US wants UN to take up Dalai Lama succession: envoy

Yahoo – AFP, Shaun TANDON, November 8, 2019

The Dalai Lama arrives for prayers wishing him a long life at the Tsuglagkhang
temple in McLeod Ganj, India in September 2019 -- the US wants the UN to
look at the issue of who will succeed him (AFP Photo/Lobsang Wangyal)

Washington (AFP) - The United States wants the United Nations to take up the Dalai Lama's succession in an intensifying bid to stop China from trying to handpick his successor, an envoy said after meeting the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Sam Brownback, the US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, said he spoke at length about the succession issue with the 84-year-old Dalai Lama last week in the monk's home-in-exile of Dharamsala, India.

Brownback said he told the Dalai Lama that the United States would seek to build global support for the principle that the choice of the next spiritual chief "belongs to the Tibetan Buddhists and not the Chinese government."

"I would hope that the UN would take the issue up," Brownback told AFP after returning to Washington.

He acknowledged that China, with its veto power on the Security Council, would work strenuously to block any action, but he hoped countries could at least raise their voices at the United Nations.

"I think it's really important to have an early global conversation because this is a global figure with a global impact," he said.

US religious freedom envoy Sam Brownback, seen here at a July 2019 ministerial 

meeting in Washington, is raising pressure over the Dalai Lama's succession (AFP 

Photo/MANDEL NGAN)

"That's the big thing that we're really after now, to stir this before we're right in the middle of it -- if something happens to the Dalai Lama, that there has been this robust discussion globally about it ahead of time," he said.

"My estimation undoubtedly is that the (Chinese) communist party has thought a lot about this. So they've got a plan and I think we have to be equally aggressive with a plan."

The Dalai Lama once traveled incessantly, drawing huge Western audiences with his good-humored lectures on compassion and happiness.

But the Nobel Peace Prize winner has slowed down and earlier this year suffered a chest infection, although he is not known to have serious health issues.

Brownback said he found the Dalai Lama "quite jovial" and that the monk had told him, "'Look, I'm going to live another 15, 20 years; I'm going to outlast the Chinese government.'"

But Beijing has indicated it is waiting out the Dalai Lama, believing his campaign for greater Tibetan autonomy will end with him.

China, which argues that it has brought modernization and development to the Himalayan region, has increasingly hinted that it could name the next Dalai Lama, who would presumably be groomed to support Chinese rule.

Indian police detain Tibetan students as they protest against the visit of 

China's President Xi Jinping in Chennai in October 2019 (AFP Photo/STR)

In 1995, the officially atheist government selected its own Panchen Lama and detained a six-year-old identified for the influential Buddhist position -- whom rights groups called the world's youngest political prisoner.

Seeking 'unfettered' access

Mindful of Beijing's plans, the 14th Dalai Lama has mused about breaking with the centuries-old tradition in which wandering monks look for signs that a young boy is the reincarnation.

He has said that he could pick his own successor, possibly a girl, or even declare himself the final Dalai Lama.

The US Congress has also stepped up efforts, including by mandating visa denials by the end of the year for Chinese officials unless Beijing eases restrictions on US diplomats, journalists and ordinary people seeking to visit Tibet.

Brownback said he would like access to Tibet, "but I want it unfettered."

He said he similarly hoped to visit the western region of Xinjiang, which has drawn intense US scrutiny over the incarceration of some one million Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims.

"It is part of the same war on faith," Brownback said of Tibet and Xinjiang.

A Tibetan-in-exile carries a photograph of the Dalai Lama during celebrations 

marking the Lunar New Year in Kathmandu in February 2018 (AFP Photo/

PRAKASH MATHEMA)

Fears in Nepal

Brownback also visited Nepal, historically the gateway for Tibetans fleeing to India but which has increasingly clamped down under pressure from its giant northern neighbor.

Brownback said he raised fears for Tibetans with Nepal's foreign minister, Pradeep Gyawali.

