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Human traffickers are capitalizing on the coronavirus pandemic to target people ranging from jobless migrants to out-of-school children, two U.N. specialists said, warning that the fallout from COVID-19 had driven the crime further underground.The global economic slowdown has left countless people jobless, desperate and at risk of exploitation, while victims of trafficking are less likely to be found or receive help with attention and resources diverted elsewhere, the experts said.An estimated 25 million people worldwide are victims of labor and sex trafficking, according to the United Nations, with concerns growing that more will fall prey as support services are halted and efforts to secure justice are hindered.”The difficulty is that trafficking is now even more underground and less visible,” said Siobhan Mullally, the recently appointed U.N. special rapporteur on human trafficking.”More people are at risk … especially in the informal economy … there are opportunities for traffickers to recruit, to exploit, to prey on people’s desperation,” Mullally told the Thomson Reuters Foundation ahead of Anti-Slavery Day on Sunday.About 2.5 billion people, more than 60% of the world’s workforce, are informal workers, leaving them particularly at risk of being underpaid and abused, labor advocates have said.From India to Cambodia, workers in sectors such as textiles and tourism have lost their livelihoods because of COVID-19 and resorted to taking out loans that can lead to debt bondage or accepting work on worse terms and in exploitative conditions.FILE – Migrant workers and their families line up in a New Delhi bus terminal to leave for their villages during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the coronavirus, March 28, 2020.Many of the world’s estimated 164 million migrant workers are stranded abroad and unable to go home or unwilling to seek help because of closed borders and restrictive immigration policies, leaving them vulnerable to traffickers, according to Mullally.‘Worsening horrors’Two decades after the adoption of a landmark U.N. anti-trafficking protocol, Mullally said the issue was still seen mainly as a criminal justice matter, and she called for a much broader focus encompassing labor rights and social protection.”An economic crisis … and recession or even depression … may be used as an excuse to curtail workers’ rights, with the knock-on effect of a greater threat of trafficking,” she added.Extreme poverty will rise for the first time this century, the World Bank said last week, predicting that the COVID-19 fallout could spawn 115 million “new poor” this year alone.Ilias Chatzis, head of the trafficking unit at the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said his department was still gathering information about the impact of coronavirus on the crime but warned that early evidence showed “worsening horrors.”He cited the example of children spending more time online and being vulnerable to sexual exploitation — remotely — by global predators. Europol said in May that online child sex abuse in the European Union spiked at the start of the pandemic.While acknowledging the complexity of tackling trafficking during COVID-19, Chatzis sounded a note of hope for the future.”It’s not all darkness ahead. There is light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “We abolished [chattel] slavery, we can abolish trafficking.”
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At least 24 people have been killed, and tens of thousands forced to flee their homes in Cambodia, because of prolonged heavy rain and flash flooding, authorities said Saturday, October 17. Almost 60,000 houses and 240,000 hectares of farmland have been flooded, affecting 245,428 people in 19 provinces and cities, including the capital Phnom Penh, and nearly 8,000 families were evacuated, according to official figures. Prime Minister Hun Sen visited evacuees at a makeshift center in Phnom Penh Thursday night, handing out blankets and supplies, local media reported. More rain is in forecast over the weekend across most of the country. (Reuters)  
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A year ago, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese took to the streets protesting taxes and a rapidly deteriorating economy. A spontaneous and hopeful nationwide movement was born, denouncing an entire political establishment that had for decades pushed Lebanon toward collapse.Today, as crises multiply and the country dives deeper into uncertainty and poverty, protests seem to have petered out. Even widespread anger over a devastating explosion at Beirut’s port on Aug. 4, blamed on government negligence, failed to reignite the movement.FILE – Words are written by Lebanese citizens in front of the scene of the Aug. 4 explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Aug. 9, 2020.On Saturday, thousands of people marked the first anniversary of the protest movement in different parts of Lebanon, including in its three largest cities, Beirut, Tripoli and Sidon. But there were far fewer protesters than there were last year.It is both bewildering and frustrating for those who believe only a sustained popular uprising can bring change in Lebanon.Some argue the protests lost momentum because of the political elite’s moves to hijack and weaken the movement. Protesters have been met with violence, arrest and intimidation. Others say Lebanese have become numb to incompetence and corruption among the political class.Patronage networkBut Lebanon’s confessional-based power-sharing system also proved difficult to bring down. A revolt against the status quo means breaking a sectarian patronage network cultivated by the ruling elite that many in the divided population benefit from. Even if dissatisfied, some