New world news from Time: Thousands of Indonesian Students Protest Law Restricting Anti-Corruption Agency

(JAKARTA, Indonesia) — Thousands of Indonesian students resumed protests on Monday against a new law they say has crippled the country’s anti-corruption agency, with some clashing with police.

Authorities blocked streets leading to the Parliament building in Jakarta, where 560 members of the House of Representatives whose terms ended Monday held their last session.

Clashes between rock-throwing students and riot police broke out in the evening when police tried to disperse the protesters, ranging from high school to university students, who attempted to reach Parliament after calm had largely returned to the country’s capital over the past four days.

Protesters set fires to tires and pelted police with rocks, gasoline bombs and firecrackers near blocked streets. Riot police responded by firing tear gas and water cannons.

Similar clashes also occurred in other Indonesian cities, including in West Java’s Bandung city and in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province, where a student was badly injured on Friday after being accidently hit by anti-riot armor.

A protest also turned violent in President Joko Widodo’s hometown of Solo city in Central Java, where an angry mob threw rocks at police, injuring at least four female officers in the head.

The demonstrators are enraged that Parliament passed the law reducing the authority of the corruption commission, a key body fighting endemic graft in the country.

Activists say the revision weakens the powers of one of the most credible public institutions in a country where the police and Parliament are perceived as being widely corrupt.

The protests have grown since last week and turned violent in some cities, with the burning of police posts and public facilities such as a toll gate and bus stops.

At least three people, including two students in Kendari city on Sulawesi island, have died and several hundred were injured.

The death of the students sparked a national outcry, prompting Widodo to express his deep condolences and order the National Police chief to conduct a thorough investigation.

The protests, which underline Indonesia’s challenge in changing its graft-ridden image, have threatened the credibility of Widodo, who recently was reelected after campaigning for clean governance.

He faced down riots in May by supporters of the losing candidate, former Gen. Prabowo Subianto, but those events were seen as partisan politics with limited support.

The new protests are not associated with any particular party or group, and instead are led by students, who historically have been a driving force of political change. Their demonstrations in 1998 triggered events that led the country’s longtime strongman leader, Suharto, to step down.

The students are demanding that Widodo issue a government regulation replacing the new law on the corruption commission, known by its Indonesian abbreviation, KPK.

The anti-graft commission is frequently under attack by lawmakers who want to reduce its powers.

Widodo told reporters on Monday that the government would not forbid student demonstrations and called on protesters to avoid damaging public facilities.

“Our constitution guarantees freedom of expression, but the most important, do not be an anarchist who causes harm and violates the law,” Widodo said.

He said he has listened deeply to people’s aspirations expressed by students through the protests.

Widodo said last Thursday that he was considering revoking the new anti-corruption law. However, the idea was immediately opposed by members of his coalition in Parliament who want to reduce the powers of the anti-graft agency.

Bambang Wuryanto, a lawmaker from the governing Indonesia Democratic Party in Struggle, warned that Widodo’s political image and his ties with coalition parties would be damaged.

“That would mean that the president does not respect the House of Representatives,” Wuryanto said.

An anti-corruption watchdog, Indonesia Corruption Watch, accused lawmakers of trying to protect themselves after the commission named 23 sitting members of Parliament as corruption suspects, including the former House speaker and leaders of political parties.

“We all know that political parties have an aim to make the KPK no longer effective,” Susanti said. “The president should consider widespread people’s aspirations rather than political parties’ interests.”

Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, ranked 89th out of 175 countries in the 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index compiled by Transparency International.

New world news from Time: Somalia Rebels Attack Military Airstrip Used by U.S. For Drone Missions

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s Islamic extremist rebels on Monday launched two attacks on U.S. and European military targets, officials said.

The first attack was on a military airstrip which is a base for U.S. and Somalia forces in the Lower Shabelle region in southern Somalia. A suicide car bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives at the gate of the Belidogle airstrip, said Yusuf Abdourahman, a security official with the Lower Shabelle regional administration. Bursts of gunfire could be heard across the base after bombing, suggesting an ongoing attack on the base.

Somalia’s Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabab, have claimed the responsibility for the attack.

The U.S. military uses the Belidogle airstrip base to launch drones that attack al-Shabab targets and to train Somali troops.

The second attack was by a suicide car bomber targeting Italian peacekeepers in Mogadishu. The explosion missed the European Union peacekeepers but injured Somali civilians who were nearby, according to reports.

New world news from Time: China to Send Its Top Trade Negotiator to Washington for Talks

(BEIJING) — China’s top trade negotiator will lead an upcoming 13th round of talks aimed at resolving a trade war with the United States, a senior Chinese official said Sunday.

Vice Premier Liu He will travel to Washington for the negotiations, Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said. He didn’t give exact dates, but said the talks would be after China’s National Day holiday, which runs through Oct. 7.

“The two sides should find a solution through equal dialogue in accordance with the principle of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit,” Wang said at a news conference with other officials, including Commerce Minister Zhong Shan.

The Trump administration first imposed tariffs on Chinese imports last year in a bid to win concessions from China, which responded with tit-for-tat tariffs. The escalating dispute between the world’s two largest economies has depressed stock prices and poses a threat to the global economy.

Both sides have made conciliatory gestures ahead of the next round of talks, but a deal remains elusive.

The U.S. postponed a further tariff hike on Chinese goods, and China lifted punitive duties on soybeans. The move helps both American farmers and Chinese pig breeders, who use soy as feed and are struggling with a devastating outbreak of African swine fever.

The Chinese government released a third round of 10,000 tons of pork from its reserves Sunday to try to stabilize rising prices ahead of the holiday, Vice Commerce Minister Qian Keming said at the news conference.

China also has increased pork imports 40 percent in the first eight months of this year, as well as those of other meats.

Qian said the average wholesale price of pork had edged down slightly during the week of Sept. 16-22 to 36.4 yuan ($5.11) per kilogram.

New world news from Time: Haiti Braces for Fresh Round of Protests Amid Calls for President to Resign

(PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti) — Opposition leaders are calling for a nationwide push Monday to block streets and paralyze Haiti’s economy as they press for President Jovenel Moïse to give up power, and tens of thousands of their dedicated young supporters are expected to heed the call.

People stood in lines all day Sunday under a brutal sun to get water, gasoline and other basic supplies before the next round of protests that many worried would turn more violent than a demonstration Friday during which several homes and businesses were burned as police fired tear gas at protesters.

Several people have died in the past three weeks amid the political clashes.

“I have a feeling that the country is going to change,” said Yves Bon Anée, a mason standing next to eight empty plastic gallons that he would fill with gasoline at $2 a gallon for friends, family and himself. He planned to resell his portion to make some money because he hasn’t been able to find work in weeks amid Haiti’s crisis.

“My kids are suffering,” he said of his three young boys.

Opposition leaders and supporters say they are angry about public corruption, spiraling inflation and a dwindling supply of gasoline that has forced many gas stations in the capital to close as suppliers demand the cash-strapped government pay them more than $100 million owed.

Protesters also are demanding a more in-depth investigation into allegations that top officials in the previous government misused billions of dollars in public funds that were proceeds from a Venezuela subsidized oil plan meant for urgent social programs.

Moïse, who took office in 2017 following an election redo, has said he will not step down despite the unrest and instead called for calm, unity and dialogue during an address televised at 2 a.m. Wednesday. It was a rare appearance for the president since the new wave of protests began about three weeks ago.

Laurent Dubois, a Haiti expert and professor at Duke University, said he believes the country will face an increasing impasse unless the parties find a way to reach some kind of resolution.

“There’s a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety … that things are going in a direction in Haiti that we haven’t seen in a while,” he said. “It seems like we’re going into some kind of new phase in Haitian history, but what it holds will be difficult to predict.”

Opposition leaders demanding Moïse’s resignation say they envision a transitional government after the chief justice of Haiti’s Supreme Court takes over as dictated by law if a president resigns.

André Michel, an attorney and professor of human rights, said Haiti’s current political system has generated misery, underdevelopment and corruption that have led to poverty, noting that the country’s middle class has shrunk.

Michel said Haiti needs to rebuild a new society and state as he called on the international community to back the goal of opposition leaders to oust Moïse.

“The will of the people is clear,” Michel said. “If he insists on remaining as president, he will lead the country into chaos.”

