JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — In October, Indonesian diplomats and Muslim clerics stepped off a plane in China. While the diplomats were there to finalize deals to ensure millions of doses reached Indonesian citizens, the clerics had a much different concern: Whether the COVID-19 vaccine was permissible for use under Islamic law.

As companies race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine and countries scramble to secure doses, questions about the use of pork products — banned by some religious groups — has raised concerns about the possibility of disrupted immunization campaigns.

Pork-derived gelatin has been widely used as a stabilizer to ensure vaccines remain safe and effective during storage and transport. Some companies have worked for years to develop pork-free vaccines: Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis has produced a pork-free meningitis vaccine, while Saudi- and Malaysia-based AJ Pharma is currently working on one of their own.

But demand, existing supply chains, cost and the shorter shelf life of vaccines not containing porcine gelatin means the ingredient is likely to continue to be used in a majority of vaccines for years, said Dr. Salman Waqar, general secretary of the British Islamic Medical Association.

Spokespeople for Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca have said that pork products are not part of their COVID-19 vaccines. But limited supply and preexisting deals worth millions of dollars with other companies means that some countries with large Muslim populations, such as Indonesia, will receive vaccines that have not yet been certified to be gelatin-free.

This presents a dilemma for religious communities, including Orthodox Jews and Muslims, where the consumption of pork products is deemed religiously unclean, and how the ban is applied to medicine, he said.

“There’s a difference of opinion amongst Islamic scholars as to whether you take something like pork gelatin and make it undergo a rigorous chemical transformation," Waqar said. “Is that still considered to be religiously impure for you to take?”

The majority consensus from past debates over pork gelatin use in vaccines is that it is permissible under Islamic law, as “greater harm” would occur if the vaccines weren’t used, said Dr. Harunor Rashid, an associate professor at the University of Sydney.

There's a similar assessment by a broad consensus of religious leaders in the Orthodox Jewish community as well.

“According to the Jewish law, the prohibition on eating pork or using pork is only forbidden when it’s a natural way of eating it,” said Rabbi David Stav, chairman of Tzohar, a rabbinical organization in Israel.

If “it’s injected into the body, not (eaten) through the mouth," then there is “no prohibition and no problem, especially when we are concerned about sicknesses,” he said.

Yet there have been dissenting opinions on the issue — some with serious health consequences for Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population, some 225 million.

In 2018, the Indonesian Ulema Council, the Muslim clerical body that issues certifications that a product is halal, or permissible under Islamic law, decreed that the measles and rubella vaccines were “haram,” or unlawful, because of the gelatin. Religious and community leaders began to urge parents to not allow their children to be vaccinated.

“Measles cases subsequently spiked, giving Indonesia the third-highest rate of measles in the world,” said Rachel Howard, director of the health care market research group Research Partnership.

A decree was later issued by the Muslim clerical body saying it was permissible to receive the vaccine, but cultural taboos still led to continued low vaccination rates, Howard said.

“Our studies have found that some Muslims in Indonesia feel uncomfortable with accepting vaccinations containing these ingredients," even when the Muslim authority issues guidelines saying they are permitted, she said.

Governments have taken steps to address the issue. In Malaysia, where the halal status of vaccines has been identified as the biggest issue among Muslim parents, stricter laws have been enacted so that parents must vaccinate their children or face fines and jail time. In Pakistan, where there has been waning vaccine confidence for religious and political reasons, parents have been jailed for refusing to vaccinate their children against polio.

But with rising vaccine hesitancy and misinformation spreading around the globe, including in religious communities, Rashid said community engagement is “absolutely necessary.”

“It could be disastrous,” if there is not strong community engagement from governments and health care workers, he said.

In Indonesia, the government has already said it will include the Muslim clerical body in the COVID-19 vaccine procurement and certification process.

“Public communication regarding the halal status, price, quality and distribution must be well-prepared,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in October.

While they were in China in the fall, the Indonesian clerics inspected China's Sinovac Biotech facilities, and clinical trials involving some 1,620 volunteers are also underway in Indonesia for the company's vaccine. The government has announced several COVID-19 vaccine procurement deals with the company totaling millions of doses.

Sinovac Biotech, as well as Chinese companies Sinopharm and CanSino Biologics — which all have COVID-19 vaccines in late-stage clinical trials and deals selling millions of doses around the world — did not respond to Associated Press requests for ingredient information.

In China, none of the COVID-19 vaccines has been granted final market approval, but more than 1 million health care workers and others who have been deemed at high risk of infection have received vaccines under emergency use permission. The companies have yet to disclose how effective the vaccines are or possible side effects.

