A radio station run by women for women in Kandahar, Afghanistan, has been awarded the 2020 Reporters Without Borders Prize for Impact. VOA’s Azizullah Popal reports from Kandahar.
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Armenian officials and Azerbaijan on Saturday accused each other of breaching a peace deal that ended six weeks of fierce fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan’s leader threatened to crush Armenian forces with an “iron fist.”The new clashes mark the first significant breach of the peace deal brokered by Russia on Nov. 10 that saw Azerbaijan reclaim control over broad swathes of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding lands that were held by Armenian forces for more than a quarter-century.Separatist officials in Nagorno-Karabakh said the Azerbaijani military launched an attack late Friday that wounded three local ethnic Armenian servicemen.Russian peacekeepers deployed to the region to monitor the peace deal reported a violation of the cease-fire in the Gadrut region Friday. The report issued Saturday by the Russian Defense Ministry didn’t assign blame.Later in the day, the Armenian Defense Ministry also charged that the Azerbaijani army mounted an attack in the south of Nagorno-Karabakh on Saturday.Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev blamed Armenia on Saturday for the new clashes and threatened to “break its head with an iron fist.””Armenia shouldn’t try to start it all over again,” Aliyev said during a meeting with top diplomats from the United States and France who have tried to mediate the decades-old conflict. “It must be very cautious and not plan any military action. This time, we will fully destroy them. It mustn’t be a secret to anyone.”Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement late Saturday that its forces thwarted Armenian “provocations” and restored the cease-fire.Armenian officials said the fighting raged near the villages of Hin Tager and Khtsaberd, the only settlements in the Gadrut region that are still controlled by Armenian forces. They noted that the two villages have been fully encircled by the Azerbaijani army, which controls the only road leading to them.Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but was under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994. That war left Nagorno-Karabakh itself and substantial surrounding territory in Armenian hands.In 44 days of fighting that began in late September and left more than 5,600 people killed on both sides, the Azerbaijani army pushed deep into Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing Armenia to accept last month’s peace deal that saw Azerbaijan reclaim much of the separatist region along with surrounding areas. Russia deployed nearly 2,000 peacekeepers for at least five years to monitor the peace deal and to facilitate the return of refugees.Azerbaijan marked its victory with a military parade on Thursday that was attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and involved more than 3,000 troops, dozens of military vehicles, and a flyby of combat aircraft.The peace deal was a major shock for Armenians, triggering protests calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who has refused to step down. He described the peace agreement as a bitter but necessary move that prevented Azerbaijan from taking over all of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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The U.S. military in Afghanistan said Friday that it had carried out an overnight airstrike against Taliban insurgents in defense of government security forces.U.S. military spokesman Colonel Sonny Leggett tweeted that the action in southern Kandahar province was in line with the U.S.-Taliban agreement signed in February. He said armed Taliban fighters were targeted when they were attacking an Afghan security checkpoint in Zhari district.Leggett did not share more details but denied as “false” insurgent claims that civilians were killed in the strike.For their part, the Taliban condemned the raid as a violation of the pact with the U.S., saying it destroyed “multiple civilian homes” and killed up to 10 people.Afghan officials in Kandahar were quoted by local media as asserting the Taliban were waging “coordinated attacks” on security forces when the U.S. military bombed them, killing at least 30 insurgent assailants.A spokesman for the insurgent group, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, claimed no military activity or fighting was taking place in the area and said the agreement prohibits airstrikes on noncombat zones.“The continuation of such irresponsible actions can also provoke a mujahedeen [Taliban fighters] response, the responsibility of which shall fall squarely on the shoulders of America,” Ahmadi said.FILE – U.S. troops patrol at an Afghan National Army base in Logar province, Afghanistan, Aug. 7, 2018.US troop drawdownThe fighting comes as the U.S. is reducing the number of troops in the country and peace negotiations between the Taliban and representatives of the Afghan government are underway in Qatar, both developments stemming from the February 29 deal.There are 4,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and President Donald Trump plans to bring the number down to 2,500 next month.The U.S.-Taliban accord requires all American and coalition forces to be out of the country by May 2021.In return, the insurgent group has pledged to fight terrorism on Afghan soil and negotiate a political peace deal with rival groups through talks that began on September 12.Civilian casualtiesHowever, continued battlefield hostilities, which are causing an increased number of civilian casualties, have undermined prospects for an early outcome of the intra-Afghan talks.A new survey released Friday said optimism among Afghans regarding the U.S.-brokered peace process had decreased significantly in the past few months because of the spike in violence.The Kabul-based Institute of War and Peace Studies found optimism had declined to 57% when the survey was conducted from September 29 through October 18. That’s down from 86% of those surveyed in the previous assessment released in August.The survey found that nearly 76% respondents said a cease-fire should be the top priority in the talks to prevent further Afghan civilian casualties.
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Pakistan is urging the United Nations and the European Union to investigate after it says a new report uncovered a 15-year global disinformation campaign allegedly designed to serve India’s interests and “discredit” Pakistan, charges New Delhi denies. The investigative report was published on Wednesday by the EU DisinfoLab, a nongovernmental organization in Brussels working to raise awareness about disinformation. The extensive report details how a network of think tanks and long-defunct but U.N.-accredited NGOs were resurrected and used alongside at least 750 “fake media” outlets to spread disinformation. “It even resurrected dead people,” said the report titled Indian Chronicles. ”This network is active in Brussels and Geneva in producing and amplifying content to undermine — primarily — Pakistan.” The EU DisinfoLab said the purpose of the ongoing campaign was to influence decision-making at the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and European Parliament. “The scope and extent of India’s operations against Pakistan under their hybrid war is now apparent for the world to see,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters Friday. “Pakistan calls on the United Nations and UNHRC to immediately begin investigation and de-listing of the 10 fake NGOs created by India to malign Pakistan,” said Qureshi. He also demanded the EU Parliament launch its own “credible” investigation into what he alleged was a “fully funded disinformation and influence operation” run by India. EU DisinfoLab researchers, however, said they have not found any connection between the disinformation campaign and the Indian government, or its intelligence agencies. The report said the network was being led by New Delhi-based Srivastava Group in 119 countries. India’s denial Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava on Friday rejected the report and the ensuing Pakistani allegations. “As a responsible democracy, India does not practice disinformation campaigns,” he told a weekly news conference in Delhi. ”In fact, if you are looking at disinformation, the best example is the country next door, which is circulating fictional and fabricated dossiers and purveys a regular stream of fake news.” The “dossiers” the Indian spokesman referred to is a set of documents, banking transactions worth millions of dollars, and audio clips made public by Pakistan last month as “irrefutable evidence” allegedly linking India directly to “terrorism” on Pakistani soil. Pakistan Claims ‘Irrefutable Evidence’ of Indian Links to Terrorism on Pakistani SoilIslamabad accuses New Delhi of running dozens of training camps in Afghanistan for multiple globally outlawed militant groups to plot terrorism on Pakistani soil to destabilize the countryFor its part, New Delhi has long accused Islamabad of sponsoring Islamist militants blamed for plotting terrorist attacks in India, including the part of disputed Kashmir it administers. Tensions between the two nuclear-armed South Asian rival nations have dangerously escalated in recent years over Kashmir, one-third of which is administered by Pakistan. Both countries claim the Himalayan region in its entirety and have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947. 
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Trial data from Pfizer Inc with partner BioNTech SE, Moderna Inc and AstraZeneca Plc has shown their experimental vaccines are effective in preventing novel coronavirus infection.While regulatory processes are underway, few Asian countries expect to receive significant amounts of the vaccines initially. Here are estimated distribution time lines, supply deals announced and clinical trials being held in the region.AustraliaThe country has secured around 140 million doses: 53.8 million from AstraZeneca, 51 million from Novavax Inc, 10 million from Pfizer, and 25.5 million from distribution program COVAX.It expects delivery of 3.8 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine in January and February next year and plans to begin inoculations in March.ChinaChina has not announced supply deals with Western drug makers, which instead have partnered with private companies in the country.AstraZeneca’s vaccine may be approved in China by mid-2021 and its Chinese partner Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co Ltd plans annual production capacity of at least 100 million doses by the end of this year.For the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, a unit of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd plans a Phase II trial.Tibet Rhodiola Pharmaceutical Holding Co is bringing in Russian vaccine candidate Sputnik V and plans early and mid-stage trials in China.China has also approved three vaccine candidates developed by Sinovac Biotech Ltd and state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) for emergency use, and Sinopharm hopes its two candidates will get conditional approval for general use this year.JapanJapan has deals to buy 120 million doses from Pfizer/BioNTech in the first half of next year and 120 million from AstraZeneca – the first 30 million of which will be shipped by March 2021 – and 250 million from Novavax.It is also in talks with Johnson & Johnson and has a deal with Shionogi & Co Ltd.Experts said vaccine makers would need to conduct at least Phase I and II trials in Japan before seeking approval for use.South KoreaThe country has deals to buy 20 million doses each from AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna and another 4 million doses from Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen, enough to cover up to 34 million people.It will procure additional doses for 10 million people through COVAX.Inoculation is likely to start in the second quarter of next year to allow time to observe possible side effects.IndiaThe head of the Serum Institute of India, which makes the AstraZeneca vaccine, said on Nov. 23 the positive late-state trial result of the candidate will allow it to seek emergency use approval by year-end, before securing approval for full introduction by February or March.India also expects a government-backed vaccine to be launched as early as February. It is also conducting a late-stage trial of Sputnik V.TaiwanTaiwan aims to secure around 15 million doses initially, both via the COVAX scheme and by direct purchases from manufacturers, and may buy an additional 15 million doses.The government has said it hopes to begin vaccinations in the first quarter next year.MalaysiaThe Southeast Asian nation has agreed to buy 12.8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, becoming the first country in the region to announce a deal with the U.S. drug maker after some expressed reservations over the need for the ultra-cold storage that the vaccine requires.Pfizer will deliver the first batch of 1 million doses in the first quarter of next year.The PhilippinesThe archipelago announced a deal on Nov. 27 for 2.6 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and is discussing a possible 1 million more, covering about 1% of a population of 108 million people.It is also seeking 20 million to 50 million doses from Sinovac and is in talks with others, including Pfizer.Vaccine makers can seek approval from Philippine regulators even if no clinical trial is conducted in the country.IndonesiaSoutheast Asia’s most populous country has secured 125.5 million doses from Sinovac, 30 million from Novavax, is in talks with AstraZeneca and Pfizer to buy 50 million doses each, and expects to get 16 million from COVAX.Indonesia is testing Sinovac’s vaccine and preparing mass vaccination for medical staff and other frontline workers to start as soon as late January.VietnamA government official said COVAX vaccines would cover only 20% of the population and the country is likely to have a chance to secure separate deals soon, as demand is very high.BangladeshBangladesh signed a deal with India’s Serum Institute to buy 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.It also expects to receive 68 million doses from global vaccine alliance GAVI at a subsidized rate, a senior health ministry official said.
