Influential Iraqi Shi’ite leader Moqtada al-Sadr has given his supporters the green light to resume anti-government protests, after the movement was interrupted following a deadly crackdown.

Protests shook Iraq for six days from October 1, with young Iraqis denouncing corruption and demanding jobs and services before calling for the downfall of the government.

The protests — notable for their spontaneity — were violently suppressed, with official counts reporting 110 people killed and 6,000 wounded, most of them demonstrators.

Calls have been made on social media for fresh rallies on Friday, the anniversary of Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi’s government taking office.

“It’s your right to participate in protests on October 25,” Sadr told his followers in a Facebook post on Saturday evening.

Protesters have opposed any appropriation of their leaderless movement and the firebrand cleric was restrained on Sunday in comparison to his previous exhortations for “million-man marches”.  

He qualified his support by adding: “Those who don’t want to take part in this revolution can choose another via the ballot box in internationally supervised elections and without the current politicians,” he said.

His statement echoed another he made during protests at the start of the month, in which he called on the government — of which his bloc is a part — to resign and hold early elections “under U.N. supervision”.

In his latest message, Sadr called on his supporters to protest peacefully.

“They expect you to be armed,” he said, alluding to authorities blaming “saboteurs” for infiltrating protests. “But I don’t think you will be.”

Sadr’s influence was on display Saturday during the Shi’ite Arbaeen pilgrimage to the holy city of Karbala, 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad.

Thousands of his supporters heeded his call to dress in white shrouds and chanted, “Baghdad free, out with the corrupt!”

October 25 will also mark the deadline issued by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, spiritual leader for Iraq’s Shi’ite majority, for the government to respond to protester demands.

Tens of thousands of Lebanese protesters of all ages gathered Sunday in major cities and towns nationwide, with each hour bringing hundreds more people to the streets for the largest anti-government protests yet in four days of demonstrations.

Protesters danced and sang in the streets, some waving Lebanese flags and chanting “the people want to bring down the regime.” In the morning, young men and women carried blue bags and cleaned the streets of the capital, Beirut, picking up trash left behind by the previous night’s protests.

The spontaneous mass demonstrations are Lebanon’s largest in five years, spreading beyond Beirut. They are building on long-simmering anger at a ruling class that has divvied up power among themselves and amassed wealth for decades but has done little to fix a crumbling economy and dilapidated infrastructure.

The unrest erupted after the government proposed new taxes, part of stringent austerity measures amid a growing economic crisis. The protests have brought people from across the sectarian and religious lines that define the country.

“People cannot take it anymore,” said Nader Fares, a protester in central Beirut who said he’s unemployed. “There are no good schools, no electricity and no water.”

Politicians are now racing against time to put forward an economic rescue plan that they hope will help calm the public.

On Saturday night, a Lebanese Christian leader asked his four ministers in the Cabinet to resign. Samir Geagea, who heads the right-wing Lebanese Forces Party, said he no longer believes the current national unity government headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri can steer the country out of the deepening economic crisis.

In a speech Friday night, Hariri had given his partners in the government a 72-hour ultimatum to come up with convincing solutions to the economic crisis. A day later, Hariri said he was meeting Cabinet ministers to “reach what serves the Lebanese.”

On Sunday, Hariri continued his meetings to finish suggestions to revive the country’s crumbling economy, which has been suffering from high unemployment, little growth and one of the highest debts ratios in the world standing at 150% of the gross domestic products.

Many of the protesters have already said they don’t trust the current government’s reforms, and are calling on the 30-member Cabinet to resign and be replaced by a smaller one made up of technocrats instead of members of political groups.

“I hope the government will resign and I think we are ready and the whole country is ready for something else at last,” said real estate agent Fabian Ziayde.

Since Saturday, the protests have been mostly peaceful with many protesters bringing their children with them to the gatherings.

But some demonstrators went on a rampage Friday night, smashing shop windows and bank exteriors in Beirut’s glitzy downtown. Security forces eventually responded by firing tear gas and water cannons. Dozens were arrested.

Libya’s coast guard says it’s intercepted dozens of Europe-bound migrants off the country’s Mediterranean coast.

Spokesman Ayoub Gassim said Sunday the migrants were returned to shore and would be taken to a detention center in the capital, Tripoli.

Gassim said a rubber boat with 89 African migrants, including 16 women and two children, was stopped Saturday off Libya’s western town of Khoms, around 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Tripoli.

Libya has emerged as a major transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty to Europe. In recent years, the EU has partnered with Libya’s coast guard and other local groups to stem the dangerous sea crossings.

Rights groups, however, say those policies leave migrants at the mercy of armed groups or confined in squalid detention centers rife with abuses.

Thousands of Rohingya living in Bangladesh refugee camps have agreed to move to an island in the Bay of Bengal, officials said Sunday, despite fears the site is prone to flooding.

Dhaka has long wanted to move 100,000 refugees to the muddy silt islet, saying it would take pressure off the overcrowded border camps where almost a million Rohingya live.

Some 740,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar in August 2017 in the face of a military crackdown, joining 200,000 refugees already in makeshift tent settlements at Cox’s Bazar.

Relocations begin soon

Bangladesh’s refugee commissioner, Mahbub Alam, said officials overseeing the relocation would be posted to Bhashan Char island in the next few days.

Approximately 6,000-7,000 refugees have  expressed their willingness to be relocated to Bhashan Char, Alam told AFP from Cox’s Bazar, adding that “the number is rising.”

He did not say when the refugees would be moved, but a senior Navy officer involved in building facilities on the island said it could start by December, with some 500 refugees sent daily.

Bangladesh had been planning since last year to relocate Rohingya to the desolate flood-prone site, which is an hour by boat from the mainland.

Rights groups have warned the island, which emerged from the sea only about two decades ago, might not be able to withstand violent storms during the annual monsoon season.

In the past half-century, powerful cyclones have killed hundreds of thousands of people in the Meghna river estuary where the island is located.

Rohingya leaders would be taken to Bhashan Char to view the facilities and living conditions, Alam said.

Safety facilities built on the island include a 9-feet (3 meter) high embankment along its perimeter to keep out tidal surges during cyclones, and a warehouse to store months’ worth of rations, he added.

