Turkey’s downward trend in coronavirus numbers continued on Wednesday as the country reported just over 13,000 new cases, according to Health Ministry data. A total of 13,029 cases, including 1,496 symptomatic patients, were confirmed across the country, down from 14,497 on Tuesday, the data showed. Turkey’s overall case tally is over 5.07 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 43,821, with 232 fatalities over the past day. As many as 35,167 more patients in the country won the battle against the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to over 4.8 million. More than 50.05 million coronavirus tests have

Russian deputy foreign minister and deputy head of Hamas political bureau discussed the situation in the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem during a telephone conversation Wednesday. Mousa Abu Marzook shared with Mikhail Bogdanov his assessments about the harsh escalation in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Marzook slammed “the illegal nature of Israeli actions against the Palestinian residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, as well as the inadmissibility of shelling residential areas in the Gaza Strip.” He added that Hamas is ready to stop military

Israel on Wednesday imposed a curfew in an Arab-majority city after clashes erupted between Israeli security forces and Arab-Israeli Palestinians over tensions in Jerusalem and Gaza. The curfew in the central city of Lod will begin at 9 p.m. local time and last until 4 a.m., Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Anadolu Agency. Authorities will decide later how many days the curfew will last “based on the situation on the ground,” he added. The city saw fierce clashes Tuesday between Arab youths and police during a funeral procession for an Arab Israeli resident who was killed by an Israeli

A row has arisen between China and Bangladesh over a proposal to join a US-led security grouping after China’s ambassador in Dhaka on Monday warned of “substantial damage” to bilateral ties if Bangladesh joins. A day after Ambassador Li Jiming’s warning, a top Bangladeshi official called the comments unwelcome, saying that Bangladesh will respond to any proposal from any sources in line with its own foreign policy. China sees the quadrilateral security dialogue (Quad) – which includes the US, Japan, Australia, and India – as an alliance against the country and a threat to itself. Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen

The COVID-19 pandemic could have been averted and could have been declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern sooner than it was, an independent panel investigating the global pandemic said Wednesday. The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response called on the global community to take stronger action to end the COVID-19 pandemic and adopt reforms to prevent the next crisis. “It is a disaster which our panel believes could have been averted,” said co-chair Helen Clark, also the former prime minister of New Zealand. “Following the eventual declaration on January 30 (2020), the panel sees February as a

Turkey’s cow milk production rose by 3.3% in the first quarter of this year compared to last year, the country’s statistical authority revealed Wednesday. The amount of cow milk collected by the integrated dairies reached 2.6 million tons from January to March, TurkStat data showed. Drinking milk production decreased 1.1% year-on-year to 418,884 tons in the first three months of this year. The country made 192,137 tons of cheese in January-March, 97% of which was made from cow milk as the rest was produced from sheep, goat, buffalo and mixed milk. Yogurt production by integrated dairies fell 4.1%, reaching 261,341

Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) on Tuesday announced a new scholarship program intending to support the Turkish diaspora and reward successful youth. “Scholarships will contribute to academical development of Turkish diaspora, encourage the achievements, and will play role in gaining familiarity with Turkish language and culture,” YTB said in a statement. A new program called Teaching Turkish to Turkish Children Living Abroad, was initiated, to teach the Turkish language to Turkish citizens younger than 40 years old and those holding Turkish blue cards and dual citizenship, the YTB said. Moreover, another program was also announced to reward