rferl--2020-10-17--Missile Strike On Residential Area Of Azerbaijani City Kills Six In Latest Fighting Over Nagorno-Kar

Missile Strike On Residential Area Of Azerbaijani City Kills Six In Latest Fighting Over Nagorno-Karabakh

A missile strike in the early hours of October 17 hit a residential area in Ganja , Azerbaijan ’ s second largest city , killing six people and demolishing at least one building while people inside were sleeping .
Emergency services joined residents at the scene trying to pull survivors out of the rubble , RFE/RL ’ s Azerbaijani Service reported .
The homes of at least 20 families were affected .
Hikmet Hajiyev , an aide to Azerbaijan 's president , said on Twitter that in addition to the six people killed , 35 were wounded .
Another missile @ @ @ @ @ @ @ city of Mingacevir , where a large dam is located , RFE/RL 's Azerbaijani Service reported .
There was no word on damage there .
The strikes came only hours after new clashes were reported between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces in and around Nagorno-Karabakh , marking a new escalation in the conflict over the separatist region .
Each side accused the other of launching fresh attacks despite a Russian-brokered cease-fire that has mostly failed to take hold .
Baku and Yerevan each claimed hard-fought gains in the fighting in and around the territory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 150,000 ethnic Armenians before the flare-up started on September 27 .
There are fears that the decades-old conflict could engulf the region in a conflagration involving Azerbaijan 's biggest ally , Turkey , and Russia , which guarantees Armenia 's security under the Collective Security Treaty Organization ( CSTO ) .
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on October 15 appeared to send a veiled message to Turkey suggesting it was inflaming a `` dangerous '' situation by arming and publicly backing Baku 's actions .
`` We now have the Turks , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Azerbaijan , increasing the risk , increasing the firepower that ’ s taking place in this historic fight , '' Pompeo told an Atlanta radio station .
He called for `` negotiation and peaceful discussions ... and certainly not ... third parties coming in to lend their firepower to what is already a powder keg of a situation . ''
Armenia has accused Turkey of encouraging Azerbaijan to try to militarily attack a problem that decades of internationally mediated talks have failed to resolve .
The Armenian Defense Ministry 's Artsrun Hovhannisian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had bombarded Nagorno-Karabakh from the north `` with total disregard for the humanitarian truce . ''
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said a retreat by ethnic Armenian forces in the territory had left Baku 's troops with an advantage along the Line of Contact that divides the warring sides .
Accusations and counteraccusations are difficult to corroborate in the conflict , which has simmered with occasional low-intensity skirmishes since a cease-fire -- but no peace agreement -- was signed between the two former Soviet republics in 1994 .
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by ethnic Armenians who are backed by Yerevan .
The territory 's de facto leadership reported 29 more deaths on October 16 to increase its death toll from this chapter of fighting to 633 .
The Azerbaijani government does not release military casualty figures but before the missile attack on Ganja said 47 civilians had died .

Armenia and Azerbaijan say they have agreed on a new cease-fire to stop the escalating fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The foreign ministries of both countries posted identical statements on their websites late on October 17, announcing a halt in fighting as of midnight local time.
"This decision was taken following the statement of the presidents of the French Republic, the Russian Federation, and the United States of America, representing the co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, of October 1, 2020, the statement by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group of October 5, and in line with the Moscow statement of October 10," the statements said.
The Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is a diplomatic initiative headed by France, Russia, and the United States, aimed at trying to resolve the conflict, which first erupted in 1988 in the waning days of the Soviet Union.
The latest round of fighting, which began on September 27, has killed at least 600 soldiers and civilians and is considered the worst since the 1994 cease-fire that ended all-out war between the two countries over Nagorno-Karabakh’s status.
Internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, the mountainous territory has been controlled by ethnic Armenians, backed by Yerevan, since the 1994 halt in fighting.
The latest spasm of violence has stoked fears that the new violence could engulf the region in a wider conflict involving Azerbaijan's biggest ally, Turkey, and Russia, which dominates the Collective Security Treaty Organization, of which Armenia is a member.
A cease-fire announced last week was repeatedly violated by both sides not long after it went into effect, and had all but collapsed.
Earlier on October 17, a missile hit a residential area in Azerbaijan’s second-largest city, killing 13 people and injuring more than 50, one of the deadliest killings of civilians to date.
The strike in Ganca, about 100 kilometers north of the disputed mountainous territory, occurred at around the same time that another missile hit Mingacevir, a city east of Ganca and home to a large hydroelectric dam.
There was no word on damage or casualties in Mingacevir.
It was also unclear where the missile was fired from; Ganca is also about 100 kilometers east of the border with Armenia proper.
A missile fired directly from Armenian territory onto an Azerbaijani city would be a major escalation of the conflict, now in its third week.
Earlier this week, Azerbaijan said it had fired missiles at a missile-defense system in Armenian territory.
In a televised address on October 17, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev denounced the missile strike as a war crime and warned the leadership of Armenia.
“Azerbaijan will give its response and it will do so exclusively on the battlefield,” Aliyev said.
There was no immediate comment or claim from Armenia about the accusation.
Earlier in the week, Baku and Yerevan each claimed gains in the fighting in and around the territory, which is populated by around 150,000 ethnic Armenians.
There is no confirmed death toll from this latest fighting, but the de facto leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh has reported 633 soldiers killed.
Azerbaijan has not released any military casualty figures.
Several dozen civilians have also been reported killed prior to the October 17 missile strike.
Armenia has accused Turkey of encouraging Azerbaijan to try to militarily resolve a problem that decades of internationally mediated talks have failed to resolve.
On October 16, Artsrun Hovhannisian, a spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry, accused Azerbaijani forces of bombarding Nagorno-Karabakh "with total disregard for the humanitarian truce."
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said a retreat by ethnic Armenian forces in the territory had left Baku's troops with an advantage along the Line of Contact that divides the warring sides. There was no confirmation of that.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Armenian and Azerbaijani services


rferl--2020-10-16--Russia, Kazakhstan Replace Decades-Old Military Cooperation Agreement

The Russian and Kazakh defense ministers signed an agreement in the Kazakh capital on October 16 on bilateral military cooperation to replace a deal that has been in place since 1994 .
It is said to cover issues including military education and training , arms and equipment deliveries , participation in bilateral and multilateral drills and exercises .
The Russian Defense Ministry called the agreement `` an unprecedented document . ''
In Nur-Sultan , Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called Kazakhstan `` one of the few states , if not the only state , with which we have such broad @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all-embracing agreement . ''
Shoigu and Kazakh Defense Minister Nurlan Ermekbaev also signed a cooperation plan between their respective ministries for 2021 .
Shoigu also held talks with Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev , at which the Kazakh leader hailed the renewed agreement , his office said .
Kazakhstan , the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence in 1991 , is one of Russia 's closest allies .
It is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization ( CSTO ) , comprising Russia and five other former Soviet republics , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( EEK ) .
Based on reporting by Tengrinews , Interfax , TASS , and Kazinform

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated that there can be no advancement in the relationship between the United States and Afghanistan's Taliban rulers unless there is an improvement in the treatment of women in the country.
Speaking to reporters on August 15, the two-year anniversary of the Taliban’s seizure of power in Kabul, Blinken said the United States continues to work to hold the Taliban accountable for the commitments that it's made, particularly when it comes to the rights of women and girls.
"We've been very clear with the Taliban -- and dozens of countries around the world have been very clear -- that the path to any more normal relationship between the Taliban and other countries will be blocked unless and until the rights of women and girls among other things are actually supported," Blinken said.
No country has recognized the Taliban-led government, and the United States has avoided direct economic engagement in part over the treatment of women and girls, who have seen their rights drastically curbed by the hard-line Islamists. This includes a ban on women working in local and international nongovernmental organizations and a ban on education beyond the sixth grade.
The Taliban stormed back to power in August 2021 after President Joe Biden withdrew U.S. troops under the terms of an agreement reached in February 2020 between the Taliban and the administration of then-U.S. President Donald Trump.
Blinken defended the pullout and said the United States was not focused on other priorities.
"The decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was an incredibly difficult one, but also the right one," Blinken said. "We ended America's longest war. For the first time in 20 years, we don't have another generation of young Americans going to fight and die."
A number of international human rights organizations earlier on August 15 called the Taliban's two years of rule shameful and worrying.
Amnesty International and several other international human rights organizations demanded in a statement an effective response to the situation, noting the Taliban's strict decrees against human rights in Afghanistan, especially against women and girls.
The organizations said in a statement that in the past two years, the Taliban has increasingly imposed harmful policies against women and girls and religious and ethnic minorities that clearly violate Afghanistan's obligations under international human rights law.
The Taliban has previously rejected reports on the treatment of women as propaganda of international organizations. The militant group's leaders have said they have strengthened all the rights of women in Afghanistan in light of Islamic principles.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman for the Taliban, said in an interview with the AP marking the second anniversary of the Taliban takeover of the country that the Taliban views its rule of Afghanistan as open-ended and as drawing legitimacy from Islamic law. He also suggested a ban on female education will remain in place.
Female activist Soheila Yousefi calls the situation alarming and wants the world to pay attention.
"The international community should take serious action in this regard because the world chose to be silent in these two years and did not take any practical steps. Our request is that they should look at the current situation in Afghanistan, then take a serious and comprehensive review."
The Taliban did not respond to Radio Azadi's questions before the release of the report, but the rulers have spoken of strengthening human rights in Afghanistan, especially the rights of women and girls, according to Islamic principles.
With reporting by AP and AFP


rferl--2020-10-16--Fresh Attacks, Finger-Pointing Further Dampen Hopes Of End To Azerbaijani-Armenian Fighting

