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Facebook made a mistake in not removing a militia group’s page earlier this week that called for armed civilians to enter Kenosha, Wisconsin, amid violent protests after police shot Jacob Blake, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.The page for the “Kenosha Guard” violated Facebook’s policies and had been flagged by “a bunch of people,” Zuckerberg said in a video posted Friday on Facebook. The social media giant has in recent weeks adopted new guidelines removing or restricting posts from groups that pose a threat to public safety.Facebook took down the page Wednesday, after an armed civilian allegedly killed two people and wounded a third Tuesday night amid protests in Kenosha that followed the shooting of Blake, who is Black.”It was largely an operational mistake,” Zuckerberg said. “The contractors, the reviewers, who the initial complaints were funneled to, didn’t, basically didn’t pick this up.”Zuckerberg did not apologize for the error and said that so far, Facebook hasn’t found any evidence that Rittenhouse was aware of the Kenosha Guard page or the invitation it posted for armed militia members to go to Kenosha.Facebook is now taking down posts that praise the shooting or shooter, Zuckerberg said. Yet a report Thursday by The Guardian newspaper found examples of support and even fundraising messages still being shared on Facebook and its photo-sharing service, Instagram.Zuckerberg also contrasted the treatment of Blake, who was shot in the back by Kenosha police, and the white 17-year-old now charged in Tuesday’s slayings, Kyle Rittenhouse, who carried an AR-15-style rifle near police without being challenged. Zuckerberg also acknowledged the civil rights demonstration Friday in Washington, D.C.”There’s just a sense that things really aren’t improving at the pace that they should be, and I think that’s really painful, really discouraging,” Zuckerberg said.Zuckerberg also said the company is working on improving its execution, though he did not provide details. He acknowledged that the approaching presidential election would present greater challenges around polarizing content.”There is a real risk and a continued increased risk through the election during this very sensitive and polarized and highly charged time,” he said.
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Far-right extremists tried to storm the German parliament building Saturday following a protest against the country’s pandemic restrictions but were intercepted by police and forcibly removed.The incident occurred after a daylong demonstration by tens of thousands of people opposed to the wearing of masks and other government measures intended to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. Police ordered the protesters to disband halfway through their march around Berlin after participants refused to observe social distancing rules, but a rally near the capital’s iconic Brandenburg Gate took place as planned.Footage of the incident showed hundreds of people, some waving the flag of the German Reich of 1871-1918 and other far-right banners, running toward the Reichstag building and up the stairs.Police confirmed on Twitter that several people had broken through a cordon in front of Parliament and “entered the staircase of the Reichstag building, but not the building itself.””Stones and bottles were thrown at our colleagues,” police said. “Force had to be used to push them back.”Germany’s top security official condemned the incident.”The Reichstag building is the workplace of our Parliament and therefore the symbolic center of our liberal democracy,” Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in a statement.”It’s unbearable that vandals and extremists should misuse it,” he said, calling on authorities to show “zero tolerance.”People gather at the Victory Column as they attend a protest rally in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 29, 2020 against new coronavirus restrictions in Germany. Police in Berlin requested thousands of reinforcements from other parts of Germany.Earlier, thousands of far-right extremists had thrown bottles and stones at police outside the Russian Embassy. Police detained about 300 people throughout the day.Berlin’s regional government had tried to ban the protests, warning that extremists could use them as a platform and citing anti-mask rallies earlier this month where rules intended to stop the virus from being spread further weren’t respected.Protest organizers successfully appealed the decision Friday, though a court ordered them to ensure social distancing. Failure to enforce that measure prompted Berlin police to dissolve the march while it was still in progress.During the march, which authorities said drew about 38,000 people, participants expressed their opposition to a wide range of issues, including vaccinations, face masks and the German government in general. Some wore T-shirts promoting the “QAnon” conspiracy theory while others displayed white nationalist slogans and neo-Nazi insignia, though most participants denied having far-right views.Uwe Bachmann, 57, said he had come from southwestern Germany to protest for free speech and his right not to wear a mask.”I respect those who are afraid of the virus,” said Bachmann, who was wearing a costume and a wig that tried to evoke stereotypical Native American attire. He suggested, without elaborating, that “something else” was behind the pandemic.Another protester said he wanted Germany’s current political system abolished and a return to the constitution of 1871 on the grounds that the country’s postwar political system was illegal. Providing only his first name, Karl-Heinz, he had traveled with his sister from their home near the Dutch border to attend the protest and believed that the coronavirus cases being reported in Germany now were “false positives.”Germany has seen an upswing in new cases in recent weeks. The country’s disease control agency reported Saturday that Germany had almost 1,500 new infections over the past day.A protester is held by German riot policemen in front of the Reichstag building, which houses the Bundestag lower house