Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Thursday that the only way to achieve sustainable international peace and security is to put an end to occupation.   

“Adherence to the norms and principles of international law and implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions must be ensured,” Aliyev told the 75th UN General Assembly via video link, also congratulating the newly elected president of the UN General Assembly Volkan Bozkir. 

Nearly 30 years of occupation  

Touching on the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Aliyev said that 20% of Azerbaijani territory has remained under Armenian occupation for nearly 30 years. 

“Armenia used military force against Azerbaijan in brutal violation of the UN Charter and occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and seven other regions of Azerbaijan. More than one million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced persons. 

“Armenia carried out ethnic cleansing against the Azerbaijani population in the occupied territories. All Azerbaijanis have been forcibly expelled from occupied territories. Armenia committed a number of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Azerbaijani civilians,” he said. 

He also said that Armenia created “the criminal, terrorist puppet regime in these territories to hide its responsibility” for occupation of Azerbaijani lands. 

Aliyev also called for international sanctions against Armenia as an aggressor state. 

‘Armenia deliberately targets civilian population’ 

“Armenia deliberately targets the civilian population and perpetrates provocations along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border,” Aliyev said. 

Giving examples of the numerous large-scale military attacks launched by Armenia, he said Azerbaijan’s armed forces took counter-measures and liberated part of the occupied territories after a military attack launched by Armenia in April 2016 which resulted in the deaths of six civilians, including one child. 

“The purpose of this provocation by Armenia was to create a new source of tension in the region, set aside the issue of Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijan’s territories, involve third parties in the conflict, and damage Azerbaijan’s strategic infrastructure projects,” he stated. 

Armenia also attempted to distract its people’s attention from the country’s growing socioeconomic problems, he added. 

“However, Azerbaijan retaliated resolutely, and Armenia failed to achieve any of those objectives. Armenia faced another military defeat. Armenia appealed to ODKB [Collective Security Treaty Organization] for military assistance, thus admitting its defeat,” Aliyev said. 

He stressed that “the armed forces of Armenia must withdraw from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan. The entire world recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan.” 

Example of tolerance and coexistence 

Aliyev said that “multiculturalism is the way of life for the people of Azerbaijan. We present to the world the example of tolerance and coexistence.” 

He said the “Baku Process” launched by Azerbaijan in 2008 to strengthen dialogue and cooperation between the Muslim world and Europe is supported by the United Nations. 

Touching on Azerbaijan’s active role in the region, Aliyev said it has actively participated in regional connectivity projects such as the East-West, North-South and North-West transportation corridors, becoming one of Eurasia's primary and reliable transport and logistics hubs. 

According to the Davos Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2019, among 141 countries, Azerbaijan ranks 11th for efficiency of railroad services, 12th for efficiency of air transportation services, 25th for efficiency of seaport services and 27th for quality of road infrastructure, he said. 

“We have also commissioned the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railroad and the Baku International Trade Seaport with the potential of handling capacity of 25 million tons. Azerbaijan is [also] a member of the international space club. Today, we have three satellites - two for telecommunications and one earth observation satellite. Eighty percent of our population uses the internet.” 

Coronavirus measures 

Regarding the coronavirus pandemic, Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan has taken timely and necessary preventive measures to stop the spread of the virus. 

“Azerbaijan’s attainment of the Millennium Development Goals and progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals have enabled us to conduct an effective fight against the pandemic. 

“The healthcare infrastructure in Azerbaijan has been developed and renovated significantly, with almost 700 hospitals and healthcare facilities built or completely renovated in the past 17 years,” he added. 

He also called for solidarity to tackle the coronavirus and proposed reforms for the post-pandemic period to increase the UN’s role and prestige. 

“The non-fulfillment of Security Council resolutions undermines the prestige of the United Nations. Implementation mechanisms must be created for UN Security Council resolutions,” he said. 

“Refugees and IDPs [Internally Displaced Persons] have become the most vulnerable group of the pandemic period. The return of these vulnerable groups to their native lands in safety and dignity gains great urgency,” he said. 

Ensuring affordability and fair distribution of a vaccine is necessary, while the least developed countries should get it free of charge, Aliyev said, adding in this regard, additional oversight mechanisms should be developed. 

“The scope of the pandemic’s negative impact on implementing the Sustainable Development Goals by the countries must be carefully analyzed, and solutions must be formulated,” he added./aa

IZMIR, Turkey(AA)

The Turkish Coast Guard on Thursday held 10 asylum seekers off the Aegean coast.

The Coast Guard Command said in a statement that the asylum seekers pushed back by Greek vessels had been dragged to Sungukaya island off the Cesme district of Izmir province.

They were brought to the shore by the teams and were taken to the provincial migration authority, it added.

KOCAELI, Turkey 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lent a helping hand to two Syrian children with hearing impairment to be treated in Turkey.

Having six kids, Fares and his wife Gusun Afas migrated to Turkey's northwestern Kocaeli province from Syria’s Aleppo province eight years ago.

