IDLIB, Syria

A 15-month-old Syrian baby born with congenital amputation returned his home in Idlib, Syria after receiving a prosthetic treatment in Turkey under instructions of the country’s interior minister.

Muhammed and his parents were brought to Turkey on Sept. 1 and health professionals immediately started the prosthetic rehabilitation process in the capital Ankara, the little child got his prosthetic legs.

Once the seven-week-long adaptation process was concluded, Muhammed and his family returned home in Syria's northwestern Idlib city.

Halit Misayrif, Muhammed's father, said the first phase of the treatment was over and an artificial limb would replace the initial prosthetic in the coming period.

His son started to smile once again, Misayrif said, adding that Muhammed would soon be able to walk on his own with the help of Anadolu Agency which narrated Muhammed’s suffering and prompted awareness of Turkish authorities.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu instructed relevant authorities to bring Muhammed, who was struggling with his family in one of Idlib’s tents where displaced civilians are living, so Turkey’s disaster agency, AFAD, and provincial governor in southern Hatay province brought him along with his family on Sept. 1.

On Aug. 28, Anadolu Agency shared Muhammed's story with the world as his family were living in harsh conditions in a region of Idlib where forcibly displaced civilians take refuge.

Syria has been ravaged by a civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN estimates.

Idlib falls within a de-escalation zone forged under an agreement between Turkey and Russia.

The area has been the subject of multiple cease-fire understandings, which have frequently been violated by the Assad regime and its allies.

LONDON

Armenia is using PKK terrorists on the front lines in Nagorno-Karabakh, Hikmet Hajiyev, assistant to Azerbaijani president, said at an online meeting organized by the British Foreign Press Association.

Hajiyev reiterated that Armenia targets civilians and rejected claims that fighters were brought from Syria to fight for Azerbaijan.

“First of all, we don't need such a thing. We have a very professional army. We also have enough reserve power,” he said.

But he indicated that fighters from other countries are in the ranks of Armenia’s armed forces, including from Syria, Lebanon, as well as the US, Canada, and especially France.

Hajiyev urged countries, whose Armenian citizens have joined the war and are killing Azerbaijani civilians, to stop the slaughter of ordinary civilians.

“We also have concerns about the PKK terrorist organization's involvement in the war. They are also in the ranks of the Armenian armed forces. Essentially, they are deployed on the front line of the defense of the Armenian armed forces,” said Hajiyev.

Armenia carries arms with civilian airplanes

Armenia uses civilian airplanes, which is “against the rules of the International Civil Aviation Organization. They embark missile systems on civilian airplanes. In addition, weapons and missiles are sent in the name of ‘humanitarian aid',” he said, noting it carries arms using its official airplane as if it is on a formal visit.

“They kill Azerbaijani civilians with them. This also needs to be examined by the international media,” he said.

Turkey’s support on basis of international law

Turning to relations with Turkey, Hajiyev said: “Turkey's diplomatic and moral support to Azerbaijan essentially takes place on the basis of international law.”

Hajiyev said there is defense cooperation but it cannot be attributed to Azerbaijan's defense capabilities or be considered as a third country's participation in the war.

He said Armenia is using PKK terrorists at the forefront in Nagorno-Karabakh and his country does not expect progress on talks to be held in the US between Azerbaijani foreign minister with American and Armenian counterparts.

Upper Karabakh conflict

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Upper Karabakh.

Fresh clashes erupted on Sept. 27, and the Armenian army has since continued its attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces, even violating humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

Four UN Security Council resolutions and two from the UN General Assembly, as well as international organizations, demand the “immediate complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces” from occupied Azerbaijani territory.

In total, about 20% of Azerbaijan's territory -- including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions -- has been under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group -- co-chaired by France, Russia, and the US -- was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but to no avail. A cease-fire, however, was agreed to in 1994.

World powers, including Russia, France, and the US, have called for a sustainable cease-fire. Turkey, meanwhile, has supported Baku's right to self-defense and demanded the withdrawal of Armenia's occupying forces./aa

ANKARA

Myanmar must take back its “absurd” decision to cancel voting in several areas of the country in next month’s general election, a rights group said on Wednesday.

Myanmar’s election commission announced last week that voters in Rakhine [Arakan], Kachin, Kayin, Mon, Shan, and Bago regions will not be able to vote in the Nov. 8 polls because of unrest and armed conflict.

London-based group Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) rejected the electoral body’s claim that “those areas could not guarantee free and fair elections,” saying that the regions have “not had significant issues for years.”

In a statement, the group said the move “will disenfranchise more than a million voters” in Rakhine state alone.