of parliament, at the end of a Berlin demonstration called by far-right and COVID-19 deniers on Aug. 29, 2020.Germany has been praised for the way it has handled the pandemic, and the country’s death toll of some 9,300 people is less than one-fourth the amount of people who have died of COVID-19 in Britain. Opinion polls show overwhelming support for the prevention measures imposed by authorities, such as the requirement to wear masks on public transport, in stores and some public buildings such as libraries and schools.Along the route were several smaller counter-protests where participants shouted slogans against the far-right’s presence at the anti-mask rally.”I think there’s a line and if someone takes to the streets with neo-Nazis then they’ve crossed that line,” said Verena, a counter-protester from Berlin who declined to provide her surname.Meanwhile, a few hundred people rallied Saturday in eastern Paris to protest new mask rules and other restrictions prompted by rising virus infections around France. Police watched closely but did not intervene.The protesters had no central organizer but included people in yellow vests who formerly protested economic injustice, others promoting conspiracy theories and those who call themselves “Anti-Masks.”France has not seen an anti-mask movement like some other countries. Masks are now required everywhere in public in Paris as authorities warn that infections are growing exponentially just as schools are set to resume classes.France registered more than 7,000 new virus infections in a single day Friday, up from several hundred a day in May and June, in part thanks to ramped-up testing. It has the third-highest coronavirus death toll in Europe after Britain and Italy, with over 30,600 dead.In London, hundreds of people crowded into Trafalgar Square for a “Unite for Freedom” protest against government lockdown restrictions and the wearing of face masks. The Metropolitan Police warned demonstrators that anyone attending a gathering of more than 30 people may be at risk of committing a criminal offense.
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Two soldiers were killed and three were injured when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a training exercise off Southern California’s coast, the Defense Department said Saturday.Staff Sergeant Vincent P. Marketta, 33, of Brick, New Jersey, and Sergeant Tyler M. Shelton, 22, of San Bernardino, California, died Thursday from injuries sustained during an aircraft mishap while conducting aviation training,'' according to a U.S. Army Special Operations Command statement.The loss of Staff Sgt. Marketta and Sgt. Shelton has left a scar in this regiment that will never completely heal,” said Colonel Andrew R. Graham, commander of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne). Our priority now is to ensure the families of our fallen warriors receive our complete support as we work through this tragedy together."Officials released no other information on the crash. J. Elise Van Pool, an Army spokeswoman, confirmed in an email that three other soldiers were injured in the crash but said she did not have any other details to provide,as the incident is just beginning to be investigated.“Both Marketta and Shelton were assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment headquartered at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.Marketta enlisted in the Army in 2011 as a Black Hawk repairer. He was assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and spent 18 months as an aircraft repairer in 1st Battalion, 160th SOAR (A). He was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, officials said.Shelton enlisted in the Army in 2016 as a Black Hawk repairer. In 2017, he was assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and deployed to Afghanistan.Marketta and Shelton will each receive the Meritorious Service Medal posthumously, officials said.The deaths came after a U.S. Navy seafaring tank went down last month in hundreds of feet of water off San Clemente Island during a training exercise. Seven Marines and one Navy sailor died after the 26-ton (23-metric ton) landing craft sank July 30.They had just completed a routine exercise and were heading back to the Navy ship with a dozen other amphibious assault vehicles. Troops on board two other amphibious assault vehicles responded quickly but could not stop the vehicle from sinking.The U.S. Navy-controlled island 70 miles (112 kilometers) west of San Diego has an airfield, a bombing range and a training facility used by special operations units.
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Rescuers in Afghanistan continued to search amid mud and rubble for missing people Saturday after flash flooding this week killed around 160 people and washed away homes across the country, officials said.Thirteen provinces, mostly in the country’s north, were affected by floods, according to the Ministry for Disaster Management.In Parwan, just north of the capital, Kabul, 116 people were killed and more than 120 injured, with 15 people still missing, national and local officials said.”Rescue teams are still in the area and searching for the missing bodies,” said Wahida Shahkar, a spokeswoman for Parwan’s governor.Flash flooding hit Parwan early Wednesday, washing away homes and buildings. Local police spokesman Salim Noori said that residents in the worst-affected areas were mostly farmers and informal workers who were already struggling financially and that police were appealing for donations of blood for the many injured.The Ministry of Defense said that Afghan security forces were assisting in recovery efforts and distributing aid. The forces have also been dealing with rising violence from the insurgent Taliban as the start of peace talks in Doha hit delays.NATO said that its forces were also supporting the Afghan military and had flown food, water and blankets to the area earlier in the week.
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Press freedom groups are calling for the release of a cartoonist who was arrested in Jordan for criticizing the agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations.
 
