Kuwait, like the rest of the world got caught on the wrong foot between February 24, 2020 and April 27, 2022 for793 days following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, with the efforts of the concerned authorities topped by the Ministry of Health and the citizens and residents Kuwait succeeded in bringing down the rate of infections with minimal losses, reports a local Arabic daily

On February 24, 2020, the first cases of infections were recorded in the country, and on April 27, 2022, the last restrictions related to the epidemic were lifted.

In confirmation of what was published by the local Arabic daily on April 17, the Council of Ministers decided in an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday to remove the remaining restrictions and precautionary measures, provided that they enter into force as of next Sunday, May 1.

The new procedures stipulated that wearing a mask would be optional inside all open and closed places, with a commitment to wearing it for those who have disease symptoms.

Individuals will also be allowed to enter all closed public places, regardless of the status of immunization and without a PCR examination, while the examination for non-vaccinated people has been canceled as a condition for presence in educational institutions and workplaces.

The new measures also abolish the requirement for immunization and a PCR test for all those coming from abroad, regardless of immunization status.

It stipulated that sports fans would be allowed to return to the stadiums completely for those who were not immunized, and that the “Shlonak” application should be used to follow only positive cases.

The decisions included urging worshipers to implement health requirements inside mosques and places of worship, such as bringing a prayer rug, wearing a mask, etc., and being careful to avoid going to the mosque for those who show contagious respiratory symptoms.

The new procedures include updates regarding quarantine and isolation periods for infected people and those who come in contact with them.

It stipulates that the infected person be obligated to home quarantine for a period of 5 days, with the obligation to wear a mask to complete the 14-day period from the date of infection.

As for those in contact, the quarantine period prescribed for them has been canceled regardless of the state of immunization, with their obligation to wear a mask for a period of 14 days from the date of their last contact, and to conduct a PCR examination if symptoms appear within 14 days from the date of contact.

The Cabinet has decided to cancel the formation of the main committee to follow up the implementation of health requirements related to combating the spread of the “Corona” virus, which was issued by Cabinet Resolution No. 800 issued on June 25, 2020./agencies

Kuwait’s Cabinet on Wednesday agreed to revoke all coronavirus vaccination and PCR testing requirements for incoming travelers.

At an extraordinary meeting, the Cabinet also decided face mask wearing at indoor and outdoor places will now be optional, official Kuna news agency reported.

Symptomatic Covid-19 patients must still wear masks, Deputy Prime Minister, Oil Minister and State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Mohammad Al Fares.

All vaccinated and unvaccinated people would be given access to all public places regardless of their vaccination status, and PCR tests would be no longer mandatory at educational institutions and workplaces, the minister added.

The Cabinet has also cancelled quarantine restrictions for those who may have close contact with Covid-19 patients, but they have to put on masks for 14 days and get PCR tests within 14 days of the contact, he said.

Unvaccinated fans would be allowed back into stadiums, according to the Cabinet's decision.

The Cabinet urged worshippers to keep sticking to health guidelines and precautions, including the wearing of masks and having their own rugs at all mosques and prayer places./KUNA

Hostility towards the Muslim holy book, the Quran, is a sign of ignorance, Turkiye’s president said Wednesday.

Speaking at the final program of Turkish broadcaster TRT’s Quran Recitation Competition in Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that “some European countries are trying to gain political profits by being hostile to Islam and Muslims.”

There are also people who are being hostile to the Quran by burning it, said Erdogan, adding “the vandalism displayed by these hostile people is a sign of their ignorance.”

“It is impossible for anyone who reads the Quran once to harbor enmity towards this blessed book,” he said.

“Of course, we will not tolerate any hostility against the holy book, but we will never forget that the main thing is to read, understand and live by the Quran.”

On April 14, Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line) group, burned a copy of the Muslim holy book in Sweden's southern city of Linkoping. He also threatened to burn copies of the Quran during further rallies.

