The COVID-19 pandemic has presented authorities in Lahore, Pakistan, with all kinds of challenges. They’re dealing with shortages, a rise in cases, and now a rise in disinformation about the virus. VOA’s Saman Khan reports.
Afghans on July 29 welcomed a three-day cease-fire but called for it to be made permanent after the government and the Taliban said they would observe a truce that could kickstart peace talks as soon as next week.
Talks between the Afghan government and the hard-line Islamist Taliban movement finally appear to be on the horizon after the two sides announced a brief cease-fire during the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha this week.
The Taliban and Afghan government have announced a three-day cease-fire for the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday starting on July 31, as the United States presses for the start of delayed intra-Afghan peace talks.
The pandemic has, however, badly hit India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, which have shut or heavily restricted major markets, while fears about catching the virus are keeping customers away ahead of the main festival on August 1.
There were 1,282 civilian deaths in Afghanistan in the first half of the year, the UN Mission in Afghanistan said in a report published on July 27.
An all-female group of robotics students in the Afghan city of Herat has developed a prototype ventilator for COVID-19 patients based on a design by M.I.T.
The Taliban are prepared to hold peace talks with the Afghan government next month straight after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, the insurgents said on July 23, provided an ongoing prisoner swap has been completed.
A polio campaign has begun in the Pakistani city of Karachi, with the authorities hoping to vaccinate over 200,000 children.
Dozens of protesters have staged a demonstration in Peshawar to condemn an assassination attempt on Fazal Khan, an ethnic Pashtun rights activist.
A teenage Afghan girl killed two Taliban militants who shot her parents dead in a remote province.
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