Get the inside line on the tournament and the eight teams involved with the free digital programme.

CNA Staff, May 1, 2020 / 12:09 pm (CNA).- The Turkish foreign ministry on Wednesday rejected Turkey's inclusion in a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, charging that the report comes from a “biased mindset”.

“The report contains baseless, unaccredited and vague allegations as in the past years while trying to portray isolated incidents as violations of religious freedoms through far-fetched accusations,” Hami Aksoy, a spokesperson for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said April 29.

“The importance attached by Turkey to protect religious freedoms, including those of religious minorities, is expressed at the highest level by our Government officials. Our authorities make it clear that any harm to the religious freedoms of our citizens will not be tolerated,” Aksoy added.

In its 2020 report, USCIRF recommended that the State Department add Turkey, as well as 10 other countries, to a “Special Watch List” of countries where abuses of religious minorities are taking place, but not at a level as severe as in those designated as “countries of particular concern.”

The commission wrote that “religious freedom conditions in Turkey remained worrisome” in 2019, “with the perpetuation of restrictive and intrusive governmental policies on religious practice and a marked increase in incidents of vandalism and societal violence against religious minorities.”

It cited the Turkish government's prevention of the election of board members for non-Muslim religious groups and its limitations on the election of the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople.

The report added that Alevis, a group related to Shia Islam and the country's largest religious minority, “remained unable to gain official recognition for their gathering houses (cemevleri) as places of worship or to exempt their children from compulsory religious classes, despite European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings finding that these policies violated Alevis’ rights.”

According to the US commission, Turkish religious minorities “expressed concerns that governmental rhetoric and policies contributed to an increasingly hostile environment and implicitly encouraged acts of societal aggression and violence.”

The report also drew attention to the permission given for a museum, that was originally a Greek Orthodox church and later a mosque, to be reconverted into a mosque. It noted also that president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called for the same thing to happen to the Hagia Sophia, which has the same history.

USCIRF also said the Turkish government has “continued to dismiss, detain, and arrest individuals affiliated with, or accused of affiliation with, the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, for alleged complicity in a July 2016 coup attempt or involvement in terrorist activity.”

Gülen has lived in the US since 1999, and is considered a terrorist by the Turkish government.

The Turkish foreign ministry charged that Gülen's mention in the report “amounts to deliberately turning a blind eye” to the coup attempt, and added: “We invite the US authorities to earnestly examine the evidence we have provided” about the Gülen movement “and to engage in effective cooperation in line with the spirit of alliance in order to reveal the true nature of this terrorist organization.”

Aksoy added that the recommendation of adding Turkey to a “special watch list” for religious freedom “is a clear indication of the biased mindset behind it and the circles under whose influence it was drawn up.”

“In the report that is supposed to include global trends that threaten religious freedoms, the Commission does not mention a single word about xenophobia, Islamophobia and discrimination on religious grounds that is on the rise in the West and the US,” Aksoy stated.

“This clearly reveals that the purpose of the report is not to protect religious rights and freedoms. It is clear that the Commission, which has been accused of being anti-Muslim in the past, has drawn up this report based on its unwarranted agenda and priorities under the influence of circles that are hostile to Turkey, rather than objective criteria. We recommend the authors of this report to look in the mirror and engage in self-criticism.”

Earlier this year, Turkish authorities arrested a Syriac Orthodox priest on terrorism charges after he provided bread and water to members of a Kurdish separatist group that has been deemed illegal.

UEFA has produced a free to download flier 'Master the Ball' in 11 languages explaining the benefits and laws of futsal with testimonies from the likes of Lionel Messi.

It's 2020 and time to upgrade your business skill set. Creativity and persuasion are the most desirable soft business skills, while blockchain and cloud computing skills dominate as the most in-demand hard skills as we begin the new decade.

Governor Jack Markell, Delaware State Housing Authority, and their partners are pleased to announce the launch of a free housing locator website providing information about rental housing across the First State.

Governor Markell and the Delaware State Housing Authority announced the launch of a free housing locator website providing information about rental housing across the First State.

Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) and the Delaware Council of Faith-Based Partnerships will be hosting a free Lunch & Learn on Tuesday, March 3, 2015 in the Carvel State Office Building, 3rd Floor Conference Room, at 820 N. French Street, Wilmington, Delaware.