blame other factions for the country’s problems or fear change will give another sect power over them — a fear that politicians eagerly stoke.”We don’t have one head of state. It’s a group of men. They have agreed to divide the spoils of the state at every level. It’s a system that you can hardly topple,” said Carmen Geha, associate professor in public administration and an activist. She compared the dismantling of Lebanon’s system to the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa, a long and arduous process.For all its limitations, the protest movement that erupted on Oct. 17, 2019, had successes.Even after street demonstrations dissipated, grassroots networks quickly mobilized following the Beirut explosion, which killed nearly 200 and wrecked tens of thousands of homes. Authorities almost completely left the public on its own to deal with the aftermath, with no government cleanup crews in the streets and little outreach to those whose homes or businesses were wrecked.So, activists stepped in and took charge of rebuilding.”You find people more mobilized toward helping each other … that is another face of the revolution,” Geha said. “We need to show people how inept politicians are and provide them with an alternative system, one focused on services.”The protests showed Lebanese could march against politicians of their own sect. In unprecedented scenes, large crowds turned out, even in cities like Tripoli, Sidon and Nabatiyeh, which have been strongly affiliated with traditional sectarian parties, including Hezbollah. Politicians considered untouchable gained something of a pariah status, named and shamed in public or even chased out of restaurants.’We broke their halo'”We broke the sectarian barriers and the taboo of opposing these warlords. We broke their halo,” said Taymour Jreissati, once a prominent protester, now living in France. Jreissati left in the summer, for the sake of his children, he said, and after being threatened by politicians and security agencies.Two governments were toppled under the pressure of the streets — one last October, the other right after the Beirut explosion.Jad Chaaban, an economist and activist, said the protest movement was thwarted by the political elite.”The politicians cemented their alliances again and distributed the roles to protect each other,” he said. “The counter-revolution was at the level of the economy, allowing it to deteriorate … [and] on the streets through a fierce police crackdown.”FILE – Women walk past graffiti painted on a metal barrier that closed the entrance of a hotel damaged by the Aug. 4 explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, Oct. 12, 2020.The political factions in power have generally claimed to support the protesters’ goals of reform and an end to corruption. At the same time, they have made no move to enact reform, often depicting the protesters as agents of instability.In a speech to his party faithful last week, former Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil — who is the son-in-law of the president and who was particularly vilified in protesters’ chants as a symbol of the ruling class — called on “the true, sincere movement” to join his party in forming a program of change. But he also warned that Lebanese are threatened “with being brainwashed by ‘revolutions’ fabricated and financed from abroad.”The protest movement also failed to offer solid leadership. From the start, protesters shunned calls to do so, worried leaders could be targeted or co-opted. With time, that absence became a constraint.Some experts see the protesters’ chief demand as unrealistic — typified in the chant, “All of them means all of them,” meaning all politicians in the establishment must step down.’Dilution of the problem’That addressed the wrong issue and was “a dilution of the problem,” said Nadim Shehadi, from the London-based think tank Chatham House.”The problem in Lebanon is not the system of governance. It has its flaws, but it is not the cause of the problem. Hezbollah is,” said Shehadi, who is also executive director of the New York headquarters and academic center at the Lebanese American University.At various protests, supporters of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its Shiite ally Amal attacked demonstrators. Hezbollah and its political allies have also snarled efforts to form a more reformist government since the port explosion — wary, critics say, of changes that could affect its strength as an independent armed force and support system for its Shiite community.The uprising tripped over a myriad of crises. The coronavirus pandemic undermined turnout. The breakdown of the economy — and then the port explosion — threw people into survival mode, drained by their inability to make ends meet.Anti-government protesters wave Lebanese national flags near a giant flame over a metal statue that reads in Arabic “October 17, Revolution,” in Beirut, Lebanon, Oct. 17, 2020.In Beirut, hundreds marched on Saturday from different parts of the capital and gathered outside the port, the scene of the massive blast. They later lit a giant flame over a metal statue that reads in Arabic the “October 17, Revolution.” The flame was lit at 6:07 p.m. (1507 GMT) to mark the moment the port blast occurred.People may eventually go back to street protests in larger numbers. The Central Bank is expected to end subsidies of basic goods in coming weeks, throwing more people into poverty.But many activists now focus on the grassroots level, building an alternative to the patronage system to deliver basic needs. With time, they hope more people will break with their traditional leadership.”It’s a long road,” said activist Lina Boubess, a 60-year-old mother who has not missed one protest since October.”I am the civil war generation, but this new generation gives me hope. I believe in a tomorrow. I don’t want to give up.” 
