Germany recorded more than 900 Islamophobic hate crimes in 2020, according to official figures announced Monday.

Nearly 80 mosques were attacked between January and December last year, and at least 48 people suffered injuries due to Islamophobic violence.

The Interior Ministry released the figures in response to a parliamentary question by the opposition Left Party.

The German police recorded 901 anti-Muslim hate crimes and attacks last year, up from 884 a year earlier, according to the latest figures. These included insults on social media, threatening letters, disruption of religious practice, physical assaults, and damage to property.

The number of people injured in Islamophobic violence rose from 34 in 2019 to 48 in 2020, according to the official figures. These attacks were mostly carried out by the neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists, according to the police.

Left Party lawmaker Ulla Jelpke told Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung daily that the numbers reported by the police were “only the tip of the iceberg.” She said the real figures were likely to be higher, as many victims do not file criminal complaints with the police.

A country of over 80 million people, Germany has the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. Among the country's nearly 4.7 million Muslims, 3 million are of Turkish origin.

The country has witnessed growing racism and Islamophobia in recent years, fueled by the propaganda of far-right groups and parties, which have attempted to stoke fear of Muslims and immigrants to win more votes./aa

The US National Press Club called on Indian authorities Monday to release a Kashmiri journalist who has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Aasif Sultan, a journalist with the monthly magazine Kashmir Narrator, was detained by Jammu and Kashmir Police in August 2018. He was charged the following February for allegedly harboring militants.

The National Press Club lambasted the charges as "unwarranted," saying the only thing Sultan "had done was interview and write about" the militants.

Ahead of his next scheduled court appearance on Feb. 26, club President Lisa Nicole Matthews, and National Press Club Journalism Institute President Angela Greiling Keane said the fact that he remains in prison "is simply wrong."

"All he did was his job," the club leaders said in a statement. "On behalf of journalists everywhere, we say: it is past time for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to do what is necessary to allow Mr. Sultan to rejoin his family."

Sultan wrote a cover story for the Kashmir Narrator magazine in July 2018 detailing the rise of young militant commander Burhan Wani, who was killed by Indian forces in 2016.

Following his arrest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Jammu and Kashmir Police have reportedly subjected Sultan to repeated interrogation during his detention, asking him to reveal his sources and "why he reported on the conflict in Kashmir."

“Interviewing or having sources who are critical of the government is within the scope of a journalists’ job and does not implicate them in a crime. Reporting on an important and newsworthy story such as the conflict in Kashmir is a public service, not a criminal act,” the committee said in a 2019 letter.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- including two over Kashmir./aa

COVID-19 patients with a smoking history are likely to experience the disease's symptoms more severely compared to other patients.

According to information received by Anadolu Agency from the Health Ministry, scientific studies reveal that those who use tobacco products and are exposed to them are also at a much higher risk of contracting the disease than others.

Many studies suggest that COVID-19 patients with a history of smoking have a 14-fold higher risk of developing pneumonia, hospitalization, needing intensive care, and respiratory support than others.

Scientific data show that tobacco use is associated with the frequency of contracting the virus and the severity of its clinical course.

Consuming tobacco products is among the leading causes of many diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, as well as premature death.

Tobacco use poses more risks than ever in fighting the disease and quitting their use is of great importance in protecting health.

Those who consume tobacco products are shown as a particularly at-risk group if they encounter the virus.

Using such products increases the risk of lung, upper respiratory tract, and flu infections due to damage they make in the immune system, generally impairing the defense mechanism of the lungs and increasing mucus.

Also, during smoking, not wearing a mask, more than one person smoking together, higher contact of contaminated hands and cigarettes with mouth and face are likely to raise the risk of contracting the virus./aa

Turkey rescued 12 asylum seekers who were pushed back by the Greek Coast Guard into Turkish territorial waters in the southern Aegean, a security source said on Monday.

The asylum seekers were rescued from a dinghy off Marmaris in Turkey’s southwest Mugla province, said the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

After routine checks, the asylum seekers were sent to the provincial migration authority.

Turkey has been a key transit point for asylum seekers aiming to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.

In early 2020 Turkey opened its gates to irregular migrants seeking to reach Europe, accusing the EU of failing to keep its promises under a 2016 migrant deal.

Turkey has repeatedly condemned Greece’s illegal practice of pushing back asylum seekers, saying that it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children./aa

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) announced Sunday a reappearance of the Ebola virus in the eastern part of the Central African country, more than two months after the end of the last outbreak.

The patient, who has since died, was the wife of an Ebola survivor. Samples have been sent to the National Institute of Biomedical Research in the capital Kinshasa for genome sequencing to determine whether there is a link to the previous outbreak, World Health Organization (WHO) Africa said in a statement.

"I also want to tell my brothers and sisters of Butembo not to panic," local news website Actualite quoted Minister of Health Eteni Longondo as saying.

"Another national team will follow early next week. We are here. We will do everything to make this disease go away as soon as possible," Longondo added.

He said a provincial response team had been formed and would be in the northeastern city of Beni on Sunday.

The expertise and capacity of local health teams have been critical in detecting this new Ebola case and paving the way for a timely response, said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa.

"WHO is providing support to local and national health authorities to quickly trace, identify and treat the contacts to curtail the further spread of the virus."

On Nov. 18, 2020, DRC authorities declared the end of the 11th Ebola outbreak in the country's northwestern Equateur province.

At least 130 people were infected and 55 died in the last outbreak, which took place in communities scattered across dense rainforests, as well as crowded urban areas, creating logistical challenges.

Starting in North Kivu province in August 2018, the 10th Ebola epidemic was the second-largest outbreak in the world and particularly challenging as it took place in an active conflict zone.

There were 3,470 cases, 2,287 deaths and 1,171 survivors, according to the WHO.

Ebola, a tropical fever that first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the DRC, is transmitted to humans from wild animals.

The disease caused global alarm in 2014, when the world's worst outbreak began in West Africa, killing more than 11,300 people and infecting an estimated 28,600 as it swept through Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone./aa