Three days ago, with initiatives of philanthropists, behind-the-ear hearing aids were placed to the couple's 10-year-old daughter Fatma.

Hearing the story of Fatma and her family, Erdogan on Wednesday gave a directive for the treatment of the couple's other daughter Sara, who is three years old with hearing impairment.

They invited the family to a university hospital over Erdogan's directive, Kocaeli University Rector Sadettin Hulagu said, adding that Sara had congenital hearing loss.

Two months later, we will place a device into Sara's ears. She will regain her health after wearing hearing aids, Hulagu noted.

After Sara's treatment, her speech and hearing ability will almost turn to normal, he said.

Also, Hulagu said Fatma with a hearing aid can hear the voices, but she has difficulty in speaking as she gets older, adding: "We will help her to overcome that difficulty".

Meanwhile, Eymen Afas, the aunt of the children, said Sara had a congenital hearing loss, but her older sister Fatma lost her hearing ability during violent explosions in Aleppo.

Eymen thanked Erdogan for lending a helping hand for the treatment of her nephews./aa

TRENTON, Canada 

Following the murder of a caretaker at a Toronto mosque earlier this week, the head of a Muslim organization called Thursday for the government to do more to “eradicate this scourge” of white supremacism in Canada.

Mohamed-Aslim Zafis was stabbed to death Sept. 19 and a suspect is in custody.

While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his condolences and said it was concerning the incident was tied to Neo-Nazism and Islamophobia, words must be followed by action, said National Council for Canadian Muslims (NCCM) Mustafa Farooq in an email to Anadolu Agency.

“We can all stand together and raise our collective voices to demand action,” he said. “We will not stand by as white supremacist groups organize to attack us. I ask you today to join us in demanding that our government do more to eradicate this scourge from our country.”

Zafis, 58, was outside the door of the International Muslim Organization of Toronto Mosque, keeping tabs on the number of worshippers entering in accord with health regulations concerning the coronavirus pandemic, when he was stabbed.

A man who endorsed the views of an online neo-Nazi group has been charged with first-degree murder.

“They (the group) worship Hitler as a god figure,” said Evan Balgord, the head of an anti-hate organization that monitors and fights hate groups.

Farooq said the murder has rekindled fear in the Muslim community following similar events like the 2017 attack on a Quebec mosque that killed six and injured 19. It was one of the worst mass killings in Canadian history.

“(P)erhaps what has been more difficult to see is the fear that is freshly reverberating in our communities across the country these past few days as the sanctity of our place of worship has been violated,” he said.

Farooq urged the government to ban the hundreds of white supremacist groups in Canada, stop organizations from using social media to mobilize and crack down on white supremacists’ violence.

He also said political parties should “enshrine taking action on white supremacist violence as part of their platforms.”

The NCCM started an online petition to demand action./aa

ANKARA 

Dozens of people have died over floods in Africa’s Sahel region, while thousands others are “in immediate need of shelter, clean water, and health services,” the UN Refugee Agency said in a statement Thursday.

“UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is scaling up efforts to assist displaced families in Africa’s Sahel, among more than 700,000 people affected by devastating floods in the region,” the statement read.

“Dozens of people have died including a displaced pregnant mother and her teenage daughter. Thousands more are in immediate need of shelter, clean water, and health services across large swathes of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Niger,” the UNHCR voiced.

Niger, according to the report, has been hit hardest as Nigerien authorities have confirmed 71 deaths, 90 injured, and more than 350,000 people affected by the floods across the country.

According to the statement, the “heaviest rains” which started to hit the region in August “are believed to be the worst in over a decade.”

"Homes have been destroyed, health centres damaged, and farmlands submerged across the Sahel, where intense and indiscriminate violence had already forced more than 3.5 million [people] to flee both within countries and across borders,” the UNHCR noted.

“Refugees, internally displaced, and their hosts were already on the brink and in urgent need of our assistance,” Millicent Mutuli, the director of UNHCR’s Regional Bureau for West and Central Africa was quoted as saying in the report.

He described the humanitarian situation in the region as “one of the world’s worst and fastest-growing humanitarian crises”.

Across the Sahel region, infrastructure, including medical service facilities “have been badly damaged, impacting national responses to COVID-19 and other illnesses such as malaria and measles.”

The UNCHR warned of possible spread of cholera as water sources are contaminated and latrines flooded./aa

YAOUNDE, Cameroon

Several international NGOs on Thursday called for an immediate scale-up of the humanitarian response to address soaring needs in the Cameroon’s Far North Region.

According to a statement signed by several organizations, three suicide attacks took place between Aug. 1 and Sept. 14 in camps and localities hosting internally displaced people.

Thirty civilians were killed and more than 40 injured in the attacks, it said.

“These attacks are part of a significant increase in violent incidents in Cameroon’s Far North Region, in recent months,” the statement added.

“Survivors are forced to flee, leaving everything they own behind to save their lives. Most of them have no place to sleep and almost no access to water and health care,” said Fabienne Mially, from Premiere Urgence Internationale, lead of the Rapid Response Mechanism in the region.

