NAYPYITAW, 16 October 2021, (TON): After more than eight months in junta detention, economic advisor to detained State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi Sean Turnell is still unable to meet privately with his lawyer.

Turnell, an Australian national, was arrested by the military council on February 6, just five days after Myanmar’s military coup which ousted the elected National League for Democracy government.

Charges were brought against him for violating the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a 14-year prison sentence if convicted.

Judge Ye Lwin of the Dekkhina District Court in Naypyitaw is presiding over the case. The most recent hearing, on Thursday, lasted only 30 minutes, according to Turnell’s lawyer, Ye Lin Aung.

He told media “I still haven’t been able to hold a private discussion with my client regarding the case.”

Ye Lin Aung said that at the hearing, he submitted a request to the judge to allow him to meet with Turnell alone.

On October 7, the lawyer’s request to hire a Burmese-English language interpreter for Turnell was denied.

CAPE TOWN, 16 October 2021, (TON): South African police said “they have arrested 56 people who will likely face charges of kidnapping after two government Cabinet ministers and a deputy minister.”

The ministers were held hostage for three hours when a meeting with military veterans of the fight against apartheid ended in disagreement.

Police were called to a hotel in the Centurion area near the capital Pretoria night to rescue Defense and Military Veterans Minister Thandi Modise, her deputy minister Thabang Makwetla, and Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele, who had been meeting with veterans of various groups that were part of the armed struggle which started in the 1960s against the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Gungubele said “the meeting broke down quickly and the three government officials were prevented from leaving the room by some of the veterans.”

The South African Police Services said “police tried to negotiate with the hostage-takers and when that failed they “resorted to a tactical approach and successfully rescued the hostages.”

Police said “no shots were fired in the operation, denying allegations by some veterans that they were shot at. Three of the people who were arrested were sent for medical checkups, police said. Of the 56 arrested, seven were women.”

RIYADH, 16 October 2021, (TON): Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met with US National Security Council Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk, the director of Middle East and North Africa affairs at the US National Security Council, Ambassador Barbara Leaf, and the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Yale Lambert on the sidelines of his visit to Washington, DC.

During the meeting, they reviewed Saudi-US relations and opportunities to enhance them in all fields. Joint efforts to lay the foundations for peace, security and stability in the Middle East and the wider world were also discussed.

The Kingdom’s efforts and initiatives to reach a political solution in Yemen in a way that supports the development and stability of the Yemeni people was also discussed during the meeting, in addition to the most prominent developments regarding the Iranian nuclear agenda.

BERLIN, 16 October 2021, (TON): German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz yesterday took a step closer to succeeding Angela Merkel as chancellor, as his Social Democrats, the Greens and liberal FDP announced a preliminary deal to form a new government.

The three parties have been holding talks since Scholz's centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) won the general elections on September 26 with Merkel's conservatives in second place as she prepares to leave politics.

Scholz told reporters "overall, we can sense here that a new beginning is possible, brought about by the three parties that have come together here.”

He said "we have agreed on a text from the exploratory talks,", calling it a "very good result that clearly shows that a government that aims to ensure we achieve progress can be formed in Germany".

Greens co-leader Annalena Baerbock said the initial agreement heralds a "coalition of progress" to "really use the next decade as a decade of renewal".

The agreement that will form the basis of formal coalition talks all but means that Merkel's CDU-CSU alliance is headed for the opposition benches after scoring their worst post-war election result.

TEHRAN, 16 October 2021, (TON): Tehran said “Iran and the EU agreed to hold further dialogue in Brussels aimed at resuming talks on a faltering 2015 nuclear deal between the Islamic republic and world powers.”

The European Union envoy charged with coordinating talks on reviving the Iran nuclear deal, Enrique Mora, met with Iranian deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri for several hours, as Western powers lose patience with Tehran over the continued absence of a firm date for resuming talks.

Dialogue on the deal has been stalled since June.

"At the end of this meeting, the two parties agreed to continue dialogue on questions of mutual interest in the coming days in Brussels,"

Iran's foreign ministry said in a statement, which noted that Mora said the EU was "ready to collaborate with Iran and the other parties."

The talks coincided with a visit by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to Washington for talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who on Wednesday warned of "other options" if diplomacy fails.

At the same time, his visiting Israeli counterpart reserved the right to use force.

The 2015 nuclear deal, which gave Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear activities, has been on life support since 2018, when then US president Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out.