At a news conference Sunday, opposition leaders urged the dozens of supporters gathered around them to start blocking streets and to help them look for Moïse, whom they contend has gone into hiding.

Among those leading the call to find Moïse was opposition Sen. Youri Latortue, who has denied corruption allegations that U.S. officials made against him more than a decade ago and once led a party allied with Moïse’s Tet Kale faction.

“We’re going to search for him everywhere,” Latortue said.

New world news from Time: Saudi Crown Prince Says Murder of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi Was ‘a Mistake’

(NEW YORK) — Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in a television interview that he takes “full responsibility” for the grisly murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but denied allegations that he ordered it.

“This was a heinous crime,” Prince Mohammed, 34, told “60 Minutes” in an interview that aired Sunday. “But I take full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed by individuals working for the Saudi government.”

Asked if he ordered the murder of Khashoggi, who had criticized him in columns for The Washington Post, Prince Mohammed replied: “Absolutely not.”

The slaying was “a mistake,” he said.

Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Turkey on Oct. 2, 2018, to collect a document that he needed to marry his Turkish fiancee. Agents of the Saudi government killed Khashoggi inside the consulate and apparently dismembered his body, which has never been found. Saudi Arabia has charged 11 people in the slaying and put them on trial, which has been held in secret. As of yet, no one has been convicted.

A U.N. report asserted that Saudi Arabia bore responsibility for the killing and said Prince Mohammed’s possible role in it should be investigated. In Washington, Congress has said it believes Prince Mohammed is “responsible for the murder.” Saudi Arabia has long insisted the crown prince had no involvement in an operation that included agents who reported directly to him.

“Some think that I should know what 3 million people working for the Saudi government do daily,” the powerful heir told “60 Minutes.” ”It’s impossible that the 3 million would send their daily reports to the leader or the second-highest person in the Saudi government.”

In an interview Thursday in New York, Khashoggi’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, told The Associated Press that responsibility for Khashoggi’s slaying “was not limited to the perpetrators” and said she wanted Prince Mohammed to tell her: “Why was Jamal killed? Where is his body? What was the motive for this murder?”

Prince Mohammed also addressed the Sept. 14 missile and drone attack on Saudi oil facilities. While Yemen’s Iranian-allied Houthi rebels claimed the assault, Saudi Arabia has said it was “unquestionably sponsored by Iran.”

“There is no strategic goal,” Prince Mohammed said of the attack. “Only a fool would attack 5% of global supplies. The only strategic goal is to prove that they are stupid and that is what they did.”

He urged “strong and firm action to deter Iran.”

New world news from Time: U.K.’s Boris Johnson Denies Wrongdoing in Ties With American Tech Entrepreneur

(LONDON) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson denied wrongdoing Sunday over his links to an American businesswoman who allegedly received money and favorable treatment because of their friendship during his time as mayor of London.

Asked during a BBC interview about his ties to tech entrepreneur and model Jennifer Arcuri, Johnson sought to suggest that political motivations were behind the decision Friday by the Greater London Authority to refer a conduct matter to a police watchdog agency.

The matter arose from a Sunday Times report saying Arcuri was given 126,000 pounds in public money and privileged access to trade missions to the United States, Israel and Asia that Johnson led as mayor, even though her fledgling business had not yet met eligibility requirements for such trips.

“Everything was done in accordance with the code … and everything was done with full propriety,” Johnson said Sunday. When pressed again by BBC journalist Andrew Marr, Johnson added: “There was no interest to declare.”

The scandal worsened Sunday as Johnson’s Conservative Party was opening its annual party conference in Manchester following a tumultuous week for a leader who has only been in the job since July.

In just the last few days, the U.K. Supreme Court declared Johnson’s attempt to suspend Parliament illegal and he cut short a trip to the United States, racing home to face the House of Commons, where lawmakers greeted him with cries of “Resign!” He then lost a vote on a normally routine matter — a request to adjourn for a week so that Conservatives could attend their conference.

Complicating things further, questions were raised about the 55-year-old Johnson’s links to Arcuri, now 34, who set up a cyber firm in East London after moving to the capital seven years ago.

Yet even as the British leader visited North Manchester General Hospital on Sunday to talk about his government’s plans to build 40 hospitals, his efforts failed to change the subject.

“Let’s be absolutely clear, I am very, very proud of everything that we did and certainly everything that I did as mayor of London,” he said, adding that the current London mayor, Sadiq Khan of the Labour Party, “could possibly spend more time investing in police officers than he is investing in press officers and peddling this kind of stuff.”

The independent office, which oversees police complaints in England, was asked to consider if there were grounds to investigate Johnson for misconduct in public office. The authority said Friday it had a “statutory duty” to record the matter because Johnson served as police commissioner during his 2008-2016 tenure as London’s mayor.

The probe is the latest sign of animosity that has consumed British politics since the country narrowly voted in 2016 to leave the European Union. Three years later, Britain and its politicians remain bitterly divided over how, or even whether, to leave the 28-nation bloc.

Johnson took power two months ago with a “do-or-die” promise that Britain will leave the EU on the scheduled date of Oct. 31 — even if there’s no divorce deal outlining Britain’s commercial relations with the other 27 EU nations. His foes in Parliament are determined to avoid a no-deal exit, which economists say would plunge Britain into recession.

In unusually heated debate Wednesday, Johnson referred to an opposition law ordering a Brexit delay as the “Surrender Act” and said postponing the country’s departure would “betray” the people. He also brushed off concerns that his forceful language might endanger legislators as “humbug.”

Opponents accused him of fomenting hatred in the country with his populist, people-versus-politicians rhetoric.

As tempers smoldered, Johnson rejected the notion that he himself had played a role in whipping up tensions.

“I think I’ve been a model of restraint,” Johnson said Sunday. “But I think everybody should calm down.”

New world news from Time: Mourners Line Up to Pay Tribute to Late French President Jacques Chirac

PARIS — Hundreds of people have lined up in front of the Invalides monument in Paris to pay public tribute to former French President Jacques Chirac, who died Thursday at 86.

Chirac was lying in state Sunday afternoon inside the monument, where France honors its heroes.

People could hold a moment of silence in front of the casket, which was covered by the French flag under a large, smiling picture of Chirac.

A memorial service is planned Monday in Paris attended by French President Emmanuel Macron and about 30 former or current heads of states and government, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. A private funeral will take place later that day.

Chirac served as Paris mayor, a lawmaker, prime minister and France’s president from 1995 to 2007.

New world news from Time: Violence Grips Hong Kong Protests Ahead of China’s National Day

HONG KONG — Protesters and police clashed in Hong Kong for a second straight day on Sunday, throwing the city’s business and shopping belt into chaos and sparking fears of more ugly scenes leading up to China’s National Day this week.

Riot police repeatedly fired blue liquid — used to identify protesters — from a water cannon truck and multiple volleys of tear gas after demonstrators hurled Molotov cocktails at officers and targeted the government office complex.

It was a repeat of Saturday’s clashes and part of a familiar cycle since pro-democracy protests began in early June. The protests were sparked by a now-shelved extradition bill and have since snowballed into an anti-China movement.

“We know that in the face of the world’s largest totalitarian regime — to quote Captain America, ‘Whatever it takes,'” Justin Leung, a 21-year-old demonstrator who covered his mouth with a black scarf, said of the violent methods deployed by hard-line protesters. “The consensus right now is that everyone’s methods are valid and we all do our part.”

Protesters are planning to march again on Tuesday despite a police ban, raising fears of more violent confrontations that could embarrass Chinese President Xi Jinping as his ruling Communist Party marks 70 years since taking power. Posters are calling for Oct. 1 to be marked as “A Day of Grief.”

“So many youngsters feel that they’re going to have no future because of the power of China,” Andy Yeung, 40, said Sunday as he pushed his toddler in a stroller. “It’s hopeless for Hong Kong. If we don’t stand up, there will be no hope.”

Hong Kong’s government has already scaled down the city’s National Day celebrations, canceling an annual fireworks display and moving a reception indoors.

Despite security concerns, the government said Sunday that Chief Executive Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s leader, will lead a delegation of over 240 people to Beijing on Monday to participate in National Day festivities.

