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Multiple Taliban attacks in three provinces across northern Afghanistan since Tuesday killed at least 17 people, including six civilians, and wounded scores of others even as a Taliban political team was negotiating peace with Afghan government representatives in Doha, Qatar.    According to local officials, Taliban fighters targeted security checkpoints or outposts of local anti-Taliban militias that operate with government support.     In Balkh province, the chief of Char Kent district, Salima Mazari, confirmed two separate Taliban attacks, one on a local force outpost and the other near the district center. She said three local fighters and six civilians were killed and multiple others wounded. This was in addition to a third attack the previous day that killed two security personnel.    In nearby Kunduz province, Taliban attacks killed six security personnel, according to Esmatullah Muradi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. The head of the provincial council, Mohammad Yosouf Ayubi, said the death toll was higher.    Meanwhile, in Takhar province, two civilians were killed and 12 wounded from a blast caused by an improvised explosive device. Police said the device was hidden on a motorcycle.   The spate of violence accompanied historic peace negotiations that started Saturday in Doha. Both sides acknowledge ending four decades of conflict would be difficult and require patience.    FILE – Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. envoy for peace in Afghanistan is seen during talks between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 12, 2020.Welcoming the start of the negotiations, Zalmay Khalilzad, a senior United States official who was paramount in bringing the Taliban to sign a deal with the U.S. in February, reminded both sides that they would have to compromise and share power for a lasting solution.   “Recent Afghan history shows that seeking a monopoly of power and enforcing one’s ideology by force leads to conflict and makes the country vulnerable to interference by others,” Khalilzad tweeted.   Both the Afghan team and Taliban indicated Wednesday that the negotiation process was progressing, and the two sides had agreed on procedural matters.    A handout picture provided by the Afghanistan Peace Negotiation Team on Sept. 15, 2020 shows negotiators from the government of Afghanistan preparing before their meeting with representatives of the Taliban (unseen) in Qatar’s capital Doha.The two sides shared the same details of the Tuesday meeting with the media, indicating an effort to show forward movement and minimize discussion on disagreements, at least at the start of the crucial process.     Nader Naderi, the spokesman for the Afghan team, said they had decided to “finalize the remaining part ASAP.”    The start of negotiations Saturday was welcomed inside and outside Afghanistan; however, Afghan activists have warned against sacrificing human rights, particularly the rights of women and freedom of speech, in the name of ending the war.    Sediqullah Tawheedi, the deputy head of the Afghan Journalist Safety Committee, said the government’s negotiation team should defend freedom of the press and freedom of speech in the Doha talks.           
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Forecasters are warning that Hurricane Sally will create catastrophic and life-threatening floods as it moves over parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast Wednesday.  The National Hurricane Center says the powerful storm made landfall early Wednesday morning near the coastal town of Gulf Shores, Alabama, carrying maximum sustained winds of 165 kilometers an hour, making it a Category 2 storm on the five-tiered scale that measures a storm’s potential destructiveness. NHC has issued a hurricane warning for residents from the Mississippi-Alabama border to parts of the so-called “Panhandle” region of northern Florida as Hurricane Sally turns northeastward.  Forecasters say the region will experience huge rainfall totals of 20 to 30 centimeters throughout the day, with isolated areas expected to get as much as 88 centimeters, triggering “historic and catastrophic flooding.”Hurricane Sally Threatens Historic Floods Along US Gulf CoastThe National Hurricane Center expected Sally to remain a Category 1 hurricane, with top sustained winds of 130 kilometers per hour at landfall late Tuesday or early WednesdayHeavy rains are also expected as far north into parts of Virginia and North and South Carolina.   Hurricane Sally may also lead to tornadoes throughout the day into Wednesday night across portions of the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama and southwestern Georgia.   President Donald Trump issued emergency declarations Monday for parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and he tweeted that residents should listen to state and local leaders. 
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Nigerians are protesting a hike in electricity and fuel costs in the middle of the economic hardships from the COVID-19 pandemic. But authorities maintain the new rates are in the best interests of Nigerians. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.Camera: Emeka Gibson    Produced by: Rob Raffaele        
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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden traveled to Florida on Tuesday to court the Latino vote in this crucial battleground state. VOA’s Brian Padden reports, nationwide, Latino voters still favor Biden over Trump, but recent polls show Biden’s advantage eroding, and Trump now holds a slight lead among Latinos in Florida, due in part to the president’s hardline policies toward Cuba and Venezuela.  