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The director of a Kurdish-language performance of a 1981 Italian play banned by the Turkish authorities four hours before its stage time is rejecting the government claim that it is a terror propaganda for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).Beru is a Kurdish adaptation of the Nobel prize-winning Italian playwright Dario Fo’s Trumpets and Raspberries. The play was performed by the independent company Teatra Jiyana Nu, or New Life Theatre, for at least three years in Turkey and abroad until earlier this week when Turkish authorities said it was promoting the PKK group.“We are not making propaganda but art,” Nazmi Karaman, the director of the play, told VOA.The ban, he said, was a political move by the government to limit the usage of Kurdish language in public arenas.Beru was included in the Istanbul Municipal Theatre’s October program as part of a project by the main opposition-held Istanbul Municipality to support independent theater companies struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. It would have been the first Kurdish-language play staged in the theater’s 106-year history.Karaman said police delivered to him a banning notice from Istanbul’s Gaziosmanpasa district governor shortly before the play’s final rehearsal on Tuesday. In the notice seen by VOA, the play was accused of violating public order.“It was not a public order violation or propaganda since today. Why now?” he said, adding that his team had submitted permit applications to the police “many times” with Turkish subtitles for review.Trumpets and Raspberries has been translated into several languages, including Turkish. The play is a political satire “based upon the richest man and head of the largest car company in Italy at the time,” Actress Ruges Kirici speaks to media in front of Istanbul’s Municipal Theatre building after Turkish authorities banned a Kurdish-language play, in Gaziosmanpasa district, Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 13, 2020.Public outcryThe ban on Beru has sparked a controversy in the country, with the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) considering it an attack on Kurdish language that reportedly has 5 million speakers in Istanbul alone.The official census in Turkey does not list ethnicities, but Istanbul is often referred to as the country’s largest Kurdish city.“This is the fascist mentality that we challenge,” the HDP said on its official Twitter account.Similarly, Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), condemned the decision in a statement Wednesday.Referring to a government move to broadcast an interview with PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan’s brother Osman Ocalan on state TV channel TRT Kurdi before last year’s local elections, Imamoglu said, “it’s allowed for a terrorist group member who is sought with a red notice to make a statement on TV, but it’s banned to stage a play in Kurdish. This is unacceptable.”Turkish authorities, however, have denied that the ban was imposed due to its rendition in Kurdish.Ismail Catakli, the interior ministry spokesperson, on Twitter called the criticism as “another lie, another provocation.””A theater play spreading the PKK terror organization’s propaganda will be allowed neither in Kurdish, Turkish nor in Arabic,” Catakli added.In a press statement released on Wednesday, Istanbul governorate announced it has opened an investigation into the claims that it pushed for the PKK narrative.A scene from the play Beru (Twitter @nazmikaraman)PKK conflictThe PKK, a designated terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union, has fought Turkey since 1984. The conflict has left more than 40,000 people dead.The Turkish government over the years has come under criticism from several human rights organizations alleging that it uses the PKK conflict as a broad brush to crack down on the Kurds.“The conflict with the PKK has been used to justify discriminatory measures against Kurds, including the prohibition of Kurdish festivals for security reasons and the reversal of Kurdish municipal officials’ efforts to promote their language and culture,” noted Freedom House in its Freedom in the World 2020 report.According to Lisel Hintz, a professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, the suppression of the Kurdish movement through the restriction of arts represents a broader attempt by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) “to police and patrol the kinds of identities that its citizens are able to have.”“I think it’s also representative of a de-democratization movement that is directed particularly at Kurds, at the Peoples’ Democratic Party and at anyone who supports them,” Hintz told VOA.Last month, Turkey issued arrest warrants for 82 members of the HDP, including the mayor of Kars, over pro-Kurdish protests held in 2014. The protests were sparked by the seizure of Kobane, a mainly Kurdish town in northern Syria, by the Islamic State.Hintz charged that the ban on Beru is likely a tactic by the ruling AKP to portray the main opposition CHP as cozying up to the Kurdish movement.“This represents a way in which the AKP can try to sort of smear the CHP with being associated with Kurds which in and of itself is insulting. The idea that just being associated with the Kurdish movement is something that is dangerous, unpatriotic or inauthentic is, in itself, reprehensible,” she added.Mem Botanî contributed to this report from Istanbul, Turkey. 
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Thousands of protesters were in the streets of Bangkok, Thailand, again Saturday in defiance of a government crackdown as they continue to push for the ouster of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.  
 