New clashes were reported on October 16 between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces in and around the breakaway region at the center of decades of Caucasus conflict in a further sign of the challenges to ending heavy fighting that has killed hundreds in the past three weeks .
Both sides in the long-running conflict over the breakaway Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh accused the other of launching fresh attacks despite a six-day-old , Russian-brokered cease-fire that has mostly failed to take hold .
Baku and Yerevan each claimed hard-fought gains in the fighting in and around the territory , which was mostly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the flare-up started on September 27 .
There are fears that the decades-old conflict could engulf the region in a conflagration involving Azerbaijan 's biggest ally , Turkey , and Russia , which guarantees Armenia 's security under the Collective Security Treaty Organization ( CSTO ) .
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on October 15 appeared to send a veiled message to Turkey suggesting it was inflaming a `` dangerous '' situation by arming and publicly backing Baku 's actions .
`` We now have the Turks , who have stepped in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the risk , increasing the firepower that ’ s taking place in this historic fight over this place called Nagorno-Karabakh , a small territory with about 150,000 people , '' Pompeo told an Atlanta radio station .
He called for `` negotiation and peaceful discussions ... and certainly not ... third parties coming in to lend their firepower to what is already a powder keg of a situation . ''
Armenia has accused foe Turkey of encouraging Azerbaijan to try to militarily attack a problem that decades of internationally mediated talks have failed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's Artsrun Hovhannisian said on October 16 that Azerbaijani forces had bombarded Nagorno-Karabakh from the north `` with total disregard for the humanitarian truce . ''
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said a retreat by ethnic Armenian forces in the territory had left Baku 's troops with an advantage along the Line of Contact that divides the warring sides .
Baku also accused Yerevan of a missile attack on an autonomous exclave of Azerbaijan called Nakhchivan , hitting an area near Orduba but causing no casualties .
Armenia denied it carried out any such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to corroborate in the conflict , which has simmered with occasional low-intensity skirmishes since a cease-fire -- but no peace agreement -- was signed between the two former Soviet republics in 1994 .
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan , but is mostly populated by ethnic Armenians who are backed by Yerevan .
The territory 's de facto leadership reported 29 more deaths on October 16 to increase its death toll from this chapter of fighting to 633 .
The Azerbaijani government does not release military casualty figures but has said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan reportedly spoke by phone with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and requested that the global community `` neutralize '' Azerbaijani actions that endanger `` the people of Nagorno-Karabakh . ''
Iran ’ s Foreign Ministry issued a warning to Armenia and Azerbaijan after it said 10 stray rockets from the conflict wounded one person on the Iranian side of the border .
Visiting Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said in Yerevan that `` Turkey 's meddling in the Karabakh conflict causes us concerns . ''
He said Yerevan and Athens -- @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` have a shared problem : Turkey . ''
Ankara , he said , is `` ignoring the EU 's calls to respect international law . ''
Greece and Turkey are currently in a major spat over energy and maritime resources in the eastern Mediterranean .
Russia on October 16 downplayed military exercises begun by its navy in the Caspian Sea , not far from Baku , saying they posed no threat to neighbors .
The exercises -- involving six warships , seven aircraft , and more than 400 servicemen -- `` do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ impose restrictions on the economic activities of the Caspian littoral states , '' the Russian Defense Ministry said .
Based on reporting by Reuters , AFP , and AP

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New clashes were reported on October 16 between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces in and around the breakaway region at the center of decades of Caucasus conflict in a further sign of the challenges to ending heavy fighting that has killed hundreds in the past three weeks.
Both sides in the long-running conflict over the breakaway Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh accused the other of launching fresh attacks despite a six-day-old, Russian-brokered cease-fire that has mostly failed to take hold.
Baku and Yerevan each claimed hard-fought gains in the fighting in and around the territory, which was mostly populated by around 150,000 ethnic Armenians before the flare-up started on September 27.
There are fears that the decades-old conflict could engulf the region in a conflagration involving Azerbaijan's biggest ally, Turkey, and Russia, which guarantees Armenia's security under the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on October 15 appeared to send a veiled message to Turkey suggesting it was inflaming a "dangerous" situation by arming and publicly backing Baku's actions.
"We now have the Turks, who have stepped in and provided resources to Azerbaijan, increasing the risk, increasing the firepower that’s taking place in this historic fight over this place called Nagorno-Karabakh, a small territory with about 150,000 people," Pompeo told an Atlanta radio station.
He called for "negotiation and peaceful discussions...and certainly not...third parties coming in to lend their firepower to what is already a powder keg of a situation."
Armenia has accused foe Turkey of encouraging Azerbaijan to try to militarily attack a problem that decades of internationally mediated talks have failed to resolve.
The Armenian Defense Ministry's Artsrun Hovhannisian said on October 16 that Azerbaijani forces had bombarded Nagorno-Karabakh from the north "with total disregard for the humanitarian truce."
Nakhchivan
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said a retreat by ethnic Armenian forces in the territory had left Baku's troops with an advantage along the Line of Contact that divides the warring sides.
Baku also accused Yerevan of a missile attack on an autonomous exclave of Azerbaijan called Nakhchivan, hitting an area near Orduba but causing no casualties.
Armenia denied it carried out any such attack.
Accusations and counteraccusations are difficult to corroborate in the conflict, which has simmered with occasional low-intensity skirmishes since a cease-fire -- but no peace agreement -- was signed between the two former Soviet republics in 1994.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but is mostly populated by ethnic Armenians who are backed by Yerevan.
The territory's de facto leadership reported 29 more deaths on October 16 to increase its death toll from this chapter of fighting to 633.
The Azerbaijani government does not release military casualty figures but has said 47 civilians have died.
Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan reportedly spoke by phone with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and requested that the global community "neutralize" Azerbaijani actions that endanger "the people of Nagorno-Karabakh."
Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a warning to Armenia and Azerbaijan after it said 10 stray rockets from the conflict wounded one person on the Iranian side of the border.
Visiting Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said in Yerevan that "Turkey's meddling in the Karabakh conflict causes us concerns."
He said Yerevan and Athens -- both capitals of predominantly Christian countries -- "have a shared problem: Turkey." Ankara, he said, is "ignoring the EU's calls to respect international law."
Greece and Turkey are currently in a major spat over energy and maritime resources in the eastern Mediterranean.
Russia on October 16 downplayed military exercises begun by its navy in the Caspian Sea, not far from Baku, saying they posed no threat to neighbors.
The exercises -- involving six warships, seven aircraft, and more than 400 servicemen -- "do not pose any threat and do not impose restrictions on the economic activities of the Caspian littoral states," the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP


rferl--2020-10-16--Deadly Prison Outbreak Belies Turkmenistan's 'Coronavirus-Free' Claim

DASHOGUZ , Turkmenistan -- Informed sources said on October 16 that a `` very big '' outbreak thought to be COVID-19 has struck a women 's prison in nothern Turkmenistan in the latest blow to local authorities ' insistence that the Central Asian republic has no infections despite the global pandemic raging all around it .
Relatives in the Turkmen capital , Ashgabat , meanwhile confirmed to RFE/RL the deaths of at least three inmates at the DZ-K/8 correctional facility for women in the Dashoguz region near the border with Uzbekistan .
The hermetic administration of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus infections since the pathogen emerged from central China early this year to infect at least 39 million people .
There have been more than 230,000 official cases among Turkmenistan 's four neighboring post-Soviet republics , with accusations that some of those states have also dramatically undertested and underreported .
Relatives of all three of the inmates whose relatives were informed of their deaths told RFE/RL that the women 's bodies had not been delivered to their families .
Sources close to the prison who were not authorized to speak publicly about the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ patients was `` very big . ''
They said a special `` quarantine block '' was set up on prison grounds that was housing more than 200 inmates , some of whom were `` in grave condition . ''
`` The situation started in early September , but it seems the prison officials tried to hide it , '' a source told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity .
`` However , last week , after the situation turned into a real problem and central authorities in Ashgabat learned about it , X-ray machines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it was revealed that hundreds of inmates ' lungs have been damaged by an infection . ''
The DZ-K/8 prison authorities were not available for official comment .
Many Turkmen citizens say they prefer to stay home for treatment , fearing they may be infected with the coronavirus during visits to hospitals that are overwhelmed with patients with COVID-19-like symptoms .
The bodies of those dying of COVID-19-like lung problems are being delivered to their relatives in special plastic bags , and the number of fresh graves across the country is increasing exponentially @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Health Organization ( WHO ) expressed concern over an increase of atypical pneumonia cases in Turkmenistan and unsuccessfully urged Ashgabat to allow it to organize independent coronavirus tests in the country .

