Russia’s president and Italy’s prime minister discussed the situation in Afghanistan in a phone call on Thursday.

Vladimir Putin and Mario Draghi stressed the importance of preventing a humanitarian catastrophe and ensuring the safety of Afghans, the Kremlin said in a statement.

"The need for further combating the spread of terrorist ideology and the drug threat emanating from the territory of Afghanistan was noted," it said.

The two leaders also spoke in favor of consolidating international efforts, including within the framework of the G20, which Italy currently chairs, to promote peace and stability in Afghanistan, the statement added.

They also discussed the development of mutually beneficial ties between the two countries in various fields./aa

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Thursday that 2020 was the deadliest year on record for refugee journeys in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.

“We see once again increasing movements of Rohingya refugees in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. We know their voyages are becoming more deadly. The longer a ship remains at sea, the more refugees are exposed to life-threatening risks,” the UNHCR revealed in a report “Left Adrift at Sea: Dangerous Journeys of Refugees Across the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.”

The Andaman Sea lies southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Myanmar, west of Thailand, and east of India's Andaman, and the Nicobar Islands.

Underlining that a total of 3,046 Rohingya attempted to cross the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal from January 2020 to June 2021, it said more than two-thirds of those traveling are women and children.

“In contrast to earlier periods where most of those traveling were men, the majority of passengers are now women and children. They are at even greater risk of abuse by smugglers when making such journeys. Their ordeal was made worse because safe harbors to end their dangerous journey were nowhere to be found,” it added.

In 2020, an estimated 2,413 people are confirmed to have taken the sea journey and 218 died or went missing at sea, it said.

“In 2021, movements are continuing, and will likely continue until there is a lasting solution to the discrimination and violence the Rohingya face in Rakhine State, Myanmar,” it added.

UNHCR urged all states in the region to search for and rescue refugees in distress at sea, and disembark them to a place of safety.

It also recommended the states to work with UNHCR and support fellow countries in the region to implement dignified reception arrangements, provide protection and assistance to refugees who disembark; and address the root causes of refugee maritime movements, including expanding access to safe legal pathways.

Since August 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed, more than 34,000 thrown into fires, over 114,000 beaten and at least 18,000 Rohingya women and girls raped, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).

The Myanmar army’s brutal crackdown in Rakhine state forced more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women, and children, to flee to Bangladesh, pushing the persecuted community’s number in Bangladesh above 1.1 million, according to Amnesty International./aa

Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa may face more flooding due to heavy torrential rains, a government agency warned on Thursday.

At least 217 localities in the capital have been identified as high-risk areas that are vulnerable to floods, according to an official of the Fire and Emergency Prevention and Rescue Agency.

The advisory came a day after a flash flood swept through a neighborhood in the capital’s southeast, killing at least eight people.

“Rescuers worked through the night and saved 12 people stranded in the area,” Gulelat Getanet, the agency’s communications head, told Anadolu Agency, adding that the operation finished on Thursday afternoon.

“We tried our best to protect properties in the area, but the flooding has caused heavy damage.”

Ethiopia has witnessed unusually heavy downpour since the start of the annual rainy season, which runs from June to early September.

“We are anticipating more flash flooding and have been making preparations to mitigate the threat,” Getanet said./aa

A man who claimed to have a bomb near the US Capitol has been taken into custody "without incident," police said Thursday.

Police identified the man as Floyd Ray Rosenberry, 49, of North Carolina.

He was allegedly sitting in his vehicle for several hours after driving onto the sidewalk in front of the Library of Congress and telling a responding officer he had a bomb in his vehicle, according to authorities.

Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger told reporters that authorities have not yet been able to verify whether there were explosives in the truck, describing the scene as "active."

"We still have to search the vehicle, and render the vehicle safe," he said, noting it is going to take "hours" before the scene can be properly assessed.

Earlier, Facebook deactivated a livestream that appeared to have been from the man inside the truck, and removed his profile from the platform, according to a spokesman. Andy Stone from the social media company said it is "continuing to investigate."

Video circulating on other social media websites from what appears to be the livesteam before it was severed shows a man in a truck outside of the Library of Congress ranting against US President Joe Biden and demanding the president call him.

He claimed to have ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive chemical, in the bed of his truck and said he was one of five people with explosives.

Manger said "there were some things that were concerning" in the truck, pointing to a propane canister, but he did not make any mention of the explosive material mentioned in the video.

The police chief further said there was "no indication" that Rosenberry was working with anyone else but said that "is part of the ongoing investigation.”/agencies

China on Thursday offered "cooperation and joint promotion" to Arab nations for its trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

“China and Arab states have in recent years continued to strengthen strategic coordination and synergy of actions, and the joint construction of the Belt and Road has achieved fruitful results,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a letter addressed to the fifth China-Arab States Expo.

The four-day expo opened Thursday in northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, state-run Xinhua News reported.

Xi said China is “willing to jointly promote high-quality BRI cooperation with Arab states.”

The BRI, also known as One Belt One Road, is a global infrastructure development strategy launched by China in 2013 to invest in nearly 70 countries and international organizations.

He said that the traditional friendship between the peoples of China and Arab states “has become stronger over time.”

China has emerged as the largest trading partner of Arab countries.

Xi said China and Arab countries joined hands to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, “setting an example of helping each other and overcoming difficulties together.”