“The decision to negate the votes of ethnic minorities in order to ensure an election is democratic is absurd on its face,” said Kyaw Win, BHRN’s executive director.

“It is especially telling that people historically oppressed by the military and government are the ones told that they cannot have a say in the general election.”

BHRN said denying fundamental rights of minorities should not be viewed as a solution and the commission must reverse the decision.

“The general elections are in part an opportunity for parties representing ethnic regions to gain seats in the parliament and ensure a say for their people,” read the statement.

“By denying parts of these regions a chance to vote in the general election the election commission is blatantly denying minorities of representation.”

The group stressed the need to protect polling places rather than cancelling voting, adding that “efforts should be made to reach a cease-fire in Arakan, if only for the duration of the election.”

Abuses and persecution

The government of Myanmar has been accused of human rights violations against ethnic minorities in Shan, Kachin, Karen [Kayin], and Rakhine States, but has continued to defy international calls for a serious investigation, according to the Human Rights Watch (HRW).

“A United Nations-mandated Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) found sufficient evidence to call for the investigation of senior military officials for crimes against humanity and genocide against ethnic Rohingya Muslims,” HRW said in its World Report 2020.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017, pushing the number of persecuted people in Bangladesh above 1.2 million.

Some 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Rakhine State were still the target of a government campaign to eradicate their identity, and were living under “threat of genocide,” according to the UN-mandated FFM’s report last September as quoted by HRW.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar's state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).

More than 34,000 Rohingya were thrown into fires, over 114,000 more beaten, and as many as 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar's army and police, said the OIDA report, titled Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience.

Over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down and some 113,000 others vandalized, it added./aa

ANKARA

Automation and a new division of labor between humans and machines will disrupt 85 million jobs globally by 2025, according to a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Wednesday.

The Future of Jobs 2020 report showed that COVID-19 has led the labor market to change faster than anticipated.

"More than 80% of business executives are accelerating plans to digitize work processes and deploy new technologies," the report said.

It said that contrary to the previous years, job creation is now slowing down while job losses fasten.

Some 43% of businesses surveyed indicated that they are set to reduce their workforce due to technology integration, while 34% plan to expand their workforce, the report said.

By 2025, employers will divide the work between human and machines equally, the report stressed, adding that the roles that leverage human skills will rise in demand.

"The robot revolution will create 97 million new jobs, but communities most at risk from disruption will need support from businesses and governments," it noted.

Pandemic has accelerated the arrival of the future of work, said Saadia Zahidi, a managing director at the WEF.

She said the developments in automation and fallout from the COVID-19 recession have deteriorated current inequalities across labor markets.

Referring to the window of opportunity for proactive management of this change, Zahidi said: "Businesses, governments and workers must plan to urgently work together to implement a new vision for the global workforce."

Reskilling to be needed

The report also showed those workers set to remain in their roles in the next five years, nearly 50%, will need reskilling for their core skills.

Despite the current economic turmoil, most employers realize the value of reskilling their workforce, it said.

"An average of 66% of employers surveyed expect to see a return on investment in upskilling and reskilling of current employees within one year," it noted.

In the future, the most competitive businesses will be the ones that have invested heavily in their human capital, Zahidi concluded.

In 2025, analytical thinking, creativity, and flexibility will be among the top skills needed, while data and artificial intelligence, content creation, and cloud computing the top emerging professions, according to the report./aa

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir

The government in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir extended on Wednesday its ban on high-speed internet in 18 of 20 districts in the region until Nov. 12.

In an order issued Wednesday evening, the government said the restrictions on high-speed internet were "felt absolutely necessary in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India."

The order said security agencies "apprehended that anti-national elements might misuse" high-speed connections "for carrying out activities inimical to the public order besides persuading the youths to join militancy."

High-speed internet had been cut off since last August, when India revoked the semi-autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir, divided it into two federally ruled territories and imposed a complete lockdown and communications blackout.

When the Supreme Court stepped in, the Indian government only restored mobile internet services in January -- first in Hindu-dominated Jammu and then in Muslim-majority regions of Kashmir.

However, only government-authorized "whitelisted" websites were accessible. Restrictions on social media remained in force until March 4.

High-speed internet was restored on Aug. 17 in two of the disputed region's 20 districts -- the Ganderbal district in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley and Udhampur district in the Hindu-majority Jammu -- on a "trial basis" after a committee formed on the order of the top court recommended "calibrated easing of internet restrictions in comparatively less sensitive geographical areas."

