KwaHlathi ‘Diamond’ Turn Out To Be Quartz Stones

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June 20, 2021

U.S. President Joe Biden will meet at the White House with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah on Friday to discuss U.S. troop withdrawal amid a surge in fighting between Afghan forces and the Taliban across the country.

In their first face-to-face meeting, Biden will seek to reassure Ghani and Abdullah of U.S. support for the Afghan people including diplomatic, economic and humanitarian assistance, the White House said in a statement. Biden will also repeat his pledge to ensure that the country never becomes a safe haven for terrorist groups.

“The visit by President Ghani and Dr. Abdullah will highlight the enduring partnership between the United States and Afghanistan as the military drawdown continues,” the White House said.

However, since Biden’s decision in April to pull out all U.S. troops before Sept. 11 to end America’s longest war after nearly 20 years of conflict, at least 30 districts have been seized by the Taliban.

The group has staged a campaign to expand its influence across the country as the United States began withdrawing troops on May 1 and closed some bases and handed them over to the Afghan government.

The Taliban said the visit would be “useless.”

“They (Ghani and Abdullah) will talk with the U.S. officials for preservation of their power and personal interest,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. “It won’t benefit Afghanistan.”

There was no immediate reaction from Ghani’s office but a senior Afghan official said the Afghan president would be seeking assurances from the United States over its continued support for Afghan security forces in the aftermath of the withdrawal.

The visit would also come in the face of slow progress in talks between the Taliban and Afghan government representatives in Qatar. Officials have raised concerns over the stalling negotiations and have said the Taliban has not yet submitted a written peace proposal that could be used as a starting point for substantive talks.

In May, U.S. intelligence analysts released an assessment that the Taliban “would roll back much” of the progress made in Afghan women’s rights if the Islamist extremists regained national power.

Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur Makes History With WTA Title Win

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June 20, 2021

Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur made history on Sunday when she became the first Arab woman to win a WTA title, beating Russian Daria Kasatkina in the final of the grasscourt event in Birmingham.

Jabeur, a trailblazer for North African women’s tennis, won 7-5 6-4 to finally claim a title after losing two previous finals.

“I’m so proud. I’ve struggled a lot and it was tough for me to win a WTA title,” Jabeur told the crowd on the Ann Jones Centre Court. “I had to go for it. I had to win this title just to breathe out a little bit and also to be the example.

“There are not a lot of Arabic or Tunisian players playing and I hope this inspires them to go on and do more. I want to see more of them playing alongside me.”

Jabeur, known for her creative shot-making and a trademark dropshot, had lost to Kasatkina in the final in Moscow in 2018 but got the better of the Russian his time.

“The last time I played Dasha I lost and I was crying. This morning I was thinking am I going to be crying and disappointed tonight or am I going to celebrate?,” second-seed Jabeur said.

Formula One: Lewis Hamilton Not Massively Disappointed After Max Verstappen’s Defeat

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June 20, 2021

Mercedes’ seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton played down the pain of his latest defeat by Formula One leader Max Verstappen in France on Sunday and said the race was a real reflection of Red Bull’s pace.

The Briton had won at Le Castellet in 2018 and 2019, with no race last year due to COVID-19, but his hopes of a hat-trick ended when resurgent Red Bull out-smarted the champions on strategy.

The seventh race of the season was a reversal of the Spanish Grand Prix in May when Hamilton hunted down Verstappen, who said then that he felt like a sitting duck, in the closing laps to win.

This time it was the champion who was on the receiving end as Verstappen made a second pitstop and used his fresher tyres to make up the time and overhaul Hamilton on the penultimate lap.

Asked how gut-wrenching the feeling had been, Hamilton — now 12 points behind his Dutch rival — said it had not been at all.

“I think we did a great job today and it just didn’t work out,” he added.

“I’m not massively disappointed. I think I did the best job I could today. Of course, there were things we could probably have done slightly better but overall they have been quicker than us all weekend.

“It’s a true reflection of the pace they have.”

Hamilton had arrived at Le Castellet having scored just seven points from the previous two races won by Red Bull and lagging Verstappen by four.

The 36-year-old recognised that another chance to win had e slipped through his fingers, his tally still stuck at a record 98 career victories.

“If we look in hindsight for sure if we’d have stopped earlier, before they stopped and come out ahead and just gone onto a two stop, we probably could have won the race,” he said.

“But it would still have been very difficult. Their pace was generally very, very strong.

“If he (Verstappen) had not made a mistake in turn one, they would have just led the race all the way probably.”

Verstappen started on pole but went wide at the start, allowing Hamilton to take the lead which the Mercedes driver held until the pitstops, when the Dutch driver got back in front before taking a gamble and pitting again.

“Lewis’s tyres were really worn,” Verstappen said of the closing stages. “It was a fairly easy pass.”

French Far Right Tests Voters’ Appetite In Regional Elections

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June 20, 2021

French voters went to the polls on Sunday in regional elections that will test the appeal of far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s softened image less than a year before the next presidential election.

Coming after a grueling year and a half of lockdowns, curfews and restrictions, Sunday’s first round is likely to prove dire for President Emmanuel Macron, whose party is projected to win none of mainland France’s 13 regions.

Boosted by a resurgence of law-and-order issues during the campaign, despite the fact French regions have no police powers, Le Pen is hoping to capitalize on a rebrand that has seen her ditch promises of “Frexit” and inflammatory rhetoric.

The best chance for her Rassemblement National party is in the south of France, the region around Marseille and Nice, where one of Le Pen’s lieutenants, a former conservative minister, is projected by one opinion poll as winning the race even if all parties rally against him.

Gaining one region, for the first time ever, would give Le Pen a major boost less than a year before presidential elections, and would be a slap in the face for Macron, who has painted himself as a bulwark against the far-right.

