Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Afghanistan urges international community to push Taliban for talks and Croatia boots Scotland out to reach Euro 2020’s last 16. *) Afghanistan accuses Taliban of worst violence in 2 decades Afghanistan’s foreign minister has accused the Taliban of carrying out its worst violence in the past two decades as insurgents carry out a wave of offensives. Mohammad Haneef Atmar urged the international community to pressure the group to honour a February 2020 agreement with the US to reduce violence and enter peace negotiations. Atmar told the UN Security Council the community should set up a “mechanism” to monitor enforcement of the deal after the US troop withdrawal. *) Khashoggi's assassins received paramilitary training in US Four Saudis who participated in the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi received paramilitary training in the US under a contract approved by the State Department. That’s according to a New York Times report which says training was provided by Tier 1 Group, which is owned by the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. Khashoggi, a Saudi-born US resident who wrote for the Washington Post, was an outspoken critic of the Saudi leadership, with which he had once been close. *) US seizes Iran-linked news sites The US Justice Department has seized 33 Iranian government-controlled media websites. Visitors to leading Iranian media sites were met with statements declaring the website "has been seized by the United States Government". The websites were held by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union, itself controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force. Both IRTVU and IRGC have been placed on the US sanctions blacklist. them. *) Catalan separatists eye freedom after Spain's Cabinet pardon Nine Catalan separatist leaders jailed for sedition are eyeing freedom, after Spain’s Cabinet pardoned them. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez hopes the move would cease past confrontations with Catalonia's separatist-led regional government and open room for talks. Th