DASHOGUZ, Turkmenistan -- Informed sources said on October 16 that a "very big" outbreak thought to be COVID-19 has struck a women's prison in nothern Turkmenistan in the latest blow to local authorities' insistence that the Central Asian republic has no infections despite the global pandemic raging all around it.
Relatives in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, meanwhile confirmed to RFE/RL the deaths of at least three inmates at the DZ-K/8 correctional facility for women in the Dashoguz region near the border with Uzbekistan.
The hermetic administration of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has maintained that there have been no confirmed coronavirus infections since the pathogen emerged from central China early this year to infect at least 39 million people.
There have been more than 230,000 official cases among Turkmenistan's four neighboring post-Soviet republics, with accusations that some of those states have also dramatically undertested and underreported.
Relatives of all three of the inmates whose relatives were informed of their deaths told RFE/RL that the women's bodies had not been delivered to their families.
Sources close to the prison who were not authorized to speak publicly about the outbreak said the number of suspected COVID-19 patients was "very big."
They said a special "quarantine block" was set up on prison grounds that was housing more than 200 inmates, some of whom were "in grave condition."
"The situation started in early September, but it seems the prison officials tried to hide it," a source told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity. "However, last week, after the situation turned into a real problem and central authorities in Ashgabat learned about it, X-ray machines were brought to the correctional facility and it was revealed that hundreds of inmates' lungs have been damaged by an infection."
The DZ-K/8 prison authorities were not available for official comment.
Many Turkmen citizens say they prefer to stay home for treatment, fearing they may be infected with the coronavirus during visits to hospitals that are overwhelmed with patients with COVID-19-like symptoms.
The bodies of those dying of COVID-19-like lung problems are being delivered to their relatives in special plastic bags, and the number of fresh graves across the country is increasing exponentially.
Earlier in August, the World Health Organization (WHO) expressed concern over an increase of atypical pneumonia cases in Turkmenistan and unsuccessfully urged Ashgabat to allow it to organize independent coronavirus tests in the country.


rferl--2020-10-16--Afghanistan-Bound Convoy Attacked In Northwest Pakistan, NATO Armored Vehicles Torched

Pakistani officials say several armed men have attacked a convoy transporting four armored vehicles for the NATO forces in Afghanistan @ @ @ @ @ The October 16 attack happened on the outskirts of the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar @ @ @ @ @ told RFE/RL .
Afridi said the attackers opened fire at the convoy to stop it @ @ @ @ @ step away , and doused gasoline on the military vehicles .
The four armored vehicles @ @ @ @ @ trailers on which they were transported were also damaged , he added .
The fire @ @ @ @ @ firefighters .
Khyber district police officials said security forces had launched a search operation in @ @ @ @ @ Farhad Shinwari reported that the movement of NATO convoys carrying military equipment and other supplies @ @ @ @ @ increased in the area in recent days .

The education of girls and women is universally accepted in more than 200 countries and territories, including nearly 50 Muslim-majority nations.
But Afghanistan’s hard-line Islamist Taliban rulers have banned teenage girls from attending school after the sixth grade since they returned to power two years ago. The ban was extended in December to women in universities.
Countless protests by Afghans inside the country, pressure from the international community, and lobbying by Muslim scholars and clerics have failed to convince the fundamentalist Taliban leaders to reopen schools.
Experts are divided over whether the ban is rooted in how the Taliban’s interpretation of Islam is shaped by conservative Pashtun tribal customs and cultural practices or if it is prompted by how senior Taliban ideologues interpret Islamic teachings.
Most Taliban leaders are ethnic Pashtun, Sunni Muslim clerics. Many were educated in Deobandi madrasahs in neighboring Pakistan. Deobandism emerged as a puritanical Islamic revivalist movement in 19-century British Colonial India. Based on the Sunni Hanafi school of jurisprudence, it is a prominent strain among Islamists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Tribal Influences
Sami Yousafzai, a veteran Afghan journalist and commentator, argues that the Taliban restrictions against women are linked to social customs and cultural practices in eastern and southern Afghanistan.
Most Taliban leaders come from various Pashtun rural tribal communities in these regions bordering Pakistan.
"They believe that a woman's place is either inside a house or in a grave," Yousafzai said of the basic Taliban belief influenced by the status of women in the families of clerics and religious leaders in these Pashtun regions.
“Women living in the households of the current Taliban policymakers were never educated and never left their homes,” said Yousafzai, who has tracked the Islamist group since it emerged as a ragtag militia in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar in late 1994. “These women never performed any government or nongovernmental jobs.”
Yousafzai says the Taliban backs policies shaped by this worldview by leaning on Islamic teachings supporting such ideas. He says Taliban leaders rely on sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad that discourage women from leaving their homes.
“Their primary belief is that pubescent girls should not leave home under any circumstance,” he said. “This is why they view women leaving home for education or work as engaging in moral corruption.”
In Afghanistan, a Muslim nation of some 40 million people, activists and rights advocates accuse the Taliban of implementing "gender apartheid" by denying women education, work, freedom of movement, and deciding how they can appear in public.
Most Muslims agree that Islam allows women to get an education. Yet the Taliban publicly says that it will allow girls access to education only after ensuring complete gender segregation and other unspecified conditions.
Almost all Afghan secondary schools were gender segregated and universities imposed a strict separation between men and women after the Taliban takeover.
Yousafzai says in conservative and traditional Muslim societies around the world, some clerics also favor restrictions on women's education, work, and their role in public life. But the governments in those countries usually oppose or limit such ideas.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia -- one of the most conservative Sunni Muslim nations -- has allowed women to drive and granted them freedom of movement without a male guardian. These steps are part of a reform and modernity drive by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.
The Taliban ban on education has invited universal condemnation from Muslims globally.
“The Taliban's ban on women's education is not rooted in [the Islamic] Shari’a law but rather reflects cultural biases that contradict the teachings of Islam,” said Salam al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in the United States.
He said that contrary to Taliban practices, “Islam emphasizes the importance of seeking knowledge and encourages all individuals, regardless of gender, to acquire an education.”
Historical Conflict
But Islamic scholars and those who have attempted to convince the Taliban about reopening girls schools offer a different explanation.
John Mohammad Butt, an Islamic scholar and former BBC broadcaster who is the only Westerner to graduate from India’s Darul Uloom Deoband, argues that the Taliban's policy on girls' education is not tribal but shaped by the century-old conflict over modern education.
“The problem is that girls' education in Afghanistan -- indeed, contemporary education in general -- has generally been introduced in Afghanistan in line with a secular agenda,” he said.
In the 1920s, a coalition of conservative clerics and tribal and community leaders deposed reformist King Amanullah Khan. He wanted to modernize Afghanistan along Turkish leader Kamal Ataturk's secular lines and championed modern education and rights for women.
This opposition to modernity and secularism continued, and conservative clerics opposed women's education and work. It became a key part of the Islamist opposition to the pro-Soviet Afghan communist governments after the April 1978 military coup that ended the Afghan monarchy. The mujahedin accused the communists of spreading immorality by promoting women’s education and empowerment.
“This has led to particular wariness on the part of conservative circles in Afghanistan with regard to girls' education,” Butt said.
'Deep Ideological Conviction'
Obaidullah Baheer, a political science lecturer at the American University of Afghanistan, became part of an effort to rescind the ban by talking to the Taliban last year.
But he says the effort failed because “the ban is a matter of deep ideological conviction” for the current supreme leader of the Taliban, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada.
Baheer says that the most prominent Taliban leaders have studied in Pakistani madrasahs and were thus disconnected from village and tribal life.
“They have been indoctrinated by the Deobandi school of thought so that they now enforce the strictest version of Islam on the Afghan population,” he said.
He argues that the ban on girls’ schools is a deliberate policy championed by Akhundzada, who he says has endorsed Taliban Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani's Arabic language book The Islamic Emirate And Its System. In this book, Haqqani supports a fringe Islamic opinion of preferring the choice of one of the Prophet Muhammad's wives, Sawdah Bint Zam'ah, who chose to stay at home until her death.
Baheer says Haqqani ignores his other wives and other female companions that played an active role in many sectors of society and how they served as students and teachers for men.
“This fringe opinion is not held by all Taliban leaders but is one that the current absolute sovereign, the Taliban emir, seems to be convinced of,” he said.
Butt says that even Haqqani has acknowledged the principle that if there is something that women need to act upon, then that is also something that women need to learn about.
“I hope the Taliban authorities will come to realize in the not-too-distant future that education for women will make Afghan women into better Muslims,” he says. “It will enable them to make a stronger contribution to the well-being of their country.”
Two years after grappling with the issue, Western diplomats appear to be encouraging Afghan conservative and clerical circles to find ways to end the ban.
Tom West, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan, recently tweeted that Afghan women must be educated and contribute to the economy to help their country stand on its own two feet.
“If change to policies is made, it will be because Afghans have asked for it, not a result of foreign requests,” he wrote.


rferl--2020-10-16--Pakistani Opposition Launches Protest Movement To Topple Khan Government

Opposition supporters are gathering in the Pakistani city of Gujranwala to kick start an effort by the Pakistan Democratic Movement ( PDM ) alliance to topple the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan .
The PDM , a broad alliance of at least nine opposition parties , is holding its first rally in Gujranwala on October 16 , ahead of a series of planned demonstrations across the country in the coming months .
`` Today 's rally is beginning of the end of Khan ’ s government , ” said Marriyum Aurangzeb , spokesperson for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ started arriving at the rally ’ s venue , opposition leaders accused the government of attempting to thwart the event .
“ They have blocked roads with shipping containers at 31 points and it seems the city is under siege , ” former Foreign Minister Khurram Dastgir said , according to dpa .
Three top opposition leaders , Maryam Nawaz Sharif of the PML-N , Bilawal Bhutto Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party , and Maulana Fazlur Rahman of the Jamiat Ulema-e Islam are set to address the gathering .
Gujranwala , located @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bastion of ex-PML-N leader and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif .
Sharif is currently residing in London after being released from prison earlier this year for medical treatment .
In August , he broke a nearly yearlong silence from exile by vowing to oust Khan from office through protests .
The opposition accuses Khan of only winning the 2018 general election with help from the country 's military , which has an oversized role in the domestic and foreign affairs of the South Asian nation .
He is also accused of targeting the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The prime minister has denied the charges .