Sunday’s turmoil started in the early afternoon when police fired tear gas to disperse a large crowd that had amassed in the popular Causeway Bay shopping district. But thousands of people regrouped and marched along a main thoroughfare toward government offices, crippling traffic.

Protesters, many clad in black with umbrellas and carrying pro-democracy posters and foreign flags, sang songs and chanted “Stand with Hong Kong, fight for freedom.” Some defaced, tore down and burned National Day congratulatory signs, setting off a huge blaze on the street. Others sprayed graffiti along walls, and smashed windows and lobbed gasoline bombs at subway exits.

Police then fired a water cannon and tear gas as the crowd approached the government office complex. Most fled but hundreds returned, hurling objects into the complex.

Members of an elite police squad, commonly known as raptors, then charged out suddenly from behind barricades, taking many protesters by surprise. A number who failed to flee in time were subdued and detained in a scene of chaos.

The raptors, backed by scores of riot police, pursued protesters down the roads to nearby areas. Officers continued to fire multiple rounds of tear gas as the cat-and-mouse clashes continued into nightfall.

The demonstration was part of global “anti-totalitarianism” rallies planned in over 60 cities worldwide to denounce “Chinese tyranny.” Thousands rallied in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, while more than 1,000 took part in a rally in Sydney.

The protracted unrest, approaching four months long, has battered Hong Kong’s economy, with businesses and tourism plunging.

Chief Executive Lam held her first community dialogue with the public on Thursday in a bid to defuse tensions but failed to persuade protesters, who vowed to press on until their demands are met, including direct elections for the city’s leaders and police accountability.

Earlier Sunday, hundreds of pro-Beijing Hong Kong residents sang the Chinese national anthem and waved red flags at a waterfront cultural center in a show of support for Chinese rule. They were later bused to the Victoria Peak hilltop for the same repertoire.

Organizer Innes Tang said the crowd responded to his invitation on social media to “promote positivity and patriotism.”

“We want to take this time for the people to express our love for our country China. We want to show the international community that there is another voice to Hong Kong” apart from the protests, he said.

Mobs of Beijing supporters have appeared in malls and on the streets in recent weeks to counter pro-democracy protesters, leading to brawls between the rival camps.

Many people view the extradition bill, which would have sent criminal suspects to mainland China for trial, as a glaring example of the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

China has denied chipping away at Hong Kong’s freedoms and accused the U.S. and other foreign powers of fomenting the unrest to weaken its dominance.

___

Associated Press journalists Ken Moritsugu in Beijing and Katie Lam and John Leicester in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

New world news from Time: Meghan Markle Privately Visited a Memorial to Murdered 19-Year-Old South African Student Uyinene Mrwetyana

Meghan Markle visited a memorial to a murdered 19-year-old student while traveling in South Africa earlier this week, Buckingham Palace confirms to TIME.

Uyinene Mrwetyana, a female student in Cape Town, was raped and murdered in August. Her death launched a wave of outrage and protests as women across the country demanded South Africa address the issue of gender-based bias, launching the social media campaign #AmINext? 39,633 rapes and 6,253 sexual assaults were reported in the country in 2017, according to Amnesty International.

According to CNN, the Dutches of Sussex initially visited the memorial in secret because she wanted to attend in private as a “personal gesture.”

The official Sussex Royal Instagram account posted a photograph of Markle Saturday morning, tying a ribbon at the post office where Mrwetyana was killed. The post said Markle wanted “to pay her respects and to show solidarity with those who have taken a stand against gender-based violence and femicide.”

View this post on Instagram

“Simi kunye kulesisimo” – ‘We stand together in this moment’ The Duchess of Sussex has tied a ribbon at the site where 19-year-old Cape Town student Uyinene Mrwetyana was murdered last month, to pay her respects and to show solidarity with those who have taken a stand against gender based violence and femicide. Over the last month in Capetown, protests erupted through the streets in outrage over GBV in South Africa. The Duke and Duchess had been following what had happened from afar and were both eager to learn more when they arrived in South Africa. The Duchess spoke to the mother of Uyinene this week to relay their condolences. Visiting the site of this tragic death and being able to recognise Uyinene, and all women and girls effected by GBV (specifically in South Africa, but also throughout the world) was personally important to The Duchess. Uyinene’s death has mobilised people across South Africa in the fight against gender based violence, and is seen as a critical point in the future of women’s rights in South Africa. The Duchess has taken private visits and meetings over the last two days to deepen her understanding of the current situation and continue to advocate for the rights of women and girls. For more information on the recent events in South Africa, please see link in bio. #AmINext

A post shared by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (@sussexroyal) on Sep 27, 2019 at 11:35pm PDT

Markle also spoke with Mrwetyana’s mother, per the social media post.

Markle began an official 10-day tour with her husband Prince Harry and their 4-month-old son Archie on Sept 23. Harry’s trip includes Botswana, Angola and Malawi, while Markle stayed in South Africa.

She spoke out against gender violence during a speech organized by African human rights organization Justice Desk, saying, “On one personal note, may I just say that while I am here with my husband, as a member of the royal family, I want you to know that for me, I am here with you as a mother, as a wife, as a woman, as a woman of color and as your sister.”

New world news from Time: Zimbabwe Leader Robert Mugabe Is Buried at His Rural Home

(ZVIMBA, Zimbabwe) — A priest asked God to take pity on Robert Mugabe as the family of the longtime Zimbabwean leader buried him Saturday at his rural home. They chose a private farewell for one of Africa’s most divisive figures after a weeks-long dispute with the administration that forced him from power.

“This man lives forever,” declared the priest, to cries of approval. Mugabe died this month in Singapore at age 95 after leading the country for nearly four decades and being pushed into a shocking resignation as thousands danced in the streets. “I was ridiculed,” a relative said Mugabe told them.

His coffin, draped in the country’s flag, was carried by military pallbearers as his black-veiled wife, Grace, looked on. On display was a photo of Mugabe holding up his fist in a classic gesture of defiance, and a floral arrangement spelled out “Dad.” Many mourners wore T-shirts saying “Liberator” and “Torch bearer.”

Grace later stood motionless as the coffin was lowered into the grave and a choir sang “Remember me.”

Mugabe, who led the bitter guerrilla war to end white-minority rule in the country then known as Rhodesia, was Zimbabwe’s first leader and ruled from 1980, overseeing a years-long slide from prosperity to economic ruin and repression. He was forced by the military and ruling party to retire in late 2017 after bitter political feuding centered in part on his wife’s political ambitions.

Some of Mugabe’s political rivals, including opposition figures who were routinely arrested or harassed during his 37-year rule, attended the service while longtime colleagues did not. Notably absent were senior officials from the ruling party that he led for more than four decades, including during the fight for liberation.

Just a handful of people in the gathering of some 200 wore party regalia, a sign of how the bookish, combative former leader died isolated from the people he called comrades for much of his adult life.

Mugabe’s family earlier had agreed to a government request to bury him at the National Heroes Acre shrine in the capital, but only after a hilltop mausoleum was built to set him apart from the rest. Then the government on Thursday abruptly announced the family had changed its mind, leaving it with scaffolding around the partially completed memorial.

While some might blame his widow for the move, it was Mugabe himself who wanted the private ceremony instead of one presided over by the people who removed him from power, Grace’s sister Junior Shuvai Gumbochuma said in a speech on Saturday.

“Some may be surprised by this small crowd given this man’s greatness,” she said. “I remember he presided over many burials of heroes that were attended by busloads of people. I thought one day such crowds would attend his own burial. What we did today was his wish.”

She added: “I asked him why he didn’t want to be buried at Heroes Acre and he responded: ‘I was ridiculed.'”

A spokesman for the ruling ZANU-PF party, Simon Khaya Moyo, called the choice of a private burial “most unfortunate.”

In a statement, Moyo added that “we indeed respect the wishes of families of deceased heroes, hence we are saddened when maneuvers that border on political gimmicks begin to unfold on an issue concerning an illustrious liberation icon.”

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a once-trusted deputy who helped oust Mugabe from power, was not attending the burial. State-run media reported that the government would be represented by the home affairs minister.

Only approved guests and funeral parlor vans were allowed, a decision out of sync with the local tradition that funerals are free for all to attend. One elderly neighbor threw a tantrum after being blocked at the gate.

“This gathering is a paradox,” the priest told the gathering. “We are mourning at the same time we are celebrating because this man lived his life in a manner that many of us would want to emulate.”

