A detainee of Palestine held by “Israel” without charge or trial has said that he is ending his nearly six-month hunger strike after reaching an agreement that will see him released in October.

The Commission of Detainee Affairs, part of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said Khalil Awawdeh, 40, had reached an agreement that would see him released on October 2, "after fighting an epic battle for which he sacrificed his flesh and life."

It said he will remain in an “Israeli” hospital until he has fully recovered.

In a video circulated online on Wednesday and apparently shot from his hospital bed, Awawdeh confirmed that an agreement had been reached for his release, calling it a "resounding victory" for the Palestinian people.

Awawdeh was protesting being held without charge or trial in what's known as "administrative detention."

Lawyers and physicians had warned that Awawdeh, a father of four from the occupied West Bank, was at risk of dying and already suffering neurological damage from the prolonged hunger strike. 

In recent pictures, he appears extremely gaunt and ill, his skin tightly stretched over a bony frame.

Protesting 55-year military occupation

Ahlam Haddad, Awawdeh's lawyer, said this week that her client weighs 37 kilogrammes and is suffering from neurological damage.

He took vitamins over two weeks in June when he thought his case was being resolved but has otherwise only had water since the strike began in March, his family says.

“Israel” had officially suspended his arrest, but he remained in custody at an Israeli hospital.

Several Palestinians have gone on prolonged hunger strikes in recent years to protest being held in administrative detention.

In most cases, “Israel” eventually released them after their health significantly deteriorated. None have died in custody, but many have suffered irreparable neurological damage.

Some 4,400 Palestinian prisoners are being held in “Israeli” prisons. Palestine views all of them as political prisoners held for resisting Israel's 55-year military occupation of Palestine's territories. 

Source: AP

A Turkish cultural centre in the German town of Neuss has received a racist letter with death threats.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, the head of the Neuss Turkish Cultural Center, Tansel Ciftci, said on Tuesday the facility was the target of racists for the second time in two weeks.

"A letter came in the mail today. It was signed with a swastika and ‘NSU 2.0’ and included racist statements like 'We will burn down your mosques and kill you Turks,’" said Ciftci, noting that members of the cultural centre, as well as locals of Turkish descent in Neuss, are in fear and anxiety over the recent incidents. 

NSU 2.0 refers to the National Socialist Underground, a neo-Nazi extremist group uncovered in 2011 that murdered 10 people and planted three bombs. 

"Two weeks ago, the windows of our building were broken in an attack on our association. Due to the frequency of these events, our members and those living here began to feel uneasy. We want the authorities to arrest those responsible and impose the necessary punishment," Ciftci added.

He further emphasised that they are living in the middle of Europe with death threats and called it "unacceptable."

Growing racism, anti-Muslim sentiment

Ciftci also noted that the police, to whom they filed a criminal complaint, had begun an investigation into the incidents.

Germany has witnessed growing racism and anti-Muslim sentiment in recent years, fueled by the propaganda of neo-Nazi groups and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

With a population of over 84 million people, the country has the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. 

Among the country’s nearly 5.3 million Muslims, 3 million are of Turkish origin.

Source: AA

Officials in Pakistan have raised concern over the spread of waterborne diseases among thousands of flood victims as waters from powerful monsoon rains began to recede in many parts of the country.

The warning on Wednesday came a day after record-breaking floods prompted the United Nations to formally issue an appeal for $160 million in emergency funding to the impoverished nation, where about a million homes have been damaged or destroyed.

Massive flooding from the rains since mid-June has killed at least 1,162 people, a phenomenon experts blame on the climate crisis.

Some doctors said initially they were seeing mostly patients traumatised by the flooding, but are now treating people suffering from diarrhoea, skin infections and other waterborne ailments in the country's flood-hit areas.

The development has forced the government to deploy additional medical teams and dispatch medicine besides providing clean drinking water to survivors, many of whom are living in tents and makeshift homes.

Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho, health minister in the country's worst-affected province of Sindh, said officials have set up 4,210 medical camps in the province's flood-hit areas to treat victims now suffering from skin and waterborne diseases, which are common during floods.

WHO working with local authorities 

The World Health Organization began aiding Pakistani authorities in their efforts to treat people injured in the rains and flooding. The agency said in a statement it was working to increase surveillance for acute diarrhoea, cholera and other communicable diseases to avoid spreading further, and is also providing medicine and medical supplies to health facilities.

“WHO is working with health authorities to respond quickly and effectively on the ground," said Dr. Palitha Mahipala, the WHO representative in Pakistan. 

Authorities said waterborne diseases among flood victims are now common across the country.

“Initially we received injured people, but now diarrhoea is common," said Farhad Khan, a physician in charge of a medical camp set up in the northwestern town of Charsadda. 

It is one of the worst flood-hit districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, where floods killed 257 people since mid-June.

Pakistani authorities backed by the military, rescuers and volunteers, have struggled to evacuate marooned people to safer places. 

On Wednesday, military helicopters continued evacuating flood victims and delivering food to remote regions, according to a statement released by the military. It said it has deployed at least 6,500 troops to assist in rescue and relief operations.

Rescuers were also using boats to evacuate stranded people in southern Sindh province and in remote villages in eastern Punjab province, according to government officials.

Source: AP

The office of UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has published its long-awaited report on alleged rights violations in China's western Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, brushing aside Beijing's demands to keep a lid on a report that fanned a tug-of-war for diplomatic influence with the West over the rights of the region's native Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups.