Opposition supporters are gathering in the Pakistani city of Gujranwala to kick start an effort by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance to topple the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The PDM, a broad alliance of at least nine opposition parties, is holding its first rally in Gujranwala on October 16, ahead of a series of planned demonstrations across the country in the coming months.
"Today's rally is beginning of the end of Khan’s government,” said Marriyum Aurangzeb, spokesperson for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.
As political workers started arriving at the rally’s venue, opposition leaders accused the government of attempting to thwart the event.
“They have blocked roads with shipping containers at 31 points and it seems the city is under siege,” former Foreign Minister Khurram Dastgir said, according to dpa.
Three top opposition leaders, Maryam Nawaz Sharif of the PML-N, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party, and Maulana Fazlur Rahman of the Jamiat Ulema-e Islam are set to address the gathering.
Gujranwala, located in Punjab Province, is the political bastion of ex-PML-N leader and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Sharif is currently residing in London after being released from prison earlier this year for medical treatment. In August, he broke a nearly yearlong silence from exile by vowing to oust Khan from office through protests.
The opposition accuses Khan of only winning the 2018 general election with help from the country's military, which has an oversized role in the domestic and foreign affairs of the South Asian nation.
He is also accused of targeting the opposition parties in the name of accountability.
The prime minister has denied the charges.


rferl--2020-10-16--Kyrgyz Parliament Gives Newly Elected PM Japarov Presidential Powers

BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan ’ s parliament on October 16 approved the transfer of presidential powers to recently elected Prime Minister Sadyr Japarov after days of uncertainty and political crisis amid mass postelection protests that led to the president ’ s resignation .
Japarov had already told the country after President Sooronbai Jeenbekov 's farewell statement a day earlier that `` all power is in my hands '' and urged demonstrators in Bishkek to go home .
The Interior Ministry was quoted as issuing a statement saying that `` the situation [ in Bishkek ] has stabilized and remains under law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after naming a new head of a powerful national security body , Japarov vowed to punish those responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars funneled out of the country and named one of the main suspects , a former deputy customs office director at the heart of an RFE/RL joint investigation first published last year .
At the hastily convened legislative session on October 16 , lawmakers also lifted a state of emergency that had been in place in the capital for five days .
WATCH : Former Kyrgyz President Jeenbekov Says He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ former nationalist lawmaker and convicted kidnapper who was freed when a mob stormed a Bishkek prison last week , was elected by lawmakers on October 14 to the post of prime minister .
The next day , Jeenbekov announced his resignation via his website , saying that `` peace and unity in our country is more important than any post . ''
Jeenbekov appeared alongside Japarov in parliament late on October 16 to further explain his resignation in a move that appeared aimed at quelling public tensions .
`` The history of our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 6 , '' Jeenbekov said of the outbreak of major protests , calling it a `` turning point . ''
`` These are the most difficult days for every Kyrgyz , '' he added .
Protesters had demanded Jeenbekov 's resignation and new elections to rerun the October 4 voting that they insisted was marred by massive vote fraud .
The Kyrgyz Constitution says the parliament speaker becomes acting president in case the president resigns .
But Kanatbek Isaev , who was made speaker on October 13 amid closed-door maneuvering to quell the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he had `` no moral right '' to assume the presidency until new elections are held .
Japarov has suggested that an early presidential election be held no later than January 10 , and proposed lowering the threshold for parties to enter parliament from 7 to 5 percent .
At their October 16 session , lawmakers approved amendments to the law on elections reducing the bar for parliamentary representation from 7 to 5 percent and decreasing the fee for candidates ' registration from 5 million soms ( $ 62,300 ) to 1 million @ @ @ @ @ @ @ powers , Japarov appointed former Emergency Situations Minister Kamchybek Tashiev to the post of the chairman of the powerful State Committee of National Security .
Tashiev pledged to investigate and bring to justice those found to have broken the law , including launching a probe into the activities of a controversial former deputy customs chief Raimbek Matraimov .
A joint investigation by RFE/RL and others found that Matraimov for years enabled and profited massively from a smuggling empire run by a secretive Uyghur family and used some of the proceeds to buy influence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will have any business , political or party ties with him , '' Tashiev said of Matraimov .
`` No Matraimovs , no Raims rule our society .
There will be justice in our society from now on . ''
Hours later , in his statement , Japarov repeated that authorities would be questioning Matraimov .
`` First of all , we will bring to a conclusion the case of some $ 700 million taken out of Kyrgyzstan , and the main suspect Matraimov and other suspects will be punished for [ whatever @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in accordance with strict laws , '' Japarov said .
`` Certain tasks have been given to law enforcement agencies already -- and we will be able to present you results of this work as soon as possible . ''
Meanwhile , Central Election Commission chairwoman Nurjan Shaildabekova said that new elections were tentatively scheduled for January 17 .
These October 4 results were annulled after protesters -- angry at evidence of vote-buying and other improprieties during the election -- seized government buildings on October 6 , which led to the crisis .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kaktus , and KyrTAG

BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan’s parliament on October 16 approved the transfer of presidential powers to recently elected Prime Minister Sadyr Japarov after days of uncertainty and political crisis amid mass postelection protests that led to the president’s resignation.
Japarov had already told the country after President Sooronbai Jeenbekov's farewell statement a day earlier that "all power is in my hands" and urged demonstrators in Bishkek to go home.
"The process of power transfer proceeded peacefully," Japarov told parliament.
The Interior Ministry was quoted as issuing a statement saying that "the situation [in Bishkek] has stabilized and remains under law enforcement's control."
Later, after naming a new head of a powerful national security body, Japarov vowed to punish those responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars funneled out of the country and named one of the main suspects, a former deputy customs office director at the heart of an RFE/RL joint investigation first published last year.
At the hastily convened legislative session on October 16, lawmakers also lifted a state of emergency that had been in place in the capital for five days.
WATCH: Former Kyrgyz President Jeenbekov Says He Resigned To Avoid 'Bloodshed'
Japarov, a former nationalist lawmaker and convicted kidnapper who was freed when a mob stormed a Bishkek prison last week, was elected by lawmakers on October 14 to the post of prime minister.
The next day, Jeenbekov announced his resignation via his website, saying that "peace and unity in our country is more important than any post."
Jeenbekov appeared alongside Japarov in parliament late on October 16 to further explain his resignation in a move that appeared aimed at quelling public tensions.
"The history of our country is measured before and after October 6," Jeenbekov said of the outbreak of major protests, calling it a "turning point."
"These are the most difficult days for every Kyrgyz," he added.
Protesters had demanded Jeenbekov's resignation and new elections to rerun the October 4 voting that they insisted was marred by massive vote fraud.
The Kyrgyz Constitution says the parliament speaker becomes acting president in case the president resigns.
But Kanatbek Isaev, who was made speaker on October 13 amid closed-door maneuvering to quell the unrest, said two days later that he had "no moral right" to assume the presidency until new elections are held.
Japarov has suggested that an early presidential election be held no later than January 10, and proposed lowering the threshold for parties to enter parliament from 7 to 5 percent.
At their October 16 session, lawmakers approved amendments to the law on elections reducing the bar for parliamentary representation from 7 to 5 percent and decreasing the fee for candidates' registration from 5 million soms ($62,300) to 1 million soms.
Shortly after being given presidential powers, Japarov appointed former Emergency Situations Minister Kamchybek Tashiev to the post of the chairman of the powerful State Committee of National Security.
Tashiev pledged to investigate and bring to justice those found to have broken the law, including launching a probe into the activities of a controversial former deputy customs chief Raimbek Matraimov.
A joint investigation by RFE/RL and others found that Matraimov for years enabled and profited massively from a smuggling empire run by a secretive Uyghur family and used some of the proceeds to buy influence.
"I have never had or will have any business, political or party ties with him," Tashiev said of Matraimov. "No Matraimovs, no Raims rule our society. There will be justice in our society from now on."
Hours later, in his statement, Japarov repeated that authorities would be questioning Matraimov.
"First of all, we will bring to a conclusion the case of some $700 million taken out of Kyrgyzstan, and the main suspect Matraimov and other suspects will be punished for [whatever they have done] to our country in accordance with strict laws," Japarov said. "Certain tasks have been given to law enforcement agencies already -- and we will be able to present you results of this work as soon as possible."
Meanwhile, Central Election Commission chairwoman Nurjan Shaildabekova said that new elections were tentatively scheduled for January 17.
These October 4 results were annulled after protesters -- angry at evidence of vote-buying and other improprieties during the election -- seized government buildings on October 6, which led to the crisis.
With reporting by AKIpress, TASS, Kaktus, and KyrTAG


rferl--2020-10-17--Ethnic Chechen Suspected In Beheading Of Teacher In France

French police were questioning nine people in custody on October 17 after a man beheaded a schoolteacher on a street in a Paris suburb , police sources said .
Police said the victim was 47-year-old history and geography teacher Samuel Paty , who recently showed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad as part of a class discussion on freedom of expression .
The man suspected of beheading Paty was an 18-year-old born in Moscow who was from Russia 's southern region of Chechnya , French media reported .
French police sources said the nine detained suspects included the grandparents and 17-year-old @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was shot by police as they tried to arrest him and later died of his injuries , police said .
There had been no previous indication that he was a potential radical , a source close to the investigation was quoted as saying by AFP .
Chechnya is a region in Russia 's North Caucasus that has been wracked by two separatist wars and an Islamist insurgency since the 1990s .
French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the October 16 incident as “ an `` Islamist terrorist attack.
” “ One of our compatriots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ freedom of expression , the freedom to believe or not believe , ” Macron said at the scene hours after the incident .
The French anti-terrorism prosecutor opened an investigation for murder with a suspected terrorist motive , the prosecutor ’ s office said .
The suspected attacker was reportedly spotted holding a knife a short distance from the scene of the attack .
As police confronted him , the attacker shouted , `` Allahu akbar '' -- Arabic for `` God is most great '' -- a cry often heard in jihadist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as saying .
The attack happened in Conflans Saint-Honorine at around 5 p.m. on October 16 near the middle school where the victim taught history .
Muslim leaders condemned the killing , which many public figures perceived as an attack on the essence of French statehood and its values of secularism , freedom of worship , and freedom of expression .
In the National Assembly , France 's parliament , deputies stood to honor the teacher and condemn the `` atrocious terror attack . ''
France has seen a series of violent attacks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years .
It has the biggest Muslim population in Western Europe , some of them ethnic Chechens who have been offered asylum .
With reporting by Reuters , Le Monde , AP , AFP , CNN , and dpa