Overcrowding in camp

Rohingya father-of-four Nur Hossain, 50, said he and his family agreed to relocate to Bhashan Char after they were shown video footage of the shelters.

“I have agreed to go. The camp here (at Leda) is very overcrowded. There are food and housing problems,” the 50-year-old told AFP.

There was no immediate comment from the U.N., although Bangladeshi officials said they expect a delegation would visit the island in the next few weeks.
 

Hong Kong protesters again flooded streets Sunday, ignoring a police ban on the rally and demanding the government meet their demands for accountability and political rights.

Protest leaders carried a black banner at the front of the procession with a slogan, “Five main demands, not one less.”

Some front-line demonstrators blocked streets not long after the march began. 

Police had beefed up security measures for the unauthorized rally, the latest in the 5-month-old unrest rocking the semi-autonomous Chinese city. 

Water-filled plastic security barriers went up around a rail terminal where the protest march will finish. The city’s subway operator restricted passenger access to the West Kowloon train station.

Supporters of the movement gathered at the rally’s starting point on a waterfront promenade. Many wore masks in defiance of a recently introduced ban on face coverings at public gatherings, and volunteers handed more out to the crowd.

Organizers said they wanted to use their right to protest, as guaranteed by the city’s constitution despite the risk of arrest.

“We’re using peaceful, rational, nonviolent way to voice our demands,” Figo Chan, vice convener of the Civil Human Rights Front, told reporters. “We’re not afraid of being arrested. What I’m most scared of is everyone giving up on our principles.”

The group has organized some of the movement’s biggest protest marches. One of its leaders, Jimmy Sham, was attacked Wednesday by assailants wielding hammers.

Police on Saturday arrested a 22-year-old man on suspicion of stabbing a teenage activist distributing leaflets near a wall plastered with pro-democracy messages. A witness told local broadcaster RTHK that the assailant shouted afterward that Hong Kong is “a part of China” and other pro-Beijing messages.

The movement sprang out of opposition to a government proposal for a China extradition bill and then ballooned into broader demands for full democracy and an inquiry into alleged police brutality.

One Turkish soldier was killed and another was wounded Sunday after an attack by the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in northeast Syria’s Tel Abyad, the defense ministry said, despite a deal to pause military operations as militants withdraw from the area.

President Tayyip Erdogan agreed Thursday in talks with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence to a five-day pause in the offensive to allow time for the Kurdish fighters to withdraw from a safe zone Turkey aims to form in northeast Syria near its border.

On Saturday, the truce was holding along the border, with just a few Turkish military vehicles crossing, a Reuters reporter at the scene said. But Sunday’s attack has underlined how fragile the agreement is.

Ankara regards the YPG, the main component of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as a terrorist group because of its links to Kurdish insurgents in southeast Turkey.

The YPG has been a close U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic State.

In a statement, the defense ministry said an attack by the YPG with anti-tank and light weapons had struck Turkish soldiers carrying out a reconnaissance and surveillance mission in Tel Abyad Sunday.

“The immediate response based on self-defense was given,” the ministry said. “Despite the Safe Zone Agreement with the United States … 20 harassments/violations were committed by PKK/YPG terrorists,” it said.

On Friday, the Kurdish militia accused Turkey of violating the five-day pause by shelling civilian areas in the northeast and the border town of Ras al Ain.

A senior Turkish official later dismissed the accusations Saturday, saying these were an attempt to sabotage the agreement between Ankara and Washington, and that Turkey fully supported the deal.

‘Crush the heads’

Erdogan warned Saturday that the offensive would continue and Turkey would “crush the heads of terrorists” if the deal was not fully implemented, while Turkey has insisted that it is the duty of Washington to ensure the withdrawal of the YPG.

Turkey’s defense ministry said late Saturday that it was closely monitoring the withdrawal of the YPG and that it was in close contact with U.S. officials over the issue and to provide logistical information.

Turkey aims to establish a “safe zone” some 32 km into Syria. Erdogan said Friday it would run for some 440 km along the border, though the U.S. special envoy for Syria said the accord covered a smaller area where Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel allies were fighting.

Erdogan also said Friday that Turkey would set up a dozen observation posts across northeast Syria, and that he would hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on what steps to take in the planned “safe zone” next week.

A Taliban delegation reportedly met earlier this month with Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation. The alleged gathering came during an official Taliban visit to Islamabad to meet with Pakistan officials.

It was the first known contact between the U.S and Taliban insurgents since U.S. President Donald Trump canceled peace talks with the insurgents in September, citing increased violence in Afghanistan perpetrated by the militants in an attempt to gain more leverage at the negotiation table.

A senior Pakistani official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the topic publicly, told Reuters “Pakistan played a big role in it to convince them [Taliban] how important it [the meeting] was for the peace process.”

The official said the meeting was a confidence-building measure between the two sides and did not include formal negotiations.

Although the U.S. State Department has declined to comment on whether Khalilzad met with the Taliban, a U.S. official told Reuters that Ambassador Khalilzad has met with Pakistan officials for consultations. The official said the peace talks have not resumed.

Taliban-al-Qaida links

The U.S. and Taliban have held nine rounds of direct talks in Qatar’s capital city, Doha, with both sides appearing closer than at any time in the past 18 years of war to striking a deal that would have brought an end to the conflict in Afghanistan, before President Trump called off the talks last month.

The deal revolved around four key issues negotiated by both sides for almost a year, including a guarantee by the Taliban insurgents that foreign militants would not be allowed to use Afghanistan as a safe haven to launch terror attacks outside the country, the complete withdrawal of U.S and NATO forces from Afghanistan, the beginning of an intra-Afghan dialogue, and a permanent cease-fire in the country.

Despite assurances by the insurgents that they would not allow foreign terror groups to operate from Afghanistan, the insurgent group seemingly is linked to the al-Qaida terror group on both operational and strategic levels.

Late last month, Afghan and U.S. forces jointly targeted a Taliban hideout in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province, allegedly killing 23 militants, including six foreigners, and Asim Umar, chief of the al-Qaida terror group in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).  