But he acknowledged Nepal's difficult situation and said: "I would hate to be very harsh on the Nepalese because they've been so good over so many years to help the Tibetans."

Brownback said that the burden was ultimately with China to allow freedom of movement -- and not to interfere in Tibetan Buddhism.

"A government doesn't own a religion," he said. "A religion runs itself."

"We hope we'll get a number of other communities around the world to express similar positions and concerns."

India will not join RCEP trade deal in blow to sprawling Asian pact

Yahoo – AFP, Joe Freeman, Jenny VAUGHAN, November 4, 2019

India opted not to join a major Asian trade pact over concerns about market access 
being hindered by cheap Chinese-made goods -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi 
and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang are seen here at the summit in Bangkok (AFP Photo/
Manan VATSYAYANA)

India said Monday it would not join a sprawling Asian trade pact, dealing a blow to the China-backed deal at the end of a Bangkok summit held against a backdrop of global growth fears.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was meant to account for 30 percent of global GDP and loop in half of the world's people.

But India dug in over concerns about market access, fearing its domestic industries would be hit hard if the country was flooded by cheap Made-in-China goods.

"We have conveyed to the participating countries that we will not be joining the RCEP," Vijay Thakur Singh, a senior diplomat in charge of East Asia for India's foreign ministry, told reporters.

"Our decision was guided by the impact this agreement will have on the ordinary human beings of India and livelihood of people, including the poorest of the poor," she said.

The 11th-hour pullout comes after days of late-running negotiations at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, which closed Monday.

The meeting was dominated by trade issues -- with RCEP front and centre -- backlit by the crippling US-China tariff war.

India's decision is seen as a blow to the deal, which now includes all 10 ASEAN states plus China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand -- notably excluding the United States.

The remaining members are aiming to sign it next year after reviewing an agreed draft text.

The news came after a full day of meetings at the summit, attended by the leaders of Japan, South Korea, and India, along with China's premier.

Washington did not send top officials to a weekend meeting of the 10-member 

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), dispatching Commerce 

Secretary Wilbur Ross (R) and National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien (AFP

Photo/Romeo GACAD)

Some leaders pushed back against protectionism amid fears Trump's trade war with China could slow global growth to the lowest rate in a decade, according to an International Monetary Fund prediction.

"We need to protect the free-trade order... and bring the global economy back on track," said South Korean leader Moon Jae-in.

The US-China spat has seen the two sides swap tariffs on billions of dollars worth of goods, though they have agreed to roll back some of the measures with a "first phase" deal that could be soon signed.

'Treated generously'

Notably absent from the Bangkok talks were any top US officials -- Washington sent Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien in lieu of President Donald Trump.

That decision raised diplomatic eyebrows and appeared to prompt several Southeast Asian leaders to skip a meeting with US officials on Monday.

Just three leaders from the 10-member ASEAN bloc showed up to the session, along with a host of foreign ministers.

But O'Brien, Trump's special envoy to ASEAN, shrugged off the apparent snub, describing "excellent conversations" with leaders.

"I was treated generously," he told reporters.

O'Brien earlier read a letter from Trump inviting "the leaders of ASEAN to join me in the United States for a special summit" in the first three months of next year.

Trump attended the 2017 summit in Singapore and Vice President Mike Pence attended last year's event in Manila.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has 10 members 

(AFP Photo/John SAEKI)

But the Republican president could not come this year because he was busy with campaign events back home, a senior White House official said.

Trump's administration is accused of retreating from Asia after he pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) -- slated to be the world's largest trade pact before the withdrawal.

The US leader has said he wants to pursue bilateral agreements over free trade accords to narrow trade gaps in the region -- part of his "America First" clarion call.

- Open door -

Thailand handed over the ASEAN chair to Vietnam, where the RCEP deal could finally be signed, after years of gruelling negotiations.

A senior trade diplomat with knowledge of the negotiations said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not budge because he was under domestic pressure.