Later, standing by the coffin, he prayed: “God, take pity on him. Don’t judge him harshly.”

New world news from Time: Afghanistan Presidential Polls Close Amid Allegations of Fraud

(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Afghanistan’s presidential polls closed Saturday amid fears that accusations of fraud and misconduct could overwhelm any election results, while insurgent attacks aimed at disrupting voting in the country’s north and south caused dozens of casualties.

An upsurge in violence in the run-up to the elections, following the collapse of U.S.-Taliban talks to end America’s longest war, had already rattled Afghanistan in the past weeks. Yet on Saturday, many voters expressed equal fear and frustration over relentless government corruption and the widespread chaos at polling stations.

A deeply flawed election and contested result could drive the war-weary country into chaos.

Many Afghans found incomplete voters’ lists, unworkable biometric identification systems aimed at curbing fraud, and in some cases hostile election workers.

Ruhollah Nawroz, a representative of the Independent Complaints Commission tasked with monitoring the process, said the problems are countrywide.

Nawroz said he arrived at a polling center in the Taimani neighborhood of Kabul, the capital, at 6 a.m. and “hour by hour I was facing problems.”

Polls opened at 7 a.m. local time and closed at 5 p.m. after the Independent Election Commission (IEC) extended polling by one hour.

Preliminary results won’t be out until Oct. 17, with a final vote count on Nov. 7. If no candidate wins 51 percent of the vote, a second round will be held between the two leading candidates.

Voter Hajji Faqir Bohman, who was speaking on behalf of disgruntled voters at the Taimani polling center, said the polling was so disorganized and flawed that even if his candidate wins “I will never believe that it was a fair election.”

The leading contenders are incumbent President Ashraf Ghani and his partner in the five-year-old unity government, Abdullah Abdullah, who already alleges power abuse by his opponent. Cameras crowded both men as they cast their vote earlier in Kabul, with Ghani telling voters they too had a responsibility to call out instances of fraud.

A young woman, Shabnam Rezayee, was attacked by an election worker after insisting on seeing the voter’s list when she was told her name was not on the list. Rezayee said the worker hurled abuses at her, directing her insults at her ethnicity. She then punched and scratched her.

When it ended and the attacker left, Rezayee found her name on the list and voted. “I am very strong,” she said.

In Kabul, turnout was sporadic and in the morning hours it was rare to see a crowded polling center. Afghans who had patiently lined up before the voting centers were opened, entered in some locations to find that election officials had yet to arrive by opening time.

Imam Baksh, who works as a security guard, said he wasn’t worried about his safety as he stood waiting to mark his ballot, wondering whom he would vote for.

“All of them have been so disappointing for our country,” he said.

The government’s push to hold the vote was in itself controversial. In an interview with The Associated Press last week, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who still wields heavy influence, warned that the vote could be destabilizing for the country at a time of deep political uncertainty and hinder restarting the peace process with the Taliban.

On Saturday, one of the first reports of violence came from southern Afghanistan, the former spiritual heartland of the Taliban. A bomb attack on a local mosque where a polling station was located wounded 15 people, a doctor at the main hospital in the city of Kandahar said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak with the media.

The wounded included a police officer and several election officials, along with voters. Three were in critical condition.

In northern Kunduz, where Taliban have previously threatened the city — even briefly taking control of some areas — insurgents fired mortar rounds into the municipality and attacked Afghan security forces on its outskirts, said Ghulam Rabani Rabani, a council member for the province.

Rabani said the attacks are to “frighten people and force them to stay in their homes and not participate in the election.”

He said ongoing fighting has wounded as many as 40 people.

Tens of thousands of police, intelligence officials and Afghan National Army personnel were deployed throughout the country to protect the 4,942 election centers. Authorities said 431 polling centers will stay closed because it was impossible to guarantee their security since they were either in areas under Taliban control or where insurgents could threaten nearby villages.

At one polling station in Kabul’s well-to-do Shahr-e-Now neighborhood, election workers struggled with biometric machines as well as finding names on voters’ lists.

Ahmad Shah, 32, cast his vote, but said the election worker forgot to ink his finger — which is mandatory to prevent multiple voting by the same person.

“What sort of system is this?” he asked, frustrated that he had risked his safety to vote and expressed fear that fraud will mar the election results. “It’s a mess.”

Still, 63-year old Ahmad Khan urged people to vote.

“It is the only way to show the Taliban we are not afraid of them,” he said, though he too worried at the apparent glitches in the process.

In Kabul traffic was light, with police and the army scattered throughout the city, stopping cars and looking for anything out of the ordinary. Larger vehicles were not being allowed into the capital on Saturday, which is normally a working day but for the elections was declared a holiday.

Campaigning for Saturday’s elections was subdued and went into high gear barely two weeks ahead of the polls as most of the 18 presidential candidates expected a deal between the United States and the Taliban to delay the vote. But on Sept. 7, President Donald Trump declared a deal that seemed imminent dead after violent attacks in Kabul killed 12 people, including two U.S.-led coalition soldiers, one of whom was American.

While many of the presidential candidates withdrew from the election, none formally did so, leaving all 18 candidates on the ballot.

Elections in Afghanistan are notoriously flawed and in the last presidential polls in 2014, allegations of widespread corruption were so massive that the United States intervened to prevent violence. No winner was declared and the U.S. cobbled together the unity government in which Ghani and Abdullah shared equal power — Ghani as president and Abdullah as chief executive, a newly created position.

Constant bickering and infighting within the government frustrated attempts to bring in substantive legislation as security, which has been tenuous, continued to deteriorate, frustrating Afghans and causing many to flee as refugees.

Neighboring Pakistan, routinely accused of aiding insurgents, said it was re-opening its borders with Afghanistan after receiving a request from the Afghan defense minister to allow Afghans to return home to vote. Pakistan had announced the border would be closed Saturday and Sunday.

New world news from Time: Syria Demands Immediate Withdrawal of All Foreign Military Forces

(UNITED NATIONS) — Syria is demanding the immediate withdrawal of all foreign forces, saying it reserves the right to take action if they remain.

“The United States and Turkey maintain an illegal military presence in northern Syria.” Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem told the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday. “Any foreign forces operating in our territories without our authorization are occupying forces and should withdraw immediately.”

Over more than eight years, Syria’s devastating civil war has drawn numerous foreign militaries and thousands of foreign fighters battling for power.

Most of the country has returned to government control. But rebels and extremists still hold Idlib in the northwest, and the oil-rich northeast, held by U.S.-backed Kurdish groups.

New world news from Time: President Trump’s Special Envoy to Ukraine Resigns: U.S. Official

(WASHINGTON) — Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO caught in the middle of a whistleblower complaint over the President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, resigned Friday from his post as special envoy to the Eastern European nation, according to a U.S. official.

The official said Volker told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday of his decision to leave the job, following disclosures that he had connected Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani with Ukrainian officials to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his family over allegedly corrupt business dealings.

Giuliani has said he was in frequent contact with Volker about his efforts. The State Department had no immediate comment on his resignation and has said only that Volker put Giuliani in touch with an aide to Ukraine’s president.

Pompeo said Thursday that as far as he knew, all State Department employees had acted appropriately in dealing with Ukraine.

Volker was brought into the Trump administration by former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to serve as envoy for Ukraine. He worked in a volunteer capacity and had retained his job as head of the John McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University. Arizona State’s student newspaper was the first to report his resignation.

New world news from Time: Thousands Rally in Hong Kong to Commemorate 2014 Protests

(HONG KONG) — Thousands of people gathered Saturday for a rally in downtown Hong Kong, belting out songs, speeches and slogans to mark the fifth anniversary of the 2014 protest movement that called for democratic reforms in the semiautonomous Chinese territory.

The rally at Tamar Park by the Civil Human Rights Front was approved by police but security was tight, with barriers blocking access to government offices and the Legislative Council building, which was stormed by protesters in July.

Demonstrators unfurled a big banner that read “We are back” on a footbridge to the government office. A staircase leading to the bridge was turned into a veritable art gallery of protest art, with posters stuck on every available surface of the walkway. One read “Persevere until final victory.”

Some protesters trampled on pictures of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam that were glued to the floor. At one of the gates to Lam’s office, the Chinese word for “hell” and an arrow pointing to the building were spray-painted on the sidewalk.

