Around 16,000 mosques had been destroyed or damaged, according to an Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) report based on satellite imagery documenting hundreds of sacred sites and statistical modelling. Most of the destruction had taken place in the last three years and an estimated 8,500 mosques had been completely destroyed, the report said.

Chinese authorities have demolished thousands of mosques in Xinjiang, an Australian think tank said Friday, in the latest report of widespread human rights abuses in the restive region.

Rights groups say more than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking people have been incarcerated in camps across the northwestern territory, with residents pressured to give up traditional and religious activities.

Around 16,000 mosques had been destroyed or damaged, according to an Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) report based on satellite imagery documenting hundreds of sacred sites and statistical modelling.

Most of the destruction had taken place in the last three years and an estimated 8,500 mosques had been completely destroyed, the report said, with more damage outside the urban centres of Urumqi and Kashgar.

Many mosques that escaped demolition had their domes and minarets removed, according to the research, which estimated fewer than 15,500 intact and damaged mosques were left standing around Xinjiang.

If correct, it would be the lowest number of Muslim houses of worship in the region since the decade of national upheaval sparked by the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s.

By contrast, none of the Christian churches and Buddhist temples in Xinjiang that were studied by the think tank had been damaged or destroyed.

ASPI also said nearly a third of major Islamic sacred sites in Xinjiang -- including shrines, cemeteries and pilgrimage routes -- had been razed.

An AFP investigation last year found dozens of cemeteries had been destroyed in the region, leaving human remains and bricks from broken tombs scattered across the land.

Friday's report comes a day after ASPI said it had identified a network of detention centres in the region much larger than previous estimates./aa

BOGOTA, Colombia

More than six months since the first coronavirus case was detected in Latin America, there is an excess of 9 million cases and 330,000 deaths in the region, as of Friday. 

The first case was reported Feb. 26 in Brazil and it took until May to reach 500,000 cases. Four months later, cases in Latin America and the Caribbean passed the 9 million mark, according to Johns Hopkins University, even as some countries begin to record a slight decline in infections. 

Brazil  

Brazil, one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, along with the US and India, it registered 729 deaths in the last 24 hours.

It recorded more than 4.6 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 140,537.

Rio de Janeiro has been the state hit second-hardest in Brazil, after Sao Paulo, the country's most populous state.   

Chile 

Chile reported 2,222 new cases in the last 24 hours, the highest number of new infections since late July, when it was in full confinement.

The country has registered 453,868 infections and 12,527 deaths.  

Mexico 

Mexico reached 75,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths and has the world’s fourth-highest death toll.  

Colombia and Peru also remain among the 10 countries with the most cases in the world.

With almost 32,000 deaths, Peru has the highest per capita death rate from COVID-19./aa

ANKARA

Chinese companies that are listed and traded on the US stock market are worried about uncertainty regarding US-China trade tensions ahead of November presidential elections.

Almost 800 days since US President Donald Trump ignited a trade conflict with Beijing, Chinese firms have already started to feel pressure with more regulatory oversight in US stock markets from a Senate bill to forced sale of TikTok's US businesses.

The video-sharing app, along with messaging and payment app WeChat, was banned from US app stores last Sunday because of Trump’s executive orders that claimed they "maliciously” collect personal data of American users.

It will not be surprising for Trump to toughen his stance in Sino-American trade relations, as he also blames Beijing for the emergence and spread of the coronavirus around the world that crippled major economies.

Trump's opponent in the race for the White House, Democratic nominee Joe Biden, is widely expected to have a softer diplomatic approach toward Beijing.

But it would not end the trade conflict, after his campaign advisor, Kurt Campbell, indicated Democrats acknowledged Trump was "accurate in diagnosing China’s predatory practices," which include technology transfers, intellectual property rights and the US' ever growing trade deficit with China.

Since kicking off a trade war in February 2018, the Trump administration slapped tariffs on $550 billion worth of Chinese products. Beijing responded by imposing tariffs on $185 billion on US goods.

Despite the tariffs, the US' trade deficit in July 2020 soared to $63.6 billion, its highest level since July 2008, due to record increases in imports, according to the US Commerce Department.

The US' trade deficit with China was $375 billion in 2017, but that figure increased to $419 billion in 2018. It later shrank to $345 billion in 2019 when tariffs kicked in, according to the US Census Bureau.

Accounting, transparency major issues

Trade tensions aside, Chinese companies, like other non-US firms, have long enjoyed high exposure and access to investors and capital when it comes to trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) – the world's largest financial market valued at more than $35 trillion.

