Washington says there has been no change in its policy towards Syria, which demands a political transition as set out in a Security Council resolution. But in Washington, analysts say Syria has hardly been a foreign policy priority for President Joe Biden’s administration. After being warned against dealing with Damascus by the Trump administration, Arab states are pressing the issue again. Reviving trade will be a shot in the arm for Jordan and Syria, whose economy is in deep crisis. US policy in Syria is now focused on fighting Islamic State militants and humanitarian aid, he said.

It’s hard to know why Chinese authorities have shifted to subtler methods of controlling the region. Xinjiang officials took us on a tour to the Grand Bazaar in the center of Urumqi, which has been rebuilt for tourists, like many other cities in Xinjiang. Here, there are giant plastic bearded Uyghur men and a giant plastic Uyghur instrument. Xinjiang officials say they aren’t forcing atheism on the Uyghurs, but rather defending freedom of belief against creeping extremism. Here, young Uyghur men chant verses from the Quran and pray five times a day.

“Currently, most countries are spending orders of magnitude more funds subsidising activities that destroy biodiversity than we are spending on conserving it – this will have to change,” he said. The United Nations wants countries to commit to protecting 30% of their land by 2030, a pledge already agreed to by the United States and others. He said the global pandemic had injected new urgency into biodiversity protection, but warned that this was not yet reflected in “business-as-usual” post-COVID-19 stimulus measures. “We have to make sure… (the stimulus) is strengthening biodiversity and not adding to the problem,” he said. “Globally, if you look around, the stimulus packages are making it worse rather than better.”Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman

Spurred by national calls for racial equity, communities across the U.S. took a deeper look at Columbus’ legacy in recent years — pairing or replacing it with Indigenous Peoples Day. Kenney previously signed an executive order changing the city’s annual Columbus Day holiday to Indigenous Peoples Day. “As far as we’re concerned, we’re going to keep protesting it until Columbus Day is abolished.”In New York City, the annual Columbus Day Parade returns after a one-year, in-person absence attributed to the coronavirus pandemic. Chicago’s annual Columbus Day parade also returns Monday after the pandemic forced 2020′s cancellation of the event that draws 20,000 people. Chicago Public Schools in 2020 voted to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day, provoking outrage from several alderman and Italian American groups.

Senior Taliban officials and U.S. representatives are meeting this weekend in Doha, the capital of Qatar. However, Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told The Associated Press there would be no cooperation with Washington on containing the increasingly active Islamic State group in Afghanistan. “We are able to tackle Daesh independently,” Shaheen said, when asked whether the Taliban would work with the U.S. to contain the Islamic State affiliate. Following Friday’s attack, Afghanistan’s Shiite clerics assailed the Taliban, demanding greater protection at their places of worship. A Taliban official in charge of refugees, Mohammed Arsa Kharoti, said there are up to 1.3 million Afghans displaced from past wars and that the Taliban lack funds to organize the return home for all.

MOSCOW (AP) — As editor of Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov was well aware that his independent Russian newspaper — a persistent critic of the Kremlin, government corruption and human rights abuses in Russia — was seen as a top contender for the Nobel Peace Prize. Finally, he was told by his paper’s spokeswoman that he had won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, along with journalist Maria Ressa of the Philippines, for their fight for freedom of expression in countries where reporters have faced persistent attacks, harassment and even murder. “The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the most controversial nominations of the Nobel Committee. Considering how critical Novaya Gazeta has been toward Putin and his government, Peskov’s congratulatory words could be seen as determined spin-control. They also likely reflect relief that the Norwegian Nobel Committee did not chose another Russian nominee for the Peace Prize — imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Cairo International Airport on Saturday afternoon received its first flights of the Libyan Airlines company, coming from Mitiga International Airport, its first operation since 2014 following unrest in Libya. The first Libyan Airlines flight, number LN202, arrived at Cairo International Airport from Mitiga Airport, carrying about 255 passengers. Cairo International Airport organized a protocol celebration inside Terminal I. The Libyan Airlines flight is scheduled to depart Cairo Airport, within two hours, to return to Libya with 250 passengers on board. The Holding Company for EgyptAir and Libya’s Afriqiyah Airways last month signed a protocol for cooperation in civil aviation security.

CAIRO – 9 October 2021: A 6-year-old girl won a legal case against the Egyptian Ministry of Education after a primary school in Beheira governorate rejected her enrollment in the second grade, Akhbar El You newspaper reported on Saturday. “I do love to learn and I’m good at [my studies] at the school. I was 5 years and several months old [at that time] and passed grade 1 at my school of Wadi El Natroun and got ranked number 1 [among my colleagues]. “But my father transported our residency to Abu El Matamir [village]. After listening to her complaint, the judge ordered that the Ministry of Education has to pay the little girl LE 3,000 in moral compensation.