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KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA—In a tailored appeal to Hispanic voters, Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden accused incumbent President Donald Trump of having “failed the Hispanic community time and time again” during his nearly four years in office, in part by fanning “the flames of hatred and division in this country for his own gain.”  The former vice president made the comment during a Hispanic Heritage Month event in Florida where he finds his critically needed support among Latinos eroding.  Biden accused Trump of neglecting the people of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017.    Trump has “insulted the dignity of Hispanic families over and over and over again,” Biden said, noting that with only 49 days left until the election, “I’m asking for your vote.    Biden, in a live streamed webcast, told the Latino community: “You can decide the direction of this country.”WATCH: Biden at Hispanic Heritage Month eventSorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Performer Luis Fonsi arrives to speak at a Hispanic Heritage Month event featuring Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Fla.Nationally, Biden’s lead over Trump with Latinos has dropped from 30 percent to 9 percent.  Only a handful of supporters, with face coverings and socially distanced, were allowed in the room where the former vice president made his Tuesday evening comments – exemplifying his cautious campaign in contrast to Republican Trump’s packed rallies amid the coronavirus pandemic.  The campaign of the incumbent has chipped away at Biden’s favorability with Hispanics as it tries to paint the Democratic Party challenger as a puppet of socialists. Trump has also repeatedly emphasized his administration’s hardline policies on communist Cuba and Venezuela’s socialist government.    Biden flew to Florida on Tuesday to appeal to the growing Puerto Rican population in the central part of the state. Many of them feel their island, a U.S. commonwealth, has been treated poorly by Trump, especially after it struggled following the 2017 hurricane.  Also damaging the president’s image with Puerto Ricans are reports that Trump wanted to sell the island and purchase Greenland because “Puerto Rico was dirty and the people were poor,” said actress Eva Longoria.Actress Eva Longoria speaks during a Hispanic Heritage Month event featuring Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Fla.“He called us drug dealers and rapists, and he spent the last four years doubling down on denigrating Latinos,” she added at Tuesday evening’s event prior to Biden’s remarks. “Latinos will decide the 2020 election.”  Biden, as president, “will respect the dignity of the Puerto Rican people,” said singer Ricky Martin, alongside Longoria.  “He will never abandon us in our time of need,” said singer Luis Fonsi, who introduced Biden, pitching Latinos to register to vote and cast ballots for the Democrat. “Nothing less than the future of our country is on the ballot in November.”  The president, who met with Latino supporters in Nevada on Monday, interpreted the polls as a clear victory for his campaign.    “I mean, this is, this is good,” Trump said. “You know, this is what the polls are all saying too you know. As a Republican, Republicans don’t do as well as perhaps they should, and probably some shouldn’t do very well, but the polls came back and we’re leading ‘Sleepy Joe’ by a lot.” In appealing to Latinos, Biden has criticized Trump’s harsh immigration policies and promised increased economic and medical assistance to help these communities hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.      Older Cubans are generally seen as firm backers of Trump, but Biden is looking to gain support from a younger generation with no memory of life in Fidel Castro’s Cuba.  Progressive activists are urging Biden to reach out to younger Cubans who are more focused on domestic issues such as economic and racial inequality.        “There’s a lot of new Latino young people, young Cubans, who’ve come of age who are registered to vote, who are way more progressive than their fathers or their grandmothers,” said Chuck Rocha, an adviser to former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.  Brian Padden in Washington contributed to this report.
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A Trump health appointee who is accused of trying to muzzle an important scientific publication in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic apologized Tuesday for a separate video in which he reportedly says scientists battling the virus are conspiring against President Donald Trump and warns of shootings in America if Trump loses the election. Michael Caputo, the top spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, (HHS)  apologized to his staff for the Facebook video, said an administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to be able to discuss internal matters.  The department is standing by Caputo in the face of calls by congressional Democrats for his dismissal — and for the resignation of his boss, HHS Secretary Alex Azar. But Caputo, a Trump loyalist and former New York political operative, has become a new problem for a White House that has struggled with its coronavirus messaging. He can be heard on an HHS podcast asserting that Democrats don’t want a coronavirus vaccine before the election in order to punish Trump. Although Trump has made the same assertion, with no evidence to support it, such broadsides are not in a department spokesman’s normal portfolio. News reports alleged last week that Caputo’s office tried to take over and muzzle a scientific weekly from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that publishes what is supposed to be authoritative, unvarnished information about disease-fighting efforts, including, most importantly at present, COVID-19. Accusations on FacebookThen on Monday came an account of the video on Caputo’s personal Facebook page in which he accused government scientists of conspiring against Trump and suggested violence could break out after the election. Caputo was named the top HHS spokesman in April, during a tense period in relations between the White House and Azar. On a taxpayer-funded podcast earlier this summer he accused Democrats and the media of not wanting a coronavirus vaccine until after the elections in order to defeat Trump. “There are people in the United States government on the Democrats’ side … (who) do not want a vaccine,” he said.  “They don’t want a vaccine until November 4th,” he added, citing the day after the presidential election. It’s highly unusual to use an agency communications platform for such a blatantly political message. Over the weekend, Caputo made headlines when Politico and The New York Times reported that his office had tried to gain control over a CDC publication known as the MMWR, or Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. In previous administrations, political appointees in the HHS secretary’s office maintained a hands-off policy. The story took a strange turn Monday, after the Times reported about a live video hosted by Caputo on his personal Facebook page. In it, Caputo reportedly accused government scientists of conspiring against Trump as part of a “resistance.”  Then Caputo reportedly predicted that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden would refuse to concede defeat to Trump in the election, and violence would break out. The Associated Press was unable to independently view the video. HHS supportHHS supported Caputo, with a statement calling him a “critical, integral part of the president’s coronavirus response, leading on public messaging as Americans need public health information to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic.” There was no immediate statement from the White House. Attempts to interview Caputo were unsuccessful. Calls for removalOn Capitol Hill, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., called on Azar to fire Caputo, accusing the spokesman of trying to interfere with CDC reports. And Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called on Azar himself to resign, citing interference with the CDC as one example of what he termed the administration’s failures. Officials at CDC have privately complained of recent efforts by political appointees at HHS to try to edit or press for changes in the agency’s weekly MMWR publications, a go-to resource for public health professionals.  MMWR articles are technical, but they reveal telling details. One published earlier this year noted that while Trump’s travel restrictions dramatically reduced travel from China in February, nothing was being done at that time to restrict travel from Italy and Europe, where the coronavirus was spreading widely and rapidly. Analysis of virus samples from hard-hit New York in March suggested it was introduced there from Europe and other parts of the U.S., the CDC article reported. Trump loyalistCaputo is an unswerving Trump loyalist. His recent book, “The Ukraine Hoax,” claims the president’s “phony” impeachment was rooted in a vast conspiracy. His appointment at HHS was seen as an attempt by the White House to exert more control over Azar, whom other administration officials were trying to blame for the government’s slow response in the initial weeks of the pandemic. At HHS, he’s been closely affiliated with Operation Warp Speed, the government’s effort to have millions of doses of a COVID-19 vaccine ready for distribution as soon as one is approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Caputo interviewed Dr. Moncef Slaoui, a top outside adviser to the vaccine effort, on an HHS podcast July 31. Commiserating with Slaoui over Democrats and news articles that were critical of the doctor, Caputo said: “I know that’s hard to believe, but the people who are abusing you, and who are beating down Operation Warp Speed, and the incredible historic work that’s going on, they don’t want a vaccine until November 4th. I don’t want to talk about politics here, but November 3rd is an important day. They don’t want a vaccine now because of politics, sir.” 
 
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South Sudanese peace activist Rita Lopidia Abraham received the 2020 Women Building Peace Award on Tuesday from the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) based in Washington, D.C. Abraham told South Sudan In Focus that her struggle for peace in South Sudan has been an uphill task full of threats from men at the negotiating table. “Sometimes when you talk to the parties and you speak truth to power, people seem to misunderstand you,” she said. “This is very sad, because at the end of the day, the purpose is for peace. But with the warring parties (in South Sudan), it’s not always the case.’’ She will receive $10,000 to be used at her discretion and will be recognized by the Institute during a celebration in the fall of 2021. Abraham, the CEO of EVE, an organization formed in 1996, said she will use part of the money to educate more women in South Sudan about their rights. “I am so passionate about young women. So, part of the cash that will come with the award I hope to invest in the incubator project, which is a young women’s leadership project which the EVE organization is running. The plight of orphans has always been in my mind. Part of the award will go towards helping orphans and street children in the South Sudan capital, Juba,” Lopidia said. Abraham, who is in her mid-30s, has been a delegate at the South Sudan peace talks in Addis Ababa and Khartoum. She signed a peace agreement in 2018 in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on behalf of the South Sudan Women Coalition for Peace, an umbrella group of 50 women’s organizations in South Sudan and the diaspora. She said the leaders of South Sudan are lagging in implementing key provisions of the peace agreement. “I am as disappointed as other South Sudanese (because) the implementation of the peace agreement has been reduced to power-sharing. People are only focusing on what positions they can get,’’ she said. She said the parties are not talking about Chapter 2 of the agreement, which stipulates benchmarks for security arrangements in Juba and other states. She said issues in Chapter 1 of the arrangement have also not been addressed.  “We still have challenges in the formations of the legislature, state governments. And there is a power vacuum in the states. This is a big challenge,” she said.  