“We think we will lose because their force is so strong,” said one demonstrator, 22-year-old Sang Chan. “But if we don’t do anything now, we’ll have no other chance.”

A 32-year-old protester who would give only his surname, Chau, said they hope to wear down the government. “It’s like a marathon to see who gets tired first,” he said.

Just before the rally started, a small group of black-clad protesters wearing goggles and masks attempted to scale barricades outside the government offices, prompting riot police behind the barriers to fire pepper spray.

The protesters retreated but returned, heckling police and thumping metal fencing. Police used pepper spray again, and the scene repeated several times. Some journalists were hit by the spray.

Police said in a statement that a large group of protesters blocked a main road nearby, paralyzing traffic, and that some damaged property outside the government offices.

“We are back with even stronger determination,” activist Joshua Wong, who played a key role as a youth leader in the 2014 movement, when protesters occupied key thoroughfares in the same area for 79 days beginning Sept. 28, told thousands at the rally. The 2014 protests ended without winning any government concessions.

Earlier Saturday, Wong, 22, announced plans to contest district council elections in November. He said the vote is crucial to send a message to Beijing that the people are more determined than ever to win the battle for more rights.

Wong, who has been arrested and jailed repeatedly, said he is aware that he could be disqualified but warned it would just generate more support for the protest movement. Members of the Demosisto party that he co-founded in 2016 have in the past been disqualified from serving and running for office because they advocated self-determination.

Wong is out on bail after he was rearrested with several other people last month and charged with organizing an illegal rally. It didn’t stop him from going to the U.S., Germany and Taiwan to drum up support for the current protest movement, which started in June over an extradition bill but has since snowballed into an anti-China campaign.

The now-shelved bill, which would have sent some criminal suspects for trial in mainland China, is seen as a jarring example of China’s intrusion into the city’s autonomy.

Apart from Saturday’s rally in the city center, protesters are also planning global “anti-totalitarianism” rallies on Sunday in Hong Kong and over 60 other cities worldwide to denounce what they called “Chinese tyranny.”

But the biggest worry for the government is on Tuesday. Protesters plan a major march downtown, sparking fears of a bloody showdown that could embarrass China’s ruling Communist Party as it marks its 70th year in power with grand festivities in Beijing. Pro-Beijing groups have also vowed to come out.

Police have banned the march, but in the past that has not stopped protesters from showing up anyway. Hong Kong’s government has toned down National Day celebrations, canceling an annual firework display and moving a reception indoors.

Separately, American academic Dan Garrett, who testified at a U.S. congressional hearing with Wong on Sept. 18, said Saturday that he was denied entry into Hong Kong on Thursday due to “unspecified immigration reasons.”

He tweeted that it was the first time he was barred after having visited and lived in Hong Kong for two decades.

Garrett and other speakers spoke about the weakening of Hong Kong’s autonomy as some U.S. congressmen sought to push through a bill to support the democracy movement. Chinese government accused the U.S. and other foreign powers of fomenting the unrest.

New world news from Time: Hong Kong Activist Joshua Wong Says He Is Running for Local Office

Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong announced Saturday that he will run in the city’s upcoming district council elections, a statement timed with the fifth anniversary of the Umbrella Revolution protests he led in 2014.

“I hope to make clear that involvement in small scale community work can make a difference in our city’s politics,” Wong said, standing on a pavement outside government headquarters in the early autumn sun. “I’m convinced democracy will grow from the ground up, from the community. The battle ahead is a battle for our home and for our homeland.”

He was addressing a small gathering of media and supporters, including several pro-democracy lawmakers. Supporters chanted “For our homeland!” and “Democracy now!”

“Hong Kong is a small city of seven million, and it is facing a battle,” lawmaker Fernando Cheung told the gathering. “Joshua Wong is at the front of the battle lines. It is not an easy thing to do at all. He should be renamed as the David of David and Goliath. His strength is insurmountable.”

The 22-year-old will run for a seat on a district council in the city’s south, where he has lived for over a decade. Although such councils are the lowest level of municipal organization, they can potentially be a fast track to the city’s legislature, because the 431 members of district councils across Hong Kong are entitled to elect one of their number to become a lawmaker.

Speaking earlier to TIME, Wong said: “The fight for democracy relies on community support. Realizing how to enhance people’s livelihoods and urban planning is significant.”

Read more: Five Years On, Hong Kong Activist Joshua Wong Speaks to TIME About the Umbrella Revolution

Wong’s announcement comes as the semi-autonomous enclave enters its 17th consecutive weekend of protests. The demonstrations were initially a response to a controversial, now withdrawn extradition bill that would have allowed the rendition of fugitives to mainland China. But demands have since evolved and the protestors, mostly of them young, are calling for democratic reform and greater autonomy from Beijing, which has sovereignty over the former British colony under the “one country, two systems” framework.

Last month, official figures showed a surge in the number of registered voters in the city, with the most significant increase seen in the 18 to 35 age group. The spike has been linked to the ongoing protests, which have inspired greater political awareness in many young people.

There is a widespread expectation that the establishment will suffer at the hands of such voters in the coming race. District councils are presently dominated by pro-Beijing parties, but Willy Lam, an adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, says “The protests are bound to have a beneficial effect on pro-democracy candidates.” He adds, however, that pro-Beijing parties are unlikely to lose their majority.

Wong’s announcement marks his first participation in a political race. Members of Demosisto, his political party, have had their attempts to enter local politics thwarted. Nathan Law was elected to the city’s Legislative Council in 2014 but disqualified over the manner in which he took his oath, while Agnes Chow was barred last year from running in a by-election due to the party’s support for self-determination for Hong Kong.

Wong acknowledged the possibility that he, too, might be prohibited from running — even for a district-level council. “If they disqualify me, I know it will generate more international momentum to keep focusing on Hong Kong,” he told TIME a day ahead of his campaign announcement.

Lam warns that in the present political climate, disqualifications of pro-democracy candidates would “likely provoke sizable protest.”

Read more: Will Unrest in Hong Kong Spoil China’s Big Party?

Hong Kong is meanwhile bracing for a weekend of demonstrations in the lead up to China’s National Day on Oct. 1, which marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic.

Later on Saturday, protestors will commemorate the Umbrella Revolution, and on Sunday will take part in an “anti-totalitarianism march” on government headquarters. Supporters in dozens of cities around the world are expected to hold protest rallies on the same day.

Wong says he will submit his application next week for election officials to decide whether or not his candidacy can proceed. The vote will be held in November.

“I have no plan to shift the focus from the protests to the election,” Wong told TIME. “But I want to generate more momentum to keep the pressure on Beijing, [whether from] inside the [district] council, on the streets or in the international community.”

New world news from Time: Saudi Arabia Is Opening Its Doors to Foreign Tourists for the First Time

Saudi Arabia has announced it will open its doors to international tourists for the first time ever, pledging to provide e-visas and visas on arrival to visitors from 49 countries.

Travel to the Kingdom has until now been almost entirely restricted to expatriate workers or those with business visas, and to religious pilgrims visiting the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

That’s about to change, according to a press release issued ahead of a new visa regime expected to be implemented Friday night. Under a new program, Saudi Arabia will welcome oversees visitors outside of the auspices of the Hajj visa. The Kingdom will also relax its strict dress requirement for female visitors, exempting them from wearing the otherwise obligatory head-to-toe robe, or Abaya, in public places and permitting them to travel without a male companion. Tourists will still be required to dress modesty and Mecca remains off-limits for non-Muslims.

The announcement is the latest in a series of measures undertaken by Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman aimed at liberalizing the Saudi economy and reducing its dependence on hydrocarbons. But the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi one year ago and crackdowns on women’s rights campaigners in the country have undermined the Crown Prince’s attempt to cast himself as a modernizing reformer.

Saudi Arabia says it expects to attract 100 million foreign and domestic visitors by 2030 and create 1 million new jobs in the tourism sector. The Chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage invited investors to be part of what he billed as “the fastest growing tourism sector on earth” in another press release that announced $27-billion worth of new agreements in the tourism sector.