“On the 23rd of September, there was a special forces operation conducted against an al-Qaida hideout in the Musa Qala district of Helmand province that resulted in the death of 23 militants, including six al-Qaida fighters,” Mohammad Yasin Khan, governor of southern Helmand province told VOA.

“Asim Umar, who is a Pakistani national and al-Qaida commander in charge of the terror group’s Indian subcontinent, was among the six foreign fighters killed,” he added.

Rohullah Ahmadzai, a spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Defense told VOA the Taliban and al-Qaida continue to maintain ties at various levels. He said Umar shows their relation is still firm.

“Unlike their [Taliban] claims and promise, they are in close relation with Al-Qaida in Afghanistan and their leaders live together outside Afghanistan,” he added in a reference to neighboring Pakistan, which is accused of providing safe haven for militants, a charge denied by Islamabad. 

The Taliban predictably denied that the operation in southern Helmand province killed their members and those of al-Qaida, insisting the victims were all civilians.

Supporting hardliners

Javid Ahmad, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Atlantic Council, charges that al-Qaida continues to invest in Taliban, particularly the hardliners among the militant group.

“While Western targets have long been a priority for al-Qaida in Afghanistan, the group has largely focused the bulk of its attacks and resources on local operations, benefitting the Taliban hardliners,” Ahmad said. “The main problem is that some Taliban members can’t seem to distinguish their objectives from that of al-Qaida’s. To many, those objectives, long rooted in jihad, have remained the same.”

Ahmad notes the two sides rely on shared tactics, resources, expertise and manpower.
“There are also reports about a quiet rebranding of some of those hardliners into al-Qaida, which has solidified this co-dependent relationship. That’s why the Taliban promises to break ties with the group is a sheer fantasy for now,” Ahmad said.

Haqqani Network

Michael Semple, a professor at Queen’s University Belfast’s Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, says expecting the Taliban to give up on their relationship with their terrorist allies is “unrealistic.”

“In 25 years, the Taliban have not cut off links with al-Qaida and other terrorist groups. So, I have seen no indication that they are about to do so,” Semple said.

Semple added that the Haqqani Network, a Taliban allied U.S. designated terror group, has close working relationship with al-Qaida.

“The head of [the] Haqqani Network [Serajuddin Haqqani] is the deputy leader of the Taliban movement. The military might, which the Taliban deploys, depends partly on the Haqqani Network,” Semple said.

“We see no indication that the Taliban are ready to start, giving up their military and physical leadership … we are [a] long way away from peace agreement [between the U.S. and the Taliban] so to expect the Taliban to give up their relationship with their terrorist allies of two-and-half decades in the first step is probably unrealistic,” he added.

U.S. politics

Some analysts, like Matt Dearing, an assistant professor at the Washington-based National Defense University, assert that the Taliban should not be trusted and taken at their word for disavowing al-Qaida. Rather, they should be required to take “real action” before a deal is struck with them.

“Taliban and al-Qaida continue to coordinate operations, strategize, and praise each other on social media and their official communications. It’s not hard to see the links between these organizations if one pays attention,” Dearing said.

Dearing added that U.S. domestic politics should be separated from how its foreign policy is implemented.

“Unfortunately, the pressure to ‘make a deal’ with the Taliban before the summer of 2020 ended is based more on politics than policy. The Taliban know this, and their negotiators will tell the U.S. what it wants to hear,” Dearing said.

“It would be a disaster for U.S. foreign policy and Afghanistan’s future if a peace deal is struck with the Taliban purely for political optics,” he added.

VOA’s Afghanistan service contributed to this report. Some of the information in this report came from Reuters.

In a series of Tweets Saturday night, U.S. President Donald Trump said he was canceling plans to hold the next G-7 summit at a golf resort he owns in Miami, Florida.

Earlier this week the president had confirmed plans to hold the summit at the Trump National Doral.

Accused of using the presidency to enrich himself, it was a rare backtrack on Twitter Saturday night.

He blamed the media and Democrats for opposing the Doral site.

Trump tweeted “I thought I was doing something very good for our Country by using Trump National Doral, in Miami, for hosting the G-7 Leaders. It is big, grand, on hundreds of acres, next to MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, has tremendous ballrooms & meeting rooms, and each delegation would have its own 50 to 70 unit building. Would set up better than other alternatives. I announced that I would be willing to do it at NO PROFIT or, if legally permissible, at ZERO COST to the USA. But, as usual, the Hostile Media & their Democrat Partners went CRAZY!”

Some members of Trumps own party had also criticized the plan.

Trump tweeted that other U.S. sites for the 2020 summit will be considered, possibly including Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.

A plan to use explosives to topple two giant cranes leaning precariously over a partially collapsed hotel has been delayed until Sunday, city officials said after determining the cranes were more damaged than previously thought.

Officials said a demolition that had been planned Saturday will now take place no earlier than noon Sunday. Fire Chief Tim McConnell said the latest delay was caused by the new assessment of the cranes.

“As they got up and got closer they found out some things about it that have changed the way they are going to take it down … and that’s going to take a little longer for them to accomplish,” he said at a news conference. “The cranes are more damaged than they thought.”

Hard Rock Hotel collapses

The Hard Rock Hotel under construction at the edge of the historic French Quarter partially collapsed Oct. 12, killing three workers. Two bodies remain in the unstable wreckage and Mayor LaToya Cantrell said recovering the remains would be a priority once the cranes are down.

The two cranes, one tower rising about 270 feet (82 meters) above the rubble and the other about 300 feet (91 meters) high, weigh tons and have loomed over the crumpled hotel since it collapsed.

If the demolition plans succeed, the towers will drop vertically, sparing neighboring landmark buildings such as the Saenger Theatre and the New Orleans Athletic Club, both built in the 1920s.

Officials said Saturday that they would give residents who needed to evacuate four hours’ notice ahead of the planned demolition. Cantrell also said she would not authorize the use of explosives during the night.

Officials have repeatedly said they are adjusting plans as necessary, based on the information they are getting from experts brought in to help devise a plan to remove the cranes.

“We’ve told you that this is a very dangerous building. The cranes are still in a precarious situation,” McConnell, the fire chief, said. He said at least one of the cranes was leaning more Saturday morning than it was the day before.