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Scientists at a Russian university have announced the discovery of a remarkably well-preserved ice age cave bear, with much of its soft tissue including its nose, flesh and teeth intact.In a statement, scientists from North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) in Yakutsk say reindeer herders on Great Lyakhovsky island in the New Siberian Islands archipelago discovered the carcass in the melting permafrost. NEFU is considered the premier center for research into woolly mammoths and other prehistoric, ice age species.Scientists at the research center have hailed the find as ground-breaking. Previously, scientists had only the bone of cave bears to study. The species, or subspecies, lived in Eurasia in the Middle and Late Pleistocene period and became extinct about 15,000 years ago.Preliminary analysis suggests this specimen to be between 22,000 and 39,500 years old, but it will be carbon dated to confirm that.Recent years have seen major discoveries of mammoths, woolly rhinos, ice age foal, several puppies and cave lion cubs as the permafrost inside the Arctic Circle melts. 
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America’s image as a global superpower has been tarnished since Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. A 13-nation survey by the U.S. think tank found that only 41% of those surveyed in Britain have a favorable opinion of the U.S., the lowest percentage of any comparable survey Pew has conducted in the country. A mere 31% of the population in France views the U.S. favorably, mirroring survey results from March 2003, when tensions between the two countries peaked over the Iraq War, the survey found. The survey also found that much of the damage to America’s international reputation among key allies and partners is linked to its handling of the coronavirus crisis. Only 15% of the participating countries gave the U.S. good marks for dealing with the pandemic. Most of the countries said the World Health Organization and the European Union have done an admirable job containing the pandemic. Almost all of the countries, except the U.S. and Britain, gave their countries positive grades for their handling of the outbreak. FILE – A demonstrator protests before the arrival of U.S President Trump at Shannon Airport in the west of Ireland, Wednesday, June 5, 2019.While few of the countries believe China has effectively handled the outbreak, it still received significantly better reviews than the U.S. response. Trump’s performance on the world stage has remained low since he entered office, the survey said. Belgium gave him his most negative assessment, with just 9% expressing confidence that Trump will do what is right when handling global affairs. Japan gave him the highest rating, with one-quarter of its respondents expressing confidence.  Global attitudes toward Trump have consistently been considerably lower than those of former President Barack Obama, particularly in Western Europe, the survey found. Trump, however, is perceived more favorably among Europeans who have favorable views of “right-wing populist parties, though confidence is still relatively low among all groups,” the survey said. Pew noted that 45% of the adherents of Spain’s Vox Party are confident in Trump’s ability to handle global issues, much higher than the 7% approval rate among Spaniards who do not support Vox. President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn as he arrives at the White House, Sept. 14, 2020, in Washington from a trip to Phoenix.Trump ranks last in trust when compared with the six world leaders in the survey. Some 83% of the respondents said they have “no confidence” that Trump will “do the right thing regarding world affairs,” higher than Chinese President Xi Jinping’s 78% “no confidence” rating and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 73%. The White House did not immediately respond to the survey, but Trump has maintained he has done a good job in handling the coronavirus crisis, although the U.S. continues to lead the world in coronavirus infections and COVID-19 deaths.  During a White House news conference last month, Trump said, “When you look at the job we’ve done, compared to others, we’ve done a great job.” Trump also suggested at the news conference that the U.S. has not been as adversely affected by the virus when compared with other countries.  “We’ve done a great job, and on top of that, when you look at the numbers, how we were impacted less than these other countries,” Trump said. During a recent interview with Axios, Trump said the U.S. has done a “great” and “incredible” job in handling the pandemic.  Pew said the survey’s findings are based on feedback from 13,273 respondents from June 10 to Aug. 3. The respondents were in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Britain. The U.S. was not included in the survey.   
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U.N. officials say governments that provide healthcare and social protections to their people, especially to the most vulnerable will be better able to cushion the shock of the devastating coronavirus pandemic.  The officials participated in a debate on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human rights at the U.N. Human Rights Council.  No country has been spared the blows of this global pandemic.  But, as is the case with other disasters, UN officials say it is the poorest, most vulnerable and marginalized members of society who suffer most from the impact of COVID-19.   UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet says some states have responded to this crisis by implementing human rights-based policies.   She says States that have enacted policies such as access to healthcare to those who cannot afford it and providing cash grants, emergency food and other essential aid to those who have lost their jobs are better able to weather this calamity.   On the other hand, she warns nations that ignore the needs of the weakest members of society will face a grimmer future. “To date, some States have demonstrated deep mistrust of their people — repressing criticism, limiting freedom of information and cracking down on the civic space.  These and other human rights violations have undermined public health, as well as human rights and the prospect of a strong and sustainable recovery,” said Bachelet.  Lockdown measures aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus have devastated the economies of many countries.  They have had a particularly harsh impact on the poor and on the more than two billion people working in the informal sector. The International Labor Organization reports women are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic in terms of job losses and decrease in hours.   It says others who bear the brunt of this unfolding economic and employment crisis include migrant workers, indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.  It says social protection systems are a key element in recovery from COVID-19. The World Health Organization reports the number of coronavirus cases globally will soon top 29 million, including nearly one million deaths.   Executive Director of WHO Health Emergencies Program, Michael Ryan notes human health and human rights are intrinsically linked.  And, yet, he says access to health care in the time of coronavirus has not been fair. “It has been influenced by gender, by wealth, by age, by social class, by legal status, by ethnicity and by so many other things… WHO supports OHCHR ‘s [Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights] consistent warnings that the COVID-19 pandemic should not be used as an excuse to clamp down on fundamental freedoms,”   he said.Ryan says the international community must work together to develop safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics for COVID-19.  He says access to these life-saving products must be shared and distributed rapidly and equitably to rich and poor alike.  He says their availability should not be based on the ability to pay for them.    