A French official has identified an 18-year-old ethnic Chechen man from Moscow as the attacker who beheaded a schoolteacher in a Paris suburb and who was shot and killed by police shortly after.
Anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard made the announcement on October 17, one day after the gruesome incident, which French President Emmanuel Macron called an "Islamist terrorist attack.”
Ricard told reporters that the attacker had also posted a photograph on Twitter of the teacher's body, along with a message stating that he had carried out the killing.
Officials say the victim was 47-year-old history and geography teacher Samuel Paty, who earlier this month showed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad as part of a class discussion on freedom of expression.
French media reported that the discussion had prompted complaints from some students' parents. Muslims believe that any depiction of the Prophet is blasphemous.
French police officials told reporters that nine people have been detained, including the grandparents and 17-year-old brother of the attacker.
"One of our citizens was murdered today because he was teaching. He was teaching students about freedom of expression, the liberty to believe and not believe," Macron said hours after the incident. "Our compatriot was flagrantly attacked; he was a victim of an Islamist terrorist attack."
French media reported that the man was spotted holding a knife a short distance away from the attack, in the middle-class suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine.
As police confronted him, the attacker shouted "Allahu akbar" -- Arabic for "God is most great" -- a cry often heard in jihadist attacks, an unnamed police official told AFP.
Police found him armed with a knife and an airsoft gun, which fires plastic pellets, another unnamed official said.
Muslim leaders condemned the killing, which many public figures perceived as an attack on the essence of French statehood and its values of secularism, freedom of worship, and freedom of expression.
In France's parliament, lawmakers stood up to honor the teacher and condemn the "atrocious terror attack."
France has seen a series of violent attacks carried out by Islamist militants in recent years. It has the biggest Muslim population in Western Europe, with around 5 million adherents, some of them Chechens who have been offered asylum.
The killing in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine carried echoes of an attack five years ago on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The magazine’s staff was targeted by Islamist militants who stormed its offices and gunned down employees in retaliation for the publication of cartoons they deemed blasphemous. The attack killed 12 people, including a police officer, and left 11 more wounded.
A trial is current under way for several of the attackers.
Last month, a man who emigrated from Pakistan wounded two people with a meat cleaver outside the magazine’s former offices.
In a tweet, Charlie Hebdo expressed its “sense of horror and revolt” at the beheading.
"Intolerance just reached a new threshold and seems to stop at nothing to impose terror in our country," it said.
With reporting by Reuters, Le Monde, AP, AFP, CNN, and dpa


rferl--2020-10-17--Afghan Vice President Takes Charge Of Capital Amid Rise In Crime

KABUL -- Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh has been put in charge of the security situation in the capital amid a rise in crime that has caused an outcry among residents .
Saleh said on Facebook late on October 16 that he would take responsibility for security in the city for `` a few weeks , '' adding that he would show no mercy to criminals .
Saleh said that a `` list of criminals including thieves , robbers , vandals , extorters , and land usurpers has already been prepared '' in order to prosecute them .
The announcement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , including robberies and muggings , across Kabul .
Last week , a group of thieves entered an all-male high school in order to rob students .
Earlier this month , another group of perpetrators stopped a minibus carrying female university students in order to rob them .
Poverty and high rates of unemployment are believed to be among the main reasons for the rising crime rate .
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has said that 300 more security cameras would be installed in the city in the near future .
With reporting by @ @ @


rferl--2020-10-17--U.S. Sailors Provided Assistance To Iranian-Flagged Vessel In Distress

A U.S. guided-missile destroyer came to the aid of an Iranian-flagged vessel in distress in the Arabian Sea , an international maritime coalition said on October 16 .
The dhow broke down due to a motor problem and launched a distress call to the USS Winston S. Churchill on October 15 , according to the Combined Maritime Forces .
`` When hailed over bridge-to-bridge radio , the vessel 's crew explained that their engine would not start due to a dead battery and they had run out of food and water , '' the coalition said in a statement .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ it was not carrying the type of battery the vessel required , so it sought assistance from Oman 's Coast Guard .
Navy sailors provided the mariners with food and water and remained in the area until the Omani Coast Guard arrived .
International maritime convention stipulates that ships must assist any boat in distress , regardless of nationality .
The United States cut its diplomatic ties with Iran after the 1979 revolution and the hostage-taking of American diplomats in Tehran .
Tensions between the two sides have heightened in past months .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ coalition that brings together the United States , Turkey , Pakistan , and European powers to patrol international waters in the Middle East , home to some of the world 's most important shipping lanes .
Based on reporting by AFP and Storyful

A polytechnic school in Russia’s Tatarstan, a region some 900 kilometers east of Moscow, is using manufacturing facilities that are part of a nearby special economic zone to assemble Iranian attack drones and are increasingly turning to underage students as laborers, many of whom often work in exploitative conditions.
The revelations at Alabuga Polytechnic University raise troubling implications about the lengths that Russian authorities are going to in order to boost the war effort and how the advanced Iranian weaponry -- which is increasingly used to bombard Ukrainian cities and has only recently begun to be manufactured inside Russia -- could contribute to escalating tensions and rising civilian casualties.
The use of underage students as drone factory workers and the details of the manufacturing facilities were first reported by Russian independent media outlets Protokol and Razvorot, which published a series of investigations in July.
Since then, RFE/RL’s Idel.Realities has spoken with students who describe grueling working conditions and interviewed dozens of parents whose children have been enrolled at Alabuga Polytechnic University -- some as young at 15 -- who say that their children were forced to work exceedingly long hours, often without proper breaks or meals, and under hostile conditions that have deeply affected their mental health.
“My son enrolled and 2 1/2 months later he called for me to take him away,” Zhanna, who asked to be identified only by her first name to protect against reprisals for speaking about the operation, told RFE/RL. “He said to me on the phone, ‘Come and get me or I’ll die,’ so I picked him up immediately.”
Zhanna, who asked that her underage son’s name also not be used, says that she sent him from Nizhny Novgorod to study at Alabuga Polytechnic University in 2022 because of its reputation as a leading technical institution inside Russia.
The school offered students -- often between the ages of 15-18 -- an opportunity to get vocational training as part of a dual program that combines a classroom education with practical work experience. Students were also promised an opportunity to work and earn a locally competitive salary of up to 70,000 rubles ($700) a month as part of the work experience program that could further their career growth.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
But, instead, those enrolled were encouraged and in some cases pressured into working at the drone facility, where the salaries of the mostly underage laborers are contingent on meeting tough production quotas.
“This is a textbook definition of what constitutes exploitation,” Sergei Podsytnik, an investigative journalist at Protokol who worked on the series of reports, told RFE/RL. “[Students] assemble drones, with the work taking priority over their studies.”
The pressure to fulfill these quotas has allegedly led to strenuous back-to-back days -- with some shifts lasting up to 15 hours -- with little time for sleep or adequate sustenance. Overtime work is often unpaid, further highlighting potential labor violations. Exhausted students also reported not always meeting their quotas, which led to them not earning the salary initially promised by the school. Many students came from disadvantaged backgrounds and relied on their earnings to cover costs for tuition, room, and board and would send the remainder home.
Other parents, such as Marina, said she decided to take her daughter out of the program when she discovered that she was working in apparent unsafe conditions and that staff from the school had instructed students not to tell their parents about the drone assembly work.
“This was the last straw for me,” Marina, who also asked for her identity to be concealed, told RFE/RL. “This is a dangerous production process that involves dangerous chemicals. They also forbid the kids from telling everything to their parents.”
RFE/RL sent multiple requests for comment to various staff and administrators at Alabuga Polytechnic University but received no replies.
Making Iranian Drones In Russia
The complicated and concerning dynamic at Alabuga Polytechnic University stems from growing military cooperation between Iran and Russia that has accelerated since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Iran has said it provided drones to Russia before the start of the war, but not since. However, U.S. intelligence officials have warned for months of continued deliveries and deepening cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, saying the two sides were exploring how to set up a manufacturing plant for Iranian drones inside Russia.
According to The Wall Street Journal, an Iranian delegation visited Yelabuga in Tatarstan on January 5, touring a potential site for such a factory at the Alabuga special economic zone close to Alabuga Polytechnic University. U.S. officials released satellite images in April of the plant being built.
Russia already possesses an array of unarmed aerial vehicles, or UAVs, which are used mainly for surveillance and artillery spotting, but has turned increasingly to Tehran for attack drones.
After being forced to abandon Ukrainian territory that its troops captured in the early stretches of the war, Moscow shifted to a strategy of relentless air assaults on Ukrainian cities. These attacks often rely on a combination of cruise missiles and self-detonating drones packed with explosives to knock out electricity and running water for the civilian population in Ukraine.
So far, Iran has provided Russia mostly with so-called "suicide" drones, known as the Shahed-136, that contain a modest amount of explosives that can detonate when the drones crash into targets, military experts say.
In acquiring its own domestic assembly line, Russia could dramatically increase its stockpile of the relatively inexpensive but highly destructive weapons systems.
WATCH: Russia has resorted to using Shahed-136 drones from Iran in its war on Ukraine. Ukraine says it's already downed many of the drones, which work by slamming into their intended target, laden with explosives. Ordinary Ukrainians say they can already recognize the sound of the drones, which use two-stroke engines like lawnmowers or motorbikes. Iran has denied supplying the drones to Russia.
The arrangement also offers substantial economic and political benefits for Iran, which has sought to portray itself as neutral in the Ukraine war. The appearance of Iranian-made drones over Ukrainian cities, however, has triggered threats of new economic sanctions from the West. The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom have also all issued rules in recent months designed to cut off the flow of drone components to Russia and Iran.
The Washington Post reported in November 2022, citing unnamed U.S. intelligence officials, that the agreement to deliver Iranian drone schematics and materials for manufacture in Russia resulted from Iranian leaders believing that the arrangement would allow Tehran to avert new sanctions.
Foreign Recruitment And Patriotic Education
Alabuga Polytechnic University is formally not a college. All of its students are officially enrolled at nearby Yelabuga Polytechnic College, with the Alabuga institution existing on paper as a specialized program for students looking to break into high-tech industries.
Currently, about 1,000 students are studying at Alabuga Polytechnic University, with several hundred of them -- most of whom are between the ages of 15 and 17 -- involved in assembling the Iranian drones.
In addition to the work on the drones, there are other signs that point to blurred lines in Russia between the education system and the country’s military amid the war in Ukraine.
According to current and former Alabuga Polytechnic University students, team-building and organized extracurricular activities through the school often take on a “patriotic” character that may be designed to expose students to official government narratives of international events or echo talking points from state television.
Organized paintball games have become a mainstay for students, especially first-year arrivals, in which they are encouraged to compete against one another and then play together against more experienced outside players. Teachers and administration officials regularly refer to paintball as being part of a “patriotic” education needed to complement the technical aspect of their studies.
In one instance, a group of new students competed in paintball as Soviet soldiers against outside players who were dressed as troops from Nazi Germany in a capture-the-flag competition meant to simulate the World War II battle of Stalingrad. According to one student, the Nazi flag contained the compass symbol used by the NATO military alliance instead of the swastika used by Nazi Germany.
Other instances of political teachings from staff are more direct. In a recording obtained by RFE/RL from June 16, a senior administrator can be heard telling the teenagers that NATO launched a hybrid war against Russia back in 2011 and that it has slowly become more overt. The man then goes on to tell students that their hard work and exceeding long days at the drone factory are part of a nationwide struggle against the West and that their patriotism will be rewarded.
Several students and parents identified the man in the recording as Timur Shagivaleev, the director-general of the special economic zone where Alabuga Polytechnic University and the drone factory operate.
Shagivaleev did not respond to RFE/RL’s request for comment.
The man in the recording then goes on to tell students not to take holidays and to continue working “even if it's mom's birthday,” before ending his speech with, “Long live our great country.”
WATCH: Amid a new wave of Russian drone attacks on Ukraine, analysts in Kyiv are gaining useful intelligence from a collection of downed Russian aerial weapons. They have been studying the remains of Iranian Shahed drones and Russian Kinzhal missiles, among others.
Multiple current and former students told RFE/RL that students who work in the drone factory are often praised by staff, while those who have refused or asked to be reassigned due to the high workload are often publicly shamed. In some instances -- according to recordings heard by RFE/RL -- staff even encourage students to bully others who are not deemed “patriotic” enough.
According to Protokol and Razvorot’s investigations, Alabuga Polytechnic University has also turned toward recruiting foreign students to enroll. The majority of them come from African countries, but also from Central Asia and Azerbaijan, where they are promised “world class” salaries as part of the dual-track world experience program.
However, these foreign students are then given low-skill and menial tasks around the campus and the special economic zone, such as janitorial work, and are also paid lower salaries than initially promised.
Written by Reid Standish based on reporting by RFE/RL’s Idel.Realities