“It shifted and didn’t come back, which tells me it’s weakening,” he said.

Demolition experts

On Saturday, workers suspended in a basket held by a crane could be seen high over the wreckage, working on the cranes. Down below, streets in one of the busiest parts of town had been closed off and tents set up in the center of Canal Street where the city’s famous red street cars usually roll back and forth.

Dozens of tourists, employees and residents were milling around nearby, taking photos. But officials have said repeatedly that they do not want people to come to the area to watch the demolition in person.

Experts, including engineers who worked on demolitions after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, were called in to try to come up with a plan to clear the site and prevent further injury and damage before the cranes fell on their own.

Once planned for Friday, the demolition was first pushed back to Saturday.

The cause of the collapse remains unknown. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration is investigating and, Cantrell and McConnell said, evidence gathering began soon after the collapse.

Lawsuits are already being filed on behalf of some of the more than 20 people injured against the project’s owners and contractors.

Political, racial and gender tensions between students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have erupted over freedom of speech and drawn deep battle lines. 
 
Senior Jasmine Kiah said she felt “unsafe” as a black woman because of posters in the campus Student Activity Center (SAC) put up by the GOP Badgers — also called the College Republicans — who support President Donald Trump. 
 
“The Student Activity Center is a place where all students should feel safe. For black people and other people of color, we do not feel welcome,” Kiah told VOA. “Trump signs are a representation of hate.” 

Taped up posters
 
Kiah protested by taping anti-Trump posters on a glass wall of the College Republicans’ office that faces into the SAC. While she was counterprotesting the Trump display, she played an anti-Trump protest song by the late community activist and rapper Nipsey Hussle on her cellphone.
 
GOP student members said they felt unsafe and called university police, as reported by the Badger-Herald, an independent student newspaper. Campus police arrived, asked Kiah to leave and escorted her from the building. 
 
The University of Wisconsin released a statement saying that, according to campus policy, only preapproved signs by the Student Activities Office can be displayed in public spaces on campus. Also, posters are not allowed on glass walls, the policy states.

UW supports the free speech rights of its students along with civil discourse around political issues.

UW policies prohibit the posting of unapproved signs, posters and other material in public spaces. 1/2

— UW-Madison (@UWMadison) October 9, 2019

The College Republicans’ posters were taped to the inside of the glass wall, and it was not clear how university officials were evaluating their placement.
 
The incident escalated when the GOP Badgers posted a video on Twitter of Kiah taping signs on the outside of their office window that said, “Donald Trump is … racist … sexist … bigot … homophobic … .” The video elicited more than 10,500 reactions, with both sides receiving support and criticism.
 
“Another example of total intolerance from the left in an environment that is supposed to welcome a marketplace of ideas,” the GOP Badgers tweeted. They called Kiah an “intolerant student in complete hysteria” whose protest “targets” the UW-Madison College Republicans’ student office.
 
Erin Perrine, deputy communications director for the president’s re-election campaign, tweeted that the video was “a disgusting display by the ‘tolerant left.’ ” … Good thing those signs won’t stop the @GOPBadgers! #LeadRight!” 
 
Alex Walker, campaign director for Republican U.S. Representative Bryan Steil, in a tweet called the video “the intolerance of the left on display.”  Conservative Charlie Hoffman called Kiah’s protest “shameful,” “childish” and “ridiculous.”

State senator’s letter
 
Wisconsin state Senator David Craig wrote the university on behalf of the College Republicans, asking the school to investigate the matter. 
 
“There seems to be a growing animosity on that campus towards conservative thought and conservative expression while the opposing view is shielded, protected, supported and encouraged,” he wrote to university Chancellor Rebecca Blank. “There is no shortage of leftist ideology permeating from campus organizations.” The GOP Badgers followed up with a tweet.
 
Support for Kiah defended her freedom of speech and her right to protest. 
 
“To some white people, a POC’s [person of color’s] default setting is aggressive/scary/violent. So when a POC is doing something that white person does not understand, like, or approve of … HYSTERIA!” tweeted user Scout.

“The only overreacting … that I see here is from the GOP Badgers,” tweeted user Micah Faulds.
 
UW junior Nile Lansana, who works at the Student Activity Center, said he witnessed the incident. 
 
“Jasmine was calm, respectful and resolute in her protest. ‘Intolerant’ and ‘in complete hysteria’ are mischaracterizations of the incident,” Lansana wrote to VOA. “All she had was music, tape and paper. There was also an entire wall of glass between them, and Jasmine never made any attempt to speak to or approach them.” 
 
Dean of Students Christina Olstad responded to the senator’s letter, saying the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards was reviewing the incident. 

Commentator sees ‘snowflakes’
 
Political commentator Charlie Sykes, who has hosted a conservative radio show and is originally from Wisconsin, responded to the College Republicans. 
 
“I read all the stories, and I shared the news with people who are also in the university world, and we thought you guys came off like snowflakes,” the Badger-Herald reported. “Snowflake” is typically used as an insult by conservatives describing liberals whom they deem weak. 
 
“It looked like to me that you were assaulted by someone with a piece of paper and words,” Sykes said.  
 
“We understand that not everyone on campus agrees with us, however, there are over 45,000 students on our campus, which means that there are 45,000 different opinions and the goal should not be that all students agree, but that we all respect one another’s opinions and enjoy the beautiful UW-Madison campus together as one student body,” Ryan Christens, UW junior and College Republicans chairman, wrote to VOA. 
 
Kiah said she felt threatened by the backlash from conservative critics at her university, on social media and from the government. 
 
“I was not destroying anything. I was peacefully protesting,” Kiah said. “If a white student had done this, it would not have gone this far.” 

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that Washington remained committed to peace and stability in Afghanistan as police searched for bodies in the rubble of a mosque in eastern Nangarhar province where bomb blasts killed at least 69 people. 

The explosives that went off during Friday prayers were placed inside the mosque in the Jawdara area of the Haska Mena district. On Friday, local officials had reported the number of dead at 62 and about 50 wounded. 

