South Asia Newsline | Voting for 2nd phase of India's Bihar state Assembly polls held I 3rd Nov, 2020

-Voting for Phase 2 of India's Bihar state assembly polls held amid pandemic
-Afghanistan mourns victims of Kabul University attack
-Sri Lanka rescues about 100 whales after mass stranding
With COVID-19 guidelines in place, Phase 2 voting for India's Bihar Assembly polls was held on Tuesday with 1,463 candidates in the fray in 94 seats across 17 districts. Phase 2 is arguably the most crucial of the three phases of the Assembly election. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi both joined electioneering for candidates of their respective coalitions in the fray in the last phase of polling in the elections by addressing rallies as the voting was underway. Afghans on Tuesday remembered at least 22 victims of Monday's horrific terror attack on the Kabul University as the country marked a national day of mourning. The attack claimed by the Islamic State militant group came amid a soaring rise in violence in the country and efforts to kickstart direct peace talks between Afghan government and Taliban in Doha. Bangladesh's biggest Islamist group on Monday told the government to cut diplomatic ties with France within 24 hours, as police stopped thousands of its supporters from marching towards the French embassy. Tens of thousands of Muslims across Bangladesh, the world's third-biggest Muslim country with more than 160 million people, have been protesting against remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron in a row about cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.