Unlike Friday’s protests, when police used water cannons to disperse thousands of protesters that included children, Saturday’s demonstrations were peaceful.
 
Activists managed to stage a fourth consecutive day of protests, despite government efforts to thwart them through a variety of actions, including shutting down Bangkok’s mass transit systems.
 
Saturday’s protests, which were also held in at least six cities outside Bangkok, got underway despite Prayuth’s declaration of a state of emergency Thursday that banned all political gatherings of five or more people and made all protesters subject to arrest.
 
Many protesters said they were inspired to take action Saturday by the police use of water cannons.  
 
In the past week, police have arrested more than 50 people — including several protest leaders.
 
The Royal Palace has not commented on the protests, but King Maha Vajiralongkorn has said the country needs people who love the monarchy and the country.   
 
Pro-democracy activists began demonstrating three months ago to force the resignation of Prayuth, a former army general who seized power in a 2014 coup that ousted the elected civilian government. He won election to the post last year, but protesters say the vote was rigged in his favor due to constitutional laws drafted by the military.   
 
In addition to demanding reform of the country’s constitution, the demonstrators are seeking to reduce the influence of the Thai monarchy. The institution maintains divine-like status among Thailand’s elite, and it is protected by strict “lese majeste” laws that impose prison sentences on anyone convicted of insulting the monarchy. 
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The United States has condemned Turkey for testing a highly advanced Russian air defense system on Friday, disregarding U.S. warnings.A Haber television, which is close to Turkish government, reported that the Turkish army conducted the test firing of the S-400 system in the northern province of Sinop by the Black Sea.The U.S. State Department said the missile launch is “incompatible with Turkey’s responsibilities as a NATO ally and strategic partner” of the U.S.A Defense Department spokesperson said “We have been clear: an operational S-400 system is not consistent with Turkey’s commitments as a U.S. and NATO ally. We object to Turkey’s purchase of the system and are deeply concerned with reports that Turkey is bringing it into operation.”The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Republican Jim Risch, called the test “unacceptable behavior” from a NATO ally.Risch said in a statement that the move damages NATO and represents a direct threat to the U.S. F-35 bombers and other U.S. and NATO allies’ systems.“U.S. law requires sanctions against countries that continue to deepen their defense relationship with Russia, and the administration should send a strong signal that Turkey must divest its S-400s,” the statement said.Sen. Bob Menendez, the committee’s senior Democrat, said in a statement that “Turkey must be sanctioned immediately for its purchase and use of this system.”Menendez did not spare the Trump administration of criticism, saying “President Trump’s failure to follow the law and his affinity for [Turkish President] Recep Tayyip Erdogan pose a serious threat to our national security and that of our NATO allies and partners in Europe.”The Turkish Defense Ministry has refused to confirm or deny the test firing.Turkey signed the S-400 deal with Russia in 2017, with the first deliveries of missile batteries, worth $2.5 billion, coming in July of last year.
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Portions of France begin the implementation of new restrictions Saturday to try to curb the coronavirus.  Paris and at least seven other cities, including Lyon, Grenoble, Aix-en-Provence, Montpellier, Lille, Rouen and Saint-Étienne will be under curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. The curfew is scheduled to be in place for at least four weeks.  
 
Belgium will be placed under a 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. nationwide curfew Monday to combat the country’s rising COVID-19 caseload. In addition, Belgium has ordered all cafes, bars, and restaurants to be shuttered, starting Monday.  
 