The expected visitor numbers are “very ambitious”, says John Sfakianakis, the chief economist at the Gulf Research Center and probably more “guidance” than cast in stone figures. Saudi Arabia’s ability to deliver on its aims will depend on the competitiveness of its tourist offering with those of regional rivals such as Egypt, Jordan, and the UAE, its global connectivity, and the ease of its visa provisioning system, he says. Regional security will also be paramount. “Geopolitical risks will have to stay low as we know all too well from Egypt’s and Turkey’s recent tumultuous past,” Sfakianakis tells TIME.

Among the destinations Saudi Arabia hopes tourists will visit are five UNESCO listed heritage sites including the ancient city of Mada’in, home to the Nabateans before Roman annexation in 106 CE; Riyadh’s Masmak Fortress—which Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman bin Faisal Al Saud seized in 1902 before conquering the regions’ disparate tribes and uniting them to form the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; and the world’s largest oasis, which has 2.5 million date palms.

Jim O’Brien, director of the U.K.-based boutique travel company Native Eye, says he hopes the introduction of tourist visas will boost business for his company—which until now has offered tours of Saudi Arabia to foreigners who already have business visas—but he doesn’t expect the Kingdom to experience the sort of overnight boom that happened in Myanmar. “First of all it needs to raise its profile as a possible holiday destination,” says O’Brien. “For years it has been very closed to visitors, so this may take some time.”

New world news from Time: 58% of Native European Tree Species Face Extinction, Report Finds

(GENEVA) — An international conservation group is warning that more than half of the European tree species that exist nowhere else in the world are threatened with extinction.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature said in a new report Friday that 58% of the continent’s 454 native trees are threatened and 15% are “critically endangered” – one step away from extinction.

More than 150 experts contributed to the report, which the conservancy called the first comprehensive assessment of the extinction risk of trees in Europe.

The findings in the “European Red List of Trees” come amid heightened concern about environmental issues and extinction risks in Europe and beyond. A U.N. report on biodiversity released in May warned that extinction looms for over 1 million species of plants and animals.

IUCN, a 71-year-old organization known for its “Red List” classification of threatened species, said that “invasive and problematic” species are the top threat to European trees, with urban development and “unsustainable logging” as other factors.

The group’s Europe director, Luc Bas, said “human-led activities” were resulting in population declines of important tree species.

Among the recommendations , the report’s authors called for the creation of protected areas, improved monitoring and increased research on the impacts of climate change on forests and individual tree species.

The conservancy highlighted Aesculus hippocastanum, or the horse chestnut tree, native to southeastern Europe. The polished brown conker inside its spiked fruit “is perhaps more famous than the tree itself” because of its use in children’s playground games, the report said.

The species, present in Europe since before the last Ice Age, has been threatened by defoliation because of the leaf miner moth, and a blotch caused by a fungus, as well as by human pressures. It is endangered in Bulgaria and Greece and critically endangered in Albania.

New world news from Time: Russia’s Foreign Minister Says West is ‘Out of Step With The Times’ at U.N. General Assembly

(UNITED NATIONS) –– Russia’s foreign minister is taking aim at the West, saying its philosophies are out of step with the times.

Sergei Lavrov says “it is hard for the West to accept seeing its centuries-long dominance in world affairs diminishing.” He spoke in a pointed address at the U.N. General Assembly.

Lavrov also says some Western countries “are trying to impede the development of a polycentric world.”

He also criticized NATO’s decision to attack Libya, which he says split the country apart. He says the West “has its own rules in the Balkans” as well. And under Western intervention, he says, Venezuela’s “statehood was destroyed before our eyes.”

The term “the West,” when said by Russian officials, typically refers to the United States and its sphere of influence in Europe.

New world news from Time: Haiti Protesters Burn Businesses in Effort to Oust President Jovenel Moise

(PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti) — Protesters seeking to oust Haitian President Jovenel Moise have attacked businesses and a police station, and opposition leaders are pledging that there will be no peace until he resigns.

Leaders of opposition parties have sent groups of young men onto the streets for three weeks to enforce a shutdown of businesses and public services.

The protesters pledged a massive demonstration Friday to increase pressure on Moises. By midmorning, witnesses said demonstrators had burnt and ransacked a police station in Cite Soleil, a sprawling seaside shantytown. A reporter for radio station Zenith FM said he had seen an Avis car rental office attacked and burnt.

Sen. Youri Latortue, one of the opposition leaders, told Radio Caraibes that “if Jovenel doesn’t resign today, whatever happens to him is not our responsibility.”

New world news from Time: 17 Killed in U.S. Airstrike on Suspected ISIS Targets in Libya, Military Says

A U.S. military airstrike killed 17 people allegedly affiliated with ISIS in southwest Libya, the military announced Friday—the third strike against militants there this month.

The strike was carried out Thursday by U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) in conjunction with the U.N.-backed Libyan Government of National Accord. AFRICOM said it did not believe any civilians were injured or killed. This month’s strikes in Libya are the first in more than a year by the U.S. military, according to the Associated Press.

“This ongoing campaign against ISIS-Libya demonstrates that U.S. Africa Command persistently targets terrorist networks that seek to harm innocent Libyans,” said Navy Rear Adm. Heidi Berg, director of intelligence at AFRICOM. “We will continue to pursue ISIS-Libya and other terrorists in the region, denying them safe haven to coordinate and plan operations in Libya.”

AFRICOM told TIME that for “operational security reasons” it could not disclose whether the coordinates for the airstrike came from U.S. or Libyan intelligence services. “It is important to preserve operational advantage and not signal to these terror elements when, where, and the various means available to disrupt them,” a spokesperson said in an email.

An airstrike on Tuesday killed 11 people and a strike Sept. 19 killed eight—all associated with ISIS, AFRICOM said.

Human rights groups have not called the lack of civilian deaths in Thursday’s strike into question. But the U.S. military has understated civilian death tolls in the past.

The U.S.-led coalition in Syria killed more than 1,600 civilians during the bombardment of Raqqa, Syria in 2017, according to an investigation by Amnesty International and Airwars. The U.S. has publicly admitted responsibility for only 10% of those.

“There has never been a more precise air campaign in the history of armed conflict,” the commander of the Raqqa operation, Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, wrote at the time. Since July 2019, Townsend has been the commander of AFRICOM.

Donatella Rivera, senior crisis adviser at Amnesty International who led the investigation, suggested Thursday’s airstrike in Libya should be investigated.

“I work on the basis that cases need to be investigated,” she told TIME. “It may be that their [AFRICOM’s] version of events in Libya is totally accurate, I don’t know. I can tell you about the hundreds of cases I investigated in Syria and Iraq where their version of events was not accurate at all, in a very large number of cases, including practices that they themselves boasted about, notably General Townsend … honestly some of the statements that he made were really baffling.”

The Libyan Government of National Accord, based in the northwest of the country, is currently fighting forces led by Khalifa Haftar, a strongman and U.S. citizen who rose to prominence in the northeast of the country amid the civil war that followed the death of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Recent U.S. strikes against ISIS in Libya have been confined to the sparsely-populated southwest, away from the conflict between Haftar and the Government of National Accord. But ISIS has also been present in the north of the country in the past.

“U.S. Africa Command continues to support diplomatic efforts to stabilize the political situation in Libya in order to maintain our common focus on disrupting terrorist organizations that threaten regional stability,” AFRICOM said in a statement.

New world news from Time: Pakistani Prime Minister Warns of ‘Bloodbath’ in Kashmir Region

(UNITED NATIONS) –– Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has denounced India’s crackdown in Kashmir and warned of a “bloodbath” in the disputed region.

Khan said Friday at the United Nations General Assembly that with 900,000 Indian troops once a curfew is lifted Kashmiris “will be out in the streets. And what will the soldiers do? They will shoot them.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier denounced terrorism but avoided any mention of Kashmir.

Modi said that India’s “voice against terrorism to alert the world about its evil rings with seriousness and outrage.”

Khan bluntly warned that war was possible over India’s actions in Kashmir.

The nuclear-armed rivals, which have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, have been locked in a worsening standoff since Aug. 5, when Modi stripped the portion of Kashmir that India controls of its limited autonomy.

Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government imposed a sweeping military curfew and cut off residents in the Muslim-majority region from virtually all communications.