But the source held out the option that New Delhi could join at a "later date" even after it is signed -- if outstanding issues are resolved.

China's deputy foreign minister Le Yucheng echoed the view.

"Whenever India is ready, it is welcome to get on board," he said before Delhi confirmed its pullout.

Analyst Deborah Elms said the deal shows a commitment to "stabilising trade in the region at a time of growing uncertainty".

But "India will never get a better deal from the members than what they have already managed," said Elms, director of the Asian Trade Centre.

Lebanese keep protest alive in northern city of Tripoli

Yahoo- AFP, November 2, 2019

Lebanese protesters wave flags and shout slogans during an anti-government
demonstration at al-Nour Square in the northern port city of Tripoli on
Saturday (AFP Photo/Ibrahim CHALHOUB)

Tripoli (Lebanon) (AFP) - Thousands of Lebanese flocked together in Tripoli Saturday, an AFP reporter said, to keep a protest movement alive in a northern city dubbed "the bride of the revolution".

Despite its reputation for conservatism, impoverished Tripoli has emerged as a festive nerve centre of anti-graft demonstrations across Lebanon since October 17.

The movement has lost momentum in the capital since the government resigned this week, but in the Sunni-majority city of Tripoli late Saturday it was still going strong.

In the main square, protesters waved Lebanese flags and held aloft mobile phones as torches, before bellowing out the national anthem in unison, the reporter said.

"Everyone means everyone," one poster read, reiterating a common slogan calling for all political leaders from across the sectarian spectrum to step down.

Many people had journeyed from other parts of the country to join in.

Ragheed Chehayeb, 38, said he had driven in from the central town of Aley.

"I came to Tripoli to stand by their side because they're the only ones continuing the revolution," he said.

Leila Fadl, 50, said she had travelled from the Shiite town of Nabatiyeh south of Beirut to Tripoli to show her support.

"We feel the demands are the same, the suffering is the same," she said.

In Tripoli, more than half live at or below the poverty line and 26 percent suffer extreme poverty, a UN study found in 2015.

On Tuesday embattled Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his cabinet would step down.

But it is still unclear what a new government would look like and if it would meet protesters' demands that it include independent experts.

Roads and banks have reopened after nearly two weeks of nationwide paralysis.

Fahmy Karame, 49, called for a "rapid solution to the economic crisis".

"We're waiting for a government of technocrats," he said.

In the Lebanese capital, hundreds protested on Saturday evening after a day of rain.

"Down with the rule of the central bank," they shouted at the top of their lungs, clapping their hands near the institution's headquarters.

Economic growth in Lebanon has stalled in recent years in the wake of repeated political crises, compounded by an eight-year civil war in neighbouring Syria.

Asia must quit 'coal addiction': UN chief

Yahoo – AFP, Joe Freeman, November 2, 2019

Several Asian megacities are at risk of flooding linked to global
warming (AFP Photo/Manan VATSYAYANA)

The UN chief on Saturday warned Asia to quit its "addiction" to coal, as climate change threatens hundreds of millions of people vulnerable to rising sea levels across the region.

The warning follows fresh research this week predicting that several Asian megacities, including Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Mumbai, are at risk of extreme flooding linked to global warming.

Antonio Guterres said Asian countries need to cut reliance on coal to tackle the climate crisis, which he called the "defining issue of our time".

"There is an addiction to coal that we need to overcome because it remains a major threat in relation to climate change," he told reporters ahead of a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok on Saturday.

He said countries in the region need to be on "the front line" of the fight by introducing carbon pricing and reforming energy policies.

"We are lagging behind," he said, adding that the rollback of coal could help curb rising global temperatures.

Coal remains a major source of power across Southeast Asia, where breakneck economic development has spurred soaring energy demands -- but at a cost to the environment.