Udhampur, where the Indian army's Northern Command Headquarters is located, is "militancy free." The district has a population of 550,000 out of Jammu and Kashmir's total population of 12.5 million. Compared to the rest of the Kashmir Valley, Ganderbal, with a population of 300,000, has witnessed fewer militancy-related incidents.

Numerous human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have repeatedly urged India to restore full internet access in the disputed region, with the calls gaining steam amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Disputed region

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965 and 1971 – two of them over Kashmir.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989./aa

ANKARA

Health officials in Ghana successfully completed a third round of planned Polio Supplementary Immunization Activities (SIA) in eight regions despite a disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday.

House-to-house campaigns were conducted by health professionals as well as trained volunteers who vaccinated “over 4.6m eligible children (0-59 months) in the Ashanti, Central, Eastern, Greater Accra, Volta, Upper West, Western and Western North regions,” WHO Africa said in a statement.

“These response vaccination campaigns became necessary after the country confirmed outbreak of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) and the subsequent declaration of public health emergency of national concern by the Ministry of Health,” it said.

The second round of the campaign was conducted from Sept. 10 - 13, with the third round between Oct. 8 - 11.

The UN health agency explained that in the third-round children aged between 6 to 59 months “were additionally given Vitamin A capsules which improves the functioning of the immune system and healthy growth and development of children.”

Teams delivered “key messages on improved personal hygiene and good sanitation practices, child welfare clinic (CWC) attendance, and the adherence to COVID safety protocols by caregivers.”

“In addition, the campaign offered an opportunity for active case search for acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases to further strengthen the sensitivity of the surveillance system,” according to the statement.

Ghana has confirmed 312 deaths and 47,461 infections from the COVID-19 virus, according to data compiled by US-based John Hopkins University./aa

ANKARA

Turkey on Wednesday announced a bounty of 675 million Turkish liras ($86.4 million) for the capture of 339 fugitives suspected of being members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in the country.

The Interior Ministry's wanted list contains 42 FETO members on red notice, 23 in blue, 17 in green, 48 in orange and 209 in gray, including both civilians and former military personnel who led the July 15 coup attempt.

Turkey’s wanted list is divided into five color-coded categories, with red as the most wanted, followed by blue, green, orange and gray.

Among those in the red category are FETO leader Fetullah Gulen, as well as key member of the terror group Adil Oksuz who led the coup attempt from the Akinci Base near the capital Ankara. Other most-wanted fugitives include members of FETO's so-called advisory council, for a total bounty of 420 million Turkish liras ($53.7 million).

Meanwhile, the total bounty for those in the blue category is 69 million liras ($8.8 million), while 34 million liras ($4.3 million) are on the heads of fugitives on green notice, 48 million liras ($6.1 million) on those on orange and 104 million liras ($13.3 million) on those on gray.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated a defeated coup on July 15, 2016 which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Turkey also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary./aa

PARIS

The French Council of Ministers has announced Wednesday afternoon the adoption of a bill extending the nationwide state of emergency until Feb. 16, 2021, due to the pandemic.

If it is to extend longer than a month, the bill must go to the parliament to be passed into law.

In a rare occurrence, the National Assembly will meet over the weekend to discuss it.

The branch of France's bicameral government does not customarily meet Saturday or Sunday unless national crises, like the coronavirus pandemic, warrant it. The bill will then go to the Senate for further debate.

The bill will give the government stronger powers to take the kinds of stricter measures when and where it needs to, such as the currently imposed curfew or local confinements.

The text declaring an official state of emergency must be in place in order for municipalities to then adopt further actions.

"The virus has no timetable. The health crisis will last. It allows us to take stronger measures to protect the French, such as the curfew," said Gabriel Attal, the government's spokesperson, in a statement to the French daily Le Figaro.

The text also would permit the extension of authorization to limit movement or apply the closure of businesses until April 1, 2021 if needed. It will also allow for the full compensation of certain sectors if hit by strict measures past Dec. 31.

France has been embroiled in a second wave, albeit smaller than the first, of COVID-19 and is shoring up all its resources and powers to deal with the rapid development of the virus throughout the country.

Daily sharp rises in infections and a slightly increasing death toll are only some of the more worrisome aspects.

The state of emergency had been in place from the start of lockdown until July 10 when it was lifted, but was then re-instituted last Saturday at midnight to install the government curfew put in place for Paris and eight other of France's large cities.

The Health Ministry on Tuesday reported 20,468 new COVID-19 infections, a spike over previous numbers earlier in the week. The total number of infections since the start of record-keeping for the epidemic is 930,745.

There were 163 new fatalities with 33,885 total fatalities as well. 8,754 people remain hospitalized with 1,493 of those patients in ICU./aa