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Azerbaijan has held a military parade to mark the country’s declared victory over Armenia in a recent war over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region that ended with a Moscow-brokered truce that handed back several parts of the region to Baku.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a key ally in the conflict, presided over the parade devoted to what is officially described in Azerbaijan as the Victory in the Patriotic War, held at Baku’s central Azadliq (Liberty) Square, on December 10.Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, is welcomed by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, center, in Baku, Azerbaijan, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. The parade was held in celebration of the peace deal with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, with…The peace agreement took force exactly a month ago and put an end to six weeks of fierce fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh that left thousands dead on both sides. It was seen as a major victory in Azerbaijan, while prompting mass protests in Armenia, where opposition supporters are demanding the ouster of the prime minister over his handling of the conflict.
Azerbaijan’s win was also an important geopolitical coup for Erdogan, helping solidify Turkey’s role as a powerbroker in the ex-Soviet Caucasus region that the Kremlin considers its sphere of influence.
More than 3,000 military personnel and some 150 pieces of military hardware — including some military equipment captured from ethnic Armenian forces during the war — were part of the procession, while navy vessels performed maneuvers in the nearby Bay of Baku. Turkish military personnel also participated in the event.
Under the peace deal, some parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani administration after almost 30 years of control by ethnic Armenian forces.
After the truce, Turkey signed a memorandum with Russia to create a joint monitoring center in Azerbaijan.
Russian officials have said that Ankara’s involvement will be limited to the work of the monitoring center on Azerbaijani soil, and Turkish peacekeepers would not enter Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but the ethnic Armenians who make up most of the region’s population reject Azerbaijani rule.
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Unknown gunmen killed a female journalist and her driver in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province Thursday morning.Malalai Maiwand was on her way to work in the provincial capital, Jalalabad, when two gunmen opened fire on her car.Haji Zalamy, the director of Enikass radio and television where Maiwand worked, said the journalist died on the spot while her driver, Tahir Khan, succumbed to his wounds later in the hospital.Zalmay said that the station had received security threats but that they were not specific to any individual. His station was attacked several times in recent years, including in a bomb blast and a rocket attack. Zalmay himself was kidnapped for ransom and released after six months.Dr. Zahir Adil, a spokesman for the provincial health department of Nangarhar, confirmed that Maiwand’s body was brought to the provincial hospital.Afghan men carry the coffin of journalist Malalai Maiwand, who was shot and killed by unknown gunmen in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Dec. 10, 2020.Maiwand had been working for Enikass TV for eight years, where she hosted a morning show.  President Ashraf Ghani, along with several Kabul-based ambassadors and the European Union, have condemned the killing, as have Afghan media and rights groups.The office of the EU in Afghanistan tweeted that attacks on “media representatives are attacks on the freedom of speech and can never be tolerated. We expect this heinous crime to be investigated & perpetrators brought to justice.”Ross Wilson, the chargé d’affaires of the U.S. embassy in Kabul, demanded the “killers be brought to justice.”  Maiwand’s killing comes days after the EU, NATO, and the U.S. issued a strong joint statement against targeted killing of journalists, religious leaders, rights activists, students, civil society activists, and other civilians in Afghanistan.The statement called them “savage attacks against Afghan blood” and “attacks on the very peace process” which is currently ongoing in the country and in Doha, Qatar, where a government team is negotiating with the Taliban.Afghanistan is one of the deadliest countries for the media worldwide, with over 30 journalists killed directly for their work there in the past 10 years, according to the press freedom organization, Committee to Protect Journalists. There have been recent attacks that targeted particular journalists.Last month, Elyas Dayee, a reporter from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Pashto language service known as Radio Azadi, was killed in a magnetic bomb attack in Helmand province.Another journalist killed last month was Yama Siawash, who worked for local TV station TOLOnews.
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Sharofiddin Gadoev, 35, a Tajik political activist from the Netherlands, was arrested in February 2019 during a visit to Moscow and forcibly deported to his native Tajikistan. About two weeks later, the Tajik government, under pressure from human rights organizations and European countries, released him from prison in the capital, Dushanbe, and allowed him to return to Europe.But his ordeal is not over. Although he is now free in his adopted Netherlands, he said his relatives in Tajikistan had been subjected to beatings by Tajik authorities, had been threatened and had their movements restricted.“My father was severely beaten by law enforcement agents [in] 2014. After that, he could not walk anymore without support. As a result of that beating, his health considerably deteriorated and, in 2016, he died,” Godoev told VOA, adding that his aging mother and elder sister, who still live in Tajikistan, were now being constantly pressured by government.His situation is not unusual. Last Friday, FILE – Turkish police inspect the scene in Istanbul where Tajikistan opposition leader Umarali Kuvvatov was shot from close range, March 5, 2015.During his arrest last February, Tajik authorities insisted that Gadoev had voluntarily returned to the country. However, the Dutch Foreign Ministry later said he was arrested on suspicion of “criminal activities” linked to his past business.“My cousin, Umarali Kuvvatov, who was also an ardent critic of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, was shot dead in Istanbul in 2015,” Gadoev said.Kuvvatov was the head of Group 24, an opposition political movement that the Tajik government banned in October 2014 for alleged extremism.While in diaspora, Gadoev said, he was arrested two more times under Interpol Red Notices — in Spain in 2014 and in Poland in 2018 — with politically motivated requests by the Tajik government. The intimidation campaign, he said, has lately been expanded to his other relatives to pressure him into silence.“Last month, my brother-in-law was arrested in Greece under an Interpol Red Notice placed by Tajik authorities,” Gadoev said, adding that the relative, Sadi Rahmatov, was later released and received international protection.VOA did not receive a comment from Tajikistan’s foreign ministry and embassy in Washington on accusations made by Gadoev and other opposition activists.FILE – Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon attends his inauguration ceremony in Dushanbe, Oct. 30, 2020.A campaign against dissentTajikistan, a former landlocked Soviet republic in Central Asia, is a Muslim-majority nation of over 9 million people. Rahmon, who won his fifth seven-year presidential term this October, has been running the country since 1992.HRW and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee said Tajik authorities last month summoned, interrogated and threatened the family members of activist Fatkhuddin Saidmukhidinov to force him to cease his online criticism of the government from exile.”The authorities should immediately stop harassing Saidmukhidinov’s relatives over his activism,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at HRW.Saidmukhidinov is a supporter of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), an opposition group that won two seats in the 2010 election. The Tajik government banned the group as an extremist terrorist organization in 2015.Has Trump Remade America’s Priorities in Central Asia? Trump’s adviser for South and Central Asia says ‘important shifts in the last several years led us to update our approach’ The U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan in a statement said that the ban was “politically motivated and intended to eliminate the IRPT — Tajikistan’s last remaining opposition group — and intimidate its supporters.” It urged Tajikistan to “distinguish between peaceful political opposition voices and violent extremist acts.”Vladislav Lobanov, assistant researcher on Tajikistan and Uzbekistan at HRW, told VOA that Tajik authorities use bogus extremism charges under a law on counterextremism to detain and imprison people, merely for peacefully exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression.“Since mid-2015, more than 150 persons received lengthy prison terms on politically motivated grounds, including life imprisonment,” Lobanov said, adding that the main targets were opposition political figures and activists, lawyers, journalists and relatives of peaceful dissidents.According to a 27-year-old Tajikistan-born activist from Germany who runs Habar TV, a YouTube news channel with nearly 10,000 followers, the intimidation of family members haunts many activists, who feel anxiety and guilt. The activist, who prefers to go by his last name, Tashaev, said the Tajik government had forced his relatives to beg him not to criticize authorities.“Each time my relatives are called to the State Security Committee of Dushanbe, they will be told that if they talk to me, they should tell me that everything in Tajikistan is well,” he told VOA.’Pretext of fighting extremism’Brigitte Dufour, director of the independent International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) in Brussels, Belgium, said the Tajik government’s campaign, particularly against media activists abroad, hopes “to silence critical voices under the pretext of fighting extremism.”She said that since the president signed a new counterterrorism law in January, he has granted Tajik authorities wide-ranging powers over the country’s internet.“The government continues to block and, in some cases, disable websites of independent media outlets and political opposition groups, social media platforms and internet messengers,” Dufour said.Last month, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) urged the U.S. government to increase pressure on Tajik authorities for “genuine” reform.The report, Promoting Religious Freedom and Countering Violent Extremism in Tajikistan, concluded that Tajikistan’s current approach to countering violent extremism was counterproductive and not in the long-term interests of regional stability or security.“It is critical for all U.S. policymakers working on the region to recognize that security and human rights are not mutually exclusive, but symbiotic,” Jason Morton, policy analyst at USCIRF and the author of the report, told VOA.Morton charged that Washington in its current engagement in the region prioritizes the security dimension at the expense of basic human rights like religious freedom.
 
