VOA News for Monday, May 24th, 2021
Thanks to [ Ссылка ] for transcribing
This is VOA News. Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton.
Authorities in Afghanistan said Sunday that national security forces are locked in fierce battles with Taliban insurgents to keep them from overrunning an eastern provincial center as U.S.-led foreign troops continue to withdraw from the country.
The Taliban came close to the capital of the embattled Laghman province after capturing key security outposts earlier in the day. The insurgents have made territorial gains in the province recently, seizing control of the Dawlat Shah district on Friday.
The Afghan Defense Ministry confirmed late Sunday that the Afghan army chief who is also the country's acting defense minister is in Laghman along with other top security officials and is leading the counter-Taliban operations.
Violence has escalated across many Afghan provinces after the United States along with NATO allies began withdrawing their last remaining troops from the country on May 1.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday it is not clear whether Iran will comply with restrictions on its nuclear development program in order to have U.S. economic sanctions removed.
Iran has been in indirect talks with the United States through diplomats from other countries in reshaping the 2015 international nuclear deal that was intended to restrain Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Iran has said its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.
Former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the pact in 2018 and imposed new sanctions on Tehran's oil, banking and shipping sectors. But U.S. President Joe Biden is looking to rejoin the pact which includes Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.
More on this story at our website voanews.com. You're listening to VOA News.
European Union governments are demanding an immediate explanation from Belarus about the diversion of a Lithuanian-bound flight to Minsk, the Belarusian capital, where authorities arrested one of its passengers, opposition activist and journalist Raman Pratasevich. Pratasevich was taken away by police shortly after the Ryanair flight landed.
Lithuania's president said the commercial flight was directed to land, quote, "by force," and said the international community, quote, "must take immediate steps to ensure that the incident does not repeat.”
The Polish prime minister called the event a "reprehensible act of state terrorism." He said he has asked the European Council's president to discuss immediate sanctions against Belarus during a meeting scheduled tomorrow.
At least 14 people were killed Sunday in Italy when a cable car fell 20 meters to the ground in Italy's Piedmont region.
Authorities said that foreign nationals were among the dead but have not released further details.
The Stresa-Mottarone cable car travels between the town of Lake Maggiore to the top of Mottarone mountain.
Stresa Mayor Marcella Severino said the accident may have been caused by a ruptured cable. Severino said the car overturned two or three times after crashing to the ground.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi offered his condolences to the victims and the Italian government has announced that it would begin an investigation into the accident.
The Stresa-[monteroni] Mottarone cable car was closed for repairs between 2014 and 2016 and only recently began [op...] operating again after a hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic.
An Egyptian appeals court on Sunday said it lacks jurisdiction to look into the Suez Canal Authority's demands to uphold financial claims that led to the seizure of the massive Ever Given ship that blocked the waterway in March.
The authority and the ship's owners are in dispute as to whose fault it was that the Ever Given ran aground and how much compensation should be paid.
The United States says it will expand Haitian eligibility for a humanitarian program that grants deportation relief and work permits to immigrants who cannot safely return to their home countries.
The plan will cover estimated 150,000 Haitians already living inside the United States.
Democrats and pro-immigrant advocates had pressed the Biden administration to make more Haitians living in the country illegally eligible for deportation relief.
More on this and all the stories we're covering at our website voanews.com. Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton, VOA News.