That could change, however, if trade relations with Washington does not subside after the Nov. 3 presidential election when Chinese firms could start looking for other financial markets for capital and investors.

Being traded on the NYSE could bring some legislative burden for Chinese firms as well, after the US Senate passed a bipartisan bill in May "to kick deceitful Chinese companies off US exchanges."

"It’s asinine that we’re giving Chinese companies the opportunity to exploit hardworking Americans -- people who put their retirement and college savings in our exchange -- because we don’t insist on examining their books," Republican Senator John Kennedy, from Louisiana, said about the bill.

"As we continue to experience the economic fallout and volatility caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to protect main street investors is all the more important. For too long, Chinese companies have disregarded US reporting standards, misleading our investors," said Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen, from Maryland.

150 Chinese firms with $1.2T market cap in US

After the 2008 global financial crisis, China-based firms that have listings on US stock markets have increased, but so did problems they bring, such as irregular accounting practices and lack of transparency, compared to US standards.

Even in China some companies face issues, such as coffeehouse chain Luckin Coffee being slapped Tuesday with a $9 million fine by Chinese regulators for fraudulent practices in inflating sales and profit figures.

As of Feb. 25, 2019, there were 156 Chinese companies, 11 state-owned, listed on US exchanges with a total market capitalization of $1.2 trillion, according to US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. That amount is around 3.5% of US stock market's valuation.

On top of the list, based on market capitalization, comes e-commerce firm Alibaba, which had an initial public offering (IPO) on the NYSE in 2014, raising $25 billion on its first day of stock offering, and marking the largest IPO in world history back then.

Next are Chinese energy firms, such as Asia's largest oil and gas producer PetroChina, a subsidiary of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), followed by China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec).

After those companies are China Life Insurance Company, the largest life insurer in China with 70% state-ownership, and then comes tech companies like internet firm Baidu, China Telecom, and online retailer JD.com.

Asian markets offer higher valuation

Those major energy and tech firms, of course, have the option to leave the US stock market and list in other exchanges in Hong Kong, London and Tokyo -- a move that could damage the US' long-standing power as a global financial capital if it becomes a trend for other firms of different nations.

Not all Chinese companies can become successful as Alibaba, but Asian markets have recently understood the value of start-ups that show high potential, and have begun making local listings more affordable and attractive.

Luckin Coffee, which was founded in Beijing in 2017, has a market cap of $550 million on the NYSE, but its number of stores exceeded those of Starbucks in China as of January, showing great potential for expansion.

Tencent, the world's largest video game vendor and owner of popular messaging and social payment app WeChat, which was also banned by Trump in US app stores, only has a market cap of $49 billion on the NYSE, but $4.8 trillion on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, China's GDP expanded between 6% and 11%, and it opened its economy faster than US and Europe amid COVID-19. Some experts point to the growing size of the middle-class and rapid growth of investors in the world's second largest economy as strong support for Chinese firms in local stock markets.

Whereas, the world's strongest economic power, US, saw its economy contract a record 31.7% during the April-June period of this year, while consumer spending has hardly recovered from the current recession, which is the largest since Great Depression./aa

OVIEDO, Spain

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told world leaders they had the urgent moral duty to “offer the world a new horizon of growth and progress” and that the current socio-economic model is failing young people.  

Addressing the UN General Assembly virtually on Friday, Spain’s socialist leader pushed a progressive agenda focused on technological progress, tackling climate change, poverty, and discrimination. 

Without naming any individuals, he slammed world leaders who have eroded the foundations of multilateral institutions like the World Health Organization and World Trade Organization, promoted nationalism, and abandoned international treaties. 

“We cannot and must not leave the future of our young people in the hands of those who are intent on putting up the physical and ideological borders we worked so hard to tear down,” said Sanchez. 

He said the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, and a recent series of recessions demonstrate that many of the foundational ideas of the world order are no longer viable. 

“We cannot continue to aspire to rapid, unnatural growth. We cannot build a world based on the destruction of the environment. We cannot nurture the fiction of progress that only means greater injustice and inequality,” he argued. 

Sanchez called on countries to commit to more aggressive targets to fight climate change and to reinforce multilateral institutions, adding that financial institutions must change their approach to Latin America. 

“We have allowed dissatisfaction and distrust of governments to spread across the globe. Whether due to indifference or cowardice, we’ve ignored insidious developments,” he said./aa

The US military is making increasing use in Syria of a gruesome and secretive non-explosive drone missile that deploys flying blades to kill its targets.