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday that there are 39.3 million COVID-19 infections worldwide and 1.1 million deaths from the virus.   
 
India has begun the task of identifying the 300 million people who will receive the initial COVID-19 vaccine, once it becomes available, according to media reports.A man reacts as a health care worker collects a swab sample to test for the coronavirus, at a testing site, in New Delhi, India, Oct. 17, 2020.COVID cases in India are steadily climbing.  The South Asian nation is on the verge of overtaking the U.S. as the country with the most coronavirus cases.  
 
The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday that India has 7.4 million coronavirus infections, while the U.S. has just over 8 million.  India said Saturday it had recorded 62,212 new COVID cases in the previous 24 hours.  
 
Daily cases of COVID-19 have reached record highs around the world, particularly in Europe and the Americas, the World Health Organization said Friday.  
 
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a briefing in Geneva that record-high numbers of cases were reported in each of the past four days.  
 
“We must remember that this is an uneven pandemic,” Tedros said. “Countries have responded differently, and countries have been affected differently. Almost 70% of all cases reported globally last week were from 10 countries, and almost half of all cases were from just three countries.”  
 
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In the U.S. state of Michigan, authorities have apprehended 13 men accused of conspiring to abduct and possibly kill the state’s governor. The plot, which involved a self-styled militia group armed with semi-automatic weapons and explosives, was timed to disrupt the U.S. election and incite an insurrection. Matt Dibble spoke to experts who are warning that provocative messaging from leaders and under-regulated social media could be driving the American political climate towards violence.
Camera: Sam Paakkonen        Producer: Matt Dibble
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Two female Iranian dissidents have responded defiantly to being summoned to start prison terms in Iran, saying they have no regrets for signing the 2019 letter that called for the nation’s Islamist ruler to quit and triggered their arrest.In exclusive Thursday interviews with VOA Persian from Iran, Shahla Entesari and Shahla Jahanbin said they had received phone calls the previous day from Tehran’s Evin prison, notifying them that they must report to the jail within 10 days. Iran’s judiciary has ordered the two women to serve 27-month prison terms for signing the Aug. 9, 2019, open letter that demanded the resignation of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Entesari and Jahanbin were among 14 Iranian women who signed the letter and who were later charged by Iranian authorities with spreading anti-government propaganda and “gathering and conspiring against national security.”The signatories wrote, “We rise against this anti-woman regime that has wiped out our human values and demand a complete departure from the Islamic Republic and drafting of a new constitution for the establishment of a state in which women’s dignity, identity and equal rights are recognized in all areas.”Iran has been led by Shiite clerics since they seized power in a 1979 Islamist Revolution.’Don’t regret’ signingIranian security agents arrested Entesari and Jahanbin in connection with the August 2019 letter later that month before releasing both on bail in November.The two women told VOA they “don’t regret” signing the letter, even though they face the prospect of imminent imprisonment that could exacerbate their existing medical problems and put them at risk of coronavirus exposure. International rights activists have documented multiple coronavirus outbreaks in Iran’s unsanitary and overcrowded prison system.Jahanbin suffers from osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease affecting both her neck and shoulders, while Entesari has heart disease and tremors in her arm and leg.Jahanbin said she had received an initial prison summons in May but asked authorities to delay her incarceration so that she could undergo a needed back surgery and have time to recover from the procedure. She said the authorities granted her a two-month recovery period, but she was unable to schedule the surgery because of the pandemic.Iranians who resist an initial prison summons can receive several follow-up notices over a period of weeks or months, but also risk being arrested and sent to jail at any time.“We stand by our words,” Jahanbin said in reference to the letter demanding Khamenei resign. She said she remains concerned about the increasing problems facing Iran as its Islamist rulers struggle with the Middle East’s worst coronavirus outbreak and a two-year economic recession fueled by escalating U.S. sanctions and government mismanagement.’We only made a request’Jahanbin also said she and the other signatories of the letter did nothing wrong. “We did not gather or foment any violent movement. We only made a request (of Khamenei) based on our constitutional rights,” she said.Speaking separately to VOA, Entesari said the more time that has passed since signing the letter, the more she believes it was the right thing to do.“Iran’s worsening situation, whose main cause is the incompetence of its Islamist rulers, shows how correct our statements were,” Entesari said. “It is because of their weakness that they want to imprison anyone who seeks freedom and makes the slightest criticism against them,” she added.Iranian state media have been silent on the cases of the two women in recent weeks.The letter signed by Entesari and Jahanbin was inspired in part by an earlier June 2019 open letter in which another 14 dissidents, mostly men, issued similar demands for Khamenei to quit and for Iran’s Islamist constitution to be changed.Most of the signatories of the first letter also were arrested and charged with national security offenses. One of those detained in August 2019 was Jahanbin’s husband, Abbas Vahedian Shahroudi. He was granted a temporary release from a prison in Mashhad in July.This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Click here for the original Persian version of the story. 