Emad Hajjaj was arrested Wednesday after publishing a cartoon depicting the leader of the United Arab Emirates holding a dove with an Israeli flag on it that has spit in his face. The spit is labeled F-35, a reference to Israel’s opposition to the sale of advanced U.S. aircraft to the Emirates following the U.S.-brokered deal.
 
Nidal Mansour, the founder of a press freedom center in Jordan, said Friday that Hajjaj was referred to a State Security Court and is being investigated for harming relations with a friendly state.
 
Jordanian authorities have not commented publicly on the case.
 
Jordan is a close Western ally and one of only two Arab nations to have signed a peace treaty with Israel. The UAE, which does not share a border with Israel and has never gone to war with it, would be the third Arab country to normalize relations.
 
“The continued detention of a well-respected cartoonist and the legal chaos reflects Jordan’s difficult position of trying to balance its relations with the oil-rich emirates with the rights of its own citizens to express themselves,” said Daoud Kuttab, a Palestinian journalist based in Jordan who has closely followed the case.
 
The International Press Institute, of which Kuttab is an executive board member, and the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, have called for his release.
 
“Journalists and cartoonists like Emad Hajjaj are entitled to express their views freely on the Israel-United Arab Emirates deal, which affects the lives of millions of people across the region,” said CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa representative, Ignacio Miguel Delgado.
 
“Jordanian authorities should immediately release Hajjaj, drop all charges against him, and allow him to provide political commentary without fear of imprisonment.”
 
The UAE agreement with Israel came under heavy criticism from the Palestinians and their supporters because it broke with a longstanding Arab consensus that recognition should only be granted in return for concessions in the peace process.
 
The Emirates said the deal had halted Israel’s plans to unilaterally annex up to a third of the occupied West Bank, which the Palestinians want for their future state. But Israel has said the pause is only temporary.
 
The deal could pave the way for the oil-rich UAE to purchase advanced American weaponry, including F-35 stealth fighter jets. Israel is opposed to such sales, even to U.S. allies, fearing they could undermine its military superiority in the region. 
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Belarusian authorities stripped accreditation from at least 17 journalists from major foreign news organizations who have been covering the country’s turmoil following the disputed presidential election.
 
The move, taken on August 29 by a commission of the national Security Council, was a major escalation by President Alexander Lukashenko’s government as it continues to face popular protest and international condemnation for the August 9 election, and for the harsh police crackdown on opposition protesters.
 
The journalists targeted include employees of major Western news organizations including RFE/RL, the BBC, the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence-France Presse, Germany’s ARD television, Deutsche Welle, and Radio France. Without accreditations, journalists are not legally permitted to gather news within the country.
 
No reason for the government’s decision was provided.
 
It was not immediately clear if journalists from Russian state-run and state-funded news media, such as the TASS news agency, Vesti TV, or the RT channel, faced a similar loss of accreditation.
 ‘Desperate, ominous move’
 
At least 17 journalists had their accreditations canceled, the Belarus Association of Journalists reported.
 
“Stripping our journalists of accreditation on grounds of ‘extremism’ is a desperate and ominous move by an authoritarian government to stifle the independent media and ruthlessly control the availability of credible information inside Belarus,” acting RFE/RL President Daisy Sindelar said in a statement. “It’s a violation of international standards and an assault on the Belarusian people who rely on us.”
 
Four journalists from RFE/RL’s Belarus Service were hit by the move, and one from Current Time, the Russian-language TV network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.
 
Others include two from the BBC, two from AP, two from AFP, two from ARD, and two from Reuters.
 
Many of those affected are Belarusian citizens.
 
Reuters journalist Tatyana Melnichuk told RFE/RL that she had been informed that her accreditation had been revoked via a telephone call from the Foreign Ministry.
 
“They told us that our accreditation, like the accreditations of the BBC journalists, had been revoked and that we had to return them today or on Monday,” Melnichuk said. “They didn’t give any reason.”Detained Journalists in Belarus Face Charges for Covering Post-Election ProtestsAt least 35 journalists, and more than 260 people overall were detained during Aug. 27 protests in Minsk, according to a list compiled by the human rights center Vyasna US calls for ‘restraint’
 
The U.S. Embassy in Minsk called on Belarusian authorities to “demonstrate restraint.”
 