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Pakistan said Wednesday that two of its soldiers had been killed in “intense” military clashes with India in disputed Kashmir.In a late-night statement, military spokesman Major General Babar Iftikhar accused Indian forces of initiating the fighting in violation of a cease-fire on the so-called Line of Control, which splits Kashmir between the two nuclear-armed rival countries.Iftikhar said Pakistani soldiers “responded befittingly” and inflicted “heavy losses” on Indian troops.The skirmishes in the disputed Himalayan region came just hours after Pakistani security officials said the country’s military, air force and naval forces had been “put on high alert” to guard against a possible Indian cross-border attack.New Delhi has neither commented on the border skirmishes nor responded to Islamabad’s assertions that India was contemplating an attack against Pakistan.Clashes between Pakistani and Indian troops along the de facto Kashmir frontier have become routine in recent years, killing dozens of people on both sides and rendering the 2003 truce ineffective.China-Pakistan drillsThe regional tensions came as Pakistan and China kicked off joint air force exercises Wednesday from an undisclosed Pakistani “operational air base.”An official statement said a contingent of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), comprising combat pilots, air defense controllers and technical ground crew, was taking part in the Shaheen series of annual air drills.Air Vice Marshal Waqas Ahmed Sulehri of the Pakistan air force and PLAAF’s Major General Sun Hong witnessed the opening ceremony.“The exercise will further enhance interoperability of both air forces, thereby fortifying brotherly relations between the two countries,” Sulehri was quoted as saying.China and Pakistan, both locked in border tensions with their common rival, India, are longtime allies and maintain deep economic and defense ties.Earlier this month, Islamabad and Beijing signed a new pact to boost cooperation between Pakistani and Chinese militaries. Neither side has shared details of the document that was sealed during Chinese Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe’s three-day visit to Pakistan.
 
