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world news Diabierna 15 Januari 2021

Afghan intel agency says it killed council member in battle

(AP) — Afghan forces Beg and his men on one side killed in mid-December in
killed a provincial council and the Afghan agents on the an attack in the province that
member suspected of ties other took place. Beg was also wounded another coun-
with the Taliban during a asked to surrender during cil member and their driver
gunbattle in western Ghor the fighting but refused, the when a sticky bomb was at-
province, the Afghan in- agency said, adding that he tached to their vehicle. No
telligence service said late had links to the Taliban in the one claimed responsibility
Thursday. province. for the attack.
The fighting near the pro- Afghan journalist and activ- The violence comes as the
vincial capital of Faroz Koh ist Bismillah Adil Aimaq was Taliban and Afghan govern-
also killed one officer and shot and killed on Jan. 1 in ment negotiators earlier this
wounded another, according Ghor. He was on the road, month resumed peace talks
to a statement by the Nation- returning home to Feroz in Qatar. However, the ne-
al Directorate for Security. Koh from visiting family in gotiations were off to a slow
a nearby village when gun- start as the insurgents contin-
It accused the council mem- men opened fire at his car. ue to keep up their attacks on
ber, Hazatullah Beg, of mas- Aimaq was the fifth journal- Afghan government forces lence and both sides blame February. Under the deal,
terminding the killing of ist to be killed in the war-rav- while keeping their promise one another. an accelerated withdrawal
another council member as aged country in the past two not to attack U.S. and NATO of U.S. troops ordered by
well as an Afghan journalist months. The Taliban insisted troops. There has also been grow- Trump means that just 2,500
and human rights activist in they were in no way connect- The stop-and-go talks are ing doubt lately over a U.S.- American soldiers will still be
Ghor. ed with the shooting. aimed at ending decades of Taliban deal brokered by in Afghanistan when Presi-
relentless conflict. Frustra- outgoing President Donald dent-elect Joe Biden takes of-
It wasn’t immediately clear Ghor deputy council chief tion and fear have grown Trump’s administration. fice on Jan. 20.
when the gunbattle between Abdul Rahman Atshan was over the recent spike in vio- That accord was signed last

Italy's PM to address Parliament on latest coalition crisis

(AP) — With his center- litical clarification” about bling over how some 200 Renzi and 17 other senators ter Matteo Salvini and the
left government at risk of the crisis, the palace said in billion euros ($243 billion) from the ex-premier's Italy Brothers of Italy, a rapidly
collapsing, Premier Gi- a statement. He is set to ad- in European Union funds Alive party had provided, any growing far-right party with
useppe Conte will address dress lawmakers early next should be spent to help Italy bid to win a renewed vote historic roots in neo-fascism,
the Italian Parliament on week, according to Italy's recover economically and so- of confidence in the upper would triumph in an elec-
how he plans to deal with Senate. cially from the COVID-19 house would appear doomed tion held soon. If that scenar-
the political crisis trig- Previous premiers have used pandemic. to fail. Mattarella has repeat- io happens, Salvini, whose
gered by a small coalition such appearances during past As head of state, the presi- edly appealed for the country League was part of Conte's
partner withdrawing its government crises to an- dent must decide if Conte to come together during the first government, could re-
support. nounce their resignations. or someone else can form pandemic, which has dev- turn to power.
The current situation results an alternative coalition or if astated Italy's long-stagnant Conte's main coalition part-
Conte told Italian President from former Premier Mat- an early election is needed. economy. ners are currently the center-
Sergio Mattarella in a meet- teo Renzi removing his small Unless the officially non- Opinion surveys have indi- left Democratic Party and the
ing at the presidential palace centrist party from Conte's partisan Conte can find cated that right-wing oppo- populist 5-Star Movement,
Thursday that he intends to 16-month-old governing co- enough pledges of support in sition forces, including the which also was part of Con-
go before Parliament to lay alition on Wednesday. Renzi's Parliament, especially in the euroskeptic League party led te's first government along
out “the indispensable po- move capped weeks of squab- Senate, to replace votes that by former Interior Minis- with the League.

Lawyer, others arrested by Hong Kong national security unit

(AP) — Hong Kong police ment protests in 2019. statement that those arrested detainees, who are minors, ing Joshua Wong and Agnes
on Thursday said they ar- Thursday were eight men were handed over to Hong Chow, for their involve-
rested 11 people on suspi- The fresh wave of arrests and three women aged 18 to Kong and could face further ment in the anti-government
cion of assisting offenders comes a week after 55 activ- 72. The identities of those ar- charges in the city for ab- protests. Others have been
who are believed to be the ists were apprehended in the rested were not revealed. sconding, authorities said. charged under the national
12 Hong Kong activists de- largest move against Hong security law, including media
tained at sea by mainland Kong’s democracy move- Local media reports said Hong Kong has jailed sev- tycoon and outspoken pro-
Chinese authorities while ment since Beijing imposed a those arrested are suspected eral pro-democracy activists democracy advocate Jimmy
attempting to flee the city new national security law last of helping the 12 Hong Kong in recent months, includ- Lai.
last year. June to quell dissent in the activists who were detained
semi-autonomous Chinese at sea by mainland Chinese
District councilor and law- territory. authorities while attempting
yer Daniel Wong Kwok-tung to sail to Taiwan last August.
posted on his Facebook page The clampdown has inten- Some of the fugitives were
early Thursday that national sified concerns that Beijing wanted in Hong Kong for
security officers had arrived is asserting more control offenses related to the 2019
at his home. He was later tak- over the city and breaking protests.
en to his office, where police its promise of Hong Kong
conducted a search. maintaining separate civil Last month, 10 of the activ-
rights and political systems ists detained at sea were sen-
Wong, a member of the for 50 years from the hando- tenced to prison in Shenzhen
Democratic Party, is known ver from Britain control in for illegally crossing the bor-
for providing legal assistance 1997. der, with sentences ranging
to hundreds of activists ar- between seven months to
rested during antigovern- Police said in an emailed three years. The two other