After U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that all U.S. forces should return home from Afghanistan before the end of the year, defense officials in charge of executing that withdrawal have remained silent. Trump’s new deadline is much sooner than one put forward by his administration hours earlier, and military experts are raising concerns about the ramifications of such a move. VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb has more.
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Iran has freed a prominent female dissident jailed since 2015, her husband and state media say, following a yearslong campaign by international rights activists demanding an end to what they described as her unjust and cruel detention.Journalist and human rights advocate Narges Mohammadi, 48, was released from a prison in the northwestern city of Zanjan early Thursday, according to a tweet from her husband, Taghi Rahmani, who lives in exile in Paris with the couple’s two children.الان از خانواده شنیدم .نرگس (محمدی)ساعت 3 نیمه شب از زندان زنجان ازاد شد.ارزوی ازادی برای همه زندانیان.— TAGHI RAHMANI (@RahmaniTaghi) October 8, 2020In the tweet, Rahmani said he heard from relatives in Iran that his wife was released at 3 a.m. local time.Iranian state media also quoted a judicial official as saying Mohammadi was released Thursday as part of a commutation of her 10-year prison term.Speaking to VOA Persian, Rahmani said family members in Iran told him that his wife apparently was woken up and informed of her release shortly before being allowed to leave the prison. “She currently is in a good mental state, but given her health problems in prison, she should be monitored by doctors,” he said.Rahmani made no further comment on Twitter by late Thursday regarding whether he had spoken directly to his wife.In an August message to VOA, Rahmani said Mohammadi needed specialized medical care outside of prison for a lung disease and weakened immune system following surgeries in 2018 and 2019, as well as for beatings that she apparently sustained while being transferred to Zanjan prison in December.London-based rights group Amnesty International (AI) has said Iranian authorities violently transferred Mohammadi to Zanjan from Tehran’s Evin prison, where she had been incarcerated since her arrest in May 2015. She was working as a spokesperson for Iranian dissident group Center for Human Rights Defenders at the time of her detention.Jailed Iranian Journalist Mohammadi Out of Danger from Coronavirus, Husband SaysNarges Mohammadi’s husband, Taghi Rahmani, says the dangerous phase of his wife’s coronavirus symptoms that began a month ago has passed Rahmani’s August message also said his wife appeared to have recovered from coronavirus symptoms that she began experiencing in July. She reported those symptoms in a letter sent from prison to her supporters.In his latest comments, Rahmani credited Mohammadi’s lawyers for helping to secure her freedom.”There is no place for any civil or political activist in prison, and I wish that all such prisoners would have been included in this release,” he said.AI welcomed news of Mohammadi’s release via Twitter.Great news! Iranian human rights defender Narges Mohammadi has been released from prison! She should never have been unjustly jailed for over 5 years for her peaceful human rights activism. Many thanks to everyone across the globe who worked tirelessly for her release! #Iranpic.twitter.com/1dp5cQd1t7— amnestypress (@amnestypress) October 8, 2020“She should never have been unjustly jailed for over 5 years for her peaceful human rights activism. Many thanks to everyone across the globe who worked tirelessly for her release!” the group wrote.Rahmani expressed hope that authorities would not bar his wife from leaving Iran to visit him and their children in France. He noted that their son and daughter haven’t seen Mohammadi for five years.In July, Rahmani tweeted a video clip of his daughter, Kiana, and son, Ali, appealing for help in order to reconnect with their mother, whom Iranian authorities apparently barred from speaking with them by phone.Iranian authorities have unjustly jailed human rights defender Narges Mohammadi. They are denying her phone calls to her children, who live abroad. She must be freed now. #FreeNargeshttps://t.co/kliuGlsD5Fpic.twitter.com/Qlhycy5KwE— Amnesty Iran (@AmnestyIran) July 23, 2020In the clip, also shared by AI, Ali said he and his sister hadn’t heard Mohammadi’s voice for 11 months.“She should have the right to come and see her children,” Rahmani said. ”What sin did her children commit that they should be deprived of a visit from their mother?”Iranian authorities said they detained Mohammadi in 2015 to resume her six-year prison sentence from 2011 related to her peaceful human rights work. She was arrested and released several times in the six years preceding her 2015 incarceration.Iran’s judiciary sentenced Mohammadi again in 2016 to a 16-year jail term for involvement with another peaceful advocacy group, the Campaign for Step by Step Abolition of the Death Penalty. Under Iranian law, the effective length of her sentence was reduced to 10 years.This year, Iranian authorities filed several new national security-related charges against Mohammadi for her peaceful human rights activism inside prison.Rahmani told VOA the outcome of those investigations was not yet clear, and his wife’s lawyers continue their work on her defense.This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Lipin reported from Washington and Yazdiha from Istanbul. Click here for the original Persian version of the story. 