“The United States remains committed to peace and stability in Afghanistan, and will continue to fight against terrorism,” Pompeo said in a statement. “We stand by the people of Afghanistan who only want peace and a future free from these abhorrent acts of violence.” 

Sohrab Qaderi, a member of Nangarhar’s provincial council, said the mosque, with a capacity of more than 150 worshippers at a time, was full of people when the bombs exploded. 

“Bodies of 69 people, including children and elders, have been handed to their relatives,” Qaderi said, adding that more bodies could be lying under the rubble. 

No group has claimed responsibility but the government blamed Taliban insurgents, who are fighting to reimpose strict Islamic law after they were ousted from power in 2001 by U.S.-led forces. 

Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban, denied the group was responsible. In a tweet, he said that witnesses to the attack said it was a mortar attack by government forces. 

‘Huge boom’

One of the wounded, Gulabistan, 45, said the mosque was full when the explosion happened. 

“Mullah already started prayers and reciting verses of the holy Quran, when a huge boom happened. Then all around me it got dark. The only thing I remember is females’ voices, and then I found myself in the hospital,” Gulabistan said. 

He said he had been told his son was among the dead, while his brother and two nephews had been wounded and were in hospital. 

A Reuters reporter saw 67 freshly excavated graves for the victims in Jawdara village.  

The European Union said the attack aimed to undermine hopes for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.  

The Taliban and Islamic State fighters are actively operating in parts of Nangarhar, which shares a border with Pakistan in the east. 

A U.N. report this week said 4,313 civilians were killed and wounded in Afghanistan’s war between July and September. 

Mexico’s foreign minister said Saturday that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, had agreed to take swift action to stem the flow of illegal weapons from the United States into Mexico. 

Lopez Obrador told Trump on a phone call, “I want to propose to you that both our countries use technology to close the border, to freeze the traffic of arms that is killing people in Mexico,” Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told reporters. 

“And Trump responded that he thought it was a good idea that this could be done using technology,” Ebrard said, adding that existing technology could be used for this objective. 

Lopez Obrador told Trump “he was very concerned” that gang members were using .50 caliber armor-piercing rifles during the breakout of violence in the northwestern city of Culiacan after 
Mexican authorities attempted to arrest Ovidio Guzman, one of jailed drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s dozen or so children. 

There was no need to change laws in the United States in order to stop the illegal flow of weapons into Mexico, Ebrard assured. 

The two leaders agreed that U.S. and Mexican officials would meet in the next few days to discuss options, and would announce actions to “freeze” illegal imports of weapons into Mexico through U.S. border crossings. 

There was no immediate comment from U.S. authorities about the discussion, which came in the wake of the bungled arrest attempt. 

Cartel gunmen surrounded about 35 police and national guardsmen Thursday in the capital of Sinaloa state and made them free Ovidio Guzman. His brief detention had set off widespread gunbattles and a jailbreak that stunned the country. 

“If the order would have been given to continue with the operation in Culiacan, we estimate that more than 200 people, mostly civilians, would have been killed,” said Ebrard, adding 
that so-called collateral damage was unacceptable to the Mexican government.

The chaos in Culiacan, a bastion of the elder Guzman’s Sinaloa cartel, has turned up pressure on Lopez Obrador, who took office in December promising to pacify a country weary of 
more than a decade of gang violence. 

Thousands of demonstrators poured into Lebanon’s streets on Saturday for a third day of anti-government protests, directing growing rage at a political elite they blame for driving the country to the economic brink.

From the south to the east and north, protesters blocked roads, burned tires and marched through the streets to keep the momentum going despite gunmen loyal to Shi’ite Muslim Amal movement appearing with heavy guns to scare them away.

In central Beirut, the mood was fiery and festive with protesters of all ages waving flags and chanting for revolution outside upmarket retailers and banks that had their storefronts smashed in by some rogue rioters the night before.

“This country is moving towards total collapse. This regime has failed to lead Lebanon and it must be toppled and replaced,” said Mohammad Awada, 32, who is unemployed. “We no longer feel we have a state. This state tramples on all institutions.”

Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri gave his government partners a 72-hour deadline on Friday to agree on reforms that could ward off economic crisis, hinting he may otherwise resign.

The latest unrest erupted out of anger over the rising cost of living and new tax plans, including a fee on WhatsApp calls, which was quickly retracted after protests – the biggest in decades – broke out.

In a televised speech addressing the protests on Saturday, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the group opposed the government’s resignation, and that the country did not have enough time for such a move given the acute financial crisis.

“Everyone should take responsibility rather than being preoccupied with settling political scores while leaving the fate of the country unknown,” said Nasrallah, adding that Lebanon could face “financial collapse”.

“All of us have to shoulder the responsibility of the current situation that we arrived at in Lebanon. Everyone should take part in finding a solution,” added Nasrallah, whose Iranian-backed Shi’ite group is Lebanon’s most influential.

The protests that swept villages and towns across the country on Friday recalled the 2011 Arab revolts that toppled four presidents. Lebanese from all sects and walks of life waved banners and chanted for Hariri’s government to go.

In southern Lebanon, Amal militiamen loyal to parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri attacked peaceful demonstrators who tore his posters and chanted slogans denouncing him as corrupt. They prevented TV crews from filming the protests.

‘Collapse’

In the speech, Nasrallah predicted that imposing more taxes would lead to an “explosion” of unrest.

“If we don’t work towards a solution we’re heading towards a collapse of the country, it will be bankrupt and our currency will not have any value,” he said.

“The second danger is a popular explosion as a result of wrong handling of the situation,” Nasrallah said.

In the southern port city of Tyre protesters filled the streets.

“I am taking part because over the last 30 years warlords have been ruling us. I am about to be 30 and my parents still tell me tomorrow will be better. I am not seeing better days ahead…,” said Sylvia Yaqoub, 29, a laboratory manager.

“We want back the money they stole because 30 families are ruling five million people. We won’t accept this any longer.”

The government, which includes nearly all Lebanon’s main parties, has pledged no new taxes as it seeks to finalize a 2020 budget.

The budget could help it unlock billions of dollars pledged by international donors who have conditioned their support on long-delayed reforms to curb waste and corruption.