“In the holy month of Ramadan, we once again condemn in the strongest possible terms the attacks and provocations against Islam, Muslims, the Quran and places of worship in different parts of the world,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement last week.

“The vile attacks on our holy book, the Quran, in Sweden have shown that the lessons of the past have not been learned, that there is still hesitancy to prevent Islamophobic and racist provocative acts, and that hate crimes are openly and overtly tolerated under the guise of freedom of expression,” it added.

It underlined that Turkiye will keep fighting against the threat posed by the Islamophobic and racist mentality.

Ankara calls on all countries and international organizations to take the necessary measures against Islamophobia and racism, it added./aa

Algeria threatened Wednesday to cut off gas supplies to Spain if any of the gas winds up in a different location than specified by a contract.

Transporting any amount of Algerian gas to a different destination is considered a breach of contractual obligations and would lead to the termination of the contract binding state-owned energy company Sonatrach and the Spanish customer, Algeria's Energy Ministry said in a statement.

As Algeria broke diplomatic relations with the Moroccan administration, the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline -- with a capacity of 12 billion cubic meters connecting Algeria to Spain via Morocco -- has not been used since last October.

Spain’s Energy Ministry earlier confirmed that it planned to ship gas to Morocco but noted that none of that gas would be of Algerian origin.

Diplomatic tensions between Algeria, Madrid

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez sent a letter to King Mohammed VI of Morocco on March 14 saying they found the "autonomy plan" proposed by the Rabat administration to solve the Western Sahara problem to be correct.

Algeria recalled its ambassador to Madrid for consultation on March 19 after Sanchez supported the Moroccan plan for the solution of the Western Sahara problem.

Regarding close relations with Morocco, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said “what Spain is doing is morally and politically unacceptable.”

The Western Sahara problem has caused tensions in the relations between Morocco and Algeria. Morocco accuses Algeria of supporting the separatist Polisario Front. It is known that Algeria does not support its neighbor Morocco's steps in Western Sahara./aa

French prosecutors launched an investigation Wednesday against a police officer at the center of a shooting in Paris that left two men dead and formally charged him with intentional homicide and willful violence, according to local media reports.

The 23-year-old officer, who opened fire on a vehicle, killing two passengers for refusing to comply with orders, was placed under judicial custody Sunday following the incident at the Pont-Neuf bridge in central Paris.

He was indicted on two counts of “willful violence by a person holding public authority causing death without intention to kill” and “willful violence aggravated by a person holding public authority,” Le Figaro daily reported.

He is also prohibited from performing his duties as a police officer involving public contact, carrying a weapon, appearing in Paris, and contacting his police department for six months.

Other investigations in the case pertaining to the criminal angle and on the question of self-defense will continue alongside, according to the prosecutors, the report said. The deceased are suspected to have been involved in narcotics trading.

On Sunday, shortly after the announcement of the presidential election results, a police patrol of five officers flagged a gray Volkswagen Polo that was parked in the wrong direction with its headlights on. As they were approaching, the driver attempted to move the car in their direction, triggering the police officers to open fire. A dozen shots were fired, causing the death of the 25-year-old driver and a 31-year-old front-seat passenger. A 42-year-old backseat passenger was also injured during the shooting./aa

A French lawyer has expressed deep concern over the recent assault of two veiled young Muslim women by police officers at the Pont de Clichy in the northwestern part of the capital Paris.

Video footage showing police officers involved in the incident on April 14 went viral, triggering tensions.

In an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency, Nabil Boudi, who is representing the two plaintiffs, said while the incident was not new, there is a growing trend of violence against Muslims.

“Within one week, several attacks occurred on veiled women, the latest being that at the Pont de Clichy. Similar attacks have happened in Montpellier city, where two veiled girls were assaulted by a retired police officer, and another in an amphitheater in Lyon,” he said.

Describing it as worrying, Boudi, a member of the Paris Bar, attributed the successive attacks to the “labeling of certain categories of French Muslims as enemies.”

The fact that police officers orchestrate violence against Muslims compounds the problem, he said.