New world news from Time: Pope Francis Warns Companies to Use Artificial Intelligence for the ‘Common Good’

(VATICAN CITY) — Pope Francis on Friday warned tech company executives, diplomats and financiers that the race to create artificial intelligence and other forms of digital development pose the risk of increasing social inequality unless the work is accompanied by an ethical evaluation of the common good.

Francis addressed a Vatican conference that brought government envoys and Facebook and Google representatives together with philosophers, physicists and ethicists. A smattering of academics and Catholic bishops rounded out participants at “The Common Good in the Digital Age” conference.

The three-day gathering is the latest evidence of the Vatican wanting a place in the debate over the prospects and perils of artificial intelligence.

The debates included technology advancements in warfare and the future of work with increasing reliance on machines, as well as a case study examining the Christchurch, New Zealand, massacre and decisions taken by social media companies after video spread of the carnage.

In his speech to the conference, Francis praised the potential of technological progress, noting that machines at the dawn of the industrial revolution spared workers dangerous and monotonous labor. But he warned that increased reliance on robotics for the sake of profits risked depriving people of the dignity of labor.

“If technological advancement became the cause of increasingly evident inequalities, it would not be true and real progress,” he warned. “If mankind’s so-called technological progress were to become an enemy of the common good, this would lead to an unfortunate regression to a form of barbarism dictated by the law of the strongest.”

Organizers of the conference said they hoped to tap into participants’ expertise identify possible future advisers for the Catholic Church on high tech issues.

New world news from Time: ‘I Think and Hope That Netanyahu Will Fail.’ A Top Israeli Arab Lawmaker on the State of Coalition Talks

After Israel’s Sept. 17 election ended in political deadlock, a top lawmaker from an Arab-dominated political party this week became the first since 1992 to endorse an Israeli candidate for prime minister.

For the past 25 years, Israeli Arab party leaders have declined to endorse a Prime Ministerial candidate in Israel’s coalition-dependent system. But Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Joint List, an alliance of Israel’s four Arab-dominated parties, recommended centrist candidate Benny Gantz be given the mandate on Sept. 22. His party, Blue and White, won 33 parliamentary seats, one more than Netanyahu’s right wing Likud, which finished on 32. With 13 seats, the Joint List became the third-largest party in Israel’s parliament.

“We will be the cornerstone of democracy,” Odeh wrote in an OpEd published in the New York Times. “Arab Palestinian citizens cannot change the course of Israel alone, but change is impossible without us.” Odeh added that although he was endorsing Gantz for prime minister, he would not join him in a coalition.

Despite the historic recommendation, the withdrawal of three Joint List lawmakers left Gantz with just 54 endorsements, compared to 55 for Netanyahu. Late on Wednesday, after fresh talks on forming a Blue and White–Likud unity government broke down, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin gave Netanyahu the first crack at forming a coalition.

He faces an uphill struggle. Blue and White has refused to sit in a coalition led by Netanyahu, who faces a pre-trial hearing next week on corruption allegations. Meanwhile, secular nationalist party leader Avigdor Lieberman has declined to recommend either Netanyahu or Gantz for prime minister. With no guarantee Rivlin will give Gantz the mandate should Netanyahu fail, Israel remains mired in political uncertainty, and a third election can’t be ruled out.

In a recent interview translated from Hebrew and edited for length and clarity, Odeh talked with TIME about his historic decision, why Arab Israeli turnout rose to above 60% in September, and why a top Blue and White lawmaker urged the Joint List to withhold some nominations for Gantz.

An Israeli Arab-dominated party has not backed a Zionist candidate for Prime Minister since 1992. How much did the Nation-State Law, which enshrines the right of national self determination as “unique to the Jewish people”, and Netanyahu’s subsequent statement that Israel is not a country for “all its citizens” play into your decision to break with tradition?

That’s an important question. The Nation-State law, and also the incitement that was really extreme under Netanyahu was a very important part of the decision to make the recommendation. But it’s not only that we were looking at the past, we were also looking to the future with President Trump’s “Deal of the Century” and the potential for annexation that would end prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace. This is a main factor in why we are saying no to Netanyahu.

After the president asked Netanyahu to form a government, you said that a top Blue and White lawmaker had urged three Joint List members not to endorse Gantz, ensuring that Netanyahu gets to try first. What was the strategy behind that?

There were some lawmakers in Blue and White that preferred Netanyahu to have the first attempt at forming a government. Their thinking is that he will fail and then there will be a lot of public pressure, so they will have a greater chance of forming a government if they go second. But there was no coordination between Blue and White’s strategy and Balad, the Joint List party whose three elected members abstained from recommending a Prime Minister. Balad was opposed to the endorsement in principal. Personally, I’m against the tactic of Blue and White and Balad in this matter. I was in favor of all 13 of our party members endorsing Gantz for prime minister. Not because he was the right candidate to represent our interests, but because this is the only chance for us to get rid of Netanyahu. We also wanted to send a message to the Prime Minister that after his incitement against us, we will be the ones to put him down.

A recent IDI Poll showed that 58% of the Israeli Arab public believes its political leadership “does not do a good job in representing the Arab community”, up from 41% in 2017. At the same time, Arab voter turnout rose from about 50% in April to above 60% in September. How do you explain these two trends?

Netanyahu succeeded in sowing despair among a huge part of our public. This was the environment in the Arab public for a long time, months before the election. But then we started to talk about how to repair the situation politically and why we have to stand up to incitement and be a part of Israel’s politics. Regarding the high voter turnout the first factor is our unity: the fact the Joint List became one party again [the four parties ran separately in Israel’s April elections.] It’s not only Netanyahu’s incitement that bought Arabs to the polls, it’s the fact that we put ourselves head to head with the prime minister and showed that it’s us or him. In parliament, for example, I put a camera on Netanyahu [after he had set up cameras in polling stations in Arab areas]. I wanted to say it’s me in front of you.

How do you respond to critics who say that by endorsing a Zionist leader you are selling out Palestinians?

The main purpose of what we did was preventing Netanyahu from making the Deal of the Century with Trump, which would end all possibilities for peace. We also want to prevent Netanyahu from forming a government with [the hard right] Yamina Party and annexing the Occupied Territories. But together with that there are the daily life rights [of Israel’s Arab citizens] to consider. We’re not a party of big words, we’re also a party that looks to deliver change.

You wrote in the New York Times that you won’t sit in a coalition with Blue and White because of Gantz’s refusal to meet your demands. What mechanisms are there for you to advance those demands outside of a coalition?

We don’t have the privilege of the 1990s when there were strategies and policies towards creating peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Now the options are between annexation and managing the situation; making peace is not part of Gantz’s ideology. Every government will be bad but we want to prevent the worst. In the 1990s, we had an important role as a bloc outside the government that allows it to continue to rule as a minority government, and we were able to promote equality and steps towards peace. We want to reconstruct that experience. The problem right now is that Blue and White is still very far from showing the courage that [assassinated former Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin showed in those days.

Should Gantz end up heading a unity government, do you think he will make things any better for Israeli Arabs?

On the Nation State bill, I don’t think he has the courage to make a change. It’s a bill that maybe he doesn’t agree with, but it’s very hard to replace. It’s similar to the way the right wing doesn’t agree with the Oslo Accords but they can’t replace it. You need ideology, courage, and right now Gantz doesn’t have that. But if we’re talking about crime in the Arab communities and other issues we’ve discussed there’s a civil way we can make some steps forward.

Analysts say that despite Netanyahu’s incitement against Israeli Arabs, Likud policies have been generous in directing economic resources to Arab communities, for example, new initiatives to improve police services. Do you agree with that?

We have struggled to bring economic improvements to Arab councils. When we submitted the proposal for improvement to Arab councils, Netanyahu first rejected it three times, so it was a hard struggle that we undertook to get our economic rights. The other thing to note is that Netanyahu has always promoted the idea of economic peace: in the occupied territories and for Arabs inside Israel [Palestinians in the occupied territories are not eligible to vote for Israel’s Prime Minister].

But in his equation economic improvement comes at the expense of national rights. It’s a racist approach because it sees us not as a people but a group of consumers… Netanyahu was the most anti-democratic threat to the Arab population since Israel was under martial law in the 1950s.

What’s your preferred outcome from these negotiations? What do you think will happen?

The truth is that no one can say for sure. But I think and hope that Netanyahu will fail. And then there will be public pressure and pressure from the parties, and they will have to go with Gantz. The main thing for us is that Netanyahu will not continue as prime minister.

