WASHINGTON, 26 September 2021, (TON): The move allows the US, aid groups and international organizations "to engage in the provision of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan or other activities that support basic human needs."

The United States on Friday announced two exemptions to its sanctions imposed on Afghanistan in a bid to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into the conflict-wracked, Taliban-controlled country.

The US Treasury said in a statement “the provisions allow the US government, aid groups and international organizations "to engage in the provision of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan or other activities that support basic human needs there.”

The statement said “they also allow certain transactions related to the exportation or reexportation of agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical devices.”

Andrea Gacki, director of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, said "treasury will continue to work with financial institutions, international organizations and the nongovernmental organization community to ease the flow of critical resources, like agricultural goods, medicine, and other essential supplies, to people in need."

However, Washington will continue "upholding and enforcing our sanctions against the Taliban, the Haqqani network, and other sanctioned entities."

MOGADISHU, 26 September 2021, (TON): Al Shabaab, which wants to overthrow the government and impose its interpretation of Islamic law, claimed the attack.

A suicide car bomb killed at least eight people in the Somali capital at a street junction near the president's palace, police said, and Al-Qaeda-linked al Shabaab said it was behind the attack which targeted a convoy going into the palace.

Police spokesperson Abdifatah Aden Hassan told “reporters at the scene of the blast the casualties could be higher, since some of the dead and wounded had been taken away by their relatives.”

He said "Al Shabaab is behind the blast. They killed eight people including a soldier and a mother and two children. Al Shabaab massacres civilians.”

Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu, the government spokesperson, said among those killed was Hibaq Abukar, an advisor of women and human rights affairs in Prime Minister Mohammed Hussein Roble's office.

He said on his Facebook account "she was one of the pillars of PM's office (for) women affairs.”

It was not immediately clear if Abukar was in the convoy or if she just happened to be close by when the blast happened.

RABAT, 26 September 2021, (TON): This comes as tensions have spiked between Morocco and neighbouring Algeria in recent weeks.

Morocco took delivery earlier this month of Turkish combat drones, the Far-Maroc unofficial website dedicated to military news reported.

The report, also carried by several local media outlets, comes as tensions have spiked between Morocco and neighbouring Algeria in recent weeks.

The two countries are mainly at odds over the disputed Western Sahara territory, and Algeria severed ties with Morocco in August claiming "provocations and hostile" action by its neighbour.

Relations took another blow this week when Algeria on Wednesday said it has closed off its airspace to all Moroccan civilian and military traffic.

According to Far-Maroc, the North African kingdom ordered 13 Bayraktar TB2 drones from Turkey in April and a first batch of the unmanned aircraft arrived this month.

Rabat, said “the report, seeks to modernise the arsenal of the Moroccan Armed Forces (FAR) in order to prepare for any danger and recent hostilities, but did not elaborate on these topics.”

It did however add that Moroccan military personnel have trained in Turkey in recent weeks to work with the drones.

Media reports said Morocco signed a $70 million contract with the private Turkish company Baykar.

The firm is run by one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-laws and has been exporting its Bayraktar TB2 model to Ukraine, Qatar and Azerbaijan for some years.

TEHRAN, 26 September 2021, (TON): The talks, brokered by the Europeans, seek the return of the United States to the 2015 agreement. Iran's foreign minister said that stalled talks on the Iranian nuclear accord would resume "very soon" but the United States responded by saying it wasn't sure what timeframe Tehran had in mind.

The talks, brokered by the Europeans, seek the return of the United States to the 2015 agreement trashed by former president Donald Trump, as well as Iran's return to full compliance.

"We are reviewing the Vienna negotiations files currently and very soon Iran's negotiations with the four plus one countries will recommence," Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told reporters in New York, referring to Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.

During a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the foreign minister said that we see a constructive type of negotiation that will lead to tangible verifiable results in the foreign policy of the new government in Iran.

Asked what Amir-Abdollahian meant by "very soon," a senior Iranian official said on condition of anonymity that "it can mean a few days, it can mean a few weeks."

The official said "as soon as we finish the review process, without any time to be wasted, we shall return to the negotiations table."

BRUSSELS, 26 September 2021, (TON): The European Commission has adopted a legislative proposal for 10 years (2024-34) to offer new European Union Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) to remove or reduce duties on import of products to promote sustainable development in low-income countries.

Pakistan is the largest beneficiary of the current GSP plus scheme since 2014, zero per cent duty on several hundred products under the current regulation, which will expire on Dec 31, 2023 and to which the new proposal will become the successor.

The European Parliament and the Council will now discuss the new proposal. Once adopted by them, the new GSP regulation will apply from Jan 1, 2024.

The EU’s GSP is a well-established trade and development policy instrument, which has been in place since 1971. The European Commission in Islamabad released on Friday details of the new legislation on GSP.

Under the current GSP+ system, which will end in 2023, the European Commission is continuously monitoring the progress made by beneficiary countries like Pakistan towards the implementation of 27 international conventions.

In the last monitoring reports, some progress had been positively highlighted, while concerns had been raised regarding child labour, torture, media freedom and access to justice, amongst others.

