A Turkish charity on Monday donated 750 packages of food for vulnerable Muslims in South Sudan during the holy month of Ramadan.

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) handed over the food packages containing cooking oil, beans, rice, sugar, and maize flour to the South Sudan Islamic Council in the capital Juba.

Turkish Ambassador to South Sudan Erdem Mutaf said they would continue working with the council to reach vulnerable people in remote areas.

"This is the fifth consecutive day of food donation activities that our governmental and non-governmental organizations have organized so far. I am happy to be among our brothers and sisters of South Sudan," said Mutaf during the handover ceremony in Juba.

He said they seek to aid prisons, hospitals, centers for people with disabilities, and other care institutions.

Abdallah Braj Rwal, head of the South Sudan Islamic Council, said: "We appreciate the Turkish government for its support to the people of South Sudan. This donation will be distributed among all Muslims and other vulnerable communities across the country."

Turgut Gazigil, the deputy coordinator of TIKA's office in Juba, was also present at the occasion./aa

Amid concern from western countries over his health, prison authorities on Monday decided to transfer Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, who is on a hunger strike, to a hospital.

The hospital specializes in monitoring convicts on hunger strike, the country's Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) said.

It added that Navalny's health condition is "satisfactory," he is visited by a physician daily, and receives vitamins upon his consent.

The US, EU, and the UK have expressed concern over Navalny’s "deteriorating" health, with Washington threatening with “consequences” in case he dies.

Commenting on the remarks by US Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who said that Russia will be held accountable by the international community, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia does not react to such statements.

“The state of health of convicts and prisoners on the territory of the Russian Federation cannot and should not be a topic of their [Western countries'] interest,” he said.

Navalny was imprisoned for a parole violation in February. He was convicted in 2014 of fraud and embezzlement and was on six-year probation, requiring to report to police twice a month.

In 2020, after his alleged poisoning with a nerve agent, the condition to appear before the police was put on hold for the duration of his treatment in Germany.

According to the FSIN, after Navalny's treatment was over, he did not show up for more than three months and did not notify about his whereabouts. He did not even provide any objective reasoning for his non-appearance, it said.

Upon his return to Russia on Jan. 17, Navalny was arrested at the airport, and his suspended sentence was replaced with a 2.5-year full custodial sentence.

The EU has imposed sanctions on four Russian high-ranking officials over Navalny’s arbitrary arrest, prosecution, and sentencing under its Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime./aa

In a first, a Turkish car has been crowned one of the most prestigious design awards in the world, Turkey's Automobile Initiative Group (TOGG) said in a statement on Sunday.

"TOGG became the first Turkish brand to receive such an award and achieved a significant success in mobility with its C-SUV model at the iF Design Awards 2021," it said.

This year, nearly 10,000 products and projects from 52 countries competed in the iF Design Awards, which since 1954 have been accepted as the symbol of design excellence in the international arena.

The TOGG C-SUV, an electric vehicle, won in the Professional Concept category.

"We established our design targets and the technical specs of our automobile based on user insights," said Gurcan Karakas, the group's CEO.

He praised the company's world-renowned designer, Murat Gunak, who recently joined TOGG as gesign leader.

"Crowning our original design with such a valuable award, which we developed inspired by our culture and registered in 27 EU countries as well as China, Japan and Russia so far, motivates us to do better."

TOGG was established in 2018 under the leadership of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) by companies of Anadolu Group, BMC, Root Group, Turkcell and the Zorlu Group via a collaboration.

By 2030, TOGG will produce and own the intellectual and industrial property rights of five different electric vehicle models in Turkey: SUV, b-SUV, sedan, c-hatchback, and b-MPV./aa

The EU called on Sunday Russian authorities to provide medical treatment to opposition figure Alexey Navalny.

“The European Union is deeply concerned about reports that the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny’s health in the penal colony continues to deteriorate even further,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.

“The Russian authorities are responsible for Mr Navalny’s safety and health in the penal colony, to which we hold them to account”, he pointed out, calling on them “to grant him immediate access to medical professionals he trusts.”

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, also repeated concerns over Navalny’s health and urged Russian authorities to grant “access to proper medical treatment.”

Navalny’s team told the press earlier this weekend that he was “dying” and his medical condition was rapidly deteriorating due to a hunger strike he had started three weeks ago to protest against the Russian authorities’ refusal on granting him medical care.

Borrell’s statement reiterated the EU’s previous condemnations over Navalny’s poising, as well as his imprisonment.

“The EU will continue to call for his immediate and unconditional release as we consider his sentencing politically motivated and running counter to Russia’s international human rights obligations,” he said.

A Moscow court sentenced Navalny to two years and eight months in prison for violating parole in February.

He was arrested in the Russian capital upon his return in January from Germany where he had received treatment after being poisoned by Russian agents.

The EU imposed sanctions on four Russian high-ranking officials over Navalny’s arbitrary arrest, prosecution, and sentencing under its Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime./aa

Turkish security forces on Sunday destroyed eight caves in eastern Turkey, and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition in the country's southeast, determined to have been used by the PKK terrorist organization.

Turkish gendarmerie forces found the caves in rural areas of the eastern Tunceli province, according to the governor’s office.

The caves, planned as hideouts by the PKK terror group, were destroyed as part of Operation Eren-7 Mercan Munzur.

In the caves, the gendarmerie units seized a large cache of ammunition and improvised explosives.