Antonio Guterres said Asian countries need to cut reliance on coal to
head off the climate crisis (AFP Photo/Joe Freeman)

About one-third of Vietnam's energy comes from coal power with a slew of new plants set to come online by 2050, while Thailand is investing in fossil fuels.

Coastal areas across Southeast Asia have already seen major floods and seawater incursion linked to climate change.

New research this week showed that at least 300 million people worldwide are living in places at risk of inundation by 2050, a much bleaker picture than previous data predicted.

Destructive storm surges fuelled by increasingly powerful cyclones and rising seas will hit Asia hardest, according to the study in the journal Nature Communications.

The UN chief also spoke on Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya Muslims, nearly three-quarters of a million of whom were driven into Bangladesh in 2017.

He urged Myanmar's government to "address the root causes of displacement and allowing of the return, voluntary and in safety and dignity" to Myanmar.

"Some steps have been done but they are too small. We need to do much more," he said.

Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi is also in Bangkok for the summit and is likely to face pressure over her country's treatment of the Rohingya, particularly from Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia.

Myanmar has rebuffed all international pressure so far while only hundreds of Rohingya have returned to Myanmar, due to fear of further repression.

Related Articles:

"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“… 4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet; again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much…

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four.”

“Afraid of Love” + “What’s Wrong Today”, Laguna Hills, California, US(2), Dec 9, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

• Stagnation of the current US Politics: Compassioned (US) leaders will arise in the future
• Shortage of fresh/drinking water: Invention to make salt from salt water magnetic and remove it with water desalination process in high volumes
• Pollution on Earth: 1 - Stop killing the environment! / 2 - The rise of temperature on Earth is “temporary” and is part of the "regular" Watercycle.
• Replacement of current fossil energy source: Use of magnetics based (small/big) engines to produces electricity / free energy
• Plastic pollution in the oceans: Invention to remove the plastics gradually from the oceans

Vietnam arrests two in UK truck death investigation

Yahoo – AFP, 1 November 2019

Many of the 39 victims are believed to be Vietnamese after families said
their loved ones were missing

Vietnam police have arrested two people for trafficking in connection with the death of 39 migrants whose bodies were found in a truck in Britain, many of them feared to be Vietnamese.

The move comes after British police arrested four people over the tragedy and are now seeking to question two brothers from Northern Ireland who have links to the road-haulage and shipping business.

The victims were initially identified by British police as Chinese, but many are now believed to be Vietnamese after families in central Vietnam said their loved ones had not been heard from.

Vietnam said Friday two people were arrested for alleged involvement in the case, which has exposed the dangers of illegal people-smuggling from the Asian country to Europe.

Many of the suspected victims came from central Ha Tinh province, where the two arrests were made in connection with "the case of 39 dead bodies found in a container truck in the UK", according to a statement on the local police website.

The pair were accused of "organising and brokering for other people to go abroad and stay abroad illegally", it said.

The bodies of the victims were found in a refrigerated trailer on October 23 in an industrial park in Essex, east of London. Police said the truck came from a Belgian port.

The 25-year-old driver of the truck, Maurice Robinson from Northern Ireland, has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter.

He was also charged with conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, and money-laundering.

Prosecutors said he was involved in an international trafficking ring as he appeared in court this week.

Three others who were arrested have been released on bail.

Several Vietnamese families said they heard from relatives before their crossing into the UK but have had no contact since.

Vietnam has said Britain sent documents to help with the complicated task of identifying the bodies, many of whom were believed to be carrying falsified passports.

DNA samples have also been taken from relatives in Vietnam to help with the process.

But so far none of the dead have been officially identified.

The truck tragedy has plunged communities in central Vietnam into mourning, as families desperately wait for news.

The region has long been a source of illegal migration to Britain for people seeking better lives.

Migrants often work in nail bars or cannabis farms, heavily indebted and vulnerable to exploitation.