“The protests must continue because this is a matter of our dignity. We’ll be left humiliated otherwise,” said Miriam Keserwan, 28.

Riot police in vehicles and on foot rounded up protesters late on Friday, firing rubber bullets and tear gas canisters to disperse riots in Beirut that grew violent as the night wore on, leaving streets strewn with glass and burning debris.

Lebanon’s internal security apparatus said 52 police were injured on Friday and its forces arrested 70 people.

The State Department has completed its internal investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of private email and found violations by 38 people, some of whom may face disciplinary action.

The investigation, launched more than three years ago, determined that those 38 people were “culpable” in 91 cases of sending classified information that ended up in Clinton’s personal email, according to a letter sent to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley this week and released Friday. The 38 are current and former State Department officials but were not identified.

Although the report identified violations, it said investigators had found “no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information.” However, it also made clear that Clinton’s use of the private email had increased the vulnerability of classified information.

The Associated Press sent an email seeking comment to a Clinton representative.

The investigation covered 33,000 emails that Clinton turned over for review after her use of the private email account became public. The department said it found a total of 588 violations involving information then or now deemed to be classified but could not assign fault in 497 cases.

For current and former officials, culpability means the violations will be noted in their files and will be considered when they apply for or go to renew security clearances. For current officials, there could also be some kind of disciplinary action. But it was not immediately clear what that would be.

The report concluded “that the use of a private email system to conduct official business added an increased degree of risk of compromise as a private system lacks the network monitoring and intrusion detection capabilities of State Department networks.”

The department began the review in 2016 after declaring 22 emails from Clinton’s private server to be “top secret.” Clinton was then running for president against Donald Trump, and Trump made the server a major focus of his campaign.

Then-FBI Director James Comey held a news conference that year in which he criticized Clinton as “extremely careless” in her use of the private email server as secretary of state but said the FBI would not recommend charges.

The Justice Department’s inspector general said FBI specialists did not find evidence that the server had been hacked, with one forensics agent saying he felt “fairly confident that there wasn’t an intrusion.”

Grassley started investigating Clinton’s email server in 2017, when he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Iowa Republican has been critical of Clinton’s handling of classified information and urged administrative sanctions.
 

The battle over Brexit spilled onto the streets of London on Saturday when tens of thousands of people gathered to demand a new referendum while lawmakers decided the fate of Britain’s departure from the European Union.

Protesters waving EU flags and carrying signs calling for Brexit to be halted gathered at London’s Park Lane before a march through the center of the capital to parliament.

“I am incensed that we are not being listened to. Nearly all the polls show that now people want to remain in the EU. We feel that we are voiceless,” said Hannah Barton, 56, a cider maker from central England, who was draped in an EU flag.

“This is a national disaster waiting to happen and it is going to destroy the economy.”

Many protesters carried placards, some comparing Brexit to the election of U.S. President Donald Trump. Some wore elaborate costumes with one group dressed as fruit and vegetables.

There were also papier mache models mocking politicians such as Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

“I don’t like the sort of place the country is becoming. We have become a more angry country than before the referendum,” said Phil Canney, 33, a mechanical engineer.

“If what Johnson is putting to parliament today was the argument in the referendum they would have lost by a landslide. They have taken the result and run away with it to excuse anything they want to do.”

After more than three years of tortuous debate, it is still uncertain how, when or even if Brexit will happen as Johnson tries to pass his new EU divorce deal and plots a way out of the deepest political crisis in a generation.

The protesters, from around the United Kingdom, will march to parliament as lawmakers prepare to vote in the first Saturday session since the 1982 Falklands war.

James McGrory, director of the People’s Vote campaign, which organized the march, said ahead of the protest that the government should heed the anger of pro-Europeans and hold another referendum on EU membership.

“This new deal bears no resemblance to what people were promised and so it is only right that the public deserve another chance to have their say,” he said.

While Brexit has divided families, parties, parliament and the country, both sides agree Saturday could be one of the most important days in recent British history: a juncture that could shape the fate of the United Kingdom for generations.

Campaigners are confident that the number of people on the streets will rival a similar demonstration in March, when organizers said 1 million people took to the streets. A rally this size would be among the largest ever in Britain.

More than 170 coaches from around Britain were due to arrive in London taking people to the march. Nine coaches left Scotland on Friday and four left Cornwall on England’s western tip early on Saturday.

Brexit reversed?

In 2016, 17.4 million voters, or 52%, backed Brexit while 16.1 million, or 48%, backed staying in the EU.

Some opinion polls have shown a slight shift in favor of remaining in the EU, but there has yet to be a decisive change in attitudes and many voters say they have become increasingly bored by Brexit.

Since July 2017 there have been 226 polls asking people whether they support Leave or Remain, according to a poll of polls by YouGov published last week. Of those, 204 have put support for remaining in the EU ahead, seven have given a lead to leave and a few have been tied.

However, other polls suggest most voters have not changed their mind: 50% of the public want to respect the referendum result, 42% want Britain to remain in the EU and 8% said they don’t know, the largest Brexit poll since 2016 carried out by ComRes found.

Supporters of Brexit say holding another referendum would deepen divisions and undermine democracy.

A group of lawmakers in the main opposition Labour Party have put forward an amendment calling for approval of any deal to be put to a second referendum.

The challenge for pro-referendum forces is finding enough support in parliament. In April, when the government held a series of votes on various Brexit options, a second referendum was the most popular, but fell short of a majority losing 292 to 280.

Even if another referendum were agreed, it would take months to organize and there would be disputes about the question.

Chile’s president declared a state of emergency in Santiago Friday night and gave the military responsibility for security after a day of violent protests over increases in the price of metro tickets.

“I have declared a state of emergency and, to that end, I have appointed Major General Javier Iturriaga del Campo as head of national defense, in accordance with the provisions of our state of emergency legislation,” President Sebastian Pinera said.

Throughout Friday, protestors clashed with riot police in several parts of the city and the subway system was shut after attacks on several stations.

Violent clashes escalated as night fell, and the ENEL power company building and a Banco Chile branch, both in the city center, were set on fire and several metro stations hit with Molotov cocktails.