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Presidential campaign ads on TV and social media target voters with different messages designed for different media platforms. VOA’s Steve Redisch explains the messaging campaign.
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On Friday, President Donald Trump campaigned in Florida — a state with one of the highest populations of elderly voters — promising that he would protect American seniors from the coronavirus pandemic. Trump handily won senior citizens’ votes in 2016, but the latest polls show that Democratic nominee Joe Biden is leading by a significant margin among Americans 65 and older. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story.
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Thailand’s prime minister dismissed calls for his resignation Friday as protesters defied a ban to rally in the capital, Bangkok, for the second day amid a violent police crackdown.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha declared a state of emergency in response to the civil strife led by students, who are demanding his resignation and reforms to the country’s constitutional monarchy.Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha speaks during a news conference after a cabinet meeting at the Government House in Bangkok, Sept. 22, 2020.
Prayuth said Friday the measure was necessary because “certain groups of perpetrators intended to instigate an untoward incident and movement in the Bangkok area by way of various methods and via different channels, including causing obstruction to the royal motorcade.”
He said Friday he had no plans to resign as he had done nothing wrong. He said his government hopes it can drop the state of emergency ahead of its normal 30-day duration “if the situation improves quickly.”
To quell the protests, police armed with water cannons laced with a chemical irritant charged at the crowd, dispersing protesters, onlookers and reporters. Journalists who were hit by the water said it caused a stinging sensation and was dyed blue, to mark protesters for possible later arrest.
Prayuth is a former army general who seized power in a 2014 coup that ousted the elected civilian government. He won election to the post last year, but protesters say the vote was rigged in his favor because of laws drafted by the military.
In addition to changes to the constitution drafted by the military, the demonstrators are also seeking to reduce the influence of the Thai monarchy. The institution maintains divinelike status among Thailand’s elite, and is protected by strict “lese majeste” laws, which imposes prison sentences for anyone convicted of insulting the king.People cover themselves with umbrellas during anti-government protests, in Bangkok, Thailand, Oct. 16, 2020.
Protesters shouted at a motorcade carrying King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida as it drove past a crowd Wednesday and held up a three-fingered salute, a symbol of defiance borrowed from the popular U.S. Hunger Games books and film trilogy.
A number of protest leaders have been rounded up since the state of emergency went into effect. On Friday another two activists were arrested under a law covering violence against the queen for their alleged part in the heckling of the motorcade. They could face up to life in prison if convicted.
The Ministry of Digital Economy also announced it would pursue cases against five Twitter accounts and five Facebook accounts for inviting people to attend Friday’s rally, an action deemed illegal under the state of emergency, as well as other laws.
The legal aid group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said at least 51 people have been arrested since Tuesday in connection with the protests. 
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As the U.S. inches closer to pivotal elections November 3, Michigan’s 270,000 registered Muslim American voters could determine the outcome of the presidential contest in the battleground state. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more.Camera, Producer: Kane Farabaugh  