British detectives probing the deaths of 39 Asian migrants in a refrigerated truck near London renewed their appeal for two brothers in the haulage business to help with the investigation https://t.co/YZlaMa3sCq

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 1 november 2019

At Saudi's "Davos in desert', foreign women avoid abayas

Yahoo – AFP, Aziz EL MASSASSI, October 31, 2019

Saudi revealed it was terminating a requirement for foreign women to wear the
austere black abaya when it announced in September that it would begin
granting tourist visas (AFP Photo/FAYEZ NURELDINE)

Riyadh (AFP) - Many foreign women at Saudi Arabia's Davos-style investment conference have donned an array of colourful tunics, happily avoiding the austere black "abaya", a garment until recently obligatory in the ultra-conservative country.

Alongside Saudis in traditional dress and foreign men in ties and suits, women from the ranks of business and policy-making are visiting Saudi Arabia at a time when its young leader is introducing some striking reforms.

"This year, I noticed that a lot of females are not wearing the abaya," said Claire Zheng, who was representing a Chinese company specialising in "green energy" technology.

"They are like me -- like today I'm wearing an abaya freely open, like this," she told AFP, gesturing to her long purple tunic embellished with small luminous pearls.

She said she felt more comfortable visiting Riyadh at time when "the abaya is no longer obligatory", unlike previous editions of the annual Future Investment Initiative, the kingdom's marquee event.

"Before if some waiters saw you wearing this kind of abaya, with the colours and not covered up, then they were kind of reminding you kindly you have to wear it properly in public. But now they don't."

Zheng was among hordes of business visitors to the event, as the kingdom seeks to escape the shadow of the early October 2018 killing of critic Jamal Khashoggi in its Istanbul consulate -- a murder that saw last year's FII largely shunned.

A local delegate takes a photo of a foreign woman wearing an embroidered 

garment during Saudi's Future Investment Initiative, where a vast array of 

clothing styles were on display in the absence of an abaya being required

(AFP Photo/FAYEZ NURELDINE)

Under the leadership of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi has embarked on a series of landmark changes -- allowing women to drive, opening the country up to tourism, and permitting concerts and sporting events.

The end of the abaya requirement for foreign women came late last month as part of the kingdom unveiling tourism visas.

But the dress code relaxation does not extend to female Saudi citizens.

Issue of respect

The controversial "guardianship" system, which ensures Saudi women are under the close supervision of a male relative, also remains in place.

Critics pushing for faster reform have ended up in jail, notably nearly a dozen women arrested just weeks before the kingdom lifted the ban on female motorists last year.

Those activists have accused interrogators of subjecting them to electric shocks, flogging and groping.

But Zahara Malik, the British CEO of a new investment firm, welcomed the changes made so far and said that women were already a "very powerful force" in the region.

"I've seen women who are still observing the abaya, and others not, you just have to be respectful to where you are," said Malik, who herself wore a modern grey abaya created by an Emirati designer friend.

The dress code relaxation does not extend to female Saudi citizens, and 

the controversial "guardianship" system, which ensures female citizens are under

 the close supervision of a male relative, also remains in place (AFP Photo/

FAYEZ NURELDINE)

"You shouldn't be pressured by anything. If you feel empowered wearing a niqab, wear the niqab, but if you also feel empowered not wearing it... that also gives more power to you."

Other foreign women at the conference, held in the expansive, marble-decked halls of the Ritz-Carlton, were similarly enthused about the changes under way in the kingdom.

"You can feel it, you can see it everywhere," said Jocelyn Cortez-Young, the American CEO of a tech firm.

"This is a very big movement and I think it’s only the beginning of all the movement that needs to take place."

Laurence Daziano, a French economist who wore a business-style black pantsuit and white shirt, said she decided to come to Saudi Arabia "the day I could come in Western clothes".

"I'm totally Western-style and I've had absolutely no problem," she said, adding that she had gone for neutral colours and modest styles.

"I respect the customs of the country, but nevertheless I dress like this when I'm in Paris and there's no question I would dress differently here."