Pakistan is late-stage clinical trials of the CanSino Biologics vaccine. Bangladesh previously had an agreement with Sinovac Biotech to conduct clinical trials in the country, but the trials have been delayed due to a funding dispute. Both countries have some of the largest Muslim populations in the world.

While health care workers on the ground in Indonesia are still largely engaged in efforts to contain the virus as numbers continue to surge, Waqar said government efforts to reassure Indonesians will be key to a successful immunization campaign as COVID-19 vaccines are approved for use.

But, he said, companies producing the vaccines must also be part of such community outreach.

“The more they are transparent, the more they are open and honest about their product, the more likely it is that there are communities that have confidence in the product and will be able to have informed discussions about what it is they want to do,” he said.

“Because, ultimately, it is the choice of individuals.”

At least 18 suspects were arrested in southeastern Turkey on Sunday as part of a probe into deadly terrorist incidents from 2014, according to security sources.

The suspects – including some public servants – were wanted over alleged involvement in the incidents under warrants issued by prosecutors in the southeastern province of Batman, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

In 2014, encouraged by developments in northern Syria, the terrorist group PKK adopted a new strategy in Turkey and sought to weaken the Turkish state by disrupting its unity in an effort to gain territory in line with its separatist agenda.

On Oct. 6-8, 2014, PKK ringleaders and their supporters incited armed violence across the country, instructing militants, terrorists, and ideological supporters to take to the streets and rebel against the Turkish state on the pretext of a Daesh/ISIS attack on the Syrian border city of Ayn al-Arab (Kobani).

The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) – a party Turkey has said is linked to the terrorist PKK – also made a statement calling on people to take to the streets in protest.

The call to protest led to violent events in 35 provinces and 96 districts, causing the deaths of 37 citizens – including civilians distributing humanitarian aid during a Muslim holiday – and injuries to 761 people, including 326 law enforcement officers.

The violence triggered material losses totaling billions of Turkish liras (millions of dollars) as nearly 200 schools were burned down, 268 public buildings were destroyed, and 1,731 houses and workplaces were looted or damaged.

In the face of the violence, the Turkish state took immediate action to reestablish public order.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants/aa.

BAGHDAD, Iraq

Iraq's Central Bank has devalued the national currency against the US dollar by almost 20 percent.

The bank said on Sunday that the exchange rate will be set at 1,450 dinars per dollar to the Finance Ministry and at 1,460 to public banks.

Dollar will be sold to the public at 1,470 dinars, the central bank said.

Previously, the dollar was sold for 1,182 Iraqi dinars.

The devaluation came as the Iraqi government faces a financial crisis brought by low oil prices as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Iraqi move to devaluate the currency has sparked public outrage as the devaluation would worsen economic woes for the Iraqi civilians.

Iraq, the world’s third-largest oil exporter, says the devaluation was necessary to overcome the country’s economic crisis./aa

Turkey continues to lend a helping hand to people in need as the world’s most generous country during the coronavirus pandemic, said Turkey’s foreign minister, marking Dec. 20, International Human Solidarity Day.

"As the most generous country in the world, we continue to give our helping hand to needy people during the outbreak and to be the voice of the oppressed," said Mevlut Cavusoglu on Twitter on Sunday.

He also quoted Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, as saying: "Civilization is not a matter of means, but of conscience."

In his tweet, Cavusoglu also shared video footage of Turkey’s aid efforts.

This September, speaking on the UN’s 75th anniversary, Erdogan said: "As the most generous aid donor country in terms of the ratio of Turkish assistance to its GDP, we tried to alleviate the problems caused by the pandemic with our available means.”

Last week, Erdogan stressed the importance of international solidarity and aid during the pandemic, noting that Turkey had provided aid to some 156 countries and nine international organizations since it emerged in China about a year ago./aa

Eighteen Italian fishermen recently released after three months of detention in Libya are returning home.

The sailors were abducted by forces loyal to renegade general Khalifa Haftar, and were kept in Benghazi.

Cristina Amabilino, wife of one of the seamen awaiting his return in Mazara del Vallo, a port town in Sicilly, told Anadolu Agency on Sunday that her husband was kept in a dark, four square-meter room.

I know what he's been through, she said, adding: "It's a shame that the government could not bring them back for so long. This is surreal, waiting for 108 days was a torture."

Tunisian Insaf Jemmali, son of another abducted fisherman, said he was aware of the situation since he spoke to his father over phone.

He denied that the sailors violated Libya's territorial waters. "This is not true, they were in international waters," he said, adding that he thinks the issue was political in nature.

Jemmali said they were shifted to four different locations, were under immense psychological pressure, and did not even know what they were eating.