Beijing supplied its vaccines to many Arab nations. It also held trials of its vaccines at the manufacturing stage in a few Arab states.

“China is ready to work with Arab states to seek cooperation and development, promote peaceful development, achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, jointly build the Belt and Road with high quality, elevate China-Arab strategic partnership to a higher level, and jointly build a China-Arab community with a shared future for the new era,” the Chinese president said./agencies

The death toll in the military crackdown in Myanmar following the Feb. 1 coup has risen to 1,000, according to a local monitoring group.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said in its latest update that seven people from Minkin Township and Shwebo Township in the Sagaing Region and Pauk Township in the Magway Region were recently killed and their deaths documented on Wednesday.

“As of 18 August, 1,006 people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup,” the group said, adding that the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher.

The report said 5,730 people are currently in detention in Myanmar, with 255 of them having been sentenced to person.

The association has been collecting data on those killed, injured, arrested, and missing since the military staged a coup in February.

In April, the junta-controlled media announced that the group had exaggerated the death toll, a claim it denies.

The group said they have a long history of documenting data on political prisoners in Myanmar, saying that it has maintained high ethical and methodological standards for accuracy and credibility since 2000.

Myanmar's military ousted President Win Myint and State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, and detained them along with other senior members of the pre-coup ruling National League for Democracy party, citing "election fraud."

​​​​​​​The takeover has led to months of protests and a mass civil disobedience movement, which has been met by brutal force./agencies

A Rohingya woman has testified before a court in Argentina against the Myanmar military’s genocide of Muslims in Rakhine state, a Rohingya rights body confirmed Wednesday.  

The eyewitness, whose identity has been withheld for security reasons, is one of six Rohingya women who were treated inhumanely by the Myanmar army in their home country and are now living in cramped Bangladeshi camps. She virtually narrated her ordeal on Tuesday at the Federal Criminal Appeals Court in Buenos Aires, the Argentinian capital.  

The Rohingya genocide has been separated into two phases, the first of which was a military campaign from October 2016 to January 2017, and the second of which has been ongoing since August 2017. 

She testified in court about how the Myanmar military killed her husband and others in the states of Chuk Pyin and Rakhine. 

“Soldiers killed hundreds of people. Some women were raped before being killed. The soldiers went on to rape many other women in their village and then burned their homes to the ground,” she said. 

Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK), a UK-based Rohingya rights defender, filed a petition in November 2019 to open an investigation into the role of Myanmar's civilian and military leaders in committing genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya, citing the principle of universal jurisdiction. 

Such crimes can be investigated anywhere in the world under the principle of universal jurisdiction, regardless of where they were committed. 

“This is a historic moment for Rohingya brothers and sisters everywhere. We have been fighting for justice for the genocide against us for decades, but this is the first time anywhere in the world that a Rohingya has a chance to sit in person in front of a court of law, impartial and independent, to talk about the crimes against us,” said BROUK President Tun Khin. 

Mentioning justice as the only way to break the cycle of violence in Myanmar, Khin vowed that the armed forces of Myanmar, officially known as the Tatmadaw, “must face the consequences of their murderous actions.” 

He, however, warned that the same military that has tried to wipe out the Rohingya as a people are now in control of the country since the Feb. 1 coup. 

“If the case is accepted by the Argentine judiciary, it will be the first universal jurisdiction case related to the situation of the Rohingya anywhere in the world,” the statement added. 

It would cover the full range of crimes committed entirely in Myanmar against the Rohingya, including mass murder, enforced disappearances, widespread torture, sexual violence and mass imprisonment, the statement noted. 

Among those accused in the case are Myanmar military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who is also the ruling self-appointed prime minister of Myanmar, and other high-ranking military officials. 

Tomas Ojea Quintana, a former UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, is the legal counsel for BROUK in this case. 

Since August 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed, more than 34,000 thrown into fires, over 114,000 beaten and at least 18,000 Rohingya women and girls raped, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA). 

The Myanmar army’s brutal crackdown in Rakhine state forced more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, to flee to Bangladesh, pushing the persecuted community’s number in Bangladesh above 1.1 million, according to Amnesty International./agencies

The EU should focus on helping Afghan refugees in the region and prevent Afghan asylum-seekers from coming to the bloc’s external borders, a European Union commissioner said Wednesday.

“The instability in Afghanistan is likely to lead to increased migratory pressure,” EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson warned following an extraordinary videoconference of EU interior ministers.

The group “should not wait until people arrive at the external borders,” but should “prevent people from heading towards the European Union through unsafe, irregular and uncontrolled routes run by smugglers,” she said.

Johansson argued for supporting international organizations helping those in need in Afghanistan and neighboring countries hosting Afghan refugees.

The EU has supported Afghan refugees and host communities with more than €250 million ($292 million), according to figures by the European Commission.

“We will continue our ongoing programs and intensify our cooperation with host communities in Pakistan, Iran and Tajikistan, as well as other countries in the region such as Turkey,” she said.

At the same, she admitted that “the situation in Afghanistan is clearly not safe and it will not be safe for some time” and ruled out the possibility of forced returns of asylum-seekers whose claim was rejected by EU members.

Johansson also said she asked ministers to raise quotas for direct resettlement programs, creating legal and safe ways for Afghan asylum-seekers to come to the EU./agencies