WASHINGTON, 27 September 2021, (TON): Former President Donald Trump praised a U.S. service member who was photographed pulling an Afghan baby across the Kabul airport wall during the Afghanistan withdrawal and brought him onstage at a rally.

Trump told a crowd of thousands gathered in Perry, Georgia "we’re also honored to be joined by one of the Marines who bravely served in Kabul during the withdrawal and helped evacuate children over the airport and over the airport wall."

 "You saw him, he did a great job, Lance Corporal Hunter Ian Clark. Lance Corporal get up here!"

Lance Corporal Clark walked up to the stage accompanied by cheers, and Trump referred to him as a "handsome guy" during his approach.

Clark told the crowd "hey, my name is Lance Corporal Hunter Clark, and I’m here from Warner Robbins, Georgia. I am the guy that pulled the baby over the wall, and it’s definitely probably one of the greatest things I’ve done in my entire life."

Clark then shook the former president’s hand and walked off stage to chants of "USA! USA! USA!"

During his speech, Trump repeatedly slammed President Biden’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, calling it the "most appalling display of incompetence."

BERLIN, 27 September 2021, (TON): Warm temperatures and clear blue skies greeted voters across Germany as tens of millions of voters headed to polling stations on Sunday to determine the country’s next government and the chancellor who will lead it.

The election is the first since the county reunified in 1990 that Angela Merkel will not run in as a candidate. After 16 years in the chancellery, the woman who became the defining European leader of her era will step aside once a new government is formed.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged citizens to vote and make their voices heard.

“Our country faces a political transition,” he wrote in an article penned for tabloid Bild am Sonntag. “Let’s vote together for a strong democracy and a good future.”

Two final surveys published on Friday put the SPD ahead of the CDU-CSU alliance by 26 points to 25 and 25 to 22, respectively.

WASHINGTON, 27 September 2021, (TON): Images which appear to show border agents on horseback driving migrants back to a river like cattle have sparked an investigation in the US.

The pictures widely shared on social media show the riders using their reins against the migrants and pushing them back towards the Rio Grande in Texas.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says his department will investigate reports of alleged abuse.

He said “the officers were trying to manage the migrants crossing the river.”

Some 13,000 mainly Haitian migrants have gathered in a makeshift camp under a bridge connecting Del Rio to Mexico's Ciudad Acuña on the US-Mexico border.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said “the footage was horrible to watch.”

"I have seen some of the footage. I don't have the full context. I can't imagine what context would make that appropriate. But I don't have additional details and certainly I don't think anyone seeing that footage would think it was acceptable or appropriate."

US flies Haitian migrants back from Texas border

A United States Border Patrol agent on horseback tries to stop a Haitian migrant from entering an encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande near the Acuna Del Rio International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas, on 19 September 2021.

MOSCOW, 27 September 2021, (TON): Russia’s foreign minister said “Russia, China, Pakistan and the United States are working together to ensure that Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers keep their promises, especially to form a genuinely representative government and prevent extremism from spreading.”

Sergey Lavrov said the four countries are in ongoing contact.

He said “representatives from Russia, China and Pakistan recently travelled to Qatar and then to Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, to engage with both the Taliban and representatives of “secular authorities” former president Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, who headed the ousted government’s negotiating council with the Taliban.

Lavrov said “the interim government announced by the Taliban does not reflect “the whole gamut of Afghan society, ethno-religious and political forces, so we are engaging in contacts. They are ongoing.”

JERUSALEM, 27 September 2021, (TON): Israeli troops conducted a series of arrest raids against suspected Hamas across the occupied West Bank early, sparking a pair of gunbattles in which five Palestinians were killed and two Israeli soldiers were seriously wounded.

It was the deadliest violence between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in the West Bank in several weeks. The region has seen an increase in fighting in recent months, with tensions fueled by Israeli settlement construction, heightened activity in the northern West Bank and the aftermath of a bloody war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip last May.

Israeli officials said they had been tracking the Hamas militants for several weeks and that the raids were launched in response to immediate threats.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the militants were about to carry out attacks “in real time.” He praised the Israeli forces, saying they acted “as expected. They engaged the enemy and we back them completely.”

Lt. Col. Amnon Shefler, an Israeli army spokesperson, said Israeli forces came under fire while carrying out the arrest raids. He said at least four Hamas operatives were killed and several others were arrested in the overnight operation.

ANKARA, 27 September 2021, (TON): Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was still intending to buy a second batch of missile defence systems from Russia, a move that triggered US sanctions and deepened a rift with Washington.