rferl--2020-10-17--U.S. Rejects Putin's Proposal On Nuclear Disarmament Treaty As 'Nonstarter'

The United States says Russian President Vladimir Putin ’ s proposal to extend the New START nuclear disarmament treaty without freezing nuclear warheads is a “ nonstarter.
” White House national-security adviser Robert O'Brien made the statement on October 16 on Twitter in response to Putin ’ s proposed extension of the bilateral treaty for one year without preconditions .
O ’ Brien said the U.S. proposal of an extension of New START for one year in exchange for Russia and the United States capping all nuclear warheads during that period “ would have been a win for both sides.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ States believed the Russians were willing to accept the U.S. proposal when he met with his Russian counterpart in Geneva earlier this month .
He added that Washington is “ serious about arms control that will keep the entire world safe ” and hopes Russia will “ reevaluate its position before a costly arms race ensues.
” The U.S. envoy for arms control , Marshall Billingslea , also reacted on Twitter .
“ The United States made every effort .
It is disappointing that the Russian Federation backtracked on an agreement covering all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Billingslea said .
“ This would have been an historic deal , good for the U.S. , Russia , and the world.
” Putin proposed extending the bilateral treaty for one year without preconditions to keep it from expiring and to allow talks to revive it to continue .
Putin also instructed Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a meeting with permanent members of Russia ’ s Security Council on October 16 to work out Russia 's position on New START and inform the United States of developments .
`` In this regard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ treaty without any conditions for at least a year so that meaningful negotiations can be conducted on all the parameters of the problems ... , '' Putin said , adding it would be `` extremely sad '' if the treaty expired .
Putin 's proposal came just two days after Lavrov said that Moscow did n't see any prospects for extending the treaty with the United States , stressing however that Moscow plans to carry on with negotiations on the subject .
The 2010 treaty limits strategic nuclear weapons and is due to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be extended for five years , which Moscow has said it is ready to do without preconditions .
The White House , which has already withdrawn from other arms-control treaties because it accused Moscow of violations and felt the agreements benefited Russia more than the United States , has called for Beijing to join Moscow and Washington to find a replacement for New START .
The Chinese government has balked at the prospect of participating in the treaty .
Earlier this month , Russia and the United States held an 11th-hour round of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Washington saying it was willing to extend the New START treaty for some period of time provided the Russians agreed to the freeze , a proposal the Kremlin quickly rejected .
The issue of the New START treaty comes less than three weeks before the U.S. presidential election .
Democratic challenger Joe Biden supports extending New START `` to use that as a foundation for new arms-control arrangements . ''
If Biden wins , the treaty will expire just weeks after he is inaugurated .
Biden calls the treaty -- which was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ President Barack Obama -- an `` anchor of strategic stability between the United States and Russia . ''
Trump 's administration wants any new nuclear arms-control treaty to cover all types of warheads , to contain stronger verification and transparency measures , and to bring China , which has a fraction of the nuclear weapons of Russia and the United States , on board .
Russia has warned that there is not enough time to renegotiate a complicated new treaty by February .
On October 13 , more than 75 lawmakers across Europe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New START before its expiration .
The Trump administration has already left the landmark Cold War-era Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty ( INF ) , accusing Russia of violating it .
Washington also unilaterally exited Open Skies , a treaty that permits the United States and Russia to conduct reconnaissance flights over each other ’ s territory .
With reporting by AFP , AP , Interfax , and TASS

The United States says Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to extend the New START nuclear disarmament treaty without freezing nuclear warheads is a “nonstarter.”
White House national-security adviser Robert O'Brien made the statement on October 16 on Twitter in response to Putin’s proposed extension of the bilateral treaty for one year without preconditions.
O’Brien said the U.S. proposal of an extension of New START for one year in exchange for Russia and the United States capping all nuclear warheads during that period “would have been a win for both sides.”
O’Brien said the United States believed the Russians were willing to accept the U.S. proposal when he met with his Russian counterpart in Geneva earlier this month. He added that Washington is “serious about arms control that will keep the entire world safe” and hopes Russia will “reevaluate its position before a costly arms race ensues.”
The U.S. envoy for arms control, Marshall Billingslea, also reacted on Twitter.
“The United States made every effort. It is disappointing that the Russian Federation backtracked on an agreement covering all nuclear warheads for the first time,” Billingslea said. “This would have been an historic deal, good for the U.S., Russia, and the world.”
Putin proposed extending the bilateral treaty for one year without preconditions to keep it from expiring and to allow talks to revive it to continue.
Putin also instructed Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a meeting with permanent members of Russia’s Security Council on October 16 to work out Russia's position on New START and inform the United States of developments.
"In this regard, I propose...extending the current treaty without any conditions for at least a year so that meaningful negotiations can be conducted on all the parameters of the problems...," Putin said, adding it would be "extremely sad" if the treaty expired.
Putin's proposal came just two days after Lavrov said that Moscow didn't see any prospects for extending the treaty with the United States, stressing however that Moscow plans to carry on with negotiations on the subject.
The 2010 treaty limits strategic nuclear weapons and is due to expire in February, although it can be extended for five years, which Moscow has said it is ready to do without preconditions.
The White House, which has already withdrawn from other arms-control treaties because it accused Moscow of violations and felt the agreements benefited Russia more than the United States, has called for Beijing to join Moscow and Washington to find a replacement for New START.
The Chinese government has balked at the prospect of participating in the treaty.
Earlier this month, Russia and the United States held an 11th-hour round of talks on the treaty in Helsinki, with Washington saying it was willing to extend the New START treaty for some period of time provided the Russians agreed to the freeze, a proposal the Kremlin quickly rejected.
The issue of the New START treaty comes less than three weeks before the U.S. presidential election.
Democratic challenger Joe Biden supports extending New START "to use that as a foundation for new arms-control arrangements." If Biden wins, the treaty will expire just weeks after he is inaugurated.
Biden calls the treaty -- which was negotiated when he was vice president under President Barack Obama -- an "anchor of strategic stability between the United States and Russia."
Trump's administration wants any new nuclear arms-control treaty to cover all types of warheads, to contain stronger verification and transparency measures, and to bring China, which has a fraction of the nuclear weapons of Russia and the United States, on board.
Russia has warned that there is not enough time to renegotiate a complicated new treaty by February.
On October 13, more than 75 lawmakers across Europe called on the United States to extend New START before its expiration.
The Trump administration has already left the landmark Cold War-era Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), accusing Russia of violating it. Washington also unilaterally exited Open Skies, a treaty that permits the United States and Russia to conduct reconnaissance flights over each other’s territory.
With reporting by AFP, AP, Interfax, and TASS


rferl--2020-10-17--Missile Strike On Residential Area Of Azerbaijani City Kills 13 In Latest Fighting Over Nagorno-Kara