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Pakistan has criticized the United States for designating the South Asian nation as a violator of religious freedom, saying the move was “arbitrary” and the outcome of a “selective assessment.”
 
While announcing the annual designations Monday, the U.S. State Department said it also was placing countries such as China, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria on the list for engaging in or tolerating “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom.”
 
Islamabad Wednesday rejected Pakistan’s inclusion in the U.S. list of “countries of particular concern,” saying “such subjective” moves do not help promote the cause of religious freedom worldwide.
 
“The designation of Pakistan as a ‘country of particular concern’ is completely against the realities on the ground and raises serious doubts about the credibility of the exercise,” said a Foreign Ministry statement.
 
“Pakistan and the U.S. have been constructively engaging on the subject at the bilateral level, a fact regrettably overlooked by the U.S,” the ministry lamented.
 
In its statement, the Foreign Ministry called for tackling the rising trend of intolerance, discrimination, xenophobia and Islamophobia” through global efforts based on the principles of cooperation and mutual understanding.
 
While announcing the annual designations this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed the U.S. will act when religious freedom is attacked.
 
“The U.S. is unwavering in its commitment to religious freedom. No country or entity should be allowed to persecute people with impunity because of their beliefs,” Pompeo underscored.
 
Pakistan, a Muslim-majority country of about 220 million, is often under fire for crimes against members of its religious minorities, including Christians, Ahmadi and Shi’ite Muslims, and Hindus.
 
Last month, three international human rights groups jointly expressed concern over a surge in the targeted killings of members of the Ahmadi community in Pakistan and urged the government to take immediate action.FILE – Pakistani Islamists protest the appointment of a minority Ahmadi Muslim as an adviser to the government, in Lahore, Pakistan, Sept. 7, 2018.“Pakistani authorities have long downplayed, and at times even encouraged, violence against Ahmadis, whose rights to freedom of religion and belief are not respected under Pakistani law,” said the statement from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists.
 
The U.S. annual designations are based on recommendations by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent federal government entity that monitors, analyses, and reports on threats to religious freedom.
 
The USCIRF has routinely criticized Pakistan for failing to do enough to protect its minorities and ensure religious freedom for all. It also has mentioned with concern the country’s strict blasphemy laws, which criminalize insulting Islam and its Prophet Muhammad. Violators can get the death sentence, though no one has been executed to date. Several people who have been accused of blasphemy have been killed.
 
Pakistan’s foreign ministry Wednesday also questioned the exclusion of rival India from the U.S. list of countries violating religious freedoms. It noted the USCIRF’s findings and recommendations about the mistreatment of minorities in India, including in the Muslim-majority Indian-administered part of disputed Kashmir, saying these were ignored by the U.S. State Department.
 
Late last year, the Hindu-majority India introduced a new citizenship law, triggering street protests against the move amid fears the legislation will marginalize the Muslim minority. New Delhi also revoked the semi-autonomous status of Kashmir in August 2019 and placed millions of residents of the Muslim-majority region under tight security and clampdown to counter violent protests against the action.
 
In its 2020 report, the USCIRF downgraded India to its lowest ranking of “countries of particular concern” and recommended the country be added to the State Department’s list.
 
“The glaring omission of India … is unfortunate and puts the credibility of the U.S. report into question,” Pakistan said.
 
“State complicity in organized violence against the Muslim minority in India is a matter of record. It is no secret that attacks by cow vigilantes and mob lynchings of Indian Muslims regularly take place, with complete impunity for the perpetrators,” the statement added.
 