The unrest started as a fare-dodging protest against the hike in metro ticket prices, which increased from 800 to 830 peso ($1.17) for peak hour travel, following a 20 peso rise in January.

Attacks on metro stations forced the closure of the entire subway system, which is the key form of public transport in the congested and polluted capital, carrying 3 million passengers a day.

“The entire network is closed due to riots and destruction that prevent the minimum security conditions for passengers and workers,” the metro operator said on Twitter, after attacks against nearly all the 164 stations where many gates and turnstiles were destroyed.

The Santiago Metro, at 140 kilometers (90 miles) the largest and most modern in South America, is expected to remain closed this weekend and could reopen gradually next week.

Closure of the metro forced many Santiago residents to walk home, sometimes long distances, resulting in scenes of chaos.

Protesters erected barricades in various parts of the city and clashed with police, who used water cannon and tear gas in the most violent street battle seen in the Chilean capital for a long time.

Pinera slammed the protesters as criminals. 

“This desire to break everything is not a protest, it’s criminal,” he said in a radio interview. 

On Thursday, 133 people had been arrested for causing damage to metro stations, estimated at up to 500 million pesos ($700,000).
 

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam took to the airwaves Saturday to back the use of force by police ahead of a major anti-government march planned this weekend in the Chinese-ruled city, which has been battered by months of violent protests.

Following a week of relative calm, Sunday’s march will test the strength of the pro-democracy movement. Campaigners vowed it would go ahead despite police ruling the rally illegal.

In the past, thousands of people have defied police and staged mass rallies without permission, often peaceful at the start but becoming violent at night.

Suspect wants to surrender in Taiwan

The trigger for unrest in Hong Kong had been a now-withdrawn proposal to allow extradition to mainland China, as well as Taiwan and Macau. The case of a Hong Kong man accused of murdering his girlfriend in Taiwan before fleeing back to the city was held up as an example of why it was needed.

Late Friday the man, Chan Tong-kai, who is jailed in Hong Kong for money laundering, wrote to Lam saying he would “surrender himself to Taiwan” over his alleged involvement in the case upon his release, which could be as soon as next week.

Lam said in an interview Saturday with broadcaster RTHK that it was a relief as it could bring an end to the case.

She also said that police had used appropriate force in handling the protests, and were responding to protesters’ violence, amid criticism of heavy-handed tactics.

More than 2,600 people have been arrested since the protests escalated in June.

No permission for Sunday march

Protesters’ demands have, since then, swelled far beyond opposing the extradition bill, to take in broader concerns that Beijing is eroding freedoms granted when Britain handed the city back to China in 1997.

Police have refused permission for Sunday’s march citing risks of violence and vandalism, which has increased in recent weeks as protesters dressed in black ninja-like outfits have torched metro stations and Chinese banks and shops.

Rights group Human Rights Watch said the police move appeared to be aimed at dissuading people from attending.

Demonstrations on Friday were calm, with protesters forming a human chain along the city’s metro network and many donning cartoon character masks in defiance of a ban on covering faces at public rallies.

Lam this week outright rejected two of the protesters’ five core demands: universal suffrage and amnesty for those charged during the demonstrations, saying the latter would be illegal and the former was beyond her power.

Instead she has sought to quell the crisis with plans to improve housing supply and ease cost-of-living pressures.

Activist badly beaten

The atmosphere in the city remains tense.

Prominent rights activist Jimmy Sham was brutally beaten by four men wielding hammers and knives during the week, a move pro-democracy lawmakers said was meant to intimidate protesters and incite violence ahead of Sunday’s planned march.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the city’s de-facto central bank, said Saturday that some cash machines will be out of service temporarily, owing to vandalism or to safety considerations.
 

Around 20 South Korean protesters broke into the residential compound of the U.S. ambassador to South Korea Friday, prompting U.S. officials to call for tighter security measures around diplomatic missions here.

Video of the break-in posted online shows a group of young, chanting protesters using ladders to scale the stone wall surrounding Ambassador Harry Harris’ house, which is in a central area of Seoul.

After scaling the compound walls, the intruders attempted to forcibly enter the ambassador’s residence but were detained by Seoul police, according to a statement by the U.S. Embassy issued Saturday.

Some of the protesters carried signs calling for Harris to leave Korea and characterized U.S. troops as an occupying force.

Pockets of anti-US sentiment

Although polls show South Koreans overwhelmingly support the alliance with Washington, pockets of anti-U.S. sentiment remain.

In 2015, a knife-wielding South Korean man with a history of militant Korean nationalism ambushed then-U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert outside a building in downtown Seoul. Lippert sustained cuts to his arm and face.

More sporadic, minor disturbances have occurred since then.

“We note with strong concern that this is the second instance of illegal entry into the ambassador’s residential compound in 14 months,” a U.S. embassy official in Seoul said Saturday. “We urge the Republic of Korea to strengthen its efforts to protect all diplomatic missions to the ROK.”

The group that broke into the compound Friday says it is a coalition of progressive college students. Reuters reports the group recently held a forum to present “research findings” on the achievements of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and said it would welcome a visit by Kim to Seoul.

The students also attempted to break into the U.S. Embassy in Seoul last January before being stopped by police, Reuters reported.

Seoul’s foreign ministry said attacks on diplomatic facilities will not be tolerated, adding it will take “all appropriate measures” to prevent further incidents. Seoul police said they will increase security around the U.S. Embassy, according to the Yonhap news agency.

Cost-sharing talks

The break-in comes at a particularly tense moment for U.S.-South Korea relations. The two countries next week will begin a second round of contentious negotiations over how to split the cost of the U.S. military presence in South Korea.

President Donald Trump has long complained that U.S. allies, and South Korea in particular, are not paying their “fair share” for the cost of U.S. troops.

In an apparent hardball negotiating tactic, Trump in August said South Korea agreed to pay “substantially more” for protection from North Korea. Seoul shot back, saying cost-sharing talks haven’t even begun.

South Korean reports say U.S. negotiators are demanding a fivefold increase in how much South Korea pays for U.S. troops. Harris appeared to indirectly confirm that figure in an interview last week.