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Hurricane Sally drew closer to  the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday morning, bringing heavy rains and  surging water ahead of its expected landfall as a Category 2 hurricane, with the chance of further strengthening possible.
The second strong storm in less than a month to threaten the region, Sally’s winds increased to 100 miles per hour (155 kph), and late Monday was 90 miles (145 km) east of the mouth of the Mississippi River, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
It could wallop the Mississippi and Alabama coasts on Tuesday with devastating winds of up to 110 mph, on the cusp of becoming a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity, the NHC said.
Hurricanes are considered to have the potential for devastating damage when they have sustained winds past 111 mph (179 kph).
Mississippi and Louisiana called for evacuations of low-lying areas and President Donald Trump issued an emergency disaster declaration for both states. Alabama closed the state’s beaches and recommended evacuations of residents in low-lying areas.
Mobile, Alabama Mayor Sandy Stimpson warned residents he expected a “tremendous amount of flooding” and said the city was barricading intersections likely to see high water.
Ports, schools and businesses closed along the coast. The U.S. Coast Guard restricted travel on the lower Mississippi River in New Orleans to the Gulf, and closed the ports of Pascagoula and Gulfport, Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama.
Energy companies buttoned up or halted oil refineries and pulled workers from offshore oil and gas production platforms.
The hurricane is expected to dump between 8 and 16 inches (20 to 40 cm) of rain on the coast, with isolated 24-inch downpours, and cause widespread river flooding.
Mississippi appears more likely for landfall, but Sally’s biggest threat is that it will be a “rainmaker” across a wide swath of the Gulf Coast, with 3 to 4 inches (7.62 to 10.2 cm) in areas as far inland as Atlanta, said Jim Foerster, chief meteorologist at DTN, an energy, agriculture and weather data provider.
Sally is the 18th named storm in the Atlantic this year and will be the eighth of tropical storm or hurricane strength to hit the United States — something “very rare if not a record” said Dan Kottlowski, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, noting that accurate data on historic tropical storms can be elusive.
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A Rwandan court is charging the man who inspired the film “Hotel Rwanda” with terrorism, complicity in murder and forming an armed rebel group. Prosecutors accuse Paul Rusesabagina of orchestrating crimes against unarmed, innocent Rwandan civilians in 2018.  Rusesabagina refused to plead to all 13 charges on Monday, including being linked to murders, claiming some of the charges are baseless. Rusesabagina, who has been detained since late last month, is asking to be released because of poor health. The court will hear his request for bail on Thursday. The film “Hotel Rwanda” portrayed Rusesabagina, a former hotel manager, as a hero, who protected Tutsis fleeing the 1994 genocide.  Rusesabagina is credited with saving more than 1,000 lives. 