Missile Strike On Residential Area Of Azerbaijani City Kills 13 In Latest Fighting Over Nagorno-Karabakh

A missile strike in the early hours of October 17 hit a residential area in Ganca , Azerbaijan ’ s second-largest city , killing 13 people and injuring more than 50 others , the country 's Ministry of Emergency Situations said .
Emergency services joined residents at the scene trying to pull survivors out of the rubble , RFE/RL ’ s Azerbaijani Service reported .
The homes of at least 20 families were affected .
In a televised address , Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev denounced the missile strike as a war crime and warned the leadership of Armenia that it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ give its response and it will do so exclusively on the battlefield , ” Aliyev said .
Another missile attack around the same time hit the city of Mingacevir , where a large dam is located , RFE/RL 's Azerbaijani Service reported .
There was no word on damage there .
The strikes came only hours after new clashes were reported between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces in and around Nagorno-Karabakh , marking a new escalation in the conflict over the separatist region .
Each side accused the other of launching fresh attacks despite @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to take hold .
Baku and Yerevan each claimed hard-fought gains in the fighting in and around the territory , which was mostly populated by around 150,000 ethnic Armenians before the flare-up started on September 27 .
There are fears that the decades-old conflict could engulf the region in a conflagration involving Azerbaijan 's biggest ally , Turkey , and Russia , which guarantees Armenia 's security under the Collective Security Treaty Organization ( CSTO ) .
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on October 15 appeared to send a veiled message to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dangerous '' situation by arming and publicly backing Baku 's actions .
`` We now have the Turks , who have stepped in and provided resources to Azerbaijan , increasing the risk , increasing the firepower that ’ s taking place in this historic fight , '' Pompeo told an Atlanta radio station .
He called for `` negotiation and peaceful discussions ... and certainly not ... third parties coming in to lend their firepower to what is already a powder keg of a situation . ''
Armenia has accused Turkey of encouraging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ problem that decades of internationally mediated talks have failed to resolve .
The Armenian Defense Ministry 's Artsrun Hovhannisian said on October 16 that Azerbaijani forces had bombarded Nagorno-Karabakh from the north `` with total disregard for the humanitarian truce . ''
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said a retreat by ethnic Armenian forces in the territory had left Baku 's troops with an advantage along the Line of Contact that divides the warring sides .
Accusations and counteraccusations are difficult to corroborate in the conflict , which has simmered with occasional low-intensity skirmishes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agreement -- was signed between the two former Soviet republics in 1994 .
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but is mostly populated by ethnic Armenians who are backed by Yerevan .
The territory 's de facto leadership reported 29 more deaths on October 16 to increase its death toll from this chapter of fighting to 633 .
The Azerbaijani government does not release military casualty figures but said that before the missile attack on Ganca 47 civilians had died .


rferl--2020-10-16--Turkish And Israeli Drones Having Big Impact On Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

Turkish as well as Israeli and cheaper Russian-made drones are being used to powerful effect during Azerbaijan 's attacks in @ @ @ @ @ breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh .
Turkey has also reportedly deployed unmanned aerial vehicles in conflicts @ @ @ @ @ and Syria .
But it 's now facing an international backlash over their deployment in @ @ @ @ @ civilian deaths rising .

Turkish as well as Israeli and cheaper Russian-made drones are being used to powerful effect during Azerbaijan's attacks in and around the country's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkey has also reportedly deployed unmanned aerial vehicles in conflicts in Iraq, Libya, and Syria. But it's now facing an international backlash over their deployment in the Azeribaijani-Armenian conflict, with civilian deaths rising.


rferl--2020-10-17--Kyrgyz Authorities Announce Probe Into Customs Agency That Was Focus Of RFE/RL Investigation

Kyrgyz authorities have opened an investigation into corruption at the country ’ s notorious customs agency , which has been accused of being a conduit for funneling hundreds of millions of dollars out of the country .
The announcement on October 17 , by the State Committee for National Security , was the latest development in the political turmoil that erupted after disputed parliamentary elections earlier this month .
Protesters , angry at evidence of vote-buying and other improprieties , seized government buildings days after the October 4 elections , and election officials eventually threw out the vote .
On @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidential powers to recently elected Prime Minister Sadyr Japarov , a former nationalist lawmaker and convicted kidnapper who was freed from prison when a mob stormed a Bishkek prison .
One of his first moves was to appoint a former emergency situations minister to the powerful State Committee of National Security .
The new committee chief pledged to launch an investigation of the customs agency and its former deputy chief , Raimbek Matraimov .
Matraimov is one of three brothers in what is rumored to be one of the wealthiest and most powerful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allegedly one of the country ’ s leading crime bosses .
In June , an investigation by RFE/RL , the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project , and the news site Kloop found that Matraimov for years had enabled and profited massively from a smuggling empire run by a secretive Uyghur family and used some of the proceeds to buy influence .

Kyrgyz authorities have opened an investigation into corruption at the country’s notorious customs agency, which has been accused of being a conduit for funneling hundreds of millions of dollars out of the country.
The announcement on October 17, by the State Committee for National Security, was the latest development in the political turmoil that erupted after disputed parliamentary elections earlier this month.
Protesters, angry at evidence of vote-buying and other improprieties, seized government buildings days after the October 4 elections, and election officials eventually threw out the vote.
On October 16, parliament voted to transfer presidential powers to recently elected Prime Minister Sadyr Japarov, a former nationalist lawmaker and convicted kidnapper who was freed from prison when a mob stormed a Bishkek prison.
SPECIAL REPORT: The Matraimov Kingdom
One of his first moves was to appoint a former emergency situations minister to the powerful State Committee of National Security. The new committee chief pledged to launch an investigation of the customs agency and its former deputy chief, Raimbek Matraimov.
Matraimov is one of three brothers in what is rumored to be one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in Kyrgyzstan. He is also allegedly one of the country’s leading crime bosses.
In June, an investigation by RFE/RL, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and the news site Kloop found that Matraimov for years had enabled and profited massively from a smuggling empire run by a secretive Uyghur family and used some of the proceeds to buy influence.


rferl--2020-10-17--Smaller Crowds March In Belarusian Capital; At Least 30 Reported Detained

MINSK -- Dozens of women marched through Minsk 's streets in the latest effort to pressure the Belarusian government and Alyaksandr Lukashenka to step aside or call new elections .
The October 17 march was a fraction of the size of earlier demonstrations that have seen massive outpourings of protesters facing off with riot police and clogging the central streets of the Belarusian capital .
Videos posted to Telegram and social media showed police detained some of the participants .
The human rights group Vyasna said that more than 30 people were taken away by police , but it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the marches .
Belarus has been roiled by protests since the August 9 election that Lukashenka , who has been in power since 1994 , was declared the winner of .
Opposition groups , and many Belarusians , say the results were fraudulent , and that activist Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya is in fact the legitimate winner .
She fled Belarus for Lithuania shortly after the election amid threats to her and her family .
Tsikhanouskaya and her supporters stepped their pressure this week as she called on Lukashenka to step down by October 25 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ United States and European Union have refused to recognize Lukashenka 's victory , and on October 12 the EU added Lukashenka to its sanctions list .

MINSK -- Dozens of women marched through Minsk's streets in the latest effort to pressure the Belarusian government and Alyaksandr Lukashenka to step aside or call new elections.
The October 17 march was a fraction of the size of earlier demonstrations that have seen massive outpourings of protesters facing off with riot police and clogging the central streets of the Belarusian capital.
Videos posted to Telegram and social media showed police detained some of the participants. The human rights group Vyasna said that more than 30 people were taken away by police, but it was unclear if they were directly connected to the marches.
Belarus has been roiled by protests since the August 9 election that Lukashenka, who has been in power since 1994, was declared the winner of.
Opposition groups, and many Belarusians, say the results were fraudulent, and that activist Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya is in fact the legitimate winner.
She fled Belarus for Lithuania shortly after the election amid threats to her and her family.
Tsikhanouskaya and her supporters stepped their pressure this week as she called on Lukashenka to step down by October 25 or face a nationwide strike.
The United States and European Union have refused to recognize Lukashenka's victory, and on October 12 the EU added Lukashenka to its sanctions list.
With reporting by Current Time


rferl--2020-10-17--Pakistani Opposition Vows To Topple Khan As Prime Minister

Opposition leaders in Pakistan have vowed to topple the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan within weeks .
The promise was made at an October 16 gathering of the Pakistan Democratic Movement ( PDM ) in the Pakistani city of Gujranwala , which marked the first rally by the broad alliance of at least nine opposition parties .
Nawaz Sharif , former prime minister and leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz ( PML-N ) party , was among the top opposition leaders speaking at the gathering .
They called for Khan 's resignation and for an end to the military @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who is receiving medical treatment in London , spoke via video link .
In August , he broke a nearly yearlong silence from exile by vowing to oust Khan from office through protests .
The opposition accuses Khan of winning the 2018 general election only with the help of the country 's military , which has an oversized role in the domestic and foreign affairs of the South Asian nation .
He is also accused of targeting the opposition parties in the name of accountability .
The prime minister has denied the charges @