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Kuwait’s new Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah took the oath of office in Parliament on Thursday, pledging the Gulf Arab state’s commitment to democracy and peace and calling on Kuwaitis to shun divisions.The assembly unanimously endorsed the octogenarian Sheikh Meshal for the role in what has been a smooth succession that retained power firmly within the ruling family’s oldest ranks following last week’s death of Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad.New ruler Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad, 83, assumed power last Wednesday in the U.S.-allied OPEC member state as it faces a liquidity crunch caused by low oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic against the backdrop of continued tensions between larger neighbors Saudi Arabia and Iran.Sheik Meshal, addressing Parliament, said Kuwait would uphold its regional and international commitments and “its path of peace and democratic approach.”He pledged to “raise the banner of popular participation and promote a tolerant spirit that shuns division.”Diplomats and analysts say that because of Sheikh Nawaf’s low-key style and age, he may delegate a larger portion of responsibilities to Sheikh Meshal, a forceful figure who had been deputy head of the National Guard since 2004 and before that headed State Security for 13 years, shunning public-facing roles.Continuity in policyThe succession is not expected to alter oil policy or a foreign policy shaped by Sheikh Sabah that defended Arab unity and balanced ties with Saudi Arabia, Iran and former occupier Iraq.Sheik Meshal’s rise stands in contrast to successions in some other Gulf states, most notably Saudi Arabia, where ruling families are starting to give top jobs to younger princes.Sheik Nawaf and Sheikh Meshal, both brothers of the late ruler, are expected to focus on domestic issues as the country prepares for parliamentary elections this year and the government tries to shore up its finances.Frequent clashes between the handpicked Cabinet, in which ruling family members hold most senior posts, and the assembly have led to successive government reshuffles and dissolution of Parliament, hindering investment and economic reforms.”We face a challenging period … which does not allow for divisions, and maintaining national unity is a serious and joint responsibility,” Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid said in Parliament on Thursday.
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The Pentagon offered no additional details on Afghanistan Thursday, a day after President Donald Trump tweeted that all U.S. forces in the South Asian nation should return home before the end of the year.“We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!” Trump tweeted shortly before the vice -presidential debate Wednesday night.We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien speaks during a news conference on Sept. 21, 2020, at the U.S. State Department in Washington, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper, right, listen.The president’s tweet drastically accelerates plans released by his national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, who said hours earlier the United States intended to reduce its troop levels in Afghanistan from 5,000 to 2,500 by early 2021.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed a similar timeline to O’Brien in mid-September, saying the military was on pace for a full pullout by spring 2021.The U.S. and the Taliban reached an agreement in February for the U.S. to remove all of its forces from Afghanistan by mid-2021 in return for assurances by the Taliban not to allow terrorist groups to use Afghan soil for international attacks.The U.S. military is currently at around 5,000 forces in Afghanistan, as part of a planned withdrawal from 8,600 troops to 4,500 by November.“At 4,500 we’re still going to be able to accomplish the core task that we want to accomplish,” CENTCOM Commander General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie told VOA and two other outlets in an interview last month, referring to the need to continue supporting Afghan government allies currently negotiating with the Taliban, along with conducting counterterrorism operations to ensure that “entities such as al-Qaida and ISIS can’t be guests there to attack the United States.”Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, the top U.S. commander for the Middle East, meets with troops at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, Jan. 29, 2019.McKenzie also has stressed in multiple interviews with VOA that the U.S. needed to be confident the Taliban would not host Islamic State and al-Qaida terrorist groups before U.S. President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg participate in a round table meeting during a NATO leaders meeting, Dec. 4, 2019.When asked about Trump’s tweet, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters Thursday that the international effort in Afghanistan was a “conditions-based approach.”“We will make decisions based on the conditions on the ground, because we think it is extremely important to continue to be committed to the future of Afghanistan, because it is in our interest to preserve the long-term security of Afghanistan,” said Stoltenberg.