“We stand by our long-term commitment to support Belarus’ sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the aspirations of the Belarusian people to choose their leaders and to choose their own path, free from external intervention,” the statement said.
 
Two days earlier, around 50 journalists were detained while covering postelection protests in Minsk; the group included employees from Belarusian outlets such as TUT.BY, BelaPAN, and Belsat.
 
In all, more than 260 people were detained during at the time, according to the human rights center Vyasna.
 
The Belarusian Association of Journalists said most of the journalists detained at the time were released after police checked their documents.
 
Four journalists who refused to hand over their smartphones for police to check were charged with participating in an unauthorized protest, the association said. A Swedish journalist will also be deported, it added.
 
The detentions came after nearly three weeks of protests against the official results of the election, which gave Lukashenko a landslide victory.
 
Demonstrators and opposition leaders are contesting those results, charging that the vote was rigged in Lukashenko’s favor.
 
During their detention on August 27, RFE/RL journalists were searched by police, who appeared to be looking for recording equipment. Their laptops and cameras were seized, and they were ordered to open the photo galleries and other information on their mobile phones. In at least one case, a journalist was told to delete images of riot police.
 
One RFE/RL photographer was threatened with misdemeanor charges if he refused to comply with police orders.
 
Meanwhile, many websites of news organizations have seen curtailed access within Belarus amid reports that of sporadic Internet access.
 
Several bloggers also remain in prison, including a consultant for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service on digital strategy. His detention in Zhodzina prison outside of Minsk has been extended to October 25.
 
Protesters, who are planning another demonstration in Minsk on August 30, have been largely defiant despite a brutal police crackdown, and widespread evidence of beatings and torture of detained protesters.
 
The leading opposition candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, told the European Parliament this week that at least six people have been killed in the crackdown and dozens of protesters have gone missing after being detained by authorities.
 With reporting by Current Time. 
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The president of the United Arab Emirates has issued a decree cancelling a law on boycotting Israel and allowing trade and financial agreements between the two countries, the UAE official news agency WAM reported on Saturday.
 
The decree from UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan aims at “supporting bilateral cooperation in order to arrive at (the establishment) of bilateral relations”, the agency said.
 
The announcement comes as El Al Airlines plans to operate Israel’s first direct flight between Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport and the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi, carrying an Israeli delegation and top aides to U.S. President Donald Trump, who brokered an Aug. 13 accord to normalize Israel-UAE ties.
 
Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner will be among the U.S. officials on the El Al flight departing on Aug. 31 at 10 a.m. (0700 GMT), a U.S official said.
 
The Israel-UAE deal awaits negotiations on details such as opening embassies, trade and travel links before it is officially signed.
 
There are no official air links between Israel and the UAE, and it was unclear whether El Al would be able to fly over Saudi Arabia, which has no official ties with Israel, to cut down on flight time.
 
In May, an Etihad Airways plane flew from the UAE to Tel Aviv to deliver supplies to the Palestinians to use for the coronavirus epidemic, marking the first known flight by a UAE carrier to Israel.
 
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The U.N. human rights office has condemned the shooting of African American man Jacob Blake and said the use of force by police may violate international law.
 
Riots broke out in the city of Kenosha in the U.S. state of Wisconsin in the wake of Sunday’s police shooting of Blake, which has left the 29-year-old African American man partially paralyzed.  
 
The U.N. human rights office views the shooting as a painful reminder of the heightened risk African Americans run when engaging with law enforcement in the United States.  Agency spokesman Rupert Colville said the episode reaffirms the need for urgent action to eradicate links between structural racism and policing.  
 
“From the images available that we have seen at this point, the police appears to use force against Jacob Blake that would seem to be excessive and it does not appear the law enforcement officers abided by the international standards of the intentional use of lethal force with a firearm,” Colville said.
    
A statement from the Kenosha police union said that based on officers’ inability to gain compliance and control from Blake after using verbal, physical and less lethal means, the officers drew their firearms.  
 
Colville said it seems highly possible the force used against Blake could have been discriminatory in nature.   
 
The human rights spokesman also said he was aghast at the presence of vigilantes at the protests in Kenosha that followed the police shooting of Blake. He said he found the killing of two people and injury of others by a 17-year-old gunman of particular concern. Police push back protesters outside the Kenosha County Courthouse, Aug. 24, 2020, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Protesters converged on the courthouse during a second night of clashes after the police shooting of Jacob Blake a day earlier.The teen who took a rifle to the protest of Blake’s shooting told an online news site before going to the demonstration that it was his job “to protect people.”  First-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide are among the criminal charges the young man is now facing.“We would see this as yet another unfortunate example of the insufficient and lax gun control measures in the United States, which is something we have spoken about several times before,” said Colville. “It should be inconceivable that you have a 17-year-old running around with an automatic rifle in a position to shoot people in this way in such a tense situation.”  
    