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China has warned Canada not to grant political asylum to Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters, labeling them violent criminals and saying the action would constitute interference in China’s internal affairs.Chinese Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu said Thursday that “if the Canadian side really cares about the stability and the prosperity in Hong Kong, and really cares about the good health and safety of those 300,000 Canadian passport-holders in Hong Kong, and the large number of Canadian companies operating in Hong Kong SAR [Special Administrative Region], you should support those efforts to fight violent crimes.”Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne called Cong’s statement “totally unacceptable and disturbing.””I have instructed Global Affairs to call the ambassador in to make clear in no uncertain terms that Canada will always stand up for human rights and the rights of Canadians around the world,” Champagne said in a statement published by Canadian news organizations.Earlier this week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau strongly criticized Beijing for “coercive diplomacy” and for the crackdowns in Hong Kong and on Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region.At his press briefing Thursday, Cong countered Trudeau’s comments, saying there was no coercive diplomacy on the Chinese side, adding that “the Hong Kong issue and the Xinjiang-related issue are not about the issue of human rights. They are purely about internal affairs of China, which brooks no interference from the outside.”Protests of Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing government and the Chinese government continued in the city for months last year and resulted in a new national security law for Hong Kong that took effect June 30.The law punishes secessionist movements, subversive or terrorist acts, and what it interprets as collusion with foreign forces intervening in the city’s affairs.Western powers, including the United States, Britain and Canada have strongly condemned the law and have accused China of infringing on Hong Kong’s freedoms.
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Doctors and nurses in Zimbabwe are challenging a Ministry of Health rule they say impedes their ability to leave the country.  The ministry said last month that health care workers must get official signatures to receive a “Certificate of Good Standing” – a needed reference to get work abroad.  A doctors group says it’s an attempt to stop a mass exodus after poor treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic.  After more than 10 years of working in government hospitals, a 36-year-old doctor – who did not want to be identified told VOA countless protests have not resulted in a decent salary or better working conditions. He applied to work in England.  But for nearly three months now, he says he can’t go, because he is still waiting for a “Certificate of Good Standing” from the government that foreign employers require.  ” I want to leave this country to work where I can treat people properly with all equipment and medicines,” the doctor told VOA.  He says he also wants a salary so he can look after his children and his parents, who paid for his education.  The Senior Hospital Doctors Association of Zimbabwe says its members are frustrated by delays they attribute to the government trying to curtail a brain drain among health workers.    Its leader, Dr. Aaron Musara, says the government is misusing the certificate of good standing.   “Normally the certificate of good standing talks about the integrity of a colleague, how the colleague does not have pending cases or issues of discipline involving issues with patients or with colleagues,” Dr. Musara told VOA. “It will now cease to be about that, the moment we allow it to be used by the government in this manner. It can be abused as a way of handling labour issues rather than being a professional issue.”He says in some cases doctors just want to go abroad to further their education, then return to Zimbabwe.  Health personnel in Zimbabwe have long protested about poor working conditions – including inadequate personal protective equipment (PPEs) during the COVID-19 pandemic.  But the cash-strapped nation has been unable to improve salaries or provide needed supplies.  Zimbabwe’s vice president, Constantino Chiwenga, who is the country’s new health minister, told doctors this week that he would address all their problems.   “I promise that I will do my best in creating the much-needed conducive environment for your work. Your work will not go unnoticed,” he said. “Do your best and I will do my part. And together we can avoid the ongoing unnecessary loss of life.”Chiwenga did not talk about preventing health care workers from leaving Zimbabwe. Health officials said they would not comment on the issue after the vice president’s promise to resolve the doctors’ problems.     
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Two leading challengers to Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara say they are boycotting this month’s election and are urging their supporters to block the election.Thursday’s announcement by former president Henri Konan Bedie and former premier Pascal Affi N’Guessan is the latest rejection of Quattara’s bid to seek a third term in the Oct. 31 poll.Affi N’Guessan said he and Bedie are inviting their “supporters across the country to block this electoral coup d’état that President Ouattara is preparing to commit, to prevent the holding of all operations connected to the election and to apply the call for a boycott by all legal means at their disposal to convince the powers in place to convene the country’s political forces so as to find an acceptable solution.”Affi N’Guessan and Bedie have also accused the ruling Rally of the Republicans party of tampering with the electoral process. They say they agree with an ongoing protest that Quattara’s pursuit of a third term violates the constitution.Quattara says the new 2016 constitution rebooted term limits, giving him the right to seek another term.Quattara entered the race after the July death of Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, who Quattara had chosen to represent the ruling party in the presidential election.The boycott means Quattara’s only opposition is Independent candidate Kouadio Konan Bertin.
