<p>Discussions between the Afghan government and the Taliban over a possible prisoner exchange have broken down following the&nbsp;withdraw&nbsp;of Taliban negotiators.</p> <p>Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for Taliban told reporters that this withdrawal was caused by “intentional delays in the release of our prisoners”.</p> <p>As part of these discussions, both the Taliban and Afghanistan were set to release an approximate 6,000 prisoners in total.</p>

Brazil’s lower house of Congress has pushed forwards a “war budget” in response to the COVID 19 pandemic which aims to distinguish spending on the government’s response to the coronavirus from their main budget.

The announcement of a war budget follows the rising number of confirmed cases in Brazil which has surpassed 10,000. In the lower house, the bill passed with two rounds of voting, both times gain the majority of support. The bill still needs to be approved by the Senate by a three-fifths vote in two rounds.

Jammu and Kashmir medical workers have been threatened by the state they “will end up in jail for up to six months” if they speak against the government.

Last week, the Directorate of Health Services in Kashmir issued a circular intimidating workers with “strict action” if they criticise the government’s efforts to combat the pandemic on social media, or to the press.

<p>Tensions have escalated in Yemen where warring sides accused each other of attack an oil pipeline in the central province of Marib.</p> <p>The attack follows&nbsp;calls from the United Nations for a global ceasefire in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Neither side has given details of the attack&nbsp;but it is known that the pipeline is operated by the Yemeni government’s Safer oil company.</p> <p>Reuters reports that no oil has been pumped for years as oil production has collapsed since 2015, when a Saudi-led military coalition attempted to restore power to Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who was ousted by Houthi forces in Sanaa.</p>

US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has announced the reduction of US aid to Afghanistan’s security forces by $1 billion which would hamper efforts by the Afghan government to combat the Taliban and weaken its negotiating position.

Indian police fired tear gas at approximately 500 workers in the western city of Surat after stating that they could not return home despite losing their jobs.

According to Vidhi Chaudhari;

“The police tried to convince them that it is not possible since buses or trains are not available...However, the workers refused to budge, and started pelting stones at police,”

In response to a conflict between the jobless workers and police, 93 were arrested for violating curfew orders. The coronavirus has infected 1,071 separate cases and 29 people have died as a result.

US coalition troops have withdrawn from a military base in Northern Iraq.

The US withdrawal follows the assassination of senior Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

This is the third site US troops have left this month as the US aims to consolidate its forces in two central locations in Iraq. As part of the exchange the US transferred $1.1m of military equipment was granted to the Iraqis whilst 300 coalition troops withdrew.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began a number of countries around the world have released thousands of prisoners in order to stem a possible spread of the virus within prisons. According to public health experts, prisons are a ripe place for the spread of COVID-19 due to the close contact between prisoners, overcrowding and unsanitary conditions.

Human Rights Watch has expressed caution with respects to Nigeria’s plans to deploy police and soldiers to enforce social distancing warning that they have been implicated in a number of human rights abuses including “arbitrary arrests, extortion, illegal detention, and use of excessive force”.

Militants are holding Mali’s main opposition leader, Soumaila Cisse, as well as 6 members of his delegation hostage following an attack on their campaign trail.

Reuters reports that that the militants attacked Cisse during an ambush between villages in the northern region of Timbuktu.