Colville added the events of the past few days in Kenosha are not only recurrent, but preventable. He warned against the U.S. government sending federal troops into Kenosha to restore law and order. He said their presence would likely make things worse rather than better.  
 
In a tweet Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the National Guard had successfully quelled violence and rioting in Kenosha.   
 
He said “Since the National Guard moved into Kenosha, Wisconsin, two days ago, there has been NO FURTHER VIOLENCE, not even a small problem. When legally asked to help by local authorities, the Federal Government will act and quickly succeed,” the president said.
 
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A maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) center for Taiwan’s fleet of F-16 fighter jets has officially opened on the island amid growing tensions between Taiwan and China.Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday inaugurated the facility, which is the first of its kind in the Indo-Pacific region. It is part of a strategic alliance between Taiwan aircraft manufacturer Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation, AIDC, and U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin.Taiwan will boast the largest fleet of advanced F-16 fighter jets in Asia after its procurement of 66 F-16V additional jets from Lockheed Martin, slated for delivery by 2026 – a deal that will take the island’s fleet to more than 200 aircraft. 
There was no immediate comment from the company.No groveling to ChinaInaugurating the F-16 MRO center, President Tsai said its establishment will help boost the island’s air force combat capabilities and beef up its defense autonomy while marking a milestone for developing indigenous defense industries to go global.“It takes strengthened defense capabilities, not groveling [to China], to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty and maintain regional peace and stability,” she said at the ceremony.“With the center in place, the time needed for jet maintenance will be greatly curtailed and mission-capable rates will be boosted significantly to ensure [Taiwan’s] air superiority at the front line,” she added.According to Tsai, AIDC will join with local vendors, to be certified by Lockheed Martin, to sustain the facility’s operation.That is estimated to create more than 600 jobs each year and herald an output value of $271 million over the next three decades, according to Tsai.Deepening military collaborationTwo analysts, who spoke with VOA said the facility, unveiled amid escalating cross-strait tensions, takes the U.S.-Taiwan military collaboration and mutual trust to another level even as China last month said it would sanction Lockheed Martin for involvement in arms sales to Taiwan.It is also expected to bring in economic benefits to the local aerospace industry, which has been badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic since early this year, they added.“On the political and diplomatic front, the facility, authorized by Lockheed Martin of the U.S., showcases the level of mutual trust between Washington and Taipei,” Su Tzu-yun, an analyst at the government-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told VOA.Su said that in the next few years, the center will focus on servicing the island’s fleet of more than 200 F-16 jets, which he said is already a lucrative deal.Saving maintenance costsAccording to Su, an F-16 fighter jet averages a life cycle of 40 years and, during its years in service, an additional 30% cost will be incurred for maintenance and repair work.With a repair site at home, two-fifths of that cost can be saved in addition to time spent, he estimated.Looking ahead, Su said that domestic vendors, which are certified to work with the center, should aim higher to tap into the defense contractor’s global supply chain to help support its 3,400 F-16s in service worldwide.Or, he said, the center should next grow into a regional hub for Lockheed Martin to service all F-16 fleets in the Indo-Pacific region, which currently total 470 jets in service. He said the chance for pro-Beijing countries such as Pakistan or Thailand to fly their F-16 fleets to Taiwan for repair work will be slim.All those niches, however, will present a number of commercial opportunities for the domestic industry, Su added.Industrial upgradeTung Wan, professor of aerospace engineer at TamKang University, said he believes that with the help of Lockheed Martin, the island’s aerospace sector will be given an opportunity to upgrade itself.“If [the sector] can transcend itself from being engaged in [the center’s] maintenance work to [next] becoming a supplier of components [for the jets], its overall output value, competitiveness and integration with global practices will be greatly enhanced,” the professor told VOA.“This will be the kind of opportunity we welcome the most even if [a small percentage of the jet’s] components can be made [and supplied] by Taiwan,” he said, adding that a fighter jet has more than 100,000 types of components.The professor said that the domestic aerospace industry, which is already qualified to support the operation of commercial airplanes, had had some experience repairing military aircraft or developing an indigenous fighter jet of its own.The professor, who formerly chaired the city of Tainan-based Air Asia Co., noted that, during the Vietnam War, the U.S. often flew its fighter jets to Air Asia, the island’s first aircraft maintenance company, for MRO work.Hence, it will also be in the U.S. interest to outsource its maintenance work or parts of its jet supply chain to Taiwan, where labor and cost are lower, he said.Military officials and some politicians in Taiwan say they expect the latest development to further strengthen U.S. involvement in the island’s buildup of air defense in fending off any Chinese attack. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that belongs under its control.China has conducted numerous sea and air exercises near Taiwan in recent years and has been angered over U.S. naval exercises near the island and the Trump administration’s strong support for Taipei.Du Wenlong, a military commentator on China Central Television, or CCTV, told the Chinese state-run broadcaster on Friday that Taiwan is buying up the United States for its protection. He urged Taiwan not to “throw good money after bad,” calling Taiwan a “fool” in procuring weapons sales from the U.S. Li Li, an associate professor from China’s PLA National Defense University, also told CCTV that “the U.S. has taken an even more dangerous step toward bolstering the military development and buildup in Taiwan.” She was referring to both the creation of the F-16 MRO hub and the U.S. approval of the 66 advanced F-16V fighter jets to Taiwan.
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This month marks three years since Myanmar’s military launched an escalated campaign against the mostly ethnic Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine state, with systematic rape, beatings, killings and burning of villages. Now, activists are calling on the United States to designate the persecution of the Rohingya as genocide, saying if the U.S. leads, other countries will follow. VOA’s diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine reports from Washington.
Camera: Steve Sanford