It is not clear if Italy agreed to any concessions but Haftar in September had demanded the release of four Libyans arrested in 2015 for human trafficking.

The North African country has been torn by a civil war since Gaddafi was toppled in 2011./aa

The year 2020 saw many major developments towards protecting wildlife and the environment, including bans on illegal wildlife trades and single use plastics while many more reports were released on increasing threats to nature as well as wildlife.

Here is a look at global environmental developments, reports, events, and stories of 2020 compiled by Anadolu Agency.

JANUARY

Jan. 1:

- Monaco bans disposable plastic cotton buds, cups, cutlery, and plates, after banning single-use plastic bags in 2016 and plastic straws and stirrers in 2019.

Jan. 13:

- According to the latest research published on Journal Advances In Atmospheric Sciences, heat in the world’s oceans reaches a new record level in 2019 and the past five years are the top five hottest years recorded in the ocean, and the last 10 years are the top decade on record.

Jan. 14:

- More than 5,000 camels are killed by Australian authorities in what they called “urgent response to threats” posed by the rising number of feral camels due to drought.

Jan. 15:

- 2019 was the second hottest year on record globally, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA.

Jan. 16:

- Microsoft announces it will be carbon negative by 2030 and remove from the environment by 2050 all the carbon companies emitted either directly or by electrical consumption.

- Germany agrees to phase out coal-fired power plants by 2030 and compensation of $45B for four German states which have lignite mines and coal-fired power plants.

Jan. 19:

- China’s Environment Ministry announces plastic bags will be banned in major cities by end of the year and will be banned in all cities and towns in 2022.

Jan. 20:

- Wild animal circuses are banned in England as of today.

Jan. 29:

- British daily The Guardian becomes the first global news organization to ban an advertisement from oil and gas companies.

FEBRUARY

Feb. 2:

- Eight-year-old Indian climate activist Licypriya Kangujam, the 2019 World Children Peace Prize Laureate and the founder of Child Movement, receives Noble Citizen Award 2020.

Feb. 4:

- Japan announces plans to build more than 20 new coal-fired power plants at a time many countries pledge to shut down theirs as they are known as the “dirtiest” source of energy.

Feb. 6:

- The UN weather authority describes the record high temperature of 18 degrees Celsius (64 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Antarctic region as the latest worrying sign of climate change.

Feb. 7:

- Tunisia will ban single-use plastic bags at supermarkets and pharmacies, starting gradually in March, before phasing all single-use plastics out completely in 2021.

Feb. 12:

- Photographer Sam Rowley’s Station Squabble image of two mice fighting over scraps of food at a London underground wins wildlife photographer of the year at Lumix People’s Choice Award, organized annually by the National History Museum.

Feb. 18:

- Pope Francis calls for action on the Amazon forest and describes the destruction of it as a crime.

Feb. 20:

- Some 900,000 pangolins were trafficked, over 200 tons of African elephant ivory and 100,000 pig-nosed turtles were seized in recent years in the Southeast Asian countries, according to a report from TRAFFIC organization.

Feb. 24:

- China officially bans the trade and consumption of wild animals over deadly the coronavirus outbreak, as legislative committee passes a comprehensive ban.

MARCH

March 4:

- European Commission releases long-awaited European Climate Law to make Europe’s economy and society climate neutral by 2050.

March 5:

- China seizes more than 20 tons of smuggled wildlife products and arrests 12 suspects over illegal wildlife trade.

March 10:

- World Meteorological Organization releases the State of Global Climate Report 2019 which indicates that greenhouse gas concentrations continued to rise last year with no signs of a slowdown so far in 2020.

- Both the Arctic and Antarctica saw below mean sea ice cover in the last month compared to the 1981-2010 average, according to Copernicus Climate Change Service, Europe’s climate body.

March 19:

- Microplastics are generated even when opening plastic packaging, according to a report published on Scientific Reports website.

March 24:

- In its February report, German-based search engine Ecosia announces it has “planted” nearly 1 million trees in Brazil, Burkina Faso, and Tanzania in the last month.

March 25:

- A 36% decline in air pollution in Istanbul during parts of March is clear evidence that the measures taken against the coronavirus increase air quality, according to a Turkish expert in atmospheric science and air quality.

APRIL

April 1:

- Authorities in Malaysia announce the seizure of over six tons of pangolin scales worth nearly $18 million -- the country’s biggest seizure this year so far.

April 2:

- The UN climate change conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland is postponed due to uncertain times ahead amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

April 9:

- Chile will peak its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, the country says in an updated national plan presented to the UN.

April 13:

- The longest animal ever, 150-foot-long (45 meters) siphonophore -- a stringy creature like coral -- is discovered in a deep-sea canyon off Australia.