“It is unacceptable that people who went through so much violence and despair are not receiving the support they need,” Mially said.

According to the statement, conflict in the region has forced the displacement of over 321,886 Cameroonians and 115,000 Nigerian refugees.

“I had to flee one year ago when my village was attacked. I have seen how they have barbarously killed some members of my family and those images are still vivid in my mind. I have lost sleep due to the nightmares,” the statement quoted Fatima, 34 years old and pregnant, as saying.

“I am alive for sure, but I can hardly feel alive.”

Apart from attacks, the region also experienced heavy rains in the past weeks that caused large scale floods, houses, roads, cultivated areas destroyed, “further reducing the access to services while emergency needs are on the rise in terms of shelters, medical care, protection and food security,” the statement said.

The coronavirus pandemic has also “led to significant loss of jobs and incomes in this region, marked by poverty, very limited access to social services and the prevalent insecurity,” it added.

The NGOs that signed the statement included Action Contre la Faim, International Medical Corps, IEDA Relief, Norwegian Refugee Council, International Rescue Committee, Lutheran World Federation, Premiere Urgence Internationale and Alliance for International Medical Action./aa

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia

Charges have been filed against more than 2,000 suspects in connection with the assassination of Oromo activist-singer Hatchalu Hundessa, and the ensuing violence, the Ethiopian government announced Thursday.

The killing in early July triggered widespread violence in several parts of Oromia, and the capital Addis Ababa, leading to hundreds being killed and sizable property destroyed, Attorney General Gedion Timothewos told a press briefing. He was accompanied by Billene Seyoum, a PM office spokeswoman.

Investigations were conducted in July with pre-trial activities in August, and charges being pressed now against those who allegedly instigated, incited and directed violence following the assassination.

“This has been a coordinated effort as charges were pressed within different jurisdictions,” he said, indicating that court proceedings are taking place at regional and federal levels according to the nature of the alleged crimes committed.

He said at least 160 people were killed, and 360 injured in the riots, adding that minority groups were targeted.

Property worth 4.6 billion Birr (125.5 million USD) was also destroyed, including a multimillion resort owned by the legendary athlete, Haile Gebreselassie, in the central south town of Shashemene, he added.

“Although suspects now charged include politicians, no one has been held for their political activity,” the attorney general said./aa

A Massachusetts construction worker’s love of black licorice wound up costing him his life. Eating a bag and a half every day for a few weeks threw his nutrients out of whack and caused the 54-year-old man’s heart to stop, doctors reported Wednesday.

“Even a small amount of licorice you eat can increase your blood pressure a little bit,” said Dr. Neel Butala, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital who described the case in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The problem is glycyrrhizic acid, found in black licorice and in many other foods and dietary supplements containing licorice root extract. It can cause dangerously low potassium and imbalances in other minerals called electrolytes.

Eating as little as 2 ounces of black licorice a day for two weeks could cause a heart rhythm problem, especially for folks over 40, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns.

“It’s more than licorice sticks. It could be jelly beans, licorice teas, a lot of things over the counter. Even some beers, like Belgian beers, have this compound in it,” as do some chewing tobaccos, said Dr. Robert Eckel, a University of Colorado cardiologist and former American Heart Association president. He had no role in the Massachusetts man’s care.

The death was clearly an extreme case. The man had switched from red, fruit-flavored twists to the black licorice version of the candy a few weeks before his death last year. He collapsed while having lunch at a fast-food restaurant. Doctors found he had dangerously low potassium, which led to heart rhythm and other problems. Emergency responders did CPR and he revived but died the next day.

The FDA permits up to 3.1 percent of a food’s content to have glycyrrhizic acid, but many candies and other licorice products don’t reveal how much of it is contained per ounce, Butala said. Doctors have reported the case to the FDA in hope of raising attention to the risk.

Jeff Beckman, a spokesman for the Hershey Company, which makes the popular Twizzlers licorice twists, said in an email that “all of our products are safe to eat and formulated in full compliance with FDA regulations,” and that all foods, including candy, “should be enjoyed in moderation.”

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content./agencies

Several coronavirus vaccines are under development in the U.S., and many of them are undergoing human trials with the hopes of knowing their effectiveness by the end of 2020 or early next year. But those trials only involve adults, so they can't determine the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines when they're used on children. So while American adults are expected to have access to COVID-19 vaccines by next summer, children won't get theirs until the 2021 school year. The New York Times reports.

As the Times describes, "many vaccines — including ones for measles, polio, and tetanus — were designed from the outset to be given to children." Developers usually start testing those vaccines on adults, and then if they show no serious side effects, work their way down to younger ages and adjust dosages along the way.

Coronavirus vaccine developers were expected to follow this same process, especially after many adult trials over the summer showed no serious side effects. "But that did not happen. And with autumn around the corner, that still hasn’t happened," the Times writes. At this point, it may take up to a year to get coronavirus vaccines prepared for children. Read more about the COVID-19 vaccine development process at The New York Times.