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Supporters of new Kassala state Governor Saleh Ammar allegedly shot and killed four protesters and injured six others Thursday in eastern Sudan’s Kassala town, according to eyewitnesses. One of the six injured succumbed to his injuries at a nearby hospital Friday, witnesses said.The protesters say Ammar is unqualified for the job and are calling on Sudan’s leaders to replace him.Assistant lecturer at Kassala University Ibrahim Hassan told South Sudan in Focus that after Ammar’s supporters attacked his opponents, some people took advantage of the chaos by looting shops.“They broke into shops, burned down the market and they also looted property. They moved to a Republic Square in the town, and they departed to their homes. In the evening, a group of Beni Amir retaliated, and they randomly broke into shops in the market and in neighborhoods and looted a lot of property,” Hassan told VOA.Amar is a member of the Beni Amir community, one of several ethnic communities in Kassala.Heavy security was deployed to the eastern Al Gash side of the town, and no one was allowed to venture outside, according to Hassan.“Everybody is indoors or within their neighborhoods. Life is totally paralyzed here in Kassala; all other shops are closed. No one is allowed to cross Al Gash bridge to the west and everybody is living in fear,” Hassan said.Abdallah Obshar, one of the organizers of the opposition protest in Kassala town, said a group of armed supporters of Governor Ammar attacked peaceful demonstrators. The protesters believe Ammar should be replaced because he is not qualified to lead the state, Obshar said.“If we look at the qualification criteria on his appointment process, there were more than 10 candidates, some of them are Ph.D. holders and professors from universities. We are wondering how Ammar made it to this level,” Obshar told South Sudan in Focus.Kassala resident Jalal al Deen Rabeh, who said he neither supports nor opposes Ammar, said people should be focused on economic development rather than politics.“For nearly 40 years this state has not witnessed any development and we need someone who will come and initiate development projects. If it is Ammar or any other person, we just need a leader that would make change to happen,” Rabeh told South Sudan in Focus.Rabeh accused supporters of ousted longtime President Omar al-Bashir of causing Thursday’s violence.Sudan’s transitional government has called for calm in Kassala and instructed security organizations to restore peace in the area.Intercommunal fighting has continued for months in parts of eastern Sudan among the Beni Amir, Nuba, and Hadandawa communities.
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The U.N. Security Council on Friday unanimously renewed its peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon for another year, as tensions rise between Lebanon and Israel.”This renewal of UNIFIL was absolutely indispensable and essential for the security of Lebanon, Israel and the whole region,” said France’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Anne Gueguen, using an acronym for the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon. “A united council on UNIFIL sends also an important, positive message of support to Lebanon.”The 10,500-strong mission monitors the demarcation line (known as the “Blue Line”) between Lebanon and its southern neighbor, Israel. It is also mandated to assist the Lebanese Armed Forces disarm groups like Hezbollah and enforce a U.N. arms embargo against nonstate actors receiving weapons.FILE – Members of the unarmed United Nations Truce Supervision Organization stand near a U.N. “Blue Line” notification, in the southern Lebanese town of Ramyah, Sept. 9, 2019.But in its most recent report, the U.N. said, “While taking allegations of arms transfers seriously, the United Nations is not in a position to substantiate them independently.”On disarming Hezbollah, the main military threat to both the Lebanese government and Israel, the U.N. said, “No progress was achieved,” adding, “Hezbollah continued to acknowledge publicly that it maintains military capabilities.”The group wields both substantial political and military power in Lebanon, mainly due to its substantial weapons arsenal, which includes explosives, rockets and missiles.FILE – A United Nations peacekeeper (UNIFIL) stands near a poster depicting Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in Adaisseh village, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, Lebanon, Aug. 7, 2020.The United States and Israel have both been highly critical of the U.N. mission.”Today, we halt a long period of council complacency on UNIFIL and the growing and destabilizing influence of Iran and its client, the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft said in a statement.FILE – U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft speaks during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, Feb. 11, 2020.The United States has designated the Iranian-backed Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and imposed financial sanctions on its leaders and institutions linked to the group. Washington is also reportedly considering expanding sanctions to Hezbollah’s political allies in Beirut.Craft said the U.S. has supported UNIFIL because it has contributed to reducing tensions between Lebanon and Israel.”However, the Trump administration is deeply concerned these last years about UNIFIL’s overall inability to contain the Hezbollah menace,” she said. “We are not going to allow this to stand. The Council must join us in confronting this.”Israel argues that UNIFIL has failed to rein in Hezbollah and that it continues to shamelessly carry on illicit activities in front of UNIFIL, risking an escalation with Israel, like the 33-day war the two fought in 2006.A U.N. peacekeeper of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) stands on United Nation’s post in Houla village near the Lebanese-Israeli border, in southern Lebanon, Aug. 26, 2020.”The Security Council decision comes as a last warning for the Government of Lebanon,” Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan said in a statement. “If Hezbollah continues to turn southern Lebanon into a base for its terrorist activity under UNIFIL’s nose, the government of Lebanon will be held responsible and will bear full responsibility for any escalation of tensions or the grave consequences of such actions.”In recent months, there has been an increase in ground incidents across the Blue Line, including with soldiers from both the Lebanese and Israeli militaries pointing weapons at each other. Earlier this week, Israel said shots were fired from Lebanon at one of its patrols.UNIFIL has stressed its need for unrestricted access to the entire Blue Line. In some incidents, U.N. patrols have been blocked from passing in Lebanese villages or had stones thrown at them.The resolution adopted Friday includes language that “condemns in the strongest terms” all attempts to restrict the mission’s free movement and to attack its personnel and equipment. It also calls on the Lebanese government to facilitate “prompt and full access to” sites UNIFIL wants to investigate, including related to illicit tunnels used by Hezbollah fighters to carry out attacks against Israel undetected by drones and aircraft.FILE – A peacekeeper of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), wearing gloves and a protective face mask, gestures from his post in the village of Markaba, during a countrywide coronavirus lockdown, in southern Lebanon, April 17, 2020.The council also asks the U.N. secretary-general to provide a plan within 60 days for implementing recommendations to improve the mission. A mostly symbolic reduction in the size of the mission was also made, lowering its troop ceiling from 15,000 to 13,000 peacekeepers.Lebanon has been rocked by a year of anti-government protests, a crippling financial crisis and COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. And that was before the massive blast that tore through Beirut’s port on August 4, devastating a large portion of the capital and leading to the government’s resignation.In its resolution, the Security Council also called for “the swift formation” of a new Lebanese government that can respond to the challenges facing the country.   
 