New world news from Time: ‘He was a Man of History.’ France’s President Jacques Chirac Remembered by His Former Prime Minister

Jacques Chirac, who died at 86 on Thursday, towered over French politics for nearly 40 years, first as Mayor of Paris, then as Prime Minister and finally for 12 years as President of France.

The period of his presidency, from 1995 to 2007, marked one of the most profound shifts in Europe, first with the huge expansion of the European Union, and then with the tumultuous aftermath of the Sept.11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington D.C., where Chirac broke sharply with President George W. Bush on the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Perhaps no one witnessed so closely that era as Dominique De Villepin, one of Chirac’s closest aides, who served as his chief of staff in the Elysée Palace, and then as his Foreign Minister, where, on the floor of the United Nations in 2003, he famously told the world that Chirac’s France would not go to war against Saddam Hussein. He would go on to serve as Prime Minister of France from 2005 to 2007.

De Villepin spoke to TIME on Friday about his memories and impressions of the leader he calls “a man of history.” The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

TIME: How do you think France will most remember Jacques Chirac?

De Villepin: He was very deeply rooted in French history, France culture, and a vision of France looking at the world. He had a really deep understanding of the people and at the same time he thought that France had something special to say to the world, that France was committed to give answers in an independent way taking into account the different challenges of the world.

For Americans, probably the thing they will remember most about Chirac is France’s decision not to join the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. What was that moment like for Jacques Chirac? Was he angry and frustrated?

He really tried to convince George Bush that he had an opportunity to go with the U.N. But progressively we found out that the real objective of the Bush Administration was regime change. So when Chirac realized that he thought it was important to show to the world that the United Nations should not embark without any legitimacy. He thought the risk of a division between the West and the Muslim world was very high, and that France had a role to mediate between those two worlds.

Unfortunately after 9/11 the Bush Administration thought the best way was to use military intervention. That is where you come to Jacques Chirac as a man of memory, a man of history, a man of full knowledge of the Arab world. By 2003, we already knew that Afghanistan [France sent troops in Afghanistan after 9/11] was not the success that the international community was awaiting. We knew from Vietnam that military intervention could create a disaster. We knew as French that in Algeria also military intervention was not the option.

Contrary to many other leaders, Jacques Chirac had personal experience of war, of fighting in the Algerian War during the 1950s. That made a huge difference in terms of his personal experience and the experience of some other leaders.

Were you with him at the moment of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001?

I was the one who informed him. He was in Rennes, in Brittany. He was there to deliver a speech on agriculture. I called him and told him about the attacks on the [World Trade Center] towers and the Pentagon. He decided to come back as soon as possible to Paris, and went to the American embassy and delivered a speech of friendship and support to the U.S. He decided he had to be the first one to go to the U.S., to go to New York eight days after the attacks to testify to the friendship and solidarity of France and the world to the U.S.

How did he respond when you broke the news to him?

HE? felt very strongly the solidarity with the American people. He understood very deeply how the world was going to change. That is why during the 2003 crisis [the invasion of Iraq] we had really tried to persuade the U.S. that facing such challenges, the response should not be war. We were entering into an era of instability, of violence, and that it was not going to solve the problem, but on the contrary would make it worse.

But you never doubted going to war in Afghanistan?

Military intervention without a very, very strong political vision and a strategic vision, gives the opposite of what we want and expected. [By 2003] we were seeing in Afghanistan the damages of such policies. That convinced us that this was not the option in Iraq.

What was the atmosphere like behind closed doors between President Chirac and President Bush?

It was a very difficult period. This was a very tense period, with strong words coming from the Administration, strong decisions on economic and military decisions. But Chirac always tried to show that he was trying to avoid instability, and that the U.S. was making a mistake, and that the price the U.S. would have to pay was something that was not good for any of us. The U.S. thought this was guided by our own interest, by the friendship with Saddam Hussein, which was absolutely not the case. We thought it was very clear there was no chance of a positive outcome of any kind of military intervention.

What did Chirac make of Americans calling the French surrender monkeys? And all the talk of Freedom Fries?

Chirac had spent a lot of time when he was young in the U.S. He knew the culture. He loved the U.S. The same for me, being educated partly in the U.S. We understood that the suffering and pain that American people and the U.S. and the Administration from 9/11 explained the emotional reaction towards France. But we thought that the moment would come when this Administration will understand that France was not motivated by bad reasons.

Your famous speech at the U.N. in 2003, was it crafted closely with Jacques Chirac?

We had daily discussions. We were on the line so much. There was not a single difference between what he felt and what I felt at that time.

People always talk about Chirac’s wit, his blunt comments. Face to face, behind closed doors, what was he like?

He had this absolutely incredible capacity to listen to people. And whenever he went into French politics on the stage, he had this appetite for meeting people, for shaking hands. He had huge pleasure in meeting people and to discuss with them and try understand their problems. He was really in politics because he loved it.

When you see the private man, he was not the kind of man always giving lessons and using his position with some kind of superiority. He was not blocked on one position. He was not a man of any artificiality. He was really somebody you could touch, you could understand, and a deeply moving human being, with strong humanity.

In 1995 Chirac became the first French leader to acknowledge France’s role in deporting Jews to the Nazi concentration camps during the 1940s. What led up to that incredibly dramatic moment?

At that time I was Chirac’s chief of staff. He felt we really had to take responsibility for it. He felt it was important for a generation. He thought that the French state – the police, the public officers that participated in these crimes – that it was important to look history in front [in the face].

It was an important factor for the young people for every generation to go forward and take the lesson for this historical crime. It was a kind of collective necessity. It was a speech where he put in a lot of work, a lot of time, and I was there when he delivered the speech. It was a really moving moment. Most of the people were not prepared for him going so far. But when he felt something was not right, he said it very loudly.

Chirac was very close to leaders in Africa who were dictators. He was friends with Saddam Hussein. He was friends with Vladimir Putin. Was this a matter of politics, or how do you understand it?

I think it is better not to make the confusion [with] having relations with everybody. Chirac’s vision of foreign policy is that being pragmatic was important. You cannot act for change, you cannot contribute in resolving crises if you cannot speak to everybody. Behind this was a very strong vision that France has to have always a diplomacy of initiative, a diplomacy of openness. And that to be efficient we need to talk to everybody. He believed there was always something to be done to take into account the other party’s position even if the other party was responsible for bad policies. Never put anybody in a corner where you cannot make any kind of change.

Jacques Chirac never agreed with the idea of regime change. He believed in respect of sovereignty of different positions means you should not force them to change. You have to do it through ways in which they can be understood, certainly not to use force to impose democracy, because then you create a situation of crisis which is much more complicated for the world to resolve.

What do you think Chirac would make of Europe today, with Brexit and the rise of the far right?

He had a very national approach to many of the world issues. Most of all he understood that to have Europe working well, there was one key condition: To have France and Germany working together. The relationship between [then] Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and him was so close that we had a very strong impact on Europe. The vision was that Europe needed a strong Franco-German relationship.

What would he have made of President Trump? And if it had been President Trump rather than President Bush, how would he have gotten along with a man like Donald Trump?

I’m a trained diplomat, and there are many things that I can do, but science fiction is not part of my ability.

Jacques Chirac believed the U.S. were allies, the U.S. were partners, the U.S. were friends. He would want to show that solidarity is a better response. And he would have wanted to convince the U.S. that being together in a dangerous world creates more capacity to go forward, facing climate change, the situation in Iran, the situation in North Korea, the disaster in the Middle East, and the crisis in Africa. I don’t know how much this would have helped.

It feels like Chirac represents a France that no longer exists in many ways. He was not concerned about hiding his colorful personal life, for example. [Chirac was reported to have several affairs outside his marriage.] Was he the last of a particular kind of leader in France?

I am not sure. Jacques Chirac had a long career, a very long vision of history. He did not see problems with a six-month delay. That is part of a traditional culture, a capacity to look at problems through history, through geography, through culture. Not only from one angle.. I think that is still something very French, if you see what President Macron is trying to do with Iran, the willingness to try everything, to put together different options. You should look at the world not with preconceived options but asking questions. That is still very much alive, the idea that France has to be a country of balance. Look what we are trying to do on climate change. To never lose hope in finding new ways.