“The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan remains really dire,” Babar Baloch, spokesperson for the U.N. High Commmissioner for Refugees, said in an interview in Islamabad. Most of the nation’s international assistance has been cut off, though there are exceptions for humanitarian aid. Billions of dollars in central bank assets held abroad have also been frozen, which has put pressure on the banking system. Baloch added there were new challenges since the collapse of the government and the takeover of the country by the Taliban administration. The lack of commercial flights meant supplies needed to be taken in on special flights or by road.

DHAKA, Oct 9 (Reuters) – UN officials signed a deal with Bangladesh on Saturday to help provide basic services to thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees who have been moved to camps on a remote island in the Bay of Bengal. The Bangladeshi government has moved nearly 19,000 Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char island from border camps despite protests by some refugees and opposition from rights groups, who say the low-lying island is vulnerable to flooding and storms. Refugees in Bhasan Char, some of whom have protested against living conditions on the island, welcomed UNHCR’s involvement. “Now we’ll get enough of the assistance that we need,” Mohammed Arman, a Rohingya refugee told Reuters by telephone. Dozens of people died after a fishing boat crammed with Rohingya trying to flee the island sank in August.

MANILA, Oct 9 (Reuters) – Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa used her new prominence to criticize Facebook as a threat to democracy, saying the social media giant fails to protect against the spread of hate and disinformation and is “biased against facts”. Sought for comment on Ressa’s remarks, a Facebook spokesperson said the social media giant continues to invest heavily to remove and reduce the visibility of harmful content. Facebook has become the world’s largest distributor of news and “yet it is biased against facts, it is biased against journalism,” Ressa said. The presidential palace, Duterte’s spokesperson, his chief legal counsel, and communications office did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. That campaign “will be a battle for facts,” Ressa said.

Meteorologists predict hot weather on Sunday during the day over Greater Cairo, the Delta, South Sinai, and northern Upper Egypt, moderately hot on the northern coasts, and very hot on southern Upper Egypt. The weather will be mild at night on northern parts until northern Upper Egypt, and moderate over South Sinai and southern Upper Egypt. Maximum temperatures for the following cities are:Alexandria: 29CCairo: 31CHurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh: 34CQena, and Luxor: 40CAswan: 41CActive winds are expected on Greater Cairo, northwestern coasts, and South Sinai. Mists expected in the morning on some roads leading to Greater Cairo, Lower Egypt and the northern coasts. Waves in the Mediterranean Sea will be low to moderate, ranging between one and 1.75 meters in height with northeastern surface winds, while waves in the Red Sea will be moderate to rough, ranging between 1.5 and 2.5 meters in height with northwestern surface winds.

The Administrative Prosecution office in Minya Governorate, Upper Egypt, began investigating the reasons why 40 boxes containing 13,214 ampoules of the SinoPharm vaccine were disposed on banks of a canal in a Bani Mazar village. The Administrative Prosecution is conducting extensive investigations with three health administration officials in the Bani Mazar city to determine what happened to the COVID-19 vaccines intended to vaccinate 26,428 citizens. In statements to Al-Masry Al-Youm, Qady said that the Public Prosecutor opened extensive investigations into the incident. He said that it started when some citizens from Abshaq village found quantities of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, on sides of the canal. A team composed of security services, the health administration and the local unit moved to the scene of the incident.

“Our signature feature Flow, an infinite mix of your favorite tracks and new recommendations now includes a brand new smart Flow Moods wheel. We’re the only streaming service that lets fans use Flow Moods as an emotional jukebox to play only mood based music. Flow moods are updated constantly, so you don’t have to worry about hearing the same recommendations over and over again. Thanks to Flow Moods, we’re making sure that our listeners can have an emotionally connected experience that’s relevant to their daily moods and feelings,” said Deezer’s Chief Product and Technology officer Matthieu Gorvan. Flow Moods is available worldwide for all users on iOS and Android devices.

PARIS, Oct 9 (Reuters) – Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, who became Iran’s first president after the 1979 Islamic revolution before fleeing into exile in France, died on Saturday aged 88. He died at the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris following a long illness, his wife and children said on Bani-Sadr’s official website. Bani-Sadr had emerged from obscurity to become Iran’s first president in January 1980 with the help of the Islamic clergy. But after a power struggle with radical clerics he fled the following year to France, where he spent the rest of his life. Bani-Sadr recalled then how 40 years earlier in Paris, he had been convinced that the religious leader’s Islamic revolution would pave the way for democracy and human rights after the rule of the Shah.