A second set of exams for people in Greece learning the Turkish language was held online by the Istanbul University's Language Center on Friday.

A collaboration of the Istanbul University’s Language Center and Perugia Language Center, the online exams were held for students in major Greek cities such as Athens, Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Larissa, Patra, Volos, Xanthi and Komotini, as well as for those from Southern Cyprus, Lesbos, Rhodes, Crete, Chios, Corfu, and rural areas.

At least 132 students from different professions took the tests, which were held at a time when many institutes across Greece have had to postpone exams due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Greek citizens outside the country on professional duty were also afforded the chance to take the online Turkish exam.

The participants ranged in age from 16 to 67 and were from different walks of life, including university students, academics, diplomats, lawyers, businesspeople, tourism professionals, translators, health workers, members of the military and police, retirees, and housewives.

The first online session of Turkish exams was successfully held in July 2020./aa

Families suffering from a bloody four-decade PKK terror campaign staged a protest on Friday in Turkey's southeastern province of Hakkari.

Families victimized by the terror group have gathered at the Cumhuriyet Square every Friday for the last three weeks.

With Turkish flags and pictures of their abducted children in their hands, they marched in front of the provincial headquarters of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). The political party is accused by the government of having links to the YPG/PKK terror group.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Leyla Ciftci, whose brother was kidnapped by the PKK terrorist organization, said mothers and women in Hakkari gathered to reach their children who, they said, were deceived by the terrorist organization.

“Come on, don’t be scared. Let's take our children off the mountain together. We believe we will save our offspring who are in the hands of the terrorist organizations, thanks to mothers who have been raising their voices with determination,” she added.

Ciftci urged all people in Turkey "to see the real face of the PKK" and wanted back their children from HDP.

"The PKK will lose, and mothers will win. We call upon everyone, whose hearts and thoughts are with us, to join us. Let's carry on this rightful cause together,” she said.

“We will never give up. We won't leave until we free those children from your clutches. Our just cause will not be destroyed in the face of any lies, slander, and cruelty,” she added.

Another protest outside the office of HDP in the southeastern Diyarbakir province began Sept. 3, 2019, when three mothers said PKK terrorists forcibly recruited their children.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot./aa

Turkey rescued 38 asylum seekers who were pushed back by the Greek Coast Guard into Turkish territorial waters in the Aegean Sea, security sources said on Friday.

The asylum seekers were rescued from a rubber boat off the coast of Ayvalik in Turkey’s western Balikesir province, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

The group, including women and children, was brought to the Cunda Island, it said.

Food, drinks and medical supplies were provided to asylum seekers, it added.

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.

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

Measles has resurfaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo's provinces of North and South Ubangui, with cases rising to 4,500 since an outbreak in mid-December last year which has affected mostly children under five years old, the UN said Thursday.  

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its weekly humanitarian snapshot that many of the cases are complicated and associated with malnutrition. 

OCHA said humanitarian partners are conducting assessments in the health zone of Bosobolo in Nord-Ubangi province in preparation for a potential intervention. 

‘’Two other health zones are also being monitored where cases have been notified,” it added. 

A two-year-long measles outbreak that killed over 7,000 children had been declared over in August 2020, according to the UN. 

Since the start of 2019, around 310,000 suspected measles cases have been reported. 

The DRC has launched several vaccination campaigns since the outbreak. 

Although there is an effective vaccine for measles, the disease is still one of the leading causes of death among young children. 

The vaccination resulted in an 84% drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2016 worldwide, according to Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by the measles virus.​​​​​​​ 

Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person./aa

Over 100 trucks transporting humanitarian aid to the Central African Republic (CAR) are blocked in neighboring Cameroon amid a lack of security on the main supply road, a UN official said Thursday.  

Denise Brown, Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), said 66 incidents against humanitarian workers were documented in January in the country. 

Brown said tensions remain, though the number of incidents has decreased, with the last major attack taking place in Bangui on Jan. 13.

She was a guest of the UN Secretary General spokesperson’s virtual briefing Thursday on the security and humanitarian situation in the CAR following recent attacks by armed groups, an upcoming second round of legislative elections and MINUSCA’s efforts for peace and stability.

Brown also stressed the importance of the MINUSCA peacekeepers' role in protecting the civilian population in the country. 

The situation in the CAR, a landlocked country in Central Africa, worsened after the rejection of former President Francois Bozize’s candidacy in the presidential election. 

Bozize then joined hands with other armed groups, some of which were an offshoot of the Seleka coalition of rebels that toppled him in 2013, plunging the country into instability. 

President Faustin-Archange Touadera was proclaimed the winner with 53% of the vote in the Dec. 27 poll.​​​​​​​

Violence and insecurity related to the recent elections in the CAR have forced more than 200,000 people to flee their homes in less than two months, the UN Refugee agency, UNHCR, said last week, warning that tens of thousands of people are facing dire living conditions./aa

Germany’s Catholic Church covered up the sexual abuse of orphaned children for decades, a new confidential report has revealed.

Nuns in the western city of Speyer sold orphaned children to priests and businessmen to serve as sex slaves between the 1960s and 1970s, but the scandal was covered up by the church authorities, The Daily Beast reported.

According to the 560-page report obtained by the US media outlet, at least 175 children, mostly boys between the ages of 8 and 14, were sexually abused over two decades.

The report was commissioned by the German church after a lawsuit was filed by more than a dozen victims against the Archdiocese of Cologne last year, but authorities have so far kept the report under wraps.

According to the findings of the internal investigation, around 80% of the victims of systematic abuse were male and 20% were female.

The investigation also found that 80% of the abusers were now dead, and 37 had left the priesthood or religious order./aa