Wednesday's report, which Western diplomats and UN officials said had been all but ready for months, was published with just minutes to go in Bachelet's four-year term. 

The report said serious human rights violations have been committed in the region and "patterns of torture" allegations in Xinjiang are "credible."

"The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uighur and other predominantly Muslim groups, pursuant to law and policy, in context of restrictions and deprivation more generally of fundamental rights enjoyed individually and collectively, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity," the report said.

The report was unexpected to break significant new ground beyond sweeping findings from independent advocacy groups and journalists who have documented concerns about human rights in Xinjiang for years. 

But Bachelet's report comes with the imprimatur of the United Nations, and the member states that make it up. 

The run-up to its release fuelled a debate over China's influence on the world body and epitomised the on-and-off diplomatic chill between Beijing and the West over human rights, among other sore spots.

Beijing 'firmly opposed' to release

Hours before the release, China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said Beijing remains "firmly opposed" to the release.

"We haven't seen this report yet, but we are completely opposed to such a report, we do not think it will produce any good to anyone," Zhang told reporters outside the Security Council. 

"We have made it very clear to the high commissioner and on a number of other occasions that we are firmly opposed to such a report."

"We all know so well that the so-called Xinjiang issue is a completely fabricated lie out of political motivations, and its purpose is definitely to undermine China's stability and to obstruct China's development," he added. 

Bachelet said in recent months that she received pressure from both sides to publish, or not publish, the report and resisted it all, treading a fine line all the while noting her experience with political squeeze during her two terms as president of Chile.

In June, Bachelet said she would not seek a new term as rights chief, and promised the report would be released by her departure date on August 31. 

Detention camps or training centres

That led to a swell in back-channel campaigns, including letters from civil society, civilians and governments on both sides of the issue. 

She hinted last week her office might miss her deadline, saying it was "trying" to release it before her exit.

Bachelet had set her sights on the Xinjiang region upon taking office in September 2018, but Western diplomats voiced concerns in private that over her term, she did not challenge China enough.

The West alleges China's "mass detention campaign" in Xinjiang swept an estimated million Uighurs and other ethnic groups into a network of prisons and camps. 

Beijing rejects such accusations and calls them "training centres".

Source: agencies

The Representative of United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in the Gulf Area Eltayeb Adam underlined the significant role of Kuwait in humanitarian and development fields, especially in childcare, locally and internationally.

Speaking to KUNA after meeting the Secretary General of the Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) Maha Al-Barjas Wednesday, Adam commended the close partnership and constructive cooperation between UNICEF and KRCS, extolling KRCS’ role in supporting children in countries suffering from natural disasters and famine.

The crises of some countries and the famine in them have led to malnutrition to residents of mothers and children, especially Yemen, Somalia and Sudan, he said, urging for concerted international efforts to provide them with humanitarian support.
Similarly, Al-Barjas stated to KUNA that children are the most vulnerable groups impacted in times of crises; therefore improving living conditions is a priority to galvanize the social development process.

Both sides discussed several joint projects connected to humanitarian relief in deprived countries, and discussed ways to enhance cooperation between KRCS and UNICEF, she added.

KRCS and UNICEF have the same message of helping the most deprived groups through various humanitarian relief undertakings, she stressed, hoping to strengthen areas of partnership between both sides and implement joint programs that take into account the needs of children in all fields.

KUNA

Thirty-seven new candidates filed their nomination papers Tuesday, raising the total number of hopefuls for the upcoming national assembly elections on September 29 to 222 candidates. Tuesday’s candidates included two women, bringing the number of female candidates to 12. The new candidates include two members of the dissolved national assembly, Abdulkarim Al-Kandari and Yousef Al-Ghareeb. They also included three former MPs from previous assemblies.

In the meantime, veteran Shiite MP Adnan Abdulsamad said yesterday that he will not bid for re-election and his colleague former MP Ahmad Lari is running from the same first constituency. Lari called on the next government to prepare a working program that leads to political, economic and administrative reforms. MP Kandari called for change based on the principles included in the Amiri address delivered by the crown prince on June 22.

Former MP Abdullah Fahhad said the country is before a crucial historical era and called for holding to account all those who stole public funds. Fahhad said it was high time for resolving the decades-old problem of stateless people, locally known as bedoons, charging that racists have prevented resolving the humanitarian issue of thousands of bedoons. The national assembly was dissolved in July over continued political disputes between the government and opposition MPs. Snap polls have been set for September 29. Registration of candidates will continue until September 7, while withdrawal from the race will remain open until seven days before the election day./KT

While the pessimistic expectations about the future of major European markets are increasing, with the possibility of experiencing a stagnation in the winter and slow growth until 2024, informed sources say, “The investments of the Public Authority for Foreign Investment, especially in the European markets, are witnessing a balance, accompanied by a package of precautionary measures that enable it to deal with any eventualities, reports Al-Rai daily.

They explained that, “The authority is following up on what is being raised about the possibility of a recession, the classification of which in some European markets may reach the peak, i.e. “code red”. This will not be met with sudden and hasty measures but it will instead be based on extensive studies in line with the international institutions that the authority cooperates with, and in accordance with the implementation plans approved by it.
The authority’s investments are stable, and the markets and the investment opportunities available in them have been previously targeted according to medium-term and long-term plans and based on extensive studies that take into account the economic dimensions and growth rates of each market, as well as in consideration of the possible risks, including stagnation or infl ation. The authority looks forward to all developments in the markets in which it invests continuously”.