Participation at midday was one of the lowest for a French election in history at just 12.2%, down from 16.3% in 2015.

The far-right is also likely to do well in two other regions, around Calais in the north and in Burgundy, helped by low turnout in a country whose attention is shifting to summer holidays to forget the pandemic.

In the north, the incumbent and frontrunner to become the conservatives’ candidate in the presidential election, Xavier Bertrand, is facing Le Pen’s party spokesman and Macron’s justice minister.

Multiple Airstrikes by Alpha-Jets, L-39,+ MI-35 helicopters Hit Notorious Terrorist

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June 20, 2021

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) eliminated dozens of Islamic State West Africa Province terrorists in Lamboa in Kaga Local Government Area of Borno State, Nigeria’s North-East on Sunday.

The multiple airstrikes conducted by Alpha-Jets, L-39 and MI-35 helicopters hit a notorious terrorist, Modu Sulum and several others.

Sulum, ISWAP Logistics Commander, took part in the elimination of Boko Haram factional leader, Abubakar Shekau in May.

Sulum was responsible for the destruction of power transmission towers at Malanari along Maiduguri-Damaturu Highway and attacks on travellers in Auno and Jakana.

The insurgents, in a convoy of eight gun trucks, had invaded Lamboa preparatory to attacks in the Mainok axis.

Ground and air troops scuttled their mission after the NAF reconnaissance platform hovered over the location to confirm the targets.

NAF Director of Information, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet said the operation was successful.

“Of the eight terrorist gun trucks sighted by our surveillance team, the aircraft took out six and an unconfirmed number of terrorists.

“Nigerian Army troops and our air elements are mopping up the area and assessing the situation”, the spokesman said.

Gabwet hailed the vigour and synergy by all segments of the Armed Forces in the North-East theatre.

Military offensives have heightened with the resumption of office of the New Theatre Commander Operation Hadi Kai, Major General Chris Musa.

Armenia Votes In Neck-And-Neck Parliamentary Election

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June 20, 2021

Voting was underway in a parliamentary election in Armenia on Sunday, with opinion polls putting the party of acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and that of former President Robert Kocharyan neck-and-neck.

The Armenian government called the snap election to try to end a political crisis that erupted after ethnic Armenian forces lost a six-week war against Azerbaijan last year and ceded territory in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Pashinyan has been under pressure ever since, with regular street protests demanding he step down over the terms of the peace agreement that ended the conflict.

Under the deal, which was brokered by Russia, Azerbaijan regained control of territory it had lost during a war in the early 1990s.

Pashinyan himself described the agreement as a disaster, but said he had been compelled to sign it in order to prevent greater human and territorial losses.

According to a recent Gallup International poll conducted on June 7-10, 24.1% of voters were ready to vote for Kocharyan’s Armenia Alliance and 23.8% for Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party.

Whoever forms a majority in the south Caucasus country’s parliament gets to elect the prime minister, who is nominated by the president.

Both Pashinyan and Kocharyan voted on Sunday morning in the capital Yerevan.

Armenia, which hosts a Russian military base, is a close ally of Moscow, though Pashinyan, who came to power on the back of street protests and on an anti-corruption agenda in 2018, has had cooler relations with the Kremlin.

Hong Kong Seeks Closer Integration With Mainland China – Lam

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June 20, 2021

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam says the strategy to strengthen the city’s global financial hub status is through greater integration with mainland China.

Addressing a financial forum in Beijing, Lam said Contributing to China’s financial reform and opening will inject fresh vigour into Hong Kong’s economy now that Beijing has helped restore ‘stability’ in the city.

There have bene growing concerns among many non-Chinese investors in Hong Kong over what they see as vanishing rights and freedoms in the city after Beijing’s imposition of a sweeping national security law in response to mass 2019 protests.

The former British colony’s high degree of autonomy from Beijing, including an independent judiciary, form the bedrock on which it has flourished as a global hub.

While many investors still see access to the vast China markets as an important draw, others have been reconsidering their presence in Hong Kong.

Lam said Hong Kong can play key roles in promoting China’s financial development, including facilitating yuan internationalisation, helping finance mainland companies, and providing an offshore safe haven for Chinese money.

She said Hong Kong has never been absent from the country’s reform and opening, providing capital, technology and talents,adding that the city “will serve China’s needs while injecting fresh vigour into Hong Kong’s economy.”

India Slams UN Rapporteurs Who Criticised New IT Rules

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June 20, 2021

India has slammed UN special rapporteurs who have criticised the new IT rules announced in February.

In a strongly worded rebuttal, the Indian mission in Geneva highlighted that “India’s democratic credentials are well recognised” and “right to freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed under the Indian Constitution”.

In the letter, the mission pointed out that the Indian Ministry of Information Technology and Information & Broadcasting had in fact took consultations in 2018 to prepare for draft rules.

Along with the diplomatic note from the mission, brief note on the new IT rules on how they are designed to empower ordinary users of social media and victims of abuse at social media platforms shall have a forum for redressal of their grievances.

On 11th June, special rapporteurs on right to freedom of opinion, peaceful assembly, and privacy – Irene Khan, Clement Voule, and Joseph Cannataci in a letter said that the rules “do not conform with international human rights norms”.

The letter pointed that “India as global leader in technology innovation” can develop “legislation that can place it at the forefront of efforts to protect digital rights”

United Nations special rapporteurs are individuals for specific issues or countries who usually advise or report on a specific issue. The French word literally means someone who reports to a body.

The new IT rules came into effect a few weeks ago but some social media platforms like Twitter haven’t complied with them. Other social media platforms like WhatsApp have gone to the high court on the issue of traceability of messages as envisaged under the new IT rules.

Guinea – WHO Declares Ebola Outbreak Over

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June 20, 2021