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Iran’s Saturday execution of a wrestler who said he was tortured into a murder confession happened without advance warning to relatives, lawyers and even the wrestler himself, according to a knowledgeable source.  The source who is close to the family of wrestler Navid Afkari Sangari told VOA Persian in a Sunday interview that Afkari’s family and lawyers were given no notice that the execution would happen early Saturday, nor were they given one last opportunity to meet with him in the preceding days.  Iranian law requires the government to notify lawyers of a scheduled execution of their client 48 hours in advance and to grant families the right to visit their condemned relative for the last time. The source said Afkari’s lawyers had planned a Saturday meeting in the south-central city of Shiraz, where he was jailed, with relatives of the man whom Afkari was alleged to have killed. The purpose of the meeting would have been to try to convince the relatives to forgive Afkari, an act that would have canceled his death sentence under Iran’s law of qisas or retribution in kind.  But the source said the lawyers instead received a Saturday phone call from a family member of Afkari saying the wrestler had been executed earlier in the day.  بر اساس آیین نامه اجرای احکام قصاص..محکوم علیه حق دارد قبل از اجرای حکم با خانواده خود دیدار داشته باشد..برای اجرای حکم انقدر عجله داشتید که نوید را از آخرین دیدار هم محروم کردید؟ https://t.co/VRBREWxCmJ— hassan younesi (@hassan_younesi) September 12, 2020“Were you in such a hurry to carry out the death sentence that you deprived Navid of his last (family) meeting?” his lawyer Hassan Younesi asked in a Saturday tweet apparently directed toward Iranian authorities.    Iranian state media had quoted Kazem Mousavi, chief justice of Fars province whose capital is Shiraz, as saying the execution was carried out Saturday morning local time at the city’s Adel Abad prison. The method of Afkari’s execution was not disclosed.  Afkari’s last brief contact with family members came in a phone call he was allowed to make from the prison on Friday, the source said.  In the phone call, a recording of which was posted to social media on Monday, Afkari told an unidentified family member that it appeared the prison was planning to transfer him and his two brothers who had been jailed as his alleged accomplices to Tehran on Saturday morning. He did not specify what led him to believe he was about to be transferred to another city, but he ended the call by saying he hoped everything would be alright.  Afkari’s calm tone of voice also gave no indication that he expected to be executed the next morning rather than transferred.  Iranian journalist and rights activist Mehdi Mahmoudian, one of the Iranian social media users who had posted the recording of Afkari’s Friday phone call to Twitter, later deleted it. He informed his followers in a Monday tweet that the Afkari family had asked for the audio to be taken down.فایل صوتی منتشره به درخواست خانواده محترم مرحوم #نوید_افکاری حذف شد.— mehdi mahmoudian (@MahmoudianMe) September 14, 2020VOA’s source said Afkari’s father and other relatives attended a funeral for the wrestler late Saturday in the Fars provincial town of Sangar in the presence of security agents in plainclothes.  A video of the funeral shared on social media showed candles lit at Afkari’s grave site, with music playing in the background.  The 27-year-old Iranian Greco-Roman wrestler had been a local hero in his hometown of Shiraz for winning medals in domestic and international competitions. But his international profile rose earlier this month when news emerged that Iran upheld his death sentence, prompting an outpouring of support for him from social media users including U.S. President Donald Trump and the international wrestling and sporting communities.  A Fars criminal court had handed Afkari the death penalty for murder in the Aug. 2, 2018 killing of Hassan Torkaman, a security guard of a government water facility in Shiraz. The incident happened on the sidelines of peaceful anti-government protests that Afkari had joined in Shiraz and that were taking place in other cities in response to Iran’s worsening economic conditions. Authorities in Shiraz arrested the wrestler and his brother Vahid in connection with the killing on Sept. 17, 2018 and detained a third brother Habib later that year. Since then, Vahid and Habib have been sentenced to decades in prison for their alleged roles in the incident.  But in separate audio messages sent from prison and posted to social media in late August, Navid and Vahid said they had been tortured into confessing involvement in the 2018 killing.  Navid made another phone call to his relatives on September 6, saying he and his brothers had been beaten in prison in recent days, according to an additional source who spoke earlier to VOA Persian and who is close to the family. In his final September 11 phone call, Navid said several doctors had examined and photographed their wounds from those apparent beatings.  “Now people are looking for justice for Navid,” said the source whom VOA interviewed on Sunday. “They will continue to do so even if the family is unable to follow up on the case.”  U.N. human rights experts condemned Afkari’s execution in a statement released Monday, saying it appeared Iran was using the death penalty against an athlete as a warning to its population about the consequences of increasing social unrest.  “The hastened secret execution, forced confession under torture as the sole evidence, closed trial and the lack of respect for the domestic requirements for reconciliation and the denial of a last family visit suggest that there was an attempt by the authorities to expedite his execution,” the experts said.  They called on Iran to immediately halt all executions of other protesters sentenced to death, saying its persistent execution of individuals for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly contravened universally accepted human rights principles and norms.  This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Click here for the original Persian version of the story. 
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The U.S. State Department on Monday eased a travel advisory for Americans considering travel to China or Hong Kong from “Do Not Travel” to “Reconsider Travel,” citing “improved conditions.”The new “Level 3” warning reflects the “arbitrary enforcement” of local laws, said the department, which had issued its highest “Do Not Travel” Level 4 warning in June.China and the United States said in August they would each allow air carriers to double flights between the world’s two largest economies to eight per week.On Aug. 6, the U.S. State Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lifted its global advisory recommending U.S. citizens avoid all international travel because of the coronavirus pandemic, and instead issued a raft of high-level warnings for individual countries.The CDC also dropped its global advisory warning against all nonessential international travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Over the past month, the State Department has revised dozens of additional country-specific travel advisories, including easing ratings on Mongolia, El Salvador, Pakistan, Mexico, Kuwait, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia to Level 3.The United States has barred most non-U.S. citizens who have recently been in most of Europe, Brazil and China from traveling to the United States.On Monday, the U.S. government ended a requirement that travelers from China, Europe and Brazil return to the United States at 15 designated U.S. airports. It also ended enhanced CDC screenings of those passengers upon their return. 