The lawyer said his clients wonder where they will report their cases now that it is the police who are assaulting them.

The victims of the Pont de Clichy incident and the police officers are expected to meet at the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) in attempting to address the case.

Boudi also castigated an identity check subjected to one of his clients, which he said is regulated in France and must be justified by the commission of an offence.

“I consider that they (his clients) were victims of a racist and growing trend of Islamophobia. One of the police officers attacked one of the victims by trying to tear off her veil,” he said, adding that a medical examination confirmed that the victims were assaulted.

The police officers involved in the assault filed a case against the girls, accusing them of “contempt and rebellion.” However, Boudi wondered how the police officers came up with the charges yet they did not arrest the alleged suspects.

The police only filed a complaint after video footage of the incident circulated on social media, he said.

“They know that they violated the law and that they have committed very serious offenses but filed a complaint to justify the violence,” the lawyer said.

The two girls contend that it is a serious offense for persons holding public authority to orchestrate violence against people because of their religious affiliation./aa 

Members of Parliament (MPs) in Canada voted unanimously Wednesday to label Russia's military actions against Ukraine as "genocide (and) crimes against humanity." 

The MPs agreed President Vladimir Putin's military has committed atrocities in Ukraine against the general population, including the removal of children by force, and that such actions have resulted in "grave suffering."

The genocide term was applied due to the "willful killing of Ukrainian civilians (and also the) forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to the Russian territory."

There are 338 elected MPs in the Canadian House of Commons. The motion to call Russian actions genocide was brought forth by Heather McPherson, a New Democrat Party MP.

McPherson's motion called for MPs to "recognize that the Russian Federation is committing acts of genocide against the Ukrainian people."

The motion is not binding on the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau - in other words it has not officially been adopted - but his party has 159 MPs in the House and all those present voted for it. The House has 119 Conservatives, 32 Bloc Quebecois, 25 New Democrats, two Green Party MPs and one Independent.

Earlier this month, Trudeau said he believed it is "absolutely right" for people to label Russia's actions as "genocide." That could lead to official recognition by the Trudeau government.

The penalties that come with the genocide label under international law are not applicable because the UN and the International Criminal Court have not recognized Russia's actions as such.

But investigations into the brutality of Moscow's military is ongoing and there is a worldwide hue and cry over the treatment of Ukrainians.

In addition to the indiscriminate killing and forcible removal of children, the Russian military has been accused of conducting torture, rape and both mental and physical harm./aa

Latin America has been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 as a result of pre-existing structural inequalities in the region, a joint report by Amnesty International and the Center for Economic and Social Rights found.

Although only 8.4% of the world’s population live in Latin America, the region has endured 28% of total global deaths due to COVID-19, according to the report released on Wednesday.

The report highlights that governments have not taken “sufficient action to implement universal social security mechanisms and expand coverage" to ensure the most disadvantaged groups were protected during the pandemic.

“Governments have the obligation to proactively mobilize the resources needed to protect their populations from the worst impacts of discrimination, disease, and economic disaster. If Latin American countries had done this in the decades before the pandemic, the region could have avoided so much pain and loss of life,” said Kate Donald, Acting Executive Director of CESR.

More than 1.6 million people in Latin America died due to COVID-19.

The report concludes that the countries in the region that are most unequal are the ones that have suffered the most deaths. For example, Mexico, Brazil and Peru, where the richest 1% of the population earns over 30% of national wealth, have recorded the highest numbers of COVID-19 deaths in the region proportional to their populations.

Chile, where 20% of the country’s richest have 10 times more than its poorest, has the sixth-highest COVID-19 death rate per capita behind Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, and Mexico.

Women — particularly indigenous women or of African descent — have been hit especially hard by coronavirus because they have lost more jobs than men. Women continue having a disproportionate role in caring for children, which affects their “enjoyment of rights”, says the report.

“Latin America’s present situation is the result of hundreds of years of colonial injustices that mean certain groups have been historically and systematically denied their rights,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International./aa