In an interview aired on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan at CBS News, Erdogan said nobody can interfere with what defence systems Ankara, a NATO ally, would buy.

"Nobody can interfere with that. We are the only ones to make such decisions."

Washington has repeatedly said a second batch of the S-400s would almost certainly trigger fresh US sanction

Erdogan also said Biden, “who has repeatedly said promoting democracy and rights and freedoms worldwide is at the heart of his foreign policy, never in their meetings raised issues with Turkey’s human rights track record.

Erdogan said on Thursday that Turkey's ties with the United States were not healthy and that Washington needed to "sort out" issues over Ankara's purchase of Russian S-400 defence systems, according to broadcaster Haberturk.

The United States imposed sanctions on Turkey's Defence Industry Directorate, its chief Ismail Demir and three other employees in December following the country's acquisition of a first batch of S-400s.

NEW YORK, 27 September 2021, (TON): A UN official warned in an interview “Afghanistan is at risk of "imminent hunger" with winter approaching and services disrupted by the return to power of the Taliban.”

Natalia Kanem, director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said via video that the situation in the country was dire.

Kanem warned "it would not be an exaggeration to say" that at least a third of Afghanistan's population of around 33 million is affected by "imminent hunger".

She added “Harsh winters, disrupting the ability to transport supplies to isolated areas of the mountainous country, plus the coronavirus pandemic will aggravate an already complicated situation.”

Kanem told media from the UNFPA headquarters in New York"There is a lot of anxiety over how we're going to deliver health care, where the next meal is going to come from.”

The doctor from Panama warned that women and girls would bear the worst of it.

It is urgent, for women and girls in particular who were already suffering. This is one of the countries with the highest death during childbirth and pregnancy rates.

She said "we cannot underscore enough that even during a transitional period, women and girls have human rights and these are to be respected.”

KABUL, 27 September 2021, (TON): The Taliban government in Afghanistan appealed for international flights to be resumed, promising full cooperation with airlines and saying that problems at Kabul airport had been resolved.

The statement from the foreign affairs ministry comes as the new administration has stepped up efforts to open up the country and gain international acceptance following the collapse of the Western-backed government last month.

A limited number of aid and passenger flights have been operating from the airport. But normal commercial services have yet to resume since it was closed in the wake of the chaotic evacuation of tens of thousands of foreigners and vulnerable Afghans that followed the Taliban's seizure of the capital.

The airport, which was damaged during the evacuation, has since been reopened with the assistance of technical teams from Qatar and Turkey.

While some airlines including Pakistan International Airlines have been offering limited services and some people have been able to get places on flights, prices have been reported to be many times higher than normal.

Foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said “the suspension of international flights had left many Afghans stranded abroad and also prevented people from travelling for work or study.”

NAYPYITAW, 27 September 2021, (TON): Myanmar's junta has denied suspending the internet in conflict-wracked regions, blaming a recent spate of data blackouts on anti-coup protesters who had destroyed military-owned communications towers.

The Southeast Asian country has been in chaos since the military toppled Aung San Suu Kyi's government in February, triggering huge democracy protests that security forces have sought to quell in bloody crackdowns.

Some in the anti-coup movement formed local "people's defence forces" in their townships to fight back, and in recent weeks destroyed several communications towers belonging to military-owned Mytel in western Chin state.

Reports of an internet and data blackout, particularly in regions where local defence forces and the military are locked in conflict, emerged soon after.

Anti-coup fighters told AFP that telecommunications services in Pinlebu, Kawlin and Wuntho townships in northern Sagaing region, where clashes with the military have been fierce, were down since the early hours of the day.

The junta's foreign ministry denied that the State Administration Council, as the military regime dubs itself, was responsible.

KABUL, 27 September 2021, (TON): Acting Deputy Information Minister of  Afghanistan Zabiullah Mujahid appreciated Pakistan for supporting Afghanistan before the international community.

In an interview to Pakistan Television, he said “Pakistan had demanded of the international community to establish better ties with Afghanistan.”

He added “Pakistan was our neighboring country and Afghanistan was thankful for Pakistan’s stance regarding Afghanistan.”

The minister said Afghanistan wanted good relations with the international community and desired to expand trade and economic ties.

“We hope that neighboring countries will continue to extend support to Afghanistan before the international community.” He said many countries had raised voice in our favour before the international community and the United States.

Qatar, Uzbekistan and other countries had also adopted a positive stance towards Afghanistan, he said adding six days back China and Russia talked in our favour at the United Nations General Assembly. The relations of Afghanistan will its neighbors and the international community were important, he noted.

He said war had ended in Panjshir and “we do not desire war with anybody.”