South Asia
United States’ Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad is visiting Islamabad today and New Delhi tomorrow, to hold discussions on the Afghan Peace Talks being held in Doha. [Hindustan Times]
The Indian government is considering the fast-track authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine for high-risk and elderly citizens as the country's total cases exceed 4.75 million. [Times of India]
Massive landslides caused by a torrential rainstorm in two Nepali villages near the Tibetan border have killed at least 12 people, with 21 people reported missing. [Reuters]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Around 200 protesters rallied in Almaty, calling on the state to release political prisoners and declare a credit amnesty. Protesters also chanted anti-China slogans and urged the Chinese ambassador to leave the country. [RFE/RL]
Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan spoke to the wife of Narek Sardaryan, who is currently captive in Azerbaijan. Sardaryan went missing on 8 July near the border with the Nakhchivan border, while searching for his lost cattle. [News.am]
East and Southeast Asia
Wu Qian, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, strongly opposed the US report “Military and Security Developments involving the People’s Republic of China 2020,” and said that the U.S was trying “to smear China and its military”. [Xinhua Net]
A section of the cross border railway tunnel connecting China to Laos was completed. The China-Laos railway will stretch more than 1,000 km and is scheduled to be operational from the end of 2021. [Xinhua Net]
TikTok’s parent company Bytedance has chosen Oracle, and not Microsoft, to sell its US business, after the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok by mid-September due to national security risks. [Chicago Tribune]
Europe
Though Russia’s main pro-Kremlin party—the United Russia party—is claiming a clear victory in local elections that were held across the country on Sunday, allies of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said that they made rare gains in Siberia, securing city council seats in elections in Novosibirsk and Tomsk. Both were previously United Russia-dominated cities. [National Post]
Hundreds of people gathered in Italy on Saturday to participate in a funeral procession for a young black man named Willy Monteiro Duarte, who was brutally beaten to death in Colleferro after trying to rescue his school friend during an altercation. Duarte’s killing drew condemnation from the highest levels of the Italian government and has shaken up the country. [Euro News]
After pausing trials for their COVID-19 vaccine last week due to a reported side effect in a patient, AstraZeneca and Oxford University announced over the weekend that the trials will resume shortly, since the vaccine had been deemed safe to continue. [BBC]
The UK’s House of Commons will debate the ‘Internal Market Bill’ on Monday, amid increasing internal opposition to British PM Boris Johnson’s plan to breach international law by revising its Brexit deal with the EU. Former Attorney General Geoffrey Cox accused Johnson of doing “unconscionable” damage to Britain’s reputation and said he would vote against the measure. [Reuters, BBC]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Protesters set fire to the Libyan National Army government headquarters in Benghazi, in a rare move demonstrating against poor living conditions, corruption, power cuts, and a banking crisis in the eastern part of the country. [Reuters]
On Friday, a US judge ordered Saudi Arabia to make 24 current and former officials available for questioning for the 9/11 attacks. The Saudi Arabian government has yet to officially comment on this decision. [Al Jazeera]
Thousands of Israelis rallied outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem demanding his resignation over fraud and corruption charges and the mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Simultaneously, an Israeli cabinet minister resigned due to protests over COVID-19 restrictions, stating that it was unjust to delay religious celebrations and impose new lockdown measures. [Times of India, Reuters]
North America
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s onetime rival Mike Bloomberg has decided to pledge $100 million of his own money to help on Biden’s campaign in Florida. [NPR]
According to Microsoft, hackers with ties to Russia, China, and Iran are attempting to target both President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden’s campaigns. The company said that it was “clear that foreign activity groups have stepped up their efforts in targeting the election”. [BBC]
According to court documents filed by the Department of Justice on Friday, the Trump administration has refused asylum to and expelled nearly 8,800 unaccompanied children from the US- Mexico border since March under coronavirus restrictions. [Al Jazeera]
World News Monitor: 14 September, 2020
A quick look at events from around the globe.
September 14, 2020
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte [R] at the funeral of Willy Monteiro Duarte, 13 September. SOURCE: AP