Kuwait has added 33 countries to a list of Covid-19 ‘high-risk’ countries where the virus is considered to be ‘widespread’, local media reported.

The high-risk list now has 68 countries in total, with the UAE, US, Mozambique, South Africa, Turkey and Germany among the nations added to it, Kuwait Times reported.

The other countries added to the list include: Angola, Bolivia, Botswana, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Eswatini, French Guiana, Guyana, Ireland, Japan, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Paraguay, Portugal, Seychelles, Surinam, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Some of the countries already on the ‘high-risk’ list include China, Egypt, France, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Lebanon, Pakistan, Philippines, Spain, Sri Lanka, Syria, Yemen and the UK.

Kuwait, which had imposed a two-week ban on the entry of non-nationals into the country starting February 7, extended the suspension indefinitely on Sunday, February 21.

Meanwhile Kuwaitis returning back to the country will have to undergo mandatory quarantine for seven days and home quarantine for another seven days.

All passengers arriving in Kuwait must also produce a negative Covid-19 PCR result conducted in the previous 72 hours.

On Saturday, Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had said that travellers arriving on direct flights from high risk countries would have to undergo institutional quarantine in a local hotels for 14 days.

Passengers from other countries will have to quarantine institutionally for one week and for another week at home, it said.

Aid workers in the conflict-ridden region of Ethiopia are witnessing an increase in acute malnutrition as insecurity, bureaucracy and the presence of various armed actors impede humanitarian efforts

The United Nations says Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region faces a "very critical situation of malnutrition” as vast rural areas where many people fled during the three months of fighting remain out of reach of aid.

“Despite some progress, the humanitarian response remains drastically inadequate compared to the sheer magnitude of needs across the region,” the report by the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCA) said Saturday. “Assistance remains particularly limited in rural areas due to access constraints and security volatility, and there are acute gaps and challenges across all sectors.”

The U.N. humanitarian agency also said in a new report that Ethiopian defense forces continue to occupy a hospital in the town of Abi Adi, "preventing up to 500,000 people from accessing health services” in a region where the health system has largely collapsed under looting and artillery fire.

Alarm is growing over the fate of the Tigray region’s some 6 million people as fighting is reportedly as fierce as ever between Ethiopian and allied forces and those supporting the now-fugitive Tigray leaders who once dominated Ethiopia's government.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed unleashed a military operation in the northern region on Nov. 4, arguing that the order followed the attacks on federal army camps by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), an ethnic rebel party based in the north of the country alongside other such groups. Less than a month later, Abiy declared victory after the TPLF pulled its troops from the regional capital, Mekele, and major towns. However, low-level fighting still continues.

In one of the frankest public comments issued yet by Ethiopia’s government, Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde said in a statement on Friday that there are “significant delays that remain in reaching people in need.”

"The needs are tremendous, but we cannot pretend that we do not see or hear what is unfolding,” Zewde added after visiting Mekele.

Ethiopia on Friday said humanitarian aid has reached 2.7 million people in Tigray as the government implemented a lockdown of the northern region and tightened a communications blackout. These measures have made access and assessment extremely difficult for humanitarian organizations dealing with the humanitarian crisis. It also made it nearly impossible for media seeking entry to probe the shelling of populated areas, deliberate attacks, massacres of civilians, extrajudicial killings, widespread looting and rape.

Still, the OCHA document highlighted numerous reports from humanitarian workers in the field indicating "a rising in acute malnutrition across the region.”

The U.N. report calls the current response "drastically inadequate.” With some 80% of the population still unreachable, according to the Ethiopian Red Cross earlier this month, and there are growing fears that more people are starving to death.

"The next few weeks will be decisive to prevent famines,” Germany’s Foreign Office said in a brief statement last week after hearing accounts of a European Union envoy’s visit to Ethiopia.

The new U.N. report released Friday says even in areas that can be reached, a screening of 227 children under the age of 5 showed "staggeringly high malnutrition,” though it did not mention the number of cases. It also says a screening of more than 3,500 children found 109 with severe acute malnutrition. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes the condition as "when a person is extremely thin and at risk of dying.”

"Malnutrition (in Tigray) is expected to deteriorate as households are limited to fewer meals every day,” the U.N. report says. The Tigray conflict began at a vulnerable time, just before the harvest and after months of a regional locust outbreak. The majority of the population are subsistence farmers.

The U.N. report cites "bureaucratic obstacles” and the presence of "various armed actors” as complications in the delivery of aid. Humanitarian workers have described trying to navigate a patchwork of authorities that include ones from the neighboring Amhara region who have settled in some Tigray communities, as well as soldiers from neighboring Eritrea whom witnesses have accused of widespread looting and burning of crops.

