world stands firmly united against these abhorrent crimes,” said Tun Khin, the president of BROUK that filed the petition to the Argentinian judiciary to open the case in November 2019.

The case in Argentina will cover the full range of crimes committed against the minority Rohingya Muslims in the Buddhist majority Southeast Asian state of Myanmar, said the statement.

“The case relates to crimes perpetrated against the Rohingya by Myanmar authorities in Rakhine State for decades,” it added.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed while more than 34,000 were thrown into fires, over 114,000 beaten, as many as 18,000 Rohingya women and girls raped, over 115,000 Rohingya homes burned down and 113,000 others vandalized by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).

More than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women, and children, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017, pushing the number of persecuted people in Bangladesh above 1.2 million.

“The case in Argentina is the first universal jurisdiction case concerning the Rohingya genocide anywhere in the world, but not the only international legal process against the Myanmar authorities,” according to the statement.

“It includes the particular situation of six women who were raped, tortured, and in many cases, their husbands and children killed during that genocidal campaign in Rakhine State,” it added.

One of the six women, now living in the crammed makeshift tents in Bangladesh’s southern district of Cox’s Bazar, for the first time, described her ordeal before the Argentinian court in August this year.

She narrated how brutally Myanmar soldiers killed their husbands and raped and killed women in Chuk Pyin, Rakhine.

In November 2019, the Gambia filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Myanmar for violating the Genocide Convention. In January 2020, the ICJ imposed “provisional measures”, ordering the end to genocidal practices against the Rohingya.

“We urge the international community to redouble efforts to bring about justice and ensure that this momentum is not lost,” said Tun Khin, adding that other countries should “immediately explore opening similar cases to show those responsible for the genocide that there are no safe havens anywhere.”/aa

Over 1,870 Iraqi refugees stranded at the Belarusian border have returned home so far, Iraqi Airways said on Sunday.

According to a statement by the flag carrier, 1,876 Iraqi citizens have returned to their country from the Belarusian capital Minsk on evacuation flights, so far.

The flights will continue through Sunday and Monday, it added.

In early November, many asylum seekers tried to cross the border to enter Poland from Belarus, where there are currently about 4,000 stranded asylum seekers, according to the Polish Press Agency.

The EU accuses Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of coordinating the arrival of this wave of migrants and refugees to the eastern edge of the bloc in response to European sanctions imposed on his country after his regime's "brutal repression" against the opposition./aa

The Netherlands detected 13 cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, first reported in South Africa, health authorities said on Sunday.

The Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) said that the people with the Omicron variant came from South Africa to the Netherlands on Friday.

In a statement, the RIVM said 624 passengers returning from South Africa were tested for the coronavirus by the municipal health service in the northwestern Kennemerland region.

"The passengers were tested at Schiphol Airport and 61 of them tested positive for COVID-19. These test samples were sent to RIVM National Institute for Public Health and the Environment for further analysis to determine which variant of the coronavirus was involved," it added.

"Initial results from genome sequencing showed the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) in 13 of the samples from the positive tests. Sequencing has not been completed yet. It is possible that the new variant will be found in more test samples," it added.

This week, South African scientists announced that they had discovered the Omicron variant, which has several mutations that may carry the risk of reinfection. The same variant was also detected in neighboring Botswana, as well as Hong Kong, and was first detected on Nov. 12-22 before being announced on Thursday.

On Friday, the World Health Organization declared the strain a "variant of concern," naming it Omicron.

Several countries around the world have now banned flights from over half a dozen Southern African nations, including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, and Eswatini, over fears of the new variant.​​​​​​​/agencies

Ukraine using Turkish drones in the region could be a “complete game-changer,” said prominent American political scientist, political economist and writer Francis Fukuyama.

Writing on Twitter, Fukuyama argued that “this is why Moscow seems so preoccupied with this issue.”

Ukraine recently employed a Turkish-made unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), namely Bayraktar TB2, to destroy a howitzer used by pro-Russian separatists in Donbas.

The introduction of the drone is a potential game changer in the yearslong conflict after Turkish drones were used by Azerbaijan last year to overpower Armenia's army in Nagorno-Karabakh – another frozen post-Soviet conflict.

The Kremlin said last month that its fears about Turkey's decision to sell strike drones to Ukraine were being realized and that the Turkish drones risked destabilizing the situation in eastern Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov echoed the Kremlin’s concerns, saying Russia was investigating reports that Ukraine used the Turkish drone.

Russian forces annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in February 2014, with President Vladimir Putin formally dividing the region into two separate federal subjects of the Russian Federation the following month.

Turkey, a NATO member, has criticized Moscow's annexation of Crimea and voiced support for Ukraine's territorial integrity. However, the United States and United Nations General Assembly view the annexation as illegal as well.

Fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in Donbas has killed more than 13,000 people since 2014, according to the U.N.

The region is one of the several sources of friction between Russia and Ukraine./DS

Greece on Saturday opened two more of its new "closed" migrant camps on islands near Turkey as part of a stricter policy for managing migrant flows that has been criticized by rights groups.

The "closed" camps have barbed wire fencing, surveillance cameras, x-ray scanners and magnetic doors and gates that remain closed at night. They also have facilities, like running water, toilets and more security, that were absent from the previous facilities that became infamous for their living conditions.

"It's the beginning of a new era," Minister of Migration Notis Mitarachi said announcing the opening of the camps on the islands of Leros (İleryöz) and Kos (İstanköy).

"We are extricating our islands from the migration problem and its consequences," he said. "The images that we all remember from 2015-2019 are now in the past."

Greece inaugurated the first such camp on the island of Samos in September and plans to open two more, on the islands of Lesbos (Midilli) and Chios (Sakız). The European Union has committed 276 million euros ($326 million) for the new camps.

"Today, the EU is turning a page in its migration policy," European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas told reporters.

"We are turning a page with ... structures and centers that reflect our values, our way of life, that dignify people."

"Europe will continue to be an asylum destination for all those who flee dictatorship, wars and persecutions and it is in our interest that we provide humane ... conditions," he added.

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and aid groups have raised concerns about the structure of the new camps in isolated places and residents' confinement, saying that the movement of people in the camps should not be restricted.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said they were "prison-like."

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic wrote to Greek ministers in May, saying she feared the closed nature of the camps would lead to long-term deprivation of liberty.

According to the latest United Nations estimates, there are currently around 96,000 refugees and asylum-seekers in Greece./DS