April 15:

- Sir John Theodore Houghton, a prominent British atmospheric physicist and climate scientist, dies a suspected case of coronavirus at age 88.

April 20:

- Austria becomes the second European country to eliminate coal from electricity production after the shutdown of its last coal power plant.

April 21:

- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects that 2020 will be the warmest year, beating 2016, the El Nino year.

MAY

May 4:

- A camera image shows that the first brown bear in 150 years has been spotted in a national park in northern Spain.

May 6:

- A record shipment of 26 tons of illegal dried shark fins was discovered in Hong Kong, which is the largest of its kind ever to be seized in the region.

May 9:

- Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil breaks a new record in the first four months of 2020, with over 1,200 square kilometers (463 square miles) of forests disappearing.

May 16:

- Severe climate conditions displace nearly half a million people, including at least 240,000 children, in Burundi, Rwanda, Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, and Tanzania, according to the humanitarian group Save the Children.

May 19:

- The University of California announces that it has fully divested from fossil fuels, making it the largest university in the US to do so.

May 20:

- At least 1,677 of 15,060 assessed European species are threatened with extinction. The most endangered are snails, clams, and fishes, says European Parliament.

JUNE

June 3:

- Russia declares a state of emergency in the Siberian city of Norilsk following a major fuel leak in the environmentally sensitive Arctic Circle.

June 5:

- China upgrades the national protection status of its native pangolin species which brings the world's most-trafficked mammal under the highest form of protection as part of national legislation.

- The Ethiopia government announces its plans to plant 5 billion seedlings during this year's rainy season. "This is part of our larger goal of planting 20 billion trees during a four-year period," says Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

June 9:

- China removes the pangolin scales from an official 2020 list of traditional medicines as part of efforts to protect its population.

June 17:

- Croatian authorities declare a natural disaster in the country’s northernmost province after 50 million bees are found dead in the region of Medzimurje.

June 24:

- Germany bans single-use plastic products, which will come into effect from July 2021, as the Cabinet agrees in line with an EU directive to reduce waste.

June 26:

- The smooth handfish, also known as Sympterichthys unipennis in scientific classification, officially goes extinct, according to a report by Mongabay, a US-based conservation and environmental science news platform.

JULY

July 2:

- The UN's Global E-Waste Monitor releases a report, saying a record 53.6 million tons (59.1 US tons) of e-waste was produced globally last year.

July 4:

- Japanese alpine plants are threatened by the invasion of dwarf bamboo species in the mountainous regions of the country, according to Kyodo news agency.

July 13:

- Pakistan achieves UN Sustainable Development Goal for protecting the environment and holding off climate change a decade before the deadline, according to the UN Development Program and Pakistan's Climate Change Ministry.

July 20:

- Experts add the North Atlantic right whale to the list of critically endangered species, one step from extinction.

July 22:

- Reports say Katta O'Donnell, a 23-year-old law student, sues the Australian government for failing to disclose climate change-related risks to investors in its sovereign bonds.

July 24:

- Vietnam bans the import of wildlife and wildlife products to reduce the risk of further pandemics.

July 27:

- Deutsche Bank says it will no longer finance new projects in the Arctic region or oil sands projects -- the latest bank action on fossil fuels.

AUGUST

Aug. 4:

- Climate change is undermining the Mediterranean civilization and regional balances, deputy secretary-general of the Union for the Mediterranean says in an interview with Anadolu Agency.

Aug. 12:

- A group of 36 Brazilian companies and four business organizations write to the National Council for the Legal Amazon led by Vice President Hamilton Mourao, seeking "strong and effective" measures against illegal deforestation in the Amazon and other areas.

Aug. 13:

- Belgium sees the hottest week in its meteorological history, announces the country’s most famous weather reporter David Dehenauw.

Aug. 17:

- In 2020 so far 303 leopards die in India, 93 of them are killed by poachers, according to the Wildlife Protection Society of India.

SEPTEMBER

Sept. 8:

- Air pollution remains Europe's top environmental threat to health, with more than 400,000 premature deaths due to air pollution every year in the EU, according to a European Environment Agency report.

Sept. 9:

- Zimbabwe bans mining inside wildlife parks following pressure by conservationists.

Sept. 15:

- The northern hemisphere is experiencing its hottest summer on record, while dry weather and climate change continue to cause wildfires across western US states, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Sept. 16:

- Sub-Saharan Africa is more vulnerable to climate change than any other region, threatening lives and livelihoods, and undermining economic growth, says the head of the IMF.