“We decided to go into Afghanistan together; we will make decisions on future adjustments together, and when the time is right, we will leave together,” the NATO chief added.While top U.S. military officials have remained quiet about what Trump’s tweet means, the Taliban said it considered the tweet “a positive step.”A recent Eurasia Group Foundation survey found that most Americans from both U.S. political parties support the intra-Afghan peace talks backed by the Trump administration.The nation’s longest war began in 2001 when U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
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Українська гривня третій день поспіль зміцнюється проти долара США. За курсом НБУ національна валюта відіграла у американської ще 4 копійки, офіційний курс на 9 жовтня склав 28 гривень 28 копійок – на 12 копійок менше від пікового за понад два роки значення.

Ще більшим зміцнення гривні було на міжбанківському ринку. За даними Finance.ua, торги 8 жовтня завершилися на рівні 28 гривень 21,5–23,5 копійки за долар, це на 8 копійок менше за рівень відкриття сесії.

Фахівці сайту «Мінфін» серед причин зміцнення гривні називають завершення періоду виведення дивідендів «дочками» іноземних компаній, відсутність негативної реакції ринку на ймовірні кадрові зміни в НБУ та необхідність фінансування поточних господарських операцій на тлі вже практично витрачених експортерами сум відшкодувань ПДВ.

Попри зростання цього тижня, гривня все ще перебуває поблизу до найнижчих цього року показників. Близько двох місяців тому, 17 серпня торги завершилися майже на гривню нижче – на рівні 27 гривень 23,5–25,5 копійки за одиницю американської валюти.
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The FBI says it has disrupted a plot to overthrow the government of the Midwestern state of Michigan and its governor, Gretchen Whitmer, ahead of the Nov. 3 election.   According to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court, six people — who have been arrested — plotted for months, trained with militia members, and even did rehearsals in August and September. The alleged plotters included Adam Fox, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, Brandon Caserta, all of Michigan, and Barry Croft of Delaware, according to the FBI. Federal police said four of the men planned to “make a payment on explosives and exchange tactical gear.” According to the FBI, the men said Whitmer “has no checks and balances at all. She has uncontrolled power right now. All good things must come to an end.” Authorities, who said they used informants and undercover agents to foil the plot, said a news conference on the plot would be held later Thursday. Whitmer has been a polarizing figure during the COVID-19 pandemic, with many in her state calling her shutdowns draconian. Earlier this month, the Michigan Supreme Court said her shutdown orders violated the state’s constitution. The FBI said two of the alleged conspirators “agreed to unite others in their cause and take violent action against multiple state governments that they believe are violating the U.S. Constitution.” The group initially planned to storm the Capitol building but later decided to target Whitmer’s second home. One of the suspects, Fox, said he wanted to try the governor for “treason.” “The group talked about creating a society that followed the U.S. Bill of Rights and where they could be self-sufficient,” the FBI affidavit said. “They discussed different ways of achieving this goal from peaceful endeavors to violent actions. … Several members talked about murdering ‘tyrants’ or ‘taking’ a sitting governor.” 