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Iraqi military and Kurdish Peshmerga forces will increase their cooperation in the fight against Islamic State, an Iraqi military official said.Yahya Rasool, spokesman for the Iraqi military, said Sunday that joint efforts are under way to ensure the security of Iraq’s border with Syria, as IS militants continue to exploit the instability in both countries to launch attacks on Iraqi territory.“The Peshmerga forces are part of the Iraqi national defense system, and now there is joint coordination between the federal forces and the Peshmerga to protect those areas that lie between their lines of presence,” Rasool said in a statement to the Iraqi News Agency.“It is very important during the next phase to coordinate with the Peshmerga forces in order to carry out joint operations within these areas, as well as sharing intelligence,” he added.The Iraqi official noted that there is a new understanding between the two sides to establish coordination centers for their anti-IS campaign.FILE – Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi speaks to residents of Tarmiyah, Iraq, where a commander of an Iraqi army brigade was killed in an attack blamed on the Islamic State, July 20, 2020.Rasool’s statement comes days after Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi visited Iraq’s autonomous region of Kurdistan, where he and Kurdish leaders discussed among other issues the continued fight against IS, also known as ISIS.Iraqi and Kurdish officials emphasized “continuing security cooperation and coordination between the Peshmerga and the Iraqi military in countering ISIS terrorists to bring stability and help the return of displaced people,” the Kurdistan Region’s presidency said in a statement Friday.IS remains active  Despite its territorial defeat in Iraq and Syria, IS continues to carry out attacks in both countries, particularly in border areas.In August, the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) said more than 10,000 IS fighters are estimated to remain active in Iraq and Syria, noting that their attacks have significantly increased this year.IraqVladimir Voronkov, head of the UNOCT, told the U.N. Security Council that IS militants move freely “in small cells between the two countries,” adding that the terror group has regrouped, and its activity has increased.Major objectiveExperts say securing Iraq’s border with Syria has become a major objective for the current Iraqi government in its counterterrorism efforts.“There are internal procedures about how to merge the role of the Peshmerga forces with the international coalition to go after ISIS remnants, prevent the smuggling of people and resources and stop the infiltration of terrorists from the Syrian border into the Iraqi territory,” said Hussein Ali Allawi, professor of national security at Nahrain University in Baghdad.Allawi told VOA that Iraqi authorities are also seeking to coordinate with anti-IS forces that are in control of the Syrian side of the border, while the U.S.-led global coalition against IS could provide logistical support.U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces control a significant part of Syria’s border with Iraq. Syrian regime forces and Iranian-backed militias also control parts of the border between the two countries.FILE – Gen. Frank McKenzie, center front, the top U.S. commander for the Middle East, visits a military outpost in Syria, Jan. 25, 2020.US troop drawdownOn Wednesday, Marine Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, announced during a visit to Iraq that U.S. troops in the country would be cut from 5,200 to 3,000.McKenzie said in a statement that the remaining U.S. forces would continue advising and assisting Iraqi forces in “rooting out the final remnants” of IS and “ensuring its enduring defeat.”“This decision is due to our confidence in the Iraqi security forces’ increased ability to operate independently,” the U.S. official said.