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Two Iranian Baha’i women have reported to a prison in eastern Iran to begin serving sentences for peacefully practicing their faith after authorities apparently ignored appeals to spare them from potential coronavirus exposure in jail, according to a knowledgeable source.Speaking to VOA Persian in a Tuesday interview from Iran, the source said Arezoo Mohammadi and Banafsheh Mokhtari voluntarily presented themselves at the prison in Birjand a day earlier.The two women had been among a group of eight Baha’is from the region who received a Sept. 28 summons to report to the prison by Oct. 10.Source: Iran Rejects Baha’is’ Appeal to Avoid Prison with Coronavirus RiskKnowledgeable source tells VOA Persian the eight Baha’is sentenced to prison for practicing their faith received summons to report to jail in Birjand by October 10 Earlier this month, a source told VOA that an appellate court had issued a Sept. 8 ruling sentencing the six women and two men to prison terms of 15 months to two years for allegedly disrupting national security and spreading anti-government propaganda in relation to the practice of their faith.Iran’s ruling Shiite clerics consider the nation’s estimated 300,000 Baha’is to be heretics with no religion, and routinely arrest them for engaging in faith-related activities, accusing them of national security offenses without disclosing evidence. Most are charged with “propagation” of the Baha’i faith, which authorities consider to be a form of anti-government propaganda.The source who spoke to VOA this week said Mokhtari suffers from cervical and lumbar disc diseases, characterized by neck pain and lower back pain respectively, and had sent a request to the Iranian judiciary’s enforcement branch to have her sentence postponed for medical reasons. However, the source said judicial authorities in Birjand rejected her request.Mokhtari and Mohammadi decided to accept the prison summons as they believed they would be compelled to do so eventually and preferred to resolve their status sooner rather than later, the source said. Iranians who resist an initial prison summons can receive several follow-up notices over a period of weeks but also risk being arrested and sent to jail at any time.Iranian rights groups have said Mohammadi was sentenced to 18 months in prison and Mokhtari to 15 months.VOA’s source said five of the remaining six Baha’is who received the Sept. 28 prison summons also have sent letters to the Iranian judiciary asking for their sentences to be postponed due to the risk of contracting the coronavirus in prison. The source identified the five as Nasrin Ghadiri, Ataollah Malaki, Ataollah Malaki’s daughter, Roya Malaki, Saeed Malaki and Atieh Salehi, and said they were awaiting responses to their letters.It was not clear whether the remaining member of the group, Farzaneh Dimi, has made a similar request to Iranian authorities for a delay in her sentence.There has been no word from Iranian authorities in state media about the cases of the eight Baha’is over the past month.Iran’s coronavirus outbreak, the worst in the Middle East, has prompted months of international concern about the plight of Iranian prisoners of conscience who have been imprisoned or threatened with imprisonment in coronavirus-infested jails.In an Oct. 6 statement, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said the Iranian prison system’s chronic overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions have worsened during the pandemic.“I call for [Iran’s] unconditional release of human rights defenders, lawyers, political prisoners, peaceful protesters and all other individuals deprived of their liberty for expressing their views or otherwise exercising their rights,” Bachelet said. “It is particularly important to rectify such injustices at a time when COVID-19 is coursing through Iran’s prisons.”A week after the call of @UNHumanrights@mbachelet for #Iran to release all #prisonersofconscience, #Bahai-s remain behind bars, and more are jailed: 3 in #Birjand, 1 in #Shiraz and 1 in #Isfahan who was returned after a leave. More injustice during an abysmal #COVID19 pandemic! https://t.co/FmhGeiKF3h— Diane Alai (@DianeAlai) October 14, 2020In an Oct. 14 tweet, the Baha’i International Community’s Geneva-based representative to the U.N., Diane Alai, said Iran had jailed four more Baha’is in the week since Bachelet’s appeal.“More injustice during an abysmal COVID-19 pandemic,” Alai wrote.The eight Baha’i defendants sentenced by the Iranian appellate court last month were part of a wider group of 18 Baha’is whose homes in Birjand were raided and whose belongings were confiscated by Iranian security agents in October 2017. The raids coincided with a religious holiday observed by Baha’is around the world.In a May briefing with reporters, U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback said he was “particularly” concerned by Iran’s treatment of its Baha’i prisoners.This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Click here for the original Persian version of the story.
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