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A two-day visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Azerbaijan marks his latest bid to expand Turkey’s influence in the Caucasus, and analysts are warning his ambitions could stoke a rivalry with Russia.Erdogan is scheduled to attend a victory parade Thursday in Baku, celebrating last month’s defeat of Armenian forces in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, which both countries claim.”This victory will only strengthen our belief in two nations, one people,” Erdogan told reporters Wednesday before leaving for Baku. Ankara’s military support of Baku is widely seen as key to Azerbaijan’s victory.Erdogan, during his scheduled talks with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, is expected to discuss Turkey’s military role in the peacekeeping operation brokered by Moscow to end the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019.Turkey’s efforts to expand its influence in the Caucasus, however, are being interpreted as a sign of increasing strain in what has otherwise been a rapprochement.”I don’t think Putin and Erdogan are as close as they used to be,” said Atilla Yesilada, an analyst at U.S.-based Global Source Partners. “So, I think Erdogan wants Putin to know he can hurt him as much as Putin can hurt him and wants to leverage the Azerbaijan issue to extract concessions over Syria,” Yesilada said.Adding to Moscow’s unease, Ankara’s ambitions in the Caucasus are not confined to Azerbaijan. “Turkey is now a balancing power in the Caucasus,” Turkish presidential adviser Mesut Casin told VOA. “Turkey is supporting Azerbaijan; Turkey is supporting Georgia in the Caucasus. A lot of military equipment without money is given to Georgia by Turkey,” he said.UkraineErdogan is also courting another Russian regional rival, Ukraine. “Turkey sees Ukraine as a key country for ensuring stability, security, peace, and prosperity in our region,” Erdogan said in October at a joint press conference in Istanbul with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.In comments analysts say will irk Moscow, Erdogan said, “We have and always will support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, including over Crimea,” the region Russian forces annexed in 2014. Turkey and Ukraine consolidated their ties with a defense agreement in October. The deal includes a commitment to increase defense industry cooperation, including in the area of drone technology.Ukrainian engines power Turkish military drones, which played a decisive role in Nagorno-Karabakh. Engine technology is, according to analysts, a weakness in Turkey’s rapidly growing defense industry.In a further sign of Turkey-Russia strains, last week authorities announced two Russian journalists were detained in Istanbul on suspicion of espionage after police allege the two were caught filming outside one of Turkey’s drone manufacturers. Observers say such occurrences, while not unusual, are usually not publicized by authorities.Trade at stakeExperts point out that Turkey and Russia retain important trading connections that help maintain the relationship. Russia is currently building Turkey’s first nuclear power station, while Russia’s Gazprom is Turkey’s leading energy supplier. Russian tourists are second only to Germany in visiting Turkish resorts. Russia, however, is the overwhelming beneficiary in the relationship, enjoying a trade surplus with Turkey worth around $15 billion annually.Observers say Ankara is aware of Moscow’s ability to hurt Turkish interests from the Caucasus to Syria to Libya. Yesilada says any repositioning of Turkey’s relationship with Russia will depend on improving ties with its traditional Western allies.”Before he leaves the bear hug of Russia, he [Erdogan] needs to buy insurance against what Russia can do to Turkey, and that is either the United States or NATO,” said Yesilada.
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Negotiation teams from the Afghan government and the Taliban have agreed to refer differences in interpretation of Sharia law to a joint committee, protect the confidentiality of ongoing peace talks, and carry out the process with “truthfulness, sincerity, and determination,” according to a code of conduct agreed upon by both sides last week.VOA has obtained a copy of the 21-point code that was hailed as a breakthrough after nearly three months of negotiations between the two sides that officially started on September 12.FILE – Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. envoy for peace in Afghanistan, attends talks between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 12, 2020.Zalmay Khalilzad, the United States special representative for Afghan reconciliation, called it a “milestone” and tweeted: “The people of #Afghanistan now expect rapid progress on a political roadmap and a ceasefire.”   
 3/4 The people of #Afghanistan now expect rapid progress on a political roadmap and a ceasefire. We understand their desire and we support them.— U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad (@US4AfghanPeace) December 2, 2020
 
The preamble of the code sets up four principles as the basis of negotiations.The first one of them is the agreement signed on February 29, 2020, in Doha, between the United States and Taliban. The Afghan government was not a party to that deal and the government negotiation team strongly resisted its inclusion, according to sources familiar with the talks.The Doha deal announced a timeline for withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan and release of Taliban prisoners in return for guarantees the Taliban will sever ties with groups like al-Qaida and will prevent anyone from planning or carrying out a terrorist attack on the U.S. or its allies on Afghan soil.In the end, the U.S.-Taliban agreement was included but diluted with three other principles, all of them focusing on the demand for “durable peace.”A copy – in Dari and Pashto – of page one of the three-page code of conduct between Taliban representatives and the Afghanistan government in the Afghan peace talks is seen here. (Courtesy photo)The rest of the document defines how the two sides will behave during the negotiation process and what issues could or could not become part of the agenda.   “The agenda will not include any subject that is against the sacred and blessed religion Islam or the interests of the country,” the code says.Initially, the Taliban team wanted to specify the Hanafi jurisprudence, part of the Sunni school of thought in Islam, as the basis for negotiations. However, it encountered stiff resistance from the government team, which pointed out the religious diversity in Afghanistan, including Shi’ites.“If differences emerge in the interpretation of Sharia law, a joint committee of the negotiation teams will make a decision,” the agreed code says.Another interesting point of the code is about showing “respect for the other side” during the process. Multiple Afghan and Western sources told VOA over the last two months that when the negotiations started, the Taliban were acting like the victors and were treating the Afghan side as the losers in this conflict.The three-page document emphasizes the need to take time, “not be in a haste” when discussing important issues, and “carefully listen to each other’s statements with patience.”It also sets down a protocol for note-taking that involves each side nominating three members to record the minutes, which then would be compared by both sides at the end of a meeting.“The approved text of the minutes would be verified by both sides,” the document says.The two teams also have agreed to avoid irresponsible comments in the media and to release only agreed upon statements.“Protecting the confidentiality of the documents is essential and both sides should avoid disclosure of secrets,” the code says as it emphasizes the need to keep media and unrelated people from accessing the site of negotiations and the need to reject speculation.“Once an issue is decided, there will be no further discussion on it. It will become part of the final agreement,” according to the document.The code of conduct also specifies that no one other than members of the two teams will be in the room while negotiations are under way, including anyone from the host country or other countries that have facilitated the process.The negotiations on finalizing the agenda continue at a time when Afghanistan has faced a spate of violence it has not seen for years.FILE – Afghan National Army soldiers keep watch outside of a military compound after a car bomb blast on the outskirts of Ghazni city, Afghanistan, Nov. 29, 2020.“Violence, especially driven by Taliban attacks, continues to undermine the peace process and must end,” said a NATO statement issued Wednesday.A car bomb attack on an army base Tuesday night killed two in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province. In Balkh province Wednesday, Taliban killed seven members of an anti-Taliban local force. A car bomb attack Monday in Kandahar wounded at least 35 people.Charity organization Save the Children reported 2020 to be a “terrible year for the children of Afghanistan, nearly 1,900 of whom have been killed or maimed in the fighting.”  
 Mr Nyamandi said, “It’s been a terrible year for the children of Afghanistan, nearly 1,900 of whom have been killed or maimed in the fighting. Their schools have been attacked, and universities too. Not even hospitals and clinics have been spared in the conflict.— Save the Children in Afghanistan (@AFGsavechildren) November 25, 2020
 