He told the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper that from the U.S. perspective, South Korea could be seen as having funded only one-fifth of the total defense cost, and that as the world’s 12th-largest economy South Korea should take on a larger share.

South Korean officials have reportedly rejected the demand, saying they are prepared to engage in “reasonable” negotiations before the current cost-sharing agreement expires at the end of the year.

Anti-US displays rare

Over the past decade, overt displays of anti-U.S. sentiment have become less common in Seoul than in previous decades.

According to a 2018 Pew Research poll, 80% of South Koreans have a favorable view of the United States. That same poll, however, suggested just 44% of South Koreans have confidence in Trump.

Historically, conservatives have been the most reliably pro-U.S. contingent in South Korea. Recently, though, there has been a small backlash against Trump among conservatives, many of whom are already skeptical of Trump’s outreach to North Korea.

The situation has been exacerbated by Trump’s comments on cost-sharing negotiations. Trump reportedly recently used an Asian accent to mock South Korea’s president over the issue. Earlier this year, Trump said a certain country, widely seen as South Korea, was “rich as hell and probably doesn’t like us too much.”

The Pentagon says roughly 28,000 troops are in South Korea to help deter North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

South Korea rejects Trump’s notion that it doesn’t contribute enough toward the cost of the U.S. troops, insisting it pays almost half of the total cost of $2 billion. That doesn’t include the expense of rent-free land for U.S. military bases, Seoul says.

Lizbeth Garcia tended to her 3-year-old son outside a tent pitched on a sidewalk, their temporary home while they wait for their number to be called to claim asylum in the United States.

The 33-year-old fled Mexico’s western state of Michoacan a few weeks ago with her husband and five children — ages 3 to 12 — when her husband, a truck driver, couldn’t pay fees that criminal gangs demanded for each trailer load. The family decided it was time to go when gangs came to their house to collect.

“I’d like to say it’s unusual, but it’s very common,” Garcia said Thursday in Juarez, where asylum seekers gather to wait their turn to seek protection at a U.S. border crossing in El Paso, Texas.

Mexicans are increasingly the face of asylum in the United States, replacing Central Americans who dominated last year’s caravan and a surge of families that brought border arrests to a 13-year-high in May. Arrests have plummeted since May as new U.S. policies targeting asylum have taken hold, but Mexicans are exempt from the crackdown by virtue of geography.

A legal principle that prevents countries from sending refugees back to countries where they are likely to be persecuted has spared Mexicans from a policy that took effect in January to make asylum seekers wait in Mexico while their claims wind through U.S. immigration courts. They are also exempt from a policy, introduced last month, to deny asylum to anyone who travels through another country to reach the U.S. border without applying there first.

Mexico resumed its position in August as the top-sending county of people who cross the border illegally or are stopped at official crossings, surpassing Honduras, followed by Guatemala and El Salvador. Mexicans accounted for nearly all illegal crossings until the last decade as more people from Central America’s “Northern Triangle” countries decided to escape violence and poverty.

Fewer Mexicans are crossing from the peaks reached in May, but the drop in Central Americans is much sharper, making Mexicans the biggest part of the mix, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures. Mexicans arrested or stopped at the border fell 8% from May to August, but border crossers were down 80% from Guatemala, 63% from Honduras and 62% from El Salvador during the same period.

It is unclear precisely what is driving the change, perhaps some mix of U.S. policies and violence in Mexico. The Mexican government’s retreat from an attempted capture of a son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman on Thursday followed a ferocious shootout with cartel henchman that left at least eight people dead.

“Given the deterioration in the security situation in many parts of Mexico, with homicide levels that are exceeding even the record high numbers from 2018, it seems likely that more Mexicans are fleeing their hometowns out of fear and the growing sense that the Mexican government, at all levels, is either unable or unwilling to protect them,” said Maureen Meyer, director for Mexico and migrant rights at the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights research group.  

People traveling as families accounted for 23% of all Mexicans arrested or stopped at the border in August, a major shift from earlier immigration waves when nearly all Mexicans came as single men, according to CBP figures. Another big change: 36% of Mexicans presented themselves at official crossings — the U.S. government’s prescribed way to claim asylum — instead of earlier times when nearly all tried to cross illegally.   

The U.S. government has limited detention space for families and, under a court settlement, must release families within 20 days. Asylum-seeking families have generally been released in the United States with an ankle monitor on the head of the household and a notice to appear in backlogged immigration courts, where cases can take years to resolve. That changed for everyone except Mexicans with the new U.S. limits on asylum and its policy to make asylum seekers wait in Mexico, known officially as “Migrant Protection Protocols” and colloquially as “Remain in Mexico.”

“It’s a pretty drastic change from what we have been observing in the past couple of years,” said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, an associate professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. “Now the word has been spread out, and the Mexicans are the only ones that can apply for asylum right now.”

In Phoenix, only about 40 to 50 people are being released in the U.S. each day, roughly half from the height of arrivals. One of the places families get released to is The Welcome Center, an abandoned elementary school-turned-shelter run by the International Rescue Committee that can host about 70 people now but is increasing its capacity by nearly quadruple.

Since opening July 27, the Welcome Center has seen 567 people come through, IRC spokesman Stanford Prescott said. Nearly 64% were Mexican, and nearly 7 percent were Guatemalans. In March and June, before the Welcome Center opened but when IRC and others were already assisting migrant families, Guatemalans were about 76% of families served.  

At a family detention center in Dilley, Texas, roughly 30% of families that the Dilley Pro Bono Project is serving are Mexican, compared with only 1% prior to this month.

Mexicans, like all nationalities, still must wait in Mexico, usually for months, to make initial claims under ticketing systems that were created last year because the U.S. processes a limited number of claims each day.

In Juarez, about 100 families make up the camp of tents that lines both sides of a side street leading to the city’s main promenade and Paso Del Norte border crossing, where asylum claims are processed. Some at the camp said they were coming because of a lack of jobs in southern Mexico.

A man who did not give his name said he left Michoacan because a gang said it would force his 18-year-old son to join. He and others living in a tent camp said there were two shootings near the camp, one Wednesday and one on Tuesday. The first shooting prompted him to get a hotel room for his family, though he left his tent in place on the sidewalk.