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The former hurricane known as Laura has so far been the most intense and dangerous storm of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season, according to the U.N.’s weather agency, the World Meteorological Organization.Laura is now just a tropical depression, spreading heavy rain and thunderstorms across the east-central United States, forecasters said. But as the storm crossed the Gulf of Mexico earlier this week, it strengthened from a Category 1 hurricane to a Category 4 in less than 24 hours. Forecasters recorded wind speeds as high as 240 kph.As Laura came ashore early Thursday in southern Louisiana, the National Hurricane Service was predicting an “unsurvivable storm surge.” That didn’t materialize, but damaging winds and heavy rains did. The system destroyed property, downed trees and led to power outages throughout the state. The WMO said that since Laura began moving through the Caribbean last week, it had caused more than 20 deaths, most in Haiti.FILE – Benjamin Luna helps recover items from the children’s wing of the First Pentecostal Church that was destroyed by Hurricane Laura, Aug. 27, 2020, in Orange, Texas.Speaking from U.N. headquarters in Geneva, WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis said Laura had now generated more accumulated cyclone energy, or ACE, the metric used to measure storm intensity and duration, than the four other storms in August combined. Nullis said there was still a long way to go this year. The Atlantic hurricane season began in June and ends in November.Nullis said climatologists predict that strong storms – in the Category 4-to-Category 5 range of hurricane intensity – will become more common, primarily because of global warming.Citing laws of physics, Nullis said, “Storms feed on warm water; higher water temperatures mean higher sea levels, which in turn increase the risk of flooding during high tides, and so the circle goes on.”
 