Opposition leaders in Pakistan have vowed to topple the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan within weeks.
The promise was made at an October 16 gathering of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in the Pakistani city of Gujranwala, which marked the first rally by the broad alliance of at least nine opposition parties.
Nawaz Sharif, former prime minister and leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, was among the top opposition leaders speaking at the gathering.
They called for Khan's resignation and for an end to the military's interference in politics.
Sharif, who is receiving medical treatment in London, spoke via video link.
In August, he broke a nearly yearlong silence from exile by vowing to oust Khan from office through protests.
The opposition accuses Khan of winning the 2018 general election only with the help of the country's military, which has an oversized role in the domestic and foreign affairs of the South Asian nation.
He is also accused of targeting the opposition parties in the name of accountability.
The prime minister has denied the charges.


rferl--2020-10-17--COVID-19: Iran Announces Death Toll Passes 30,000; Serbia Begins Tighter Restrictions

The global death toll from the coronavirus is more than 1.1 million , with more than 39 million infections confirmed , causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the respiratory illness .
Iran announced on October 17 that its death toll from the coronavirus has passed the milestone of 30,000 .
The announcement by Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari saw Iran put its total death toll from the outbreak at 30,123 killed , with 253 new deaths being added to the official count in the past 24 hours .
Lari said that 4,721 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iran has been struggling to contain the coronavirus since announcing its first cases in February , with more than 526,000 confirmed cases to date .
Real figures in the worst outbreak in the Middle East are believed to be significantly higher .
Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi , who had tested positive for the virus in March , told state TV last week that the country ’ s true death toll is estimated to be about double the reported figures .
In recent weeks , Iran has been experiencing record infections and fatalities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government continues to resist a total lockdown for fear of cratering the economy , which is under intense pressure due to crippling U.S. sanctions .
Last week , Iranian officials announced a travel ban to and from five major cities , including the capital , Tehran , and the holy city of Mashhad , that they said was aimed at containing the spread of the deadly virus .
Serbia has implemented new coronavirus restrictions , including on mask-wearing .
`` Masks must be worn by everyone , everywhere , including outdoors ... .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kisic Tepavcevic , a member of the government 's crisis staff .
Kisic Tepavcevic also said municipalities will be ordered to ban public gatherings and said a sports arena in Belgrade will be prepared by October 19 to accommodate patients with milder COVID-19 symptoms .
Kisic Tepavcevic said the situation in Serbia is more favorable than the rest of Europe , but added , `` that should not comfort us , because the virus has a great potential for rapid spreading . ''
Serbia has so far reported 35,454 cases and 770 fatalities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ October 15 .
With reporting by AP , AFP , Reuters , and IRNA


rferl--2020-10-17--French Police Say Ethnic Chechen From Moscow Responsible For Teacher's Beheading

A French official has identified an 18-year-old ethnic Chechen man from Moscow as the attacker who beheaded a schoolteacher in a Paris suburb and who was shot and killed by police shortly after .
Anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard made the announcement on October 17 , one day after the gruesome incident , which French President Emmanuel Macron called an `` Islamist terrorist attack.
” Ricard told reporters that the attacker had also posted a photograph on Twitter of the teacher 's body , along with a message stating that he had carried out the killing .
Officials say the victim @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Paty , who earlier this month showed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad as part of a class discussion on freedom of expression .
French media reported that the discussion had prompted complaints from some students ' parents .
Muslims believe that any depiction of the Prophet is blasphemous .
French police officials told reporters that nine people have been detained , including the grandparents and 17-year-old brother of the attacker .
`` One of our citizens was murdered today because he was teaching .
He was teaching students about freedom of expression , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' Macron said hours after the incident .
`` Our compatriot was flagrantly attacked ; he was a victim of an Islamist terrorist attack . ''
French media reported that the man was spotted holding a knife a short distance away from the attack , in the middle-class suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine .
As police confronted him , the attacker shouted `` Allahu akbar '' -- Arabic for `` God is most great '' -- a cry often heard in jihadist attacks , an unnamed police official told AFP .
Police found him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gun , which fires plastic pellets , another unnamed official said .
Muslim leaders condemned the killing , which many public figures perceived as an attack on the essence of French statehood and its values of secularism , freedom of worship , and freedom of expression .
In France 's parliament , lawmakers stood up to honor the teacher and condemn the `` atrocious terror attack . ''
France has seen a series of violent attacks carried out by Islamist militants in recent years .
It has the biggest Muslim population in Western @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , some of them Chechens who have been offered asylum .
The killing in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine carried echoes of an attack five years ago on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo .
The magazine ’ s staff was targeted by Islamist militants who stormed its offices and gunned down employees in retaliation for the publication of cartoons they deemed blasphemous .
The attack killed 12 people , including a police officer , and left 11 more wounded .
A trial is current under way for several of the attackers .
Last month @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wounded two people with a meat cleaver outside the magazine ’ s former offices .
In a tweet , Charlie Hebdo expressed its “ sense of horror and revolt ” at the beheading .
`` Intolerance just reached a new threshold and seems to stop at nothing to impose terror in our country , '' it said .
With reporting by Reuters , Le Monde , AP , AFP , CNN , and dpa


rferl--2020-10-17--Armenia, Azerbaijan Agree On New Cease-Fire In Nagorno-Karabakh Fighting

Armenia and Azerbaijan say they have agreed on a new cease-fire to stop the escalating fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region .
The foreign ministries of both countries posted identical statements on their websites late on October 17 , announcing a halt in fighting as of midnight local time .
`` This decision was taken following the statement of the presidents of the French Republic , the Russian Federation , and the United States of America , representing the co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group , of October 1 , 2020 , the statement by the co-chairs of the OSCE @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in line with the Moscow statement of October 10 , '' the statements said .
The Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is a diplomatic initiative headed by France , Russia , and the United States , aimed at trying to resolve the conflict , which first erupted in 1988 in the waning days of the Soviet Union .
The latest round of fighting , which began on September 27 , has killed at least 600 soldiers and civilians and is considered the worst since the 1994 cease-fire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ countries over Nagorno-Karabakh ’ s status .
Internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan , the mountainous territory has been controlled by ethnic Armenians , backed by Yerevan , since the 1994 halt in fighting .
The latest spasm of violence has stoked fears that the new violence could engulf the region in a wider conflict involving Azerbaijan 's biggest ally , Turkey , and Russia , which dominates the Collective Security Treaty Organization , of which Armenia is a member .
A cease-fire announced last week was repeatedly violated by both sides not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and had all but collapsed .
Earlier on October 17 , a missile hit a residential area in Azerbaijan ’ s second-largest city , killing 13 people and injuring more than 50 , one of the deadliest killings of civilians to date .
The strike in Ganca , about 100 kilometers north of the disputed mountainous territory , occurred at around the same time that another missile hit Mingacevir , a city east of Ganca and home to a large hydroelectric dam .
There was no word on damage or casualties in Mingacevir @ @ @ @ @ @ @ missile was fired from ; Ganca is also about 100 kilometers east of the border with Armenia proper .
A missile fired directly from Armenian territory onto an Azerbaijani city would be a major escalation of the conflict , now in its third week .
Earlier this week , Azerbaijan said it had fired missiles at a missile-defense system in Armenian territory .
In a televised address on October 17 , Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev denounced the missile strike as a war crime and warned the leadership of Armenia .
“ Azerbaijan will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so exclusively on the battlefield , ” Aliyev said .
There was no immediate comment or claim from Armenia about the accusation .
Earlier in the week , Baku and Yerevan each claimed gains in the fighting in and around the territory , which is populated by around 150,000 ethnic Armenians .
There is no confirmed death toll from this latest fighting , but the de facto leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh has reported 633 soldiers killed .
Azerbaijan has not released any military casualty figures .
Several dozen civilians have also been reported killed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Armenia has accused Turkey of encouraging Azerbaijan to try to militarily resolve a problem that decades of internationally mediated talks have failed to resolve .
On October 16 , Artsrun Hovhannisian , a spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry , accused Azerbaijani forces of bombarding Nagorno-Karabakh `` with total disregard for the humanitarian truce . ''
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said a retreat by ethnic Armenian forces in the territory had left Baku 's troops with an advantage along the Line of Contact that divides the warring sides .
There was no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ RFE/RL 's Armenian and Azerbaijani services


rferl--2020-10-18--Afghanistan's Top Negotiator In Iran Amid Peace Talks With Taliban

Afghanistan ’ s top peace negotiator has arrived in neighboring Iran as intra-Afghan peace negotiations are under way in the Gulf state of Qatar .
Negotiators from the Afghan government and the Taliban have been locked in talks since September 12 but have been unable to agree on a framework for the negotiations aimed at ending the 19-year war .
Abdullah Abdullah , the head of Afghanistan 's High Council for National Reconciliation , a body that oversees the peace talks with the Taliban , arrived in Tehran on October 18 for a three-day visit .
Iran is a key @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Taliban and Afghan political factions .
In a tweet , Abdullah said he would “ meet the Iranian leadership ” and “ exchange views on Afghanistan Peace and all other relevant bilateral issues to promote long-term cooperation & friendship.
” His visit comes after a recent trip to neighboring Pakistan , another regional power and the Taliban ’ s main sponsor .
The relationship between Shi ’ ite-majority Iran and the Taliban , a fundamentalist Sunni group , is complex .
Iran officially opposes the Taliban , but experts said it provides some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even rival breakaway factions .
Abdullah 's visit to Tehran comes after the U.S. special envoy for Afghan reconciliation , Zalmay Khalilzad , said last week that Iran `` wants to keep the U.S. in an unwinnable and costly war in Afghanistan . ''
Under a landmark deal signed between the United States and the Taliban in February , foreign forces will leave Afghanistan by May 2021 in exchange for counterterrorism guarantees from the Taliban , which agreed to negotiate a permanent cease-fire and a power-sharing formula with the Afghan government .