OCHA also said that “extremely concerning reports” of civilians being attacked continue to surface, “including rape and other forms of gender-based violence.”

“Women and children displaced are at heightened risk of abuses and exploitation, while recent assessments in collective centers for displaced people in Mekelle, Adigrat and Shire showed that the severe lack of infrastructure leaves women and girls exposed to sexual and gender-based violence,” the report noted.

Ethiopia's government denies the presence of Eritrean soldiers, though the Tigray region's interim government has confirmed otherwise and accused them of looting food aid, according to a recent Voice of America interview.

The U.N. report describes a "dire” situation in which "COVID-19 services have stopped” in the Tigray region, displaced people in some cases are sleeping 30 to a single classroom and host communities are under "incredible strain.”/aa

The Embassy of Bangladesh in Ankara Sunday organized an event on the International Mother Language Day to commemorate the sacrifice of Bengali people in 1952 for their own language.

The event was held at the embassy building with limited participation in line with the COVID-19 measures.

Speaking at the event, Bangladesh's Ambassador to Turkey Mosud Mannan said the 1952 language movement of the Bengali nation led to a movement for an independent Bangladesh in 1971.

"This language movement is a source of inspiration for all languages in the world," he said, and added that a nation cannot live without a language.

The day is being celebrated in almost all UN member states under the theme "fostering multilingualism for inclusion in education and society."

In 1999, UNESCO recognized Feb. 21 as the International Mother Language Day to honor Bengali demonstrations in then-East Pakistan (current Bangladesh) against the use of Urdu as the sole national language in 1952.

The Bengali Language Movement started in 1952 and after a long struggle, the central government of then-Pakistan accepted Bengali as one of the state languages of the country in 1956.

Around 240 million people across the world speak Bengali as their mother language, making it the fifth largest language in the world, according to Ethnologue, a reference publication on living language./aa

Asylum seekers being housed in government accommodation have faced sexual harassment, intimidation and been unlawfully threatened, a new investigation revealed on Sunday.

The investigation by ITV News and The Observer also disclosed that the staff working at the hotels are paid even below the minimum wage of £6.45 ($9) meant for those over 18 (£8.20 for ages 21-24, and £8.72 for 25 and above).

It said that asylum seekers, who receive £5 a week from the government, have been threatened by police and contract workers not to leave the facilities, which have been described to be in poor state.

"Staff use the master key to enter my room and call the women unpleasant names. The unwelcome sexual behavior and invasion of privacy makes me feel uncomfortable," according to a female victim's testimony.

"We have received allegations that young women are being exploited. This is deeply concerning as these vulnerable women must be protected from harm," said Maddie Harris of the Human Rights Network, an organization that documents violations against asylum seekers.

"The Home Office must immediately investigate these allegations and ensure that asylum seekers whom they have a statutory responsibility to protect are safeguarded from harm."

Meanwhile, the Home Office has been urged to investigate these allegations and take responsibility. "The Home Office has to make sure the systems they put in place... are properly working and that there are proper checks and safeguards in place," Labour Party's Yvette Cooper, who chairs the Home Affairs Select Committee, said. "At the moment we are not seeing that."

The committee is responsible for scrutinizing the work of the Home Office and its associated bodies. It examines the government policy, spending and law in areas including immigration.

Hotel staff employed by government contractors work 12 hour shifts for six days a week, and earn as little as £5.77 an hour.

The hotels are run by the Stay Belvedere Hotels Ltd group, which is responsible for housing asylum seekers in temporary accommodation in around 50 hotels and hostels in the capital London and south of England./aa

Sunday marks the 56th death anniversary of Malcolm X, a civil rights leader in the US.

He came to the fore as a hero for African Americans, and the Islamic world looking for a post-colonial identity, and is also remembered as one of the icons in the struggle for freedom, equality and justice.

Malcolm Little

Malcolm Little was born on May 19, 1925, the fourth of seven children of Louise Little and Earl Little in Omaha, Nebraska.

His mother served as a secretary in a union defending Black rights, and his father was a priest influenced by Marcus Grays, a Jamaican Black activist.

Malcolm’s father believed there was no place for Blacks among whites in America and advocated for their emigration to Africa, from where they were brought as slaves.

Due to constant threats from white supremacists, the family had to relocate several times.

Father's death

Malcolm’s father was found dead on tram tracks when he was six years old. It was ruled as an accident but the family said he was murdered.

Following the incident, his mother was diagnosed as mentally unstable due sadness and despair, and admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Michigan, where she stayed for 26 years.