Due to the economic challenges facing Pennsylvania and the nation, Penn State President Eric J. Barron announced plans today (April 23) to freeze tuition rates for all students University-wide for the 2020-21 academic year. The plan, which will be presented to the University’s Board of Trustees for final approval at its July meeting, would mark the third consecutive year that Penn State has held tuition rates flat for Pennsylvania resident students.

Gildelia Moromisato is starting a Freedom Climb initiative in Brazil after attending the annual conference of the OM ministry focused on oppressed women and children.

Brazil’s mission training programme provides practical experience and cross-cultural knowledge for participants heading overseas.

Money market funds are about managing income.

A sex worker in Kazakhstan finds freedom in Christ.

OMer Aline Correa shares about a woman who has stayed in her heart since praying for her on the streets of Santiago.

Antofagasta, Chile :: Logos Hope crewmembers tell men who've battled with addiction and crime about Jesus' love for them.

18th Century Market Fair, candle making and music of World War I among the events to be presented.

THE DELAWARE DIVISION OF THE ARTS TO HOST A FREE ACCESSIBILITY PRESENTATION LED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS Dr. Beth Bienvenu, accessibility director, will review how to make the arts accessible to all Wilmington, Del. (November 30, 2017) – Building off of this year’s Arts Summit theme: “Arts for All” and an earlier […]

Gifting a new smartphone, tablet, or eReader this year? Delaware Libraries have the collections needed to make the most of the latest digital devices!

Highlights include activities celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and programs on E.R. Johnson’s yacht the Caroline and buccaneers in the Delaware Bay.

When/Where: Saturday, July 7th, 2018 @ 9:00am (Rain or Shine). Registration starts at 8am. Silver Lake Park, Dover, DE                               (Use Washington Street entrance off of State Street) We’re back and ready for all our great supporters to register for our annual ‘Freedom 5K!’ It’s not too late to convince your family and friends to come help […]

Activities to include demonstrations by the First Delaware Regiment and "Caesar Rodney in his Own Words," a historical play exploring the views of the famed Delaware patriot.

This is how Anuj Khanna Sohum of Affle spends his free time

Alireza Mansouri and Fattaneh Taghiyareh: Human interactions and opinion exchanges lead to social opinion dynamics, which is well described by opinion formation models. In these models, a random parameter is usually considered as the system noise, indicating the individual's inexplicable opinion changes. This noise could be an indicator of any other influential factors, such as public media, affects, and emotions. We study phase transitions, changes from one social phase to another, for various noise levels in a discrete opinion formation model based on the social impact theory with a scale-free random network as its interaction network topology. We also generate another similar model using the concept of social power based on the agents' node degrees in the interaction network as an estimation for their persuasiveness and supportiveness strengths and compare both models from phase transition viewpoint. We show by agent-based simulation and analytical considerations how opinion phases, including majority and non-majority, are formed in terms of the initial population of agents in opinion groups and noise levels. Two factors affect the system phase in equilibrium when the noise level increases: breaking up more segregated groups and dominance of stochastic behavior of the agents on their deterministic behavior. In the high enough noise levels, the system reaches a non-majority phase in equilibrium, regardless of the initial combination of opinion groups. In relatively low noise levels, the original model and the model whose agents' strengths are proportional to their centrality have different behaviors. The presence of a few high-connected influential leaders in the latter model consequences a different behavior in reaching equilibrium phase and different thresholds of noise levels for phase transitions.

Visitors to the Delaware State Fair can learn how to cook Japanese foods, carve a chicken, eat healthy on a budget and make a watermelon banana split – all in one place, at the Department of Agriculture’s Education Building. Starting Friday, July 19, DDA and its partners will offer a lineup of free food and cooking demonstrations every day of the fair.

Learn about beekeeping basics, beehives, honey production and more at a free Open Hive Event sponsored by the Delaware Beekeepers Association. The free public event will be 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sept. 21 at Redden State Forest, Georgetown.

DOVER — Delaware farmstand owners are invited to a free marketing workshop next month to learn how to reach more customers and improve profits. “Using the latest marketing techniques can make a real difference for farmers’ profitability,” said Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Ed Kee. “Our farmers are working hard every day to grow the freshest […]

"Trees are Terrific...and Forests are Too!" That's the theme of the Delaware Forest Service's 2016 Arbor Day Poster Contest, which is open to all children in grades K to 5 in Delaware public, private, home, and charter schools. After-school programs and youth groups are also eligible. The deadline for poster submission is April 8, 2016. For more information, email contest coordinator Ashley Peebles at ashley.peebles@state.de.us or call 302-698-4551. Winners will receive a $25.00 gift card, a ceremonial tree planting held at the winner's school, and an invitation to the State Arbor Day Ceremony (attended by the Governor).