Young Taliban must be heard, says new UN youth envoy

Yahoo – AFP, Pierre CELERIER, October 29, 2019

For Aisha Khurram, reaching out to all young Afghans -- including those joining
the ranks of the Taliban insurgency -- is critical (AFP Photo/WAKIL KOHSAR)

Afghanistan's ruling elite and international power brokers must listen to the fast-growing youth population -- including junior Taliban members -- if the war is ever to end, the country's new youth delegate to the United Nations says.

In a nation at war for 40 years and where two-thirds of the population is aged 24 or under, twenty-year-old Aisha Khurram says the younger generation's concerns have been shunted aside even as they inherit the conflict.

"For decades and even centuries, our fears and future have always been decided by the warring parties, irrespective of our perspective, irrespective of our opinions and our part in the process," Khurram told AFP in the UN's Kabul compound.

The international relations student at Kabul University was picked from 100 candidates for her high-profile role in early October, at the end of a tough selection process.

For Khurram, reaching out to all young Afghans -- including those joining the ranks of the Taliban insurgency -- is critical.

"Before they join the militant groups... we have to make the opportunities for them," she said.

"We have to hear their voices, we have to consider their right for education, their right for work opportunities and their right for life," she added.

"My own peer groups... do not enjoy the access to education, do not enjoy the opportunities that we have right now in Afghanistan."

Afghanistan's mainstream media -- concentrated in Kabul -- only reflect the views of urban Afghans she said, effectively blacking out opinions of vast swathes of the country, especially young people.

"It's not inclusive", she said.

She offered the #MyRedLine social media movement as an example in which young Afghans -- mostly educated -- state the "red line" they are not prepared to see Afghanistan cross in any eventual peace deal with the Taliban.

The campaign is "ignoring the needs and demands of the Afghan youth that are living outside of the Kabul (region)," she said, noting their urgent need for security trumps many "secondary" rights.

Global youth

Khurram, who was born in Pakistan after her family fled violence in Afghanistan, came of age at a time when the gruelling conflict is worsening.

According to the UN, the period of July to September this year was the deadliest on record for civilians, with more than 2,500 killed.

With half of the world's population now aged under 25, the UN is trying to amplify young voices at major summits through a youth delegation programme.

Countries can select representatives to advocate on several priority areas including the environment, juvenile justice and employment. But for Khurram, the key issue is peace.

She first went to Afghanistan in 2004, three years after the US-led invasion to topple the Taliban and hunt for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

In recent years the security situation has only deteriorated, and the US spent the past year pushing for a deal with the Taliban that would have seen the Pentagon pull thousands of troops from Afghanistan in return for security guarantees.

But President Donald Trump nixed talks last month as Taliban attacks continued.

Khurram said many Afghans were suspicious of the negotiations, which cut out the government of President Ashraf Ghani, who is currently seeking election for a second term.

"There are three parties in the conflict, and only two of them now are engaged in negotiations," she said. "Afghan people deserve to be a part of this process."

Afghans under 18 make up around half the estimated population of 37 million, but Afghanistan's political class does not reflect the country's youth.

A grizzled crew of old-school warlords and bickering elders still dominate the political scene, focused on consolidating power instead of strengthening national governance.

Khurram said she is helping to organise a "youth jirga" -- a meeting in which young people from all over the country can come together and brainstorm ways to influence any peace process.

Lebanon protesters form nationwide human chain

Yahoo – AFP, Jean-Marc Mojon and Anwar Amro, October 27, 2019

Lebanese protesters hold hands to form a human chain (AFP Photo/
ANWAR AMRO)

Beirut (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Lebanese protesters successfully formed a human chain running north-south across the entire country on Sunday to symbolise newfound national unity.

Demonstrators joined hands from Tripoli to Tyre, a 170-kilometre (105-mile) chain running through the capital Beirut, as part of an unprecedented cross-sectarian mobilisation.