He lived with foster parents on and off, and dropped out of school after his white teacher discouraged him from becoming a lawyer, and instead advised to learn carpentry.

Malcolm moved to Boston at age 15, where he discovered New York City's Harlem neighborhood and learned drug dealing, gambling and robbery.

in 1946, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for burglary.

Turning point

In prison, Malcom met Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam movement, a turning point in his life.

After release from prison in 1952, he moved to Detroit, the headquarters of the religious movement and became an active member and advocate.

He rejected the surname "Little," saying it was given by white masters in the times of slavery, and changed it to X, which means unknown, referring to his lost roots in Africa.

Malcolm became a vigorous advocate of this marginal movement that did not fully grasp the teachings of Islam, and advocated for the superiority of the Black race in reaction to white racism.

In 1958, Malcolm married Betty Sanders and they had six children.

He said that white racist violence could be responded with violence if necessary, and soon came under close surveillance by the FBI.

In 1959, Malcolm traveled to many countries including Ghana, Sudan, Nigeria, Iran, Syria and Egypt to meet religious and political leaders.

Split

While the FBI and police pressure on Malcolm X and his family increased between 1960 and 1964, a crucial time for the movement, differences emerged between leaders.

He broke away from the group in 1964 and embraced Sunni Islam, adopting the Muslim name el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz.

Renouncing the separatist beliefs of the Nation of Islam, he attempted to internationalize the plight of African Americans, and other oppressed.

The Nation of Islam increased its threats and pressures on Malcolm and on Feb. 14, 1965, a fire bomb was thrown at his house. He survived, but said the attack was carried out "on the orders of Elijah Muhammad."

He was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem on Feb. 21, 1965. Three members of the Nation of Islam were convicted for the murder.

Three Germans of Turkish descent along with their Croatian-origin friend have developed a device that automatically disinfects public touch screens such as ATMs.

The device, which sanitizes public touch screens through UV-C radiation on its own, has been designed by mechanical engineer Ahmet Toklu, 33, industrial hygiene engineer Cihan Atsiz, 34, biology teacher Fatih Akpinar, 34, and industrial hygiene engineer Danijel Imani, 36, who is a Croatian-origin German.

While for now they have come up with a prototype, Atsiz says they are preparing for a launch soon.

Atsiz said the idea for such a device came during the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020.

COVID-19 is primarily transmitted via exhalation but surface transmission is still a risk, and hence, sanitizing a solution to stem its spread.

"We thought about automatic disinfection of ATM screens, self-service check-in kiosks at airports and touch screens in restaurants," he told Anadolu Agency. "We searched for a gadget on the internet but couldn't find any."

That was when they decided to develop one themselves. After days of hard work, and brainstorming, they created the device they named, "Dn 'A Disinfection," and applied for a patent in Germany in April 2020.

"We were very excited, and the excitement increased when we finally came up with a prototype, which has been sent to a laboratory for further examination," he said.

About how the device works, Atsiz said that after each use, the disinfection device moves horizontally on the touch screen from top to bottom, and eliminates the existing pathogens in a few seconds with UV-C rays. ​​​​​"We have demonstrated this through laboratory studies," he added./aa

Turkish prosecutors on Sunday filed an investigation into a lawmaker from the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) for being a member of an armed terrorist group.

Prosecutors in the capital Ankara said in a statement that in a Feb. 20 television appearance, Dirayet Dilan Tasdemir said that she traveled to Gara, a region of northern Iraq where PKK members are present and Turkey recently carried out an anti-terror operation.

The statement said that in light of her remarks, an investigation was launched over allegations that she is a member of an armed terrorist group.

Last Sunday, the bodies of 13 Turkish citizens were found during an anti-terror operation in Gara, northern Iraq, killed by the terrorist PKK.

The four-day Operation Claw-Eagle 2 in Gara was launched to block the PKK and other terror groups from re-establishing positions used to carry out cross-border terror attacks on Turkey.

Operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle were launched last June to ensure the safety of Turkey's people and borders.

The HDP is accused by the Turkish government of having links to the YPG/PKK terror group.​​​​​​​

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 nearly 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is its Syrian offshoot. ​​​​​​​/aa

Turkish security forces have "neutralized" three YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria, the National Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

Commandos neutralized two terrorists attempting to infiltrate the Operation Peace Spring zone, while another was preparing for an attack in the Operation Euphrates Shield region, the ministry said on Twitter.

Turkish authorities use the term "neutralize" to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

Since 2016, Turkey has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).

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 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK's Syrian offshoot.