Sept. 23:

- The World Meteorological Organization recognizes a temperature of minus 69.6 C (minus 93.3 F) on Dec. 22, 1991 as the lowest-ever recorded in the northern hemisphere.

OCTOBER

Oct. 2:

- Pangolins continue to face extinction despite new regulations and bans toward the protection of the "scaly anteaters" by southeast Asian nations.

Oct. 7:

- Globally, September 2020 was the warmest September on record, with the global average 0.05 C (32 F) warmer than the previous warmest September in 2019, according to Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Oct. 8:

- Canada introduces a plan to ban harmful single-use plastics by the end of 2021.

Oct. 20:

- Reports say koalas, which were highly affected by unprecedented wildfires in 2019, are at risk of becoming extinct from nature in New South Wales, Australia.

Oct. 21:

- Air pollution, the fourth leading risk factor for early death, added 6.67 million deaths to the global toll last year, according to the State of Global Air 2020 report.

Oct. 29:

- India's only pitcher plant, known as Nepenthes khasiana, is at risk due to wild plant collection in the country, says local media.

NOVEMBER

Nov. 4:

- The US officially exits the Paris Agreement, making the country the only major polluter in the world leaving the historic pact reached to combat climate change.

Nov. 5:

- Europe sees its warmest October on record, while globally, it is the third warmest October, according to Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Nov. 10:

- The African migratory red locust outbreak in Namibia’s Zambezi region is brought under control after a team of experts fought the plague for several weeks.

Nov. 17:

- Global actions to tackle climate change are currently failing to protect the people who are most at risk, the International Red Cross said in a report, noting that over the past decade, 83% of disasters are caused by extreme weather and climate-related events.

Nov. 18:

- The British government announces that the sale of new petrol and diesel cars to be banned in the UK after 2030, as part of a plan to tackle climate change.

Nov. 23:

- CO2 level in the atmosphere hits a new record of 410.5 parts per million in 2019 and will likely rise this year despite a minor cut in emissions due to COVID-19 lockdowns, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Nov. 25:

- China announces banning all kinds of solid waste imports as of January next year.

DECEMBER

Dec. 1:

- Australia breaks the record for its warmest November in history, according to local media.

- Amid a loosening of environmental laws under Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, deforestation in the Amazon rainforest exceeds 11,000 square kilometers (4,247 square miles), according to official data.

Dec. 2:

- The World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) provisional annual climate report says 2020 is on track to be one of the three warmest years on record after 2016 and 2019.

Dec. 3:

- The world needs to decrease fossil fuel production by 6% per year to limit global warming to 1.5 C (34.7 F) between 2020 and 2030, according to the United Nations Environment Program's 2020 Production Gap Report.

Dec. 4:

- After a difficult period for all humanity in 2020 due to the global COVID-19 crisis, experts told Anadolu Agency that they project worse problems in the coming period, including famines related to climate change and the pandemic.

Dec. 7:

- Globally, November 2020 is the warmest November on record, with the global average of 0.1 degrees Celcius warmer than the previous warmest November in 2016 and 2019, according to Europe’s climate body.

- More than 60,000 koalas are killed, injured or displaced by the last summer's bushfire crisis in Australia, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Dec. 8:

- China and Nepal end a years-long dispute over the height of the world's top mountain peak, both announcing its current height at 8,848.86 meters (29,031.69 feet).

Dec. 9:

- A green pandemic recovery could bring the world closer to meeting the 2 degrees Celsius goal of the Paris Agreement on climate change by cutting up to 25% of the predicted 2030 greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new UN Environment Programme report.

Dec. 11:

- The EU Council announces that EU leaders have agreed on cutting their greenhouse emissions by 55% by 2030./aa

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal’s president dissolved Parliament on Sunday after the prime minister recommended the move amid an escalating feud within his Communist Party that is likely to push the Himalayan nation into a political crisis.

Parliamentary elections will be held on April 30 and May 10, according to a statement from President Bidya Devi Bhandari's office.

Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli decided to dissolve Parliament at a Cabinet meeting Sunday and immediately presented his recommendation.

Oli became prime minister after his Nepal Communist Party won elections three years ago. Oli's party and the party of former Maoist rebels had merged to form a strong communist party to win the election.

There has, however, been a power tussle with the leader of the former Maoists rebels, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who is also the co-chair of the party. Oli has refused to succeed him as the prime minister or lead the party, causing problems within the party.

The opposition has repeatedly accused Oli's government of corruption and his administration has faced criticism over its handling of the coronavirus. The number of virus cases in Nepal has reached 243,184, including 1,777 deaths.

Oli also has been accused of moving closer to China and drifting away from Nepal's traditional partner India since taking over power. This has caused problems between Oli and New Delhi.