Iran
Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog today reached an agreement to install new memory cards in surveillance cameras at Iran’s nuclear sites. Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency had been involved in a standoff that it was feared presented yet another roadblock to getting Iran and the US back into a nuclear deal that Tehran signed with world powers in 2015. Then US president Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the deal in 2018 and reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran.
More from the Guardian here.
Turkey-Syria
Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, today raised eyebrows by saying his country was working with the UN refugee agency to repatriate refugees to Syria. UNHCR’s public position is that Syria is still far too dangerous a place to send refugees back to. A UNHCR spokesperson, Selin Unal, responded to Cavusoglu’s remarks by saying refugees should be allowed to return only voluntarily and in “safe and dignified conditions.” Turkey hosts a staggering 3.7 million Syrian refugees.
More from AP here.
Afghanistan
The Taliban’s Higher Education Minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani today said that women would be allowed to continue to study in universities but only in gender-segregated classrooms. Haqqani also said that the subjects women will be taught are under review without giving further details. The Taliban insists its attitude towards women’s rights has changed over the last twenty years but women have already been banned from playing sports and women’s protests have been met with violence.
More from Al Jazeera here.