In a separate raid Saturday, gendarmerie forces also seized arms and ammunition in the southeastern Hakkari province of Turkey, the governor’s office reported.

As part of Operation Gendarmerie Specialized Sgt. Mehmet Guclu Camdali-1, another large cache of ammunition, improvised explosives, mines, communication devices, and other materials that are used in making explosives were seized.

The governor's office said the operations in the region are still underway.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.​​​​​​​/aa

At least 7,000 refugees from the Central African Republic have arrived in Chad for the past few days, the UN refugee agency said on Sunday.

In a series of tweets, the UNHCR said that as of March 31, some 107,280 Central African refugees and asylum seekers were living in Chad.

The situation in the landlocked African country worsened after the rejection of former President Francois Bozize’s candidacy for the December 2020 presidential election.

Hostilities between a coalition of non-state armed groups and the government forces have continued over the last four months, plunging the country into a new cycle of violence.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Chadian authorities have kept the country’s border open and allowed access to asylum to thousands of refugees who have been fleeing since the beginning of this year.

Earlier this month, the UNHCR said it is working with the government and partners to relocate thousands of refugees to safer and better-equipped sites further from the border.

The Central African Republic is one of the world’s poorest countries and has been facing one of the 10 most under-reported humanitarian crises for five years in a row.

It has been troubled by unrest for years, but since May 2017, fresh and fierce clashes between armed groups have wrought increasing suffering, deaths, and destruction of property.

Violence and insecurity following the December 2020 general election have also forced tens of thousands more to flee, according to the UNHCR./aa

Firefighters in South Africa continued to battle a wildfire raging out of control in the city of Cape Town late Sunday after it destroyed a historic university’s library and a cafe.  

“The wildfire on the slopes of Table Mountain National Park continues to burn. Several buildings on the University of Cape Town campus have been affected and all efforts to contain the fire continue,” Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said in a statement.  

Winde said the fire, which started at 8.45 a.m. local time Sunday, destroyed part of a cafe at the Rhodes Memorial and then moved towards the University of Cape Town’s upper campus.
The premier said students living on campus have been evacuated and the city is working with the university in coordinating alternate accommodation for affected students.  

The University of Cape Town is a top learning institution on the continent which attracts students from all over the world. 

“No classes, tutorials, laboratory work or tests will take place on Monday, 19 April or Tuesday, 20 April. We will assess the situation and provide further updates before midday on Tuesday,” the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mamokgethi Phakeng, said in a statement.  

Winde said four helicopters provided by the city of Cape Town continue to water-bomb the area and teams from the city and other organizations are working to bring the fire under control. 

“Between 150 and 200 firefighters are on the fire line. Unfortunately, two firefighters have been injured and taken to hospital,” said Western Cape Minister for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Anton Bredell. 

According to Table Mountain National Park, the disaster is believed to have been caused by an unattended vagrant fire./aa

Zionist forces detained 144 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in the first half of April, according to a Palestinian research center on Sunday.

Six women and five children, including three from Jerusalem, were among those rounded up, the Ramallah-based Jerusalem Center for Studies said in a report.

Zionist forces also arrested four candidates in the upcoming legislative elections, including two from Palestinian group Hamas, the report said.

According to the Palestinian center, some of the detainees were released after a few days of arrest, without providing an exact number.

Hamas activists and candidates for legislative elections in the West Bank were “principally targeted”, Imad Abu Awwad, the head of the research center, told Anadolu Agency.

“This is a clear indication of the occupation’s attempt to interfere in the elections by disrupting Hamas electoral campaigns,” he said.

Abu Awwad continued: “ ‘Israel’ is practicing a form of intimidation against anyone trying to join the electoral process, and dissuading them from doing so.”

In a statement on Saturday marking the Prisoner's Day, Hamas called on the international community to put pressure on Zionist entity to ensure that the elections are held in the Palestinian territories.

"We call on the international community and the countries sponsoring the electoral process to respond to the occupation over its aggression," Hamas said, in reference to the recent arrests by Israeli authorities of candidates from its list.

In January, a member of Hamas told Anadolu Agency that the movement has received guarantees from five countries namely: Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Qatar, and Russia, that elections will take place as scheduled.

Palestinians are scheduled to vote in legislative elections on May 22, presidential polls on July 31, and National Council polls on Aug. 31.

An estimated 4,500 Palestinians are believed to be held in Zionist prisons, including 41 women, 140 minors, and 440 administrative detainees, according to data compiled by organizations on the rights of prisoners./ agencies

India recorded a new high of more than 261,000 daily coronavirus cases on Sunday, according to official figures.

Statistics by the Health Ministry revealed that 261,500 cases were registered in the past 24 hours, which pushed the total to 14.7 million.

There were 1,500 deaths, taking the number of fatalities to 177,150.

The national capital of New Delhi recorded around 24,000 new cases, while western Maharashtra state registered more than 67,000 new cases in the past 24 hours.

Since Thursday, the country has been registering more than 200,000 infections daily. Earlier this month, it saw 100,000 for the first time since the pandemic began last year.

With the country’s witnessing an unprecedented second wave, several cities have imposed a weekend lockdown to prevent further spread.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting on Saturday to review the status of preparedness to handle the pandemic, according to a statement.

“Various aspects relating to medicines, oxygen, ventilators and vaccination were discussed,” it said./agencies