Meanwhile, a report published by the Cost of War project of Brown University said civilian casualties caused by airstrikes carried out by the United States and its allies have risen more than 300 percent since 2017.The United States military Tuesday refuted as “one-sided” that report that civilian casualties caused by American and coalition airstrikes in Afghanistan had spiked to record levels. U.S. military spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett said the report “relies on disputed data and ignores civilian casualties caused by Taliban and ISIS attacks.”“This includes ongoing Taliban use of car bombs, IEDs [improvised explosive devices], rockets and targeted killings to intimidate, harass and instill fear across Afghanistan,” he added in a written response shared with VOA via email.The U.S. reduced its airstrikes after reaching a deal in February with the Taliban.Even without the violence, Afghan analysts like Tareq Farhadi think the talks will take time, especially when the teams start negotiating the future form of government in Afghanistan.The Taliban do not accept the current Afghan constitution.   
 
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For the past three years, most of the 700,000 Rohingyas who fled violence in Myanmar have been living in refugee camps in southern Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar. VOA’s Muazzem Hossain Shakil covers the first group of Rohingya refugees being relocated to Bhasan Char Island. Bezhan Hamdard narrates.
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Indian doctors have found lead and nickel in the blood of patients who have succumbed to a mysterious illness in the southern part of the country.More than 400 people in the state of Andhra Pradesh have fallen ill with common symptoms of nausea and fainting that does not appear to be linked to the coronavirus. At least one person has died.The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the capital of Delhi tested 10 blood samples of patients and reported Tuesday they had found traces of lead and nickel.The AIIMS did not find lead or nickel in water samples tested from the affected area.Some officials in the state have said it is possible the illness is related to organochlorine pesticides, which are banned in many countries for their harmful health effects. It was not immediately clear how much, if at all, the pesticides are currently used in India.Geeta Prasadini, public health director for the city of Eluru, said the patients first began exhibiting signs of the illness, including convulsions, Saturday night.Commenting on the possibility that pesticides are to blame, Prasadini said Tuesday, “Nobody knows.”Another Eluru official, Dolal Joshi Roy, told CNN Tuesday that none of the patients had tested positive for COVID-19, the diseases caused by the coronavirus.Andhra Pradesh is one of the states hardest hit by the coronavirus, with more than 800,000 confirmed cases, Indian authorities said.Roy said about 180 of those hospitalized for the illness had been released by Tuesday.
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The World Health Organization is calling on governments around the world to ensure their citizens have resources and tools to help them give up tobacco smoking as it launches a yearlong campaign aimed at helping 100 million people quit.The campaign, Commit to Quit, is focusing on 22 countries including the United States, and it officially got under way Tuesday ahead of World No Tobacco Day 2021, in May.A WHO statement said the Commit to Quit campaign is aimed at creating “healthier environments that are conducive” for people who want to give up smoking.The WHO hopes to capitalize on users who have decided to quit since the novel coronavirus pandemic began by creating communities of peer quitters, according to the statement.FILE – Bystanders look a replica of human skeleton smoking cigarette during an awareness rally on occasion of the “World No-Tobacco Day,” in Chennai, India, May 31, 2019.Earlier this year, the WHO warned that tobacco users are at high risk of dying from COVID-19.About 780 million tobacco users say they want to quit, but just 30% have access to resources that can help them do so.Director of Health Promotion Dr. Ruediger Krech said global health authorities must take full advantage of the millions of people who want to quit. He urged governments to “invest in services to help them be successful,” and “divest from the tobacco industry and their interests.”The WHO is employing digital tools such as the Quit Challenge on Whatsapp to provide social support. Also, the WHO’s 24/7 digital health worker to help people quit tobacco is available in English and soon will add five other languages.The campaign is encouraging initiatives such as “strong tobacco cessation policies; increasing access to cessation services and raising awareness of tobacco industry tactics.” Tobacco is a major risk factor for noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease and diabetes. Moreover, people living with these conditions are more vulnerable to severe COVID-19.“Smoking kills 8 million people a year, but if users need more motivation to kick the habit, the pandemic provides the right incentive,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted.
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The United States military Tuesday refuted as “one-sided” a new report that civilian casualties caused by American and coalition airstrikes in Afghanistan had spiked to record levels. 
  The report released Monday by the Costs of War project at Brown University attributed the increase to a 2017 decision by the Trump administration to relax the rules of engagement for airstrikes against the Taliban. It claimed the number of Afghan civilians killed in the strikes has since increased by 330%. 
  
“We disagree with the one-sided analysis presented in Costs of War, which relies on disputed data and ignores civilian casualties caused by Taliban and ISIS attacks,” U.S. military spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett said, using an acronym for the Islamic State terror group. 
  
“This includes ongoing Taliban use of car bombs, IEDs [improvised explosive devices], rockets and targeted killings to intimidate, harass and instill fear across Afghanistan,” he added in a written response shared with VOA via email.  
  
Leggett drew attention to the latest quarterly report by the United Nations that acknowledged Afghan civilian casualties caused by U.S. airstrikes “all but ceased” since February 29, the date when Washington sealed a troop withdrawal agreement with the Taliban.  
  
“That same report attributed more than 3,400 civilian casualties to ‘anti-government elements,’ including ISIS and the Taliban,” he noted.  
  
The Costs of War project says the escalation in U.S. airstrikes was seemingly directed at increasing pressure on the Taliban to negotiate peace. In 2019 alone, airstrikes killed 700 civilians — more civilians than in any other year since the beginning of the war in 2001 and 2002, the report said. 
  
However, the U.S. reduced the number of airstrikes after signing the landmark deal with the Taliban and began withdrawing troops from Afghanistan to wind down what is dubbed America’s longest war.  FILE – US troops wait for their helicopter flight at an Afghan National Army (ANA) Base in Logar province, Afghanistan.The Costs of War project also acknowledged that the pact led to a reduction in the airstrikes and the harm to Afghan civilians caused by those strikes. 
  