 
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Kinana al-Bunni is a taxi driver and since the outbreak of COVID-19, she has been driving customers through Damascus, still working in a field where most of the drivers are men.  For 10 years, al-Bunni drove customers from Damascus to Beirut but when the Syria-Lebanese border closed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, she started to work for a private taxi company in Damascus. The 37-year-old single mother doesn’t only want to provide an income for her two children, she also wants to change attitudes about female drivers in Syria. With the support of her close friends, she managed to overcome the initial obstacles and now dreams of owning her own car or taxi company. (Reuters) 
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Пасажиропотік аеропорту «Бориспіль», найбільшого міжнародного летовища країни, за 2020 рік зменшиться до рівня 2009 року, повідомила адміністрація аеропорту на сайті.

«За підсумками вересня 2020 року міжнародний аеропорт «Бориспіль» обслужив 554 485 пасажирів, що на 66% менше, ніж за аналогічний період минулого року (вересень 2019 року – 1 649 тис. пасажирів). Сумарний пасажиропотік за 9 місяців поточного року склав 4 058 215 пасажирів, що на 65% менше аналогічного періоду 2019 року», – йдеться в повідомленні.

В адміністрації летовища пояснюють: не тільки не відбулась так звана «вереснева хасидська програма», аеропорт не дорахувався близько 3 мільйонів трансферних пасажирів.

Карантинні обмеження країн продовжують бути стоп-фактором для пасажирів, пояснюють у «Борисполі».

За даними «Украероруху», у вересні авіатрафік в Україні скоротився на 56,6%.
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America’s allies in Europe are watching closely as the U.S. presidential election enters its final leg. Transatlantic relations have at times been strained under President Trump, and some key European allies hope for a return to more stability under a Joe Biden presidency. But some other NATO members have welcomed Donald Trump’s demands for Europe to pull its weight. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
Camera: Henry Ridgwell    Producer: Jon Spier
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Germany’s health officials said Thursday new COVID-19 cases are spreading at the fastest rate since April.Health Minister Jens Spahn joined Robert Kock Institute for Disease Control President Lothar Wieler at a news conference in Berlin, where they said the number of new cases of the coronavirus has been rising steadily in Germany since early September. Wieler told reporters, “In the last few days between 1,000 and today even more than 4,000 cases have been reported to the Robert Koch Institute every day.”Weiler said the first seven days of October had seen about twice as many cases as the same period in September.  He said the current weekly nationwide average rate of COVID-19 incidence is 20.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants; at the beginning of June it was three.German Health Minister Jens Spahn, right, and the president of the Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, left, address the media about the current developments of the new coronavirus outbreak in Berlin, Germany, Oct. 8, 2020.Wieler said the incidence of infection is increasing in almost all regions of Germany, and that worried him greatly. He said he was unsure of how it will develop in the coming weeks, and that it is possible Germany could see 10,000 cases a day and the virus could spread uncontrollably.The outlook is particularly alarming for a country considered to have had one of the most effective responses to the pandemic in Europe, if not the world. Spahn said Germany has coped with the crisis well, so far, with the health system able to handle the patient load and a generally high level of acceptance among citizens of COVID-19 restrictions.The health minister said a big part of the problem now is young people, who are getting the virus at a higher rate than earlier in the year.  He said youth want to party and travel because they believe they are invulnerable. “They are not. A corona infection is and remains a serious illness,” he said.But Spahn said the virus is not out of control now, and if the nation pulls together and follows guidelines, it can rein it in again. “If 80 million people take part, the chances of the virus drop dramatically. This pandemic is also a character test, a test of character for us as a society,” he said. 
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Kyrgyzstan has closed its borders to ensure security amid unrest that has toppled the government, deputy security council chief Omurbek Suvanaliyev told Russia’s Interfax news agency Thursday.Thousands-strong protests forced the Kyrgyz Cabinet to resign this week and the central election commission to annul the results of Sunday’s parliamentary election, leaving the country with no clear leadership.