DNREC’s Division of Watershed Stewardship Nonpoint Source Program is offering a free tree to Delaware residents in partnership with the Delaware Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry program within the Department of Agriculture.

The Delaware Forest Service is looking for motivated recruits to enroll in wildfire training classes starting in February at the Delaware Department of Agriculture, 2320 S. DuPont Highway, Camden, DE. There is no cost for training and no previous experience needed. Candidates must be over 18 years of age, willing to learn, physically fit, and able to travel for at least two weeks at a time, usually in the summer months. Attendance at all classes is required for prospective wildland firefighters to achieve “red card” certification from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG). Students can register by filling out the online registration form by January 31, 2020. Complete details are at http://de.gov/wildfire.

At SAS Press, we agree with the saying “The best things in life are free.” And one of the best things in life is knowledge. That’s why we offer free e-books to help you learn SAS or improve your skills. In this blog post, we will introduce you to one [...]

Free e-book: SAS Programming for R Users was published on SAS Users.

Free HIV testing will be offered through the Division of Public Health (DPH) at two Delaware state service centers on Wednesday, June 27, 2018, in observance of National HIV Testing Day. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 get tested for HIV at least once as part of routine health care.

The Division of Public Health (DPH) invites parents with children from birth to 5 years old to participate in its first Books, Balls and Blocks event, which will take place from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., Saturday, October 13, at the Route 9 Library and Innovation Center in New Castle, Delaware.

The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) and Partnership for Drug-Free Kids are collaborating to bring dedicated, science-based resources and support to Delaware families. The two entities will work together to provide innovative, digital resources and one-on-one support to parents and caregivers as they help a loved one struggling with opioids or other […]

The 2019-2020 flu season has officially arrived, and to kick off the state’s influenza prevention efforts, the Division of Public Health (DPH) will hold two free flu vaccination clinics for the public.

WILMINGTON (Nov. 21, 2019) – The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), Partnership for Drug-Free Kids and Google have launched a first-in-the-nation partnership to bring needed resources to Delaware families looking for help online for a loved one struggling with substance use disorder. DHSS will work with Partnership and Google to identify communication […]

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES: Division of Health Care Quality

“We have no regrets in doing so. It will help us come out of the crisis stronger,” Nilanjan Roy, CFO, said on Monday.

“This is essential for maintaining the supply chain of goods and services across the country during the lockdown period,” Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla reiterated in a letter to state chief secretaries.

At SAS Press, we agree with the saying “The best things in life are free.” And one of the best things in life is knowledge. That’s why we offer free e-books to help you learn SAS or improve your skills. In this blog post, we will introduce you to one [...]

Free e-book: SAS Programming for R Users was published on SAS Users.

Delaware businesses can learn more about how international markets and exports will be affected by the COVI-19 pandemic from a new webinar series presented by Export Delaware.

Ola is providing transport services for all non-COVID medical trips such as scheduled check-ups, dialysis, chemotherapy and for immediate medical needs such as injuries, amongst others.

Amid the Covid-19 / coronavirus lockdown, BMW Group India also announced that existing BMW or MINI Service Inclusive package or warranty extension holders will be getting free sanitisation of the car instead of the engine oil service.

The Jeep Compass is the only model that can be booked online currently whereas home delivery will be given once the lockdown ends.

The order issued by the state finance department will impact over 16 lakh state employees and officers, approximately three lakh teachers and 12 lakh pensioners.

The Vietnamese Government has extended visa-free travel by additional year for the travelers from France, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain and Italy. The foreign nationals who visit Vietnam can stay for 15 days. Any passport holder from the countries…

Thailand Visa-Free TravelPipat Ratchakitprakarn, The Thailand Minister of Tourism and Sports, stated that there was a plan to introduce visa-free travel for tourists of China and India in the next few months of this year. Additionally there will be a…

Dr. Datuk Noor Zari Secretary-General Tourism Ministry Malaysia stated that the tourists from India and China were among the top contributors to the tourism sector in the country.Focus on Two NationsAlso, the number of arrivals from India and China is…