Described as less likely to kill non-combatants, the so-called ninja bomb – whose development was first disclosed last year – has been used a number of times in the last year to kill militants in Syria, including those linked to aal-Qaida, most recently earlier this month.

Officially designated as the Hellfire AGM-114R9X – usually shortened to R9X and sometimes know as the “Flying Ginsu” – the weapon has been increasingly deployed in targeted assassinations by the US Joint Special Operations Command.

The missile, believed to have been first used in 2017 to kill al-Qaida’s then No 2 leader, Abu Khayr al Masri, in Idlib province, first came to wider attention when its existence was disclosed by an article in the Wall Street Journal last year.

The weapon uses a combination of the force of 100lb of dense material flying at high speed and six attached blades which deploy before impact to crush and slice its victims.

Video that emerged in June this year, posted by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, appeared to show the remains of one of the missiles used in a strike on a vehicle, also in Syria’s Idlib that killed a Jordanian and Yemen, both reportedly members of Hurras al-Din, a group affiliated with aal-Qaida.

The weapon is believed to have been developed during the administration of Barack Obama at a time when the US policy of targeted drone assassinations attracted considerable criticism for the number of civilian casualties caused by the strikes.

Since its deployment it has been used sparingly, apparently most often in Syria.

According to the New York Times the most recent use of the missile was on 14 September, when it was reportedly used to kill Sayyaf al-Tunsi, a Tunisian.

Observers have speculated that the increasing use of the weapon in Syria – which increasingly has targeted leadership members of al-Qaida’s affiliates – has been driven by the complexities of operations in Syria where the US is required to work around a large Russian engagement.

Related: Deadly clash in Syria a vivid reminder of US troops' ill-defined mission

The bladed, non-explosive version of the Hellfire missile is the latest iteration of a weapon that has undergone several variations since it was used to weaponize previously unarmed Predator drones in around 2000.

The first Hellfires were designed as tank busters with a powerful shaped charge, used in Afghanistan for which they were regarded as not entirely suitable.

A later version was developed that carried a heavier explosive warhead , but which led in turn to issues with civilian casualties, leading to the development of the R9X.

Up until May last year, it is believed that the weapon had been used no more than half a dozen times. But since then it appears to have been used increasingly more often.

The new missile appears designed for use in circumstances where a more conventional explosive missile might not be considered for fears of killing non-combatants.

While conceding that the weapon appeared to be less dangerous to civilians, Iain Overton of Action on Armed Violence warned against the impression that it was a “more humanitarian weapon”.

“This weapon, whilst only used only a handful of times, does appear to have less wide-area effects than other air-dropped explosive weapons.

“However, the vast majority of the US explosive arsenal does, all too often, cause terrible collateral damage. Given Trump’s administration also authorised the use of the largest non-nuclear explosion in the history of the world in Afghanistan, it’s important to be wary of the PR optics that the US military is now using ‘humanitarian’ weapons.”

Overton also underlined issues with a targeted assassination campaign – using any weapons – that had little oversight.

“This new weapon, framed as an alternative to larger bombs, might be sold as almost ethical, but if it side-steps due judicial process, and is as susceptible to wrong targeting as other strikes, it is no more than an assassin’s blade wielded by a state rarely held to account for its actions.”/

The Guardian

I have argued before in this space that President Trump should buy his second term. The closer we get to the presidential election, the harder it is for me to believe that he and congressional Republicans have not passed another major stimulus bill, or even promised one in the new year if Trump wins again.

The easiest way to do this at present would be to take up the package already being prepared by centrist Democrats in the House, which leaves out the $67 billion for dog yoga or crystal healing or whatever it was the GOP objected to back in May. The $2.4 trillion spending bill will include assistance for airlines, restaurants, and other businesses as well as a second round of direct payments to Americans, probably once more in the amount of $1,200 for individuals and $2,400 for married couples, with an additional $600 per child (with no cap on the latter, thank you).

It's not like this money would be lit on fire. No state has an unemployment rate as low as the national average was in February, when it hovered around 3.5 percent; in half of them it remains 7 percent or higher, including in crucial swing states like Florida (7.4), Michigan (8.7), and Pennsylvania (10.3). We are lucky that so far the ongoing recession has not been worse. (Insanely enough, some economists estimate that total personal income is actually higher than it was before the imposition of lockdowns even though wages have declined, thanks largely to increased government spending.)