 LONDON, 26 September 2021, (TON): Britain sought to turn a page with France following a cross-continental diplomatic crisis centred on alleged deceit over a submarine contract with Australia.

French President Emmanuel Macron was left furious last week after Australia ditched a mega-deal to buy diesel submarines from France in favour of nuclear-powered US ones, under an agreement secured during secret talks facilitated by Britain.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reached out to Macron for a telephone call after Paris accused its UK, US and Australian allies of a “stab in the back” over the deal and dismissed London as a “junior partner” to Washington.

Johnson and Macron “reaffirmed the importance of the UK-France relationship and agreed to continue working closely together around the world on our shared agenda, through Nato and bilaterally”, Downing Street said in a statement.

It said “they also noted the “strategic significance” of UK-French cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and sub-Saharan Africa.

They agreed to “intensify cooperation” against cross-Channel people-smugglers, and to stay in contact over post-Brexit fisheries licences and trading arrangements for Northern Ireland.

The contract for nuclear submarines that sparked the diplomatic crisis forms the centrepiece of a new strategic alliance involving Australia, Britain and the United States known as AUKUS, which is widely seen as an attempt to counter China in the Indo-Pacific.

France and other Nato allies are not in the mix, although the AUKUS trio have stressed it is not meant to be exclusionary.

NEW DELHI, 26 September 2021, (TON): As Prime Minister Imran Khan appealed to global leaders at the United Nations to work with Afghanistan's triumphant Taliban, India attempted to find fault with Pakistan's approach.

According to Indian officials, who claimed the others concurred “Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised concerns about Pakistan during talks with US President Joe Biden as well as a broader four-way summit with the leaders of Australia and Japan.”

“There was a clear sense that a more careful look and a more careful examination and monitoring of Pakistan's role in Afghanistan, Pakistan's role on the issue of terrorism, had to be kept,” India's Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told reporters after the White House talks.

PM Imran, addressing the UN General Assembly, said that the Afghan Taliban have promised to respect human rights and build an inclusive government since taking over last month, despite global disappointment in a caretaker cabinet.

He said “if the world community incentivises them, and encourages them to walk this talk, it will be a win-win situation for everyone.”

“We must strengthen and stabilise the current government, for the sake of the people of Afghanistan.”

NAYPYITAW, 26 September 2021, (TON): The junta cut off mobile internet access and most Wi-Fi services to 11 townships in war-torn areas of Chin State and Magway Region, according to locals and members of the local resistance forces in the area.

The affected townships are Gangaw, Htilin and Myaing in Magway Region, and Falam, Kanpetlet, Matupi, Mindat, Paletwa, Tedim, Thantlang and Tonzang in Chin State.

Locals have said that the internet blackout will make it difficult for locals to both send and receive information on the conditions in the region.

A Mindat resident told media “after the internet connection is cut off, the phone connection may also be cut off. In that case, I don't think the situation will be easy.”

A church and several buildings were hit by artillery shells fired by the Myanmar army during a clash with the Chinland Defence Force (CDF) on September 22 in Mindat.

Fighting broke out between the junta’s troops and the CDF in Thantlang on September 18, forcing nearly the entire population of the town to flee. At least 18 homes and a government building were set ablaze by the junta’s artillery fire, and a Christian pastor who tried to put out the fire was shot dead by the Myanmar army troops.

NAYPYITAW, 26 September 2021, (TON): Thousands of people have once again fled their homes after fighting reignited between two armed groups in northern Shan State last week, prompting calls from locals and prominent politicians for a ceasefire.

Troops loyal to the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP) began fighting with forces from the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) in Hohke village tract on September 14, with the former group at one point firing heavy artillery that destroyed two homes.

Both groups call their armed wings by the same name–the Shan State Army–but the SSPP appends the moniker with the word North while the RCSS’s fighters are known as the Shan State Army - South. 

Over 3,000 people have fled their homes, are taking shelter in nearby communities and are in urgent need of aid, said a volunteer who is helping the displaced.

He added that entire villages had to flee once the battles started. Fighting seemed likely to continue and the number of displaced people could therefore increase.

Ten out of 17 villages in the Hohke tract, which is in Mong Kung Township, have seen some or all of their residents flee amid the fighting.

DHAKA, 26 September 2021, (TON): If they’re people of principles and if they’ve any ideology, why do they use the digital systems we’ve built,’ asks the prime minister.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday came down heavily on those who are tarnishing the image of Bangladesh abroad.

She said while addressing a civic reception arranged by the US Awami League at New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott hotel in New York “some people, staying abroad, criticise and tarnish the image of the country. As we’ve elevated the country to a dignified position with our hard work, now their business is to undermine the country.”

She said “some people call the Awami League government an illegal one. But my question is how do they get the scope to utter those words [criticise the government]? They’ve got the scope as we’ve built Bangladesh as ‘Digital Bangladesh’.”

She further said “if they’re the people of principles and if they’ve any ideology, why do they use the digital systems we’ve built?”

She added that they criticise the government receiving money from BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami.