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Tens of thousands of Shiite Muslim pilgrims, some in masks and gloves, flooded Iraq’s Karbala on Sunday to mark Ashoura, in one of the largest religious gatherings of the coronavirus era.Ashoura, on the 10th day of the mourning month of Muharram, commemorates the killing of the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson Hussein at the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD — the defining moment of Islam’s confessional schism.Typically, millions of Shiites from around the world flock to the holy city’s golden-domed shrine where Hussein’s remains are buried, to pray and cry, shoulder-to-shoulder.But with coronavirus numbers spiking across the globe, this year’s commemoration has been subdued.”Honestly, this year is nothing like the millions-strong commemorations of other years,” said Fadel Hakim, who was out early in the streets around the shrine, a blue medical mask cupping his chin.  “It stands out because there are so few people.”  Shiite Muslim worshippers light candles outside the shrine of Imam Hussein during the festival of Ashoura in Karbala, Iraq, Aug. 30, 2020.Small clusters of pilgrims gathered in the vast courtyards outside the shrine, wearing the customary black mourning clothes along with less traditional masks and gloves.  To be allowed in, people had their temperatures taken at gray gates resembling metal detectors.Inside, signs indicated the required distance between worshippers as they pray and nylon sheets prevented people from kissing the walls, a traditional sign of reverence.Praying for a ‘miracle’But in the enclave where Imam Hussein is buried, pilgrims pressed their unmasked faces up against the ornate grille separating them from the mausoleum.  Many visitors were crying or sniffling, wiping their faces with bare hands, gestures which could help the virus spread.Despite directives by Iraq’s health ministry to keep apart, worshippers stood in tight-knit circles to vigorously beat their chests, self-flagellate or make small incisions on their foreheads as signs of grief at Hussein’s death.They put on a dramatic re-enactment of his killing at the hands of Sunni Caliph Yazid’s forces, then sprinted towards the shrine in the famed “Tuwairij run”.Some wore masks as they jogged under disinfectant mists, but otherwise no protective measures were taken.  Last year, a stampede broke out in Karbala that left at least 31 dead and dozens more wounded.”This year will prove to the whole world that a pilgrimage to the Imam Hussein shrine is like a miracle. God willing, there won’t be any new coronavirus cases,” said Mohammad Abdulamir, a mask-less pilgrim.  Karbala governor Nassif al-Khitabi defended the safety measures put in place and hailed Sunday as a “success.””Tens of thousands of pilgrims attended,” he told journalists, or about 65 percent of the normal volume.Authorities in Iraq, other Shiite-majority countries and the United Nations urged people to mark Ashoura at home.Neighbouring Iran, which usually sends tens of thousands of pilgrims to Karbala, is the hardest-hit Middle Eastern country with over 21,000 coronavirus deaths.It broadcast religious rituals on state television and even Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, prayed alone, according to images published by his office.In Sunni-majority Morocco, Ashoura is controversially marked as a celebration, not a day of mourning.Efforts to get worshippers to stay home, however, ended in riots that wounded more than two dozen police officers and led to over 100 arrests.   ‘An inferno’Afghanistan and Pakistan have reported a fall in new virus cases but security remained a top concern, as Ashoura has often been tainted by mass violence targeting Shiites.In the southern port city of Karachi, an estimated 10,000 took part in the largest ceremony, many flagellating their bare backs using multiple blades at once while a heavy security presence kept close watch.”It’s not possible that anyone would be infected with the virus,” said Israr Hussain Shah, a Shiite devotee in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.  “Rather people come to heal and protect themselves, whether that’s a virus of faith or a sickness,” he said.In many Shiite-majority countries, authorities have long urged their faithful to donate blood instead of self-flagellating.This year, Bahrain implemented tougher screening at their blood drive, with health workers meticulously disinfecting the site.  Organisers also swapped their traditional free food distribution with door-to-door delivery instead.In crisis-hit Lebanon, which has seen a severe coronavirus spike this month, powerful Shiite movements Hezbollah and Amal scrapped large Ashoura processions, although a parade was held in the southern town of Nabatiyeh.Iraq has the second-highest regional toll with close to 7,000 deaths.That kept Abu Ali home in the packed Baghdad district of Sadr City this Ashoura.”My children, grandchildren and I go to Karbala every year, but this year we were afraid of corona,” he said.”Imam Hussein wouldn’t want us to throw ourselves into an inferno.”
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The U.S. tallied nearly 6 million cases of the coronavirus Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.Four Midwestern states recently reported record one-day increases in new cases: Iowa (about 785), North Dakota (about 375), South Dakota (about 425) and Minnesota (about 1,000), all according to Johns Hopkins data.Meanwhile Montana and Idaho say their numbers of hospitalized COVID-19 patients are also setting records.While the Midwest is the newest coronavirus hot spot, the nation as a whole is seeing declines in deaths, hospitalizations, positivity rates and new cases.The spike of new cases can be traced to large gatherings. In Iowa, the counties that are home to the University of Iowa and Iowa State University are reporting many of the new cases. Both schools are holding some in-person classes. Other infections have been traced to an annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, including 88 cases in South Dakota alone.While the United States has the most recorded infections in the world, it ranks 10th based on cases per capita, with Brazil, Peru and Chile having higher rates of infection, according to a Reuters tally.An activist sits among flags placed near the Washington Monument to memorialize the 180,000 people who have died in from the Covid-19 pandemic in the U.S. Aug. 27, 2020, in Washington.The United States also has the most deaths in the world at nearly 183,000, but it ranks 11th for deaths per capita, exceeded by Sweden, Brazil, Italy, Chile, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Peru, according to Reuters.  On Tuesday, French children are to return to their classrooms, but the country’s education minister said Sunday that rising coronavirus infections is putting those plans in jeopardy.France is reporting several thousand new infections every day. With two days to go before classes begin, French doctors are calling for stricter measures, including masks for students as young as 6 and some online schooling.  Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper that some classes will remain closed Tuesday, but “as few as possible.”The plan is for French schools to resume classes with masks required all day for everyone 11 and older with some restrictions on movements and gatherings.Other European countries, such as Denmark, and many school districts in the U.S. are fully revamping the school day, with smaller classes, more teachers, more separation between students and classes and a mix of in-class and online learning.India reported 78,761 new coronavirus infections in 24 hours on Sunday, the highest single day rise in the world since the pandemic began, while the county is continuing to open its economy.A health worker takes a nasal swab sample to test for COVID-19 at a state bus station in Ahmedabad, India, Aug. 29, 2020.It was the fourth consecutive day that India has registered more than 75,000 infections.India reports about 1,000 COVID-19 deaths a day. So far, more than 63,000 Indians have died from the disease, the fourth highest in the world.While eight of India’s states contribute nearly 73% of the total infections, the virus is spreading fast in vast rural areas.With a population of 1.4 billion people, India is the third most infected nation in the world, behind the United States and Brazil, with 3.5 million cases and more than 63,000 deaths, according to official statistics provided by the country’s health ministry.Johns Hopkins University reports there are more than 25 million COVID-19 cases worldwide. The United States has almost 6 million infections, followed by Brazil with 3.8 million and India with 3.5 million.
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Lebanon’s ambassador to Germany Mustapha Adib is poised to be designated prime minister on Monday after winning the support of major parties to form a new government facing a crippling financial crisis and the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion.Adib is set to be designated just ahead of a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron, who is center stage in international efforts to press Lebanese politicians to address a crisis seen as the worst since the 1975-90 civil war.The previous government led by Hassan Diab quit on Aug. 10 over the port blast in which a massive amount of unsafely stored chemicals detonated.The post of prime minister must go to a Sunni Muslim in Lebanon’s sectarian system. Adib’s candidacy won vital political backing on Sunday from former prime ministers including Saad al-Hariri, who heads the biggest Sunni party, the Future Movement.President Michel Aoun, a Maronite Christian, is to meet with the parliamentary blocs on Monday in the official consultations to designate the new premier. He is required to nominate the candidate with biggest level of support among MPs.Lebanon’s dominant Shi’ite parties, the Iran-backed Hezbollah and the Amal Movement led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, will both name Adib at the consultations, a senior Shi’ite source said.The Christian Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), a political ally of Hezbollah which was founded by Aoun and is led today by his son-in-law Gebran Bassil, will do the same, Bassil told Reuters.Adib has a doctorate in law and political science and previously served as an adviser to Najib Mikati, a former prime minister. He has served as ambassador to Germany since 2013.Once designated, the process of forming a new government will get underway. Until a new administration is agreed, the Diab government continues in a caretaker capacity.Lebanon’s financial crisis is seen as the biggest threat to its stability since the civil war. The currency has lost as much as 80% of its value since October and savers have been locked out their deposits in a paralyzed banking system. Poverty and unemployment have soared.Lebanon launched talks with the International Monetary Fund in May, after defaulting on its huge debt, aiming to secure financial support but these have stalled amid divisions on the Lebanese side over the scale of losses in the financial system.
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Malawi president Lazarus Chakwera has asked men in Malawi to strictly follow COVID-19 preventive measures.In his weekly national address, Saturday Chakwera said government statistics indicate that more men in the country are infected with the virus than women. Chakwera said this is largely because of the reckless behavior of many men in Malawi in observing measures aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19. President Chakwera said such an attitude defeats efforts to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
Chakwera said he is deeply concerned that most men in Malawi feel they are very strong and cannot contract the coronavirus. “I am not concerned over this because I am a man, no. But the pandemic has shown that more people who are infected with coronavirus are men because in every 10 confirmed cases, seven of them are men,”  he said.FILE – Malawi Congress Party supporters celebrate Lazarus Chakwera’s win the country’s historic presidential election rerun in Blantyre, Malawi, June 27, 2020. (Lameck Masina/VOA)Recent statistics from the Public Health Institute of Malawi also show that 64 percent of confirmed COVID-19 cases are men.    Chakwera has therefore sent a special appeal to men in Malawi to start strictly observing measures against spread of COVID-19 which include the wearing of face coverings, washing hands with soap or applying hand sanitizers and observing social distance. Chakwera says “On behalf of all men, I should say all women should be reminding us men to follow these preventive measures because what we want is to successfully fight this pandemic to build the COVID-free new Malawi nation,” he said. Social commentator Humphreys Mvula told VOA that men in the country are at higher risk of contracting coronavirus because they are more libelous than women.   He says a large number of men in Malawi usually frequent drinking joints and are too adventurous despite the COVID- 19 threat. “Our women on the other hand conservatism in Malawians women is great. Generally whatever the age a Malawian woman will go from work to home; will go from school to home; will go from a specific undertaking back home. And they are also very fearful, look; most of them are more God fearing than men,” he said.   Dorothy Ngoma, a public health expert and a health rights campaigner in Malawi, spoke to VOA on the matter. “More men tend to smoke so their lungs are weaker,” she said. “They drink a lot more and also when they are sick or they have a fever if it’s not serious, it’s mild, they will still go to work unless they are very, very sick they cannot get up. As opposed to women, when women are sick, they say it loud that they are not feeling well, they will seek treatment and they will stay home.”   Ngoma said there is a need to put measures in place that would help men strictly follow COVID-19 preventive measures.   These measures, she says should include imposing an instant fine on those found ignoring the guidelines.   
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White House adviser Jared Kushner on Sunday trumpeted the recent agreement by Israel and the United Arab Emirates to establish diplomatic relations as a historic breakthrough and said “the stage is now set” for other Arab states to follow suit, but he gave no indication that any new deals were imminent. Appearing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, Kushner spoke a day before he is to join a senior Israeli delegation on the first commercial flight from Israel to the UAE. The flight holds great symbolic value and is a key step in what is expected to be full normalization between Israel and the UAE. The Aug. 13 announcement makes the UAE just the third Arab country to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel, and the first to do so in over 25 years. It reflects a shifting Middle East in which shared concerns over Iran have overtaken traditional wall-to-wall Arab support for the Palestinians. “Today obviously we celebrate a historic breakthrough for peace,” Kushner said, adding that the deal will create “previously unthinkable” economic, security and religious cooperation. “While this peace agreement was thought by many to be impossible, the stage is now set for even more,” he said, claiming he has heard optimism throughout the region since the deal was announced. “We must seize that optimism and we must continue to push to make this region achieve the potential that it truly has,” said Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and chief Mideast adviser. Israel and the UAE have moved quickly to cement their ties over the past two weeks. Almost immediately, they opened direct phone lines, and Cabinet ministers have held friendly phone conversations.  On Saturday, the UAE formally ended its commercial boycott of Israel, although the two countries have quietly conducted business for years. Monday’s flight of an El Al plane from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi will be the first known flight of an Israeli commercial airliner from Israel to the Emirates. The two Mideast countries are expected to sign a formal agreement at the White House in the coming weeks. But so far, predictions by Israeli and American officials, including Kushner, that other Arab countries would follow the UAE have not yet materialized.  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo toured the region last week, stopping in Sudan, Bahrain and Oman — three countries widely seen as candidates to establish ties with Israel — but appeared to leave empty-handed. The flurry of U.S. diplomatic activity comes as the Trump administration presses ahead with ambitious plans to promote Arab-Israeli rapprochement even in the absence of a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which had long been seen as a prerequisite for Israel to reach peace deals with all of its Arab neighbors.  The UAE deal gave the Trump administration a welcome foreign-policy victory ahead of November’s presidential election. Facing a tough reelection battle, the White House is eager to build on that momentum. Gulf Arab countries, which like Israel share deep animosity toward Iran, have shown an increasing willingness to make back-channel ties with Israel public. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the agreement with the UAE would bring “unbridled” trade and opportunities.  “You will see how the sparks fly,” he said. Trump unveiled a Mideast plan in January that has been rejected by the Palestinians, who say it unfairly favors Israel. The Palestinians seek the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip — areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war — for an independent state. The Trump plan offers them limited autonomy in 70% of the West Bank, leaving Israel in overall control of the territory, and a symbolic presence on the outskirts of Jerusalem, while handing Israel control of the city’s sensitive holy sites. Netanyahu said the deal with the UAE proves the Palestinians no longer have a “veto” over regional peace. The Palestinians have accused the UAE of treason. “If we have to wait for the Palestinians, we will have to wait forever,” Netanyahu said. “As more Arab and Muslim countries join the circle of peace, the Palestinians will eventually understand their veto has dissipated and they will be hard pressed to stay outside the community of peace.”  
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Tens of thousands protested in the Belarusian capital of Minsk Sunday, the president’s birthday, demanding he resign. Alexander Lukashenko, who turned 66 Sunday, was declared the winner of an August 9 election, amid widespread allegations of voter fraud. Lukashenko, in power for 26 years, denies any election irregularities. The main opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said she would never accept the elections results before fleeing to Lithuania for what she said was her children’s safety.    Protesters rally against elections results they say were rigged, in Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 27, 2020.Protests have rocked the country since the election results were announced. On Sunday, protesters convened around Lukashenko’s residence, facing security forces carrying shields and backed by prisoner vans and water cannons. At least 125 people were detained Sunday, Russia’s RIA news agency quoted the Interior Ministry as saying. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Lukashenko Sunday to wish him a happy birthday and invite him to Moscow. Putin has repeatedly offered support to Lukashenko as Belarus faces sanctions from the West. 
 
 
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It starts with a boat ride in, and for the lucky few, ends with a kiss on the side of the trophy.The Venice Film Festival is an early stop for many stars and filmmakers on the path to the Academy Awards. In normal years, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Scarlett Johansson, Lady Gaga and more actors would converge on Lido to the snap of camera shutters and cheers from fans.This, of course, is not a normal year. The photographers will be fewer in numbers and the fans will be gone. Many top actors are staying away too, leaving the Venice festival as a smaller, more European cinema gathering.Even that is an achievement.Italy was among the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic — it has Europe’s second-highest confirmed coronavirus death toll after Britain with over 35,400 deaths. The festival, running Sept. 2-12, will serve as a celebration of its re-opening and a sign that the film world, largely on pause since March, is coming back as well.Despite virus precautions, some Venice mainstays will continue. Water taxis will deliver stars to press conferences and photo calls, where in years past actors like Ralph Fiennes have been compelled to dance and Johnny Depp gave giddy photographers a close-up shot.The red carpet will be rolled out and the Lido will once again play host to flashy premieres. At the end of it all, some actors and filmmakers will earn trophies.Whether they decide to kiss the cup remains to be seen. 
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