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Millions of Peruvians affected by the coronavirus pandemic will begin receiving their second Universal Family Bonus worth $223 starting Saturday.The Andina Peru News Agency reports that President Martin Vizcarra appealed to beneficiaries Wednesday to help his administration by not gathering outside the banks, saying they do not need to visit the banks to make an inquiry.Vizcarra said a call center is set up to answer more than 1,000 calls at a time about the process.He also said the government is launching a media campaign Thursday to teach citizens how to use a weblink to check their eligibility.Vizcarra assured recipients of the first $223 grant in June that they would receive a second Universal Family Bonus.Peru has been hard hit by the coronavirus. So far, more than 835,000 people have become infected with the disease and more than 33,000 deaths have been recorded.
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A growing Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique entered its fourth year this week, with experts saying there is no end in sight for a conflict that has killed and displaced thousands of people.   Since the first attack in 2017 by al-Shabab in the province of Cabo Delgado, militants have taken control of territory in the northern province, including a strategic port, and burned down dozens of villages. Al-Shabab is considered the Mozambique affiliate of Islamic State. The United Nations says the violence has forced over 300,000 people to flee their homes, seeking refuge in safer parts of Cabo Delgado and neighboring provinces. More than 2,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the conflict.   Over the past three years, there have been at least 600 attacks across the restive province, according to the conflict monitoring group Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (A woman holds her child while standing in a burned out area in the attacked village of Aldeia da Paz outside Macomia in Cabo Delgado Province, in Mozambique, on Aug. 24, 2019.Experts believe it is important for Mozambican authorities to view the insurgency not as something from abroad.   “We can see people coming from Tanzania trying to establish some kind of radical groups through local mosques in Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa [provinces],” Forquilha said. “But at the very beginning, there was a strong internal dimension linked to the insurgents in the sense that most of the people joining the group were actually recruited locally, not from abroad.” Weak response   Since the beginning of the conflict, Mozambican armed forces have had difficulties providing adequate security in Cabo Delgado. The current situation in the region requires move effective strategies by the government to curb the insurgency, experts said.   “I don’t see a clear strategy to tackle the insurgency,” said Fatima Mimbire, a Mozambique-based researcher. “The government has resorted to Russian mercenaries, and now we have South African mercenaries, but the situation tends to escalate.”   “I don’t understand why the insurgents are always ahead [of the government] in action. And how do they get information about the positions of the armed forces?” she told VOA. “It seems there are structural issues within the army that require investigating.”   Increased attacks Militant attacks in Cabo Delgado grew by 300% in the first four months of 2020, compared to the same period last year, according to Amnesty International. In March, the militants attacked an army outpost in the district of Mocimboa da Praia, taking control of its armory. In August, they captured the entire town and its strategic port, which is still under their control.   Opperman said the security forces’ failure to recapture territory taken over by the insurgents “motivates them and makes them more brazen in their attacks.”   The militants “are controlling and directing how government forces respond and run around, and because of that, they are exploiting all available opportunities to attack,” she said.   Torture by security forces   While Islamist militants have been responsible for much of the violence in Cabo Delgado, Amnesty International also blamed Mozambican authorities for carrying out unlawful actions in the region.   The rights watchdog said “there have been undisputed reports of torture and other crimes under international law committed by security forces in Cabo Delgado. In recent weeks, Amnesty International said it has verified footage of government prison guards torturing and dismembering alleged armed group fighters. “There is evidence the security forces have also committed crimes under international law and human rights violations, including enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial killings,” said Amnesty International’s Muchena.   Impact on health services Local health experts say the three-year conflict has also destroyed the already weak health infrastructure in Cabo Delgado.   “Out of the 17 districts in the province, 11 have been attacked by insurgents,” said Dr. Jorge Matine of the Citizen Observatory for Transparency and Good Governance in the Health Sector, in Mozambique.   “The population has fled, health centers have been vandalized, and there is no clear information about reconstruction,” Matine told VOA. “But we know that there are problems with accommodation and food [for the internally displaced people]. The province has a profile of diseases such as cholera and other diseases caused by poor hygiene. With the beginning of the rainy season, Cabo Delgado will suffer more.” 
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