Trump reimposed crippling sanctions while Iran, which insists its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only, gradually rolled back its own commitments.

MOSCOW, 16 October 2021, (TON): Moscow will host the United States, China and Pakistan next week for talks on Afghanistan, the Kremlin's envoy to the country told Russian news agencies.

News agencies cited President Vladimir Putin's special representative on Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov as saying the meeting would take place and that the countries "will try to work out a common position on the changing situation in Afghanistan".

According to Reuters, Kabulov said that he did not expect any major breakthrough at talks with the Taliban next week in Moscow.

"We do not expect any breakthroughs," the news agency cited Kabulov as saying. "We understand that this is a long process."

Kabulov added that officials from Russia, the United States, China and Pakistan would meet separately in Moscow to come up with a united position on the changing situation in Afghanistan.

Moscow hosted an international conference on Afghanistan in March at which Russia, the United States, China and Pakistan released a joint statement calling on the then-warring Afghan sides to reach a peace deal and curb violence.

WASHINGTON, 16 October 2021, (TON): Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III departs on a trip this weekend to visit Georgia, Ukraine, and Romania and participate in the NATO Defense Ministerial in Belgium.

The Department of Defense steadfastly supports its European Allies and partners in the face of Russia’s destabilizing actions in the critical Black Sea region, and the Secretary looks forward to meeting with his counterparts and other senior officials to reinforce the United States’ commitment to a safe, stable, and prosperous Europe.

In Georgia, Secretary Austin will meet with Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Minister of Defense Juansher Burchuladze to reaffirm U.S. support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and underscore the importance of the U.S.-Georgia strategic partnership in addressing regional and global security challenges. The leaders will also discuss bilateral security cooperation and encourage greater regional cooperation in the Black Sea.

In Ukraine, the Secretary will meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Minister of Defense Andrii Taran to reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The visit will also serve as an opportunity to discuss Ukraine’s progress with the implementation of defense and defense industry reforms needed to advance its Euro-Atlantic aspirations as well as regional cooperation among Black Sea allies and partners.

LONDON, 16 October 2021, (TON): A British lawmaker in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party was stabbed to death in a church by a man who walked into a meeting with voters from his electoral district.

David Amess, 69, who represents Southend West in Essex, eastern England, was stabbed at around midday at a meeting at the Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea.

Armed police swooped in on the church and said a man had been arrested. Police said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.

Police said “he (Amess) was treated by emergency services but, sadly, died at the scene.”

“A 25-year-old man was quickly arrested after officers arrived at the scene on suspicion of murder and a knife was recovered.”

Police are seen at the scene where MP David Amess was stabbed during constituency surgery, in Leigh-on-Sea, Britain October 15, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Couldridge

Amess was first elected to parliament to represent Basildon in 1983, and then stood for election in Southend West in 1997.

His website lists his main interests are "animal welfare and pro-life issues".

WASHINGTON, 16 October 2021, (TON): The United States wants to work with China on climate change and global health issues. US Deputy Secreta-ry of State Wendy Sherman announced this at the Truman Center for National Policy in Washington.

Sherman said “with regard to the People’s Republic of China, the position of the United States is clear. We will compete and compete with the PRC where necessary, including in the areas of jobs, economy, technology and innovation. We will work with the PRC.

when it will be in our interests and in the interests of the whole world, for example, in matters of climate change and global health.”

The undersecretary said “and we will challenge the PRC where necessary, for example, when Beijing takes actions that run counter to the values and interests of America, our allies and partners, or threaten a rules-based international order.”

MOSCOW, 16 October 2021, (TON): The plans declared by the European Union in the Arctic are an open attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the states represented in the region, including Russia, said Vladimir Poletaev, a member of the Federation Council Comm-ission for the Protection of State Sovereignty.

The European Commission has previously unveiled the EU’s strategy for the Arctic. The document, among other things, fixes the demand of Brussels to establish a complete ban on the production of coal, oil and gas in the Arctic and neighboring regions and criticizes Russia’s actions to strengthen the infrastructure to ensure its security in the Arctic region.

Poletaev wrote in a telegram -channel commission “the European Union as a political union has no right to dictate to the countries represented in the region how to act on their own territory. There is an Arctic Council, where three EU member states are represented, and whose interests are taken into account when developing cosine solutions,”

He noted that “the EU’s statements on the right to determine the common policy of the countries of the Arctic region can not be perceived otherwise as an attempt to encroach on the sovereignty of independent states.”