Iran
Iran and world powers are back at the table in Austria’s capital Vienna today, trying to hammer out a deal that would get Tehran and the US back into a nuclear deal that was agreed in 2015. Donald Trump unceremoniously yanked the US out of the deal in 2018, much to the annoyance of the other countries who had signed up to it. Now, with Biden in office, efforts are underway to patch it back together. But it is proving tough going. The US wants Iran to scale back its nuclear program again, while Iran says it wants the US and other nations to lift sanctions against it first.
More from Al Jazeera here.
Libya
It was never going to be easy. And Libya’s upcoming presidential election now looks set to be delayed beyond its original December 24th date. The electoral commission says there are still legal issues that need to be resolved around the candidacy of some hopefuls, which will leave no time to get things ready on time. Libya has been beset by conflict and chaos since longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011.
More from AFP via Yahoo News here.
Afghanistan
The World Bank is to release $280m from a frozen Afghanistan aid fund, as the country struggles with one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. Huge amounts of aid money meant for Afghanistan were withheld after the Taliban took power. The Afghan central bank’s $9bn in reserves, most of which are held in the US, were also frozen. The UN says 60 percent of the population are acutely hungry.
More from BBC here.