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Twitter Inc said on Tuesday it would permanently suspend accounts that violate its policies while tweeting about QAnon, a fringe group that claims “deep-state” traitors are plotting against President Donald Trump. Twitter, which announced the change on its Twitter Safety page, said it would not serve content and accounts associated with QAnon in trends and recommendations, and would block URLs associated with the group from being shared on the platform. The suspension, which will be rolled out this week, is expected to impact about 150,000 accounts globally, Twitter said. It said that more than 7,000 accounts have been removed in the last several weeks for violating the company’s rules against spam, platform manipulation and ban evasion. The suspensions will be applied to accounts “engaged in violations of our multi-account policy, coordinating abuse around individual victims, or are attempting to evade a previous suspension — something we’ve seen more of in recent weeks,” Twitter said. Last year, the FBI issued a warning about “conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists” and designated QAnon as a potential domestic extremist threat. QAnon also claims Democrats are behind international crime rings. 
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As the nation’s coronavirus cases continue to rise and amid national polls that show Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of his handling of the pandemic, U.S. President Donald Trump Tuesday resumed his appearances at coronavirus press briefings and delivered his strongest endorsement yet on wearing facial coverings. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this story.
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The U.S. says it has upheld its part of an agreement with the Taliban, drawing down its forces in Afghanistan to 8,600 troops. But peace in the war-ravaged country remains elusive, as Taliban violence against Afghans has surged. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine looks at the prospects for long-awaited peace talks between the Kabul government and the Taliban.Camera: Mohammad Ahmadi, Saine Skype Video interview 
 
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Nepal will restart commercial flights in mid-August, the country announced Tuesday, in a bid to jump-start its battered tourism sector.Nepal’s airports will reopen to international and domestic commercial air travel beginning Aug. 17, as decided Monday in a cabinet meeting. At first, flights will go only to countries less affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic; more destinations will be added gradually. To enter or exit the country, travelers will need to carry a certificate confirming that they don’t have COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Incoming international travelers will also need to self-isolate, but authorities did not specify for how long. New guidelines are coming, said Health and Population Ministry spokesman Samir Kumar Adhikari, according to The Himalayan Times.  Nepal also announced Tuesday that it would end its nearly four-month lockdown at midnight.”We are ending lockdown from tonight, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t have any threat of health risks,” government spokesman Yubaraj Khatiwada told reporters in Kathmandu. The lockdown, which began in March, came at the height of Nepal’s tourism season, when mountain climbers and other tourists typically flood in. The shutdown cost the tourism industry over 10 billion rupees a month, or over $83 million a month, reported The Himalayan Times. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation said Tuesday that it would allow all tourism-related activities slated for the fall to go ahead, starting in mid-August.The announcements come shortly after India reimposed restrictions on movement in two of its states bordering Nepal, reported the Nepali Times. Nepal’s land borders with India and China will stay closed to most people until at least Aug. 16. Nepal has recorded nearly 18,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 40 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. About 5,500 cases are active.  
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Due to a rise in COVID cases, Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti announced that he is considering another strict lockdown just a few of weeks after the metropolis started to ease restrictions. In state prisons, the problem has gotten so bad California officials are considering the release of about 8,000 prisoners convicted of minor offenses. VOA’s Angelina Bagdasaryan reports. Camera: Vazgen Varzhabetyan 
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There’s an old saying in theater that the show must go on.  But when a global pandemic hits and the playbook on large gatherings is re-written, shows like the circus cannot go on.  As VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, performers in Brazil took a page from drive-in movie theaters to save their circus.Produced by: Arash Arabasadi
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Broken levees left over 10,000 people stranded in eastern China on Tuesday, as flooding across the country becomes more severe.On Sunday, high water overcame flood defenses around Guzhen, a town in Anhui province.Flood water was up to 3 meters deep, according to Guzhen’s Communist Party secretary, Wang Qingjun.Since the flooding began in June, over 141 people have been reported dead or missing, 150,000 homes were damaged, and losses are estimated at $9 million.Many parts of Anhui Province resorted to drastic measures to mitigate the disaster. One dam was blasted open on Sunday to relieve pressure from flood water behind it, and sluice gates were opened on the Xiangjiaba Dam Monday. While crops and forests were flooded, it was hoped the intentional release will save the area from even greater damage later.The Xiangjiaba Dam has only opened its gates 15 times since it was built in 1953.An increase in rainfall along the Yellow River and the Huai River is expected through Friday, according to China’s Meteorological Administration.Despite torrential and devastating rainfall, the official Xinhua news agency reported that the country’s death toll and economic losses for 2020 so far are below the annual average.China’s heaviest recent flooding occurred in 1998, when over 2,000 people died and almost 3 million houses were ruined. The damage then was primarily along the Yangtze River. 
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