Tension has mounted in recent days between security forces and protesters, who have blocked roads and brought the country to a standstill to press their demands for a complete overhaul of the political system.

Lebanon's reviled political elite has defended a belated package of economic reforms and appeared willing to reshuffle the government, but protesters who have stayed on the streets since October 17 want more.

On foot, by bicycle and on motorbikes, demonstrators and volunteers fanned out along the main north-south highway.

"The idea behind this human chain is to show an image of a Lebanon which, from north to south, rejects any sectarian affiliation," Julie Tegho Bou Nassif, one of the organisers, told AFP.

Lebanese protesters formed a 170-kilometre human chain from the southern port 

of Tyre to Tripoli in the north to underscore their unity against sectarian politics 

(AFP Photo/Patrick BAZ)

"There is no political demand today, we only want to send a message by simply holding hands under the Lebanese flag," the 31-year-old history professor told AFP.

On the Beirut seafront, men, women and children held hands, some carrying Lebanese flags and many singing the national anthem, an AFP photographer said.

'Dignified life'

In the northern city of Tripoli, where more than half the population lives under the poverty line, some had painted the Lebanese national symbol of a cedar tree on their faces, an AFP reporter said.

"We're expressing our demand for a dignified life and our dream as youth for a decent future," 30-year-old participant Tariq Fadli told AFP.

In the southern city of Tyre, protesters standing in a line held the edges of a long Lebanese flag, local television showed.

A young boy played with it, making it billow up and down.

The protests have been remarkable for their territorial reach and the absence of political or sectarian banners, in a country often defined by its divisions.

Protestors join hands in Nahr al-Kalb, north of Beirut, in a symbol of 

anti-government protest and national unity (AFP Photo/JOSEPH EID)

The leaderless protest movement, driven mostly by a young generation of men and women born after the 1975-1990 civil war, has even been described by some as the birth of a Lebanese civic identity.

The army has sought to re-open main roads across the country, where schools and banks have been closed for more than a week.

In one of the most serious incidents, the army opened fire on Friday to confront a group of protesters blocking a road in Tripoli, wounding at least six people.

But the unprecedented protest movement has been relatively incident-free, despite tensions with the armed forces and attempts by party loyalists to stage counter-demonstrations.

Protesters have been demanding the removal of the entire ruling class, which has remained largely unchanged in three decades.

Many of the political heavyweights are former warlords seen as representing little beyond their own sectarian or geographical community.

An aerial view shows Lebanese protesters holding hands to form a human 

chain along the coast (AFP Photo)

Brink of collapse

The protesters see them as corrupt and incompetent and have so far dismissed measures proposed by the political leadership to quell the protests.

"We've had the same people in charge for 30 years," said Elie, a 40-year-old demonstrator walking in central Beirut on Sunday morning with a Lebanese flag.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Monday announced a package of economic reforms which aims to revive an economy that has been on the brink of collapse for months.

His coalition partners have supported the move and warned that a political vacuum in times of economic peril risked chaos.

But the protesters have accused the political elite of desperately attempting to save their jobs and have stuck to their demands for deep, systemic change.

In a now well-established routine, entire families of volunteers showed up early on the main protest sites Sunday to clean up after another night of protests and parties.

After dusk, the central Martyrs' Square in Beirut and other protest hubs in Lebanon -- including the relatively conservative city of Tripoli -- turn into a vast, open ground where protesters dance, sing or organise political meetings.

'We are reaching out across religions and locations.'

When the Lebanese government tried to tax WhatsApp's free call service they instead sparked protests that have grown to an unprecedented scale https://t.co/MjZYYkvUqo pic.twitter.com/BxN9NpTH9E

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 27 oktober 2019

#UPDATE Lebanon's prime minister on Tuesday announced he was submitting the resignation of his government, bowing to nearly two weeks of unprecedented nationwide protestshttps://t.co/DisMZG0Jwc

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 29 oktober 2019