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A new U.S. public survey has found that two-thirds of supporters of President Donald Trump “strongly” or “somewhat” support his deal with the Islamist Taliban to extricate the United States from the 19-year war in Afghanistan. Nearly 60% of supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden also favor the landmark U.S. agreement with the Afghan insurgent group, according to a poll conducted by New York-based Eurasia Group Foundation. “Ending the war in Afghanistan is extremely popular, and Americans of all political persuasions want to honor the recent agreement,” the foundation noted in its findings released Monday. The deal signed in February 2020 commits all U.S. troops to leave the South Asian country within 14 months, ending what has become America’s longest war.A member of Taliban negotiation delegation keeps his face mask on during the opening session of the peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 12, 2020.In return, the Taliban have agreed to disallow terrorist groups such as al-Qaida to operate in the country and begin peace talks with rival Afghan factions to end decades of hostilities in the country.  Fewer than 10% of those surveyed opposed the accord, while one-third remained neutral. “Since last year, the portion of respondents who believe the U.S. should stay in Afghanistan until all enemies are defeated has dropped by half — from 30% to 15%,” the survey noted.  The U.S.-Taliban agreement led to the start of much-awaited peace talks on Saturday between insurgent negotiators and interlocutors of the Afghan government.  The dialogue, officially known as intra-Afghan negotiations, is being hosted by Doha, the capital of the gulf state of Qatar, where U.S. and Taliban negotiators sealed their deal. Taliban delegation attends the opening session of the peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 12, 2020.The dialogue was supposed to start in early March, but disputes over the exchange of thousands of prisoners between the Taliban and the Kabul government, and continued insurgent battlefield attacks, had hampered efforts to push the two sides to the negotiating table. The United States has reduced its forces in Afghanistan to around 8,600 since signing the deal with the Taliban. The Trump administration has announced the U.S. military presence in the country would be cut to 4,500 by November. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview published Sunday that the military was on track to completely withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by spring of 2021. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talks at the opening session of peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 12, 2020.“So, 19 years after 9/11, we finally have the Afghans prepared to sit down and have a serious conversation about taking their country forward without all the violence,” Pompeo told Breitbart News. Former U.S. Vice President Biden supports the withdrawal plan, but he wants the Pentagon to leave a small military force in Afghanistan to counter any threat of terrorism in post-war Afghanistan. “As we enter the 20th year of the conflict in Afghanistan, the American people appear to have lost patience with an interminable war which has drifted from its original mission, and which appears all but unwinnable,” Mark Hannah, a co-author of the survey, told VOA.  “I think they wisely understand that all the military might in the world can’t easily vanquish amorphous, non-state adversaries, and that America’s continued presence in Afghanistan is neither making Americans safe nor serving some vital national interest,” said Hannah. Trump has been pushing to close what he describes as America’s “crazy endless wars” to fulfill one of his key campaign promises to bring U.S. soldiers back home.  The U.S. and its allies invaded Afghanistan days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror strikes against the United States that al-Qaida plotted from sanctuaries in Afghanistan being ruled by the Taliban at the time.  The punitive military action dislodged the Taliban from power within a few months, but the group has since waged a deadly insurgency. The Taliban has reestablished control over many Afghan districts and killed tens of thousands of U.S.-backed Afghan forces.  It is estimated that the conflict has killed nearly 160,000 people as of 2019, including combatants from both sides, and Afghan civilians. More than 2,400 U.S. soldiers have lost their lives, and more than 20,000 have been wounded. The war has cost Washington nearly a trillion dollars. 
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The Trump administration on Monday said it will block U.S. imports of cotton, apparel and other products from five specific entities in western China’s Xinjiang region, but has shelved proposed region-wide bans on all Xinjiang-produced cotton and tomato products.Department of Homeland Security acting Deputy Secretary Kenneth Cuccinelli said the “Withhold Release Orders” (WROs) are aimed at combating China’s use of forced labor by detained Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.He said the administration was conducting more legal analysis of the region-wide import bans.Customs and Border Protection officials told Reuters last week that they had prepared the broader bans on cotton, cotton textiles and tomatoes, among China’s biggest commodity exports, along with the orders announced Monday.Two people familiar with the Trump administration’s internal deliberations said that concerns about the broad orders and their effect on supply chains were raised by key officials, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.China also had agreed to purchase increased quantities of U.S. cotton under the countries’ Phase 1 trade deal, which could be put at risk by a U.S. ban on imports from China’s dominant cotton-producing region.Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said investigations into the broader import bans were still being pursued.”Because of its unique nature, being, applying to a region as opposed to a company or a facility, we are giving that more legal analysis,” Cuccinelli said. “We have not used a WRO like that in China before, and so we want to make sure that once we proceed that it will stick, so to speak.”The Withhold Release Orders allow U.S. Customs and Border Protection to detain shipments based on suspicion of forced-labor involvement under long-standing U.S. laws to combat human trafficking, child labor and other human rights abuses.DHS said Xinjiang entities whose products will be blocked from entering the United States include all products made with labor from the Lop County No. 4 Vocational Skills Education and Training Center; hair products from the Lop County Hair Product Industrial Park; apparel produced by Yili Zhouwan Garment Manufacturing and Baodung LYSZD Trade and Business Co.; cotton produced and processed by Xinjiang Junggar Cotton and Linen Co. Ltd; and computer parts made by Hefei Bitland Information Technology Co. Ltd.President Donald Trump’s administration is ratcheting up pressure on China over its treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, where the United Nations cites credible reports that about 1 million Muslims held in camps have been put to work.China denies mistreatment of the Uighurs and says the camps are vocational training centers needed to fight extremism. 
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