The U.S.-Taliban agreement opened first-ever direct peace talks in September involving the insurgent group and representatives of the Afghan government. The slow-moving dialogue is being hosted by Qatar. 
  
The Costs of War project cautioned that while international forces had pulled back on airstrikes, the U.S.-trained-and-equipped Afghan Air Force has increased combat missions against the Taliban, inflicting heavy casualties on civilians. FILE – An Afghan Air Force A-29 attack aircraft flies during an exercise at a bombing range outside Kabul, Afghanistan, Oct. 18, 2016.  
“The Afghan government is now negotiating with the Taliban. And as part of a broader offensive perhaps aimed at increasing Afghan government leverage in the talks, airstrikes by the Afghan Air Force [AAF] have increased. As a consequence, the AAF is harming more Afghan civilians than at any time in its history,” said Neta Crawford, co-director of the project. 
  
Crawford noted the uptick in civilians killed by AAF airstrikes between July and September 2020 was particularly striking. It noted that in the first six months of this year, the AAF killed 86 Afghan civilians and injured 103 civilians. 
 
“That rate of harm nearly doubled in the next three months. Between July and the end of September, the Afghan Air Force killed 70 civilians, and 90 civilians were injured,” Crawford said.  
  
While the U.S. may have passed an increased share of the role of conducting airstrikes to the AAF, the U.S. is to some extent responsible for the performance of the AAF, according to the Costs of War project. 
  
“We take seriously our duty to train our Afghan counterparts on civilian casualty prevention measures, and we have observed an extraordinary amount of effort and care in their operations,” Leggett said, while defending the performance of the Afghan security forces. 
  
Leggett again urged all sides of the conflict to “substantially” reduce violence to allow the Afghan peace process to take hold. 
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Health officials and experts are still baffled by a mysterious illness that has left over 500 people hospitalized and one person dead in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
The illness was first detected Saturday evening in Eluru, an ancient city famous for its hand-woven products. People started convulsing without any warning, said Geeta Prasadini, the director of public health.
Since then, symptoms ranging from nausea and anxiety to loss of consciousness have been reported in 546 patients admitted to hospitals. Many have recovered and returned home, while 148 are still being treated, said Dasari Nagarjuna, a government spokesperson.
Teams of experts have arrived at the city from India’s top scientific institutes. Different theories have been suggested and are being tested. The most recent hypothesis is contamination of food by pesticides.
“But nobody knows,” Prasadini admitted.
What is confounding experts is that there doesn’t seem to be any common link among the hundreds of people who have fallen sick. All of the patients have tested negative for COVID-19 and other viral diseases such as dengue, chikungunya or herpes. They aren’t related to each other. They don’t all live in the same area. They’re from different age groups, including about 70 children, but very few are elderly.
Initially, contaminated water was suspected. But the chief minister’s office confirmed that people who don’t use the municipal water supply have also fallen ill, and that initial tests of water samples didn’t reveal any harmful chemicals.
A 45-year-old man with the single name Sridhar was hospitalized with symptoms resembling epilepsy and died Sunday evening, doctors said. Prasadini said his autopsy didn’t shed any light on the cause of death.
The hypothesis currently being tested is that people ate vegetables tainted with pesticides made of organic compounds containing phosphorus. But this is an “assumption” based on the fact that such pesticides are commonly used in the area and not on any evidence, Prasadini said.
She said that experts were testing to see if pesticides had contaminated fish ponds or spilled over to vegetables.
Opposition leader N. Chandrababu Naidu demanded on Twitter an “impartial, full-fledged inquiry into the incident.”
Andhra Pradesh state is among those worst hit by COVID-19, with over 800,000 detected cases. The health system in the state, like the rest of India, has been frayed by the virus
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Washington has agreed to prolong a set of temporary migration protections that allow immigrants from six countries to live in the United States, officials said Monday. The so-called Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for some citizens of El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Sudan, Honduras and Nepal was extended by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) until at least October 2021. TPS allows some foreigners whose home countries experience a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary event to remain in the United States and apply for work permits. The status must be renewed periodically in six- to 18-month intervals by the secretary of Homeland Security. TPS has been in the crosshairs of Republican President Donald Trump’s administration in recent months as it seeks to scale back humanitarian protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were scheduled to be expelled from the United States in early March after a wind-down period. The extension is part of an agreement between the administration and plaintiffs in related lawsuits not to terminate the protections as the lawsuits filter through the U.S. court system. Democratic President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to protect enrollees from being returned to unsafe countries. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. FILE – Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez answers questions from the Associated Press, August 13, 2019, as he leaves a meeting of the Organization of American States, in Washington.Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez said the extension would cover about 44,000 of the storm-ravaged Central American country’s citizens living in the United States. He said he discussed the extension on a visit to Washington last week. “In the United States, during the meeting with the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (Chad Wolf), they told us that the TPS that was going to end in January will be extended,” Hernandez said on national television. Hondurans living in the United States have had access to TPS since the accord was brokered after Hurricane Mitch wreaked havoc on the impoverished Central American country in 1998. Guatemala has also requested extended TPS protection for its citizens.  
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Authorities in Pakistan suspended seven senior officers at a government hospital Monday after an inquiry found their “criminal negligence” resulted in the disruption of oxygen supply to the facility, killing six coronavirus patients.
 
The deaths occurred the previous day in Peshawar, capital of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, as the country of about 220 million people battles a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
“The incident took place due to system failure” said the inquiry report, noting that patient care “badly suffered” in Khyber Teaching Hospital, the city’s largest. The report found that at the time of incident 90 patients were admitted in the coronavirus isolation ward who were left for hours without sufficient oxygen.  
 
The depletion of oxygen supply “went unnoticed, unsupervised and unchecked” and there had been no backup supply system put in place. Provincial Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra told reporters that the government will hold a second inquiry over the next five days.  
 
The hospital director was among those suspended.
 
Pakistan has reported more than 420,000 COVID-19 infections, with about 8,400 deaths since the pandemic hit the country in late February. The number of cases dropped dramatically in mid-July to several hundred a day.  
 
But the number of people contracting the virus has rapidly increased in the past two months. Officials said they had documented nearly 3,800 new cases in the last 24 hours across Pakistan, with 37 deaths. The national positivity rate stood at almost 10 percent, which had dropped to around one percent in July.  
 
Intensive care units across Pakistan are said to be almost full, with federal and provincial governments struggling to deal with the health emergency and urging people to strictly comply with safety guidelines and wear masks to help contain the spread of the pandemic.  
 