Trump's motivations here do not even need to be humane. He can think of it as an investment opportunity. After all, his entire career has involved throwing money around and hoping that it works. Sometimes Trump Tower gets built, sometimes your partners lose 90 cents on the dollar. Giving people four-figure checks with your name on them a few weeks before an election? For a guy who is supposed to be an evil authoritarian who will stop at nothing to maintain his hold on power, it seems odd that this painfully obvious solution hasn't been attempted yet.

What's the holdup here? I do not think it is Trump himself. If the moratoriums on evictions and student loan interest are any indication, he is perfectly willing to take sweeping, indeed arguably unconstitutional action if he thinks it will redound to his credit. (If only he had announced a debt jubilee and a jobs program as well.) Landlords are probably not thrilled with the president at the moment, but nobody as far as I am aware has any serious objections to a second round of Trump Bucks. He should take the money and run.

Rather than the president or members of his Cabinet, I think the blame for the last few months of inaction belongs to Republicans in Congress. If I didn't know better, I would swear that these people wanted to see Joe Biden in the White House. How else can you explain the bizarre red lines being drawn by prominent GOP senators around figures like $1.5 (as opposed to 2) trillion? While the nomination of a Supreme Court justice is probably not the best time to pick a fight with his own party over a spending bill, Trump should risk it. With the polls in purple states suggesting an election at least as close as the last one, he has nothing to lose.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — At least 16 migrants trying to reach Europe drowned in the Mediterranean Sea when their small dinghy capsized off the coast of Libya, the U.N. migration agency reported Friday, the latest shipwreck to underscore the deadly risks facing those who flee the war-afflicted North African country.

Libyan fishermen spotted the sinking boat late Thursday, said the International Organization for Migration, and managed to pull 22 people from the water, including those from Egypt, Bangladesh, Syria, Somalia and Ghana.

Three dead bodies were found floating in the water, including one Syrian man and woman, and at least 13 other migrants were missing and presumed drowned, the IOM said.

The boat had set off from the town of Zliten, east of the Libyan capital of Tripoli, late on Wednesday.

The Libyan Coast Guard said that it had ordered the rescue, and warned the death toll could rise further as search teams scoured the area for more victims.

“So many boats are leaving these days, but autumn is a very difficult season,” said Commodore Masoud Abdal Samad. “When it gets windy, it's deadly. It changes in an instant."

In the years since the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, war-torn Libya has emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants hoping to get to Europe from Africa and the Middle East. Smugglers often pack desperate families into ill-equipped rubber boats that stall and founder along the perilous Central Mediterranean route. At least 20,000 people have died in those waters since 2014, according to the IOM.

Those who survived Friday’s disaster were taken to the Tripoli port, where they received medical care for their burns, a common consequence of leaked engine fuel mixing with saltwater, said Safa Msehli, an IOM spokeswoman.

Libyan authorities took the survivors to the Zliten detention center, run by the Tripoli-based government’s Interior Ministry. Migrants rescued at sea and returned to Libya routinely land in detention centers notorious for torture, extortion and abuse. Amnesty International revealed in a report Thursday that thousands of migrants have been forcibly disappeared from unofficial militia-run detention centers.

The shipwreck, the second to be recorded by the U.N. in as many weeks, “signals the need now more than ever for state-led search and rescue capacity to be redeployed and the need to support NGO vessels operating in a vacuum,” said Msehli.

Since 2017, European countries, particularly Italy, have delegated most search-and-rescue responsibility to the Libyan Coast Guard, which intercepts migrant boats before they can reach European waters. Activists have lamented that European authorities are increasingly blocking the work of nongovernmental rescue organizations that patrol the Mediterranean and seek to disembark at European ports.

Libya has seen a lull in conflict for the past few months, after forces allied with the U.N.-supported government in Tripoli pushed out east-based military commander Khalifa Hifter, ending his 14-month campaign to capture the capital. Yet with the halt of hostilities, western Libya has returned to the all-too-familiar rhythm of battles between the dozens of fractious militias around the capital.

On Friday, in the nearby town of Tajoura, two rival armed groups — the Tajoura Lions and the Daman Brigades — fought sporadic battles that killed at least two militia leaders and one fighter, according to an officer with the Ministry of Interior in Tripoli. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk to the media.

The civilian death toll remains unclear, but the sounds of tanks and heavy weapons echoed through the populated neighborhood, home to Tripoli's main civilian airport and other government buildings. The U.N. Mission in Libya expressed “great concern” that the fierce clashes “resulted in damages to private properties and put civilians in harm's way."

Tripoli's Defense Minister Salah al-Namroush called for the two militias to be disbanded and threatened to “use force” against the groups “if they do not immediately implement a cease-fire.”