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Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here​.Daily Debunk”Misleading: Popular coronavirus origin video by Hong Kong legislator consists of unsubstantiated conspiracy claims,” Medium, August 25. Social Media DisinfoScreenshot Circulating on social media: Claim that a vaccine cannot fight a virus because a virus must “run its course.”Verdict: FalseRead the full story at: Reuters Factual Reads on CoronavirusDoes a face mask protect me, or just the people around me?
It likely provides protection for both.
— Associated Press, August 27
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Malawi has one of the highest rates of early marriage and teenage pregnancy in the world, with about half of girls marrying before the age of 18, according to government records.  Aid groups say the coronavirus pandemic’s closing of schools has only worsened the trend. Lameck Masina reports from Phalombe district in southern Malawi.
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President Donald Trump said Thursday the U.S. will have a vaccination for the coronavirus “before the end of the year or maybe even sooner.”The announcement was part of Trump’s speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination, delivered from the South Lawn of the White House as part of the party’s national convention.   Experts say vaccines can sometimes take decades to develop, test, and be proven safe before they are administered to patients. However, hope has been high that a concerted international effort will produce an effective vaccine sometime next year. “In recent months our nation and the entire planet has been struck by a new and powerful invisible enemy,” Trump told the South Lawn audience whose mostly mask-less members were not sitting six feet apart, a measure generally practiced to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The U.S. has 5.8 million COVID-19 cases, roughly one-fifth of the world’s more than 24 million infections, according to Johns Hopkins University. The president has rarely been seen in public wearing a mask, another practice done to stop the spread of the virus. WATCH: How coronavirus vaccines being tested work Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 8 MB480p | 11 MB540p | 15 MB720p | 29 MB1080p | 62 MBOriginal | 410 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioWorld leader in coronavirus cases
The U.S. has more COVID-19 cases than anywhere else.  Brazil follows the U.S. with 3.7 million cases and India comes in third with 3.3 million. India said early Friday that it had recorded 77,266 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24-hour period, the highest daily total ever recorded in the South Asian nation. Wearing masks in public in Paris became mandatory for everyone on Friday. The new measure follows a French public health report that more than 6,000 new infections were recorded Thursday, while 5,000 were recorded Wednesday. Spain says all school children six years of age and up must wear masks while in school.  The announcement comes just days before the beginning of Spain’s school year. South American vaccine effort
A group of South American leaders has agreed to share information and coordinate access to any vaccine one of them might develop or acquire. “A joint effort would bring benefits, particularly in terms of access, quantities and guaranteed prices,” Chile’s foreign minister, Andres Allamand, said after Thursday’s virtual meeting of presidents and foreign ministers.”We in Chile are following the evolution of at least five projects and we have been in contact with some of those laboratories and countries specifically to be able to get access to those vaccines at reasonable prices and as quickly as possible,” he said.Lockdown blues
London zookeepers say the animals under their care are suffering from what they call the lockdown blues.  The zoo had been closed because of the coronavirus and has just started admitting limited numbers of visitors. “The Pygmy goats were so used to seeing children during the day that during lockdown they would miss them,” Assistant Curator of Mammals Teague Stubbington told Reuters. “They were actually lining up at the gate to meet people and then at 10 o’clock, when no one was there, they were disappointed.”  He says the zoo is badly in need of funds, adding this is the longest period it has been closed since World War II.  
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Former Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita is back home in the capital of Bamako Friday, a day after being released from a military base in Kita.The National Committee for the Salvation of the People (NCSP) detained Keita during a military coup d’état last week, and he announced his resignation a short time later.During his detention Keita was reported to have said he was not forced from office, and does not want to return to office, but wants a speedy return to a democratically elected government.The United Nations, along with The Economic Community of West African States, had called for the safe release of Keita, who is also known as President IBK.The NCSP said it is seeking to set up a council to oversee the general elections as soon as possible in order to appoint a transitional president.
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