The National Command and Operation Center, which oversees the pandemic-related actions, warned Monday that more than 2,500 “COVID patients are in critical condition across Pakistan and the number of critical patients is rising fast.”
 
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A car bomb attack wounded at least 35 people, including women and children, in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province early Monday.
 
Provincial officials said the attack near the headquarters of Daman district police was carried out using a Mazda mini truck. The bombing damaged parts of the building along with several nearby houses. Fifteen civilians became victims of the attack along with several police officers, operatives of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency the National Directorate of Security, and the district police chief, Abdul Wadoud.
 
Shadi Khan, the chief of the district, said local officials were in a meeting inside when the bomb detonated.
 
“The walls of the district police headquarters and district center were destroyed. There is not a single window or door that was not damaged,” Khan said, describing the extent of the destruction.    
 
The Kabul-Kandahar highway was closed for some time after Monday’s attack.
 
Baheer Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor, said “all except one victim were only slightly wounded.”  He added that the one person in critical condition has been moved to the Mirwais regional hospital.
 
Daman district is located east of the Kandahar city. No group has claimed responsibility so far.
 
The attack came days after the Taliban and the Afghan government’s teams in Doha made progress in negotiations aimed at ending decades of conflict.   
 
The international community has repeatedly expressed its concern at what several governments and international agencies have called an unacceptably high level of violence in Afghanistan. In a recent statement condemning attacks on media, rights defenders, and religious leaders, the European Union reiterated that “the Taliban and various terrorist organizations are responsible for the significant majority of civilian casualties in Afghanistan.”
 
The country has seen multiple car bomb attacks in the last few months, some of them deadly. A similar car bomb attack on a security forces’ compound in Ghazni province last month killed 30 security personnel.
 
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At least one person has died and 200 others have been hospitalized due to an unidentified illness in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, reports said Monday.
The illness was detected Saturday evening in Eluru, an ancient city famous for its hand-woven products. Since then, patients have experienced symptoms ranging from nausea and anxiety to loss of consciousness, doctors said.
A 45-year-old man who was hospitalized with symptoms similar to epilepsy and nausea died Sunday evening, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
Officials are trying to determine the cause of the illness. So far, water samples from impacted areas haven’t shown any signs of contamination and patients have tested negative for COVID-19.
State chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy visited a government hospital and met patients who were ill. Opposition leader N. Chandrababu Naidu demanded on Twitter an “impartial, full-fledged inquiry into the incident.”
Andhra Pradesh state is among those worst hit by COVID-19, with over 800,000 detected cases. The health system in the state, like the rest of India, has been frayed by the virus.
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Thousands of people protested and blocked traffic in central London on Sunday over Indian agricultural reforms that have triggered mass demonstrations in India, and police made 13 arrests over breaches of COVID regulations.A crowd of demonstrators converged on the Indian embassy, located on a major artery in the center of the British capital, and groups marched around the Trafalgar Square area.Tens of thousands of farmers have protested in India against three laws the government says are meant to overhaul antiquated procurement procedures and give growers more options to sell their produce.Farmers fear the legislation, passed in September, will eventually dismantle India’s regulated markets and stop the government from buying wheat and rice at guaranteed prices, leaving them at the mercy of private buyers.Britain is home to a large Indian diaspora, and many Britons who trace their family roots to India are strongly engaged with news from the country.There was little social distancing in evidence at the London protests and few participants were wearing face masks, a Reuters photographer at the scene said.The Metropolitan Police said it had arrested 13 people for breaching restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19, and that four of those people were later released after being issued fines.Police also confiscated fireworks from teenagers who were seen setting them off toward a crowd. There were no reports of injuries, and traffic was flowing freely after the crowds dispersed.”The capital remains in the midst of a pandemic. It is vital that we all play our part in the fight against COVID-19,” said police Commander Paul Brogden in a statement.
 
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Thousands of people protested in central London on Sunday over Indian agricultural reforms that have triggered mass demonstrations in India.A crowd of demonstrators converged on the Indian embassy, located on Aldwych, a major artery in the center of the British capital, and groups marched around the Trafalgar Square area, a Reuters photographer at the scene said.Tens of thousands of farmers have protested in India against three laws the government says are meant to overhaul antiquated procurement procedures and give growers more options to sell their produce.Farmers fear the legislation, passed in September, will eventually dismantle India’s regulated markets and stop the government from buying wheat and rice at guaranteed prices, leaving them at the mercy of private buyers.Britain is home to a large Indian diaspora and many Britons who trace their family roots to India are strongly engaged with news from the country.There was little social distancing in evidence at the London protests and few participants were wearing face masks.The Metropolitan Police warned that people taking part in a gathering that did not respect COVID-19 restrictions risked being fined, and called on people to leave the area. 
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The United Nations refugee agency says it opposes the relocation of Rohingya refugees from Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, to a remote island in the Bay of Bengal. Bangladeshi authorities Friday moved more than 1,500 Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char, an uninhabited Bay of Bengal island vulnerable to cyclones and prone to flooding.   U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Babar Baloch says the United Nations was not involved in the preparation of this movement.  He says it did not know the identification of the refugees and had limited information on the overall relocation operation.   He says the UNHCR is concerned that the Rohingya refugees did not have the information they needed to make a free and informed decision about relocating to Bhasan Char.  “We have heard reports from the camps that some refugees may feel pressured into relocating to Bhasan Char or may have changed their initial views about relocation and no longer wish to move.  If so, they should be allowed to remain in the camps,”  he said.In 2017, nearly 1 million refugees fled persecution and violence in Myanmar for Cox’s Bazar where they are living in squalid and overcrowded camps.FILE – Rohingya refugees gather to mark the second anniversary of the exodus at the Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, August 25, 2019.Bangladesh says it wants to ease congestion in the camps and sees the recent relocation of the Rohingya as the first step in a plan to move 100,000 refugees to Bhasan Char.    The U.N. is calling on the government to respect its commitment that the movements to the island would be voluntary.  Baloch says the UNHCR is troubled by images of distressed refugees during the relocation process and has conveyed its concerns to Bangladeshi authorities. “We again emphasize that all movements as mentioned earlier to Bhasan Char must be voluntary and based upon consultations and full information regarding conditions of life on the island and the rights and services that refugees will be able to access,”  he said.Baloch says the U.N. has limited information about conditions on the island and wants the government to grant onsite visits to verify that the island is a safe and sustainable place to live.  He says the refugees must have access to health, livelihood and education and be protected from natural disasters and other dangers.  
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