BERLIN (AP) — The U.N. nuclear watchdog harshly criticized Iran on Saturday for effectively barring several of its most experienced inspectors from monitoring the country’s disputed program.

The strongly worded statement came amid longstanding tensions between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is tasked with monitoring a nuclear program that Western nations have long suspected is aimed at eventually developing a nuclear weapon. Iran insists the program is peaceful.

OSLO, Norway (AP) — North Korea may be able to boost Russia’s supply of artillery munitions for the war in Ukraine, but that is not likely to make a big difference, the top American military officer said as he arrived in Norway for NATO meetings that began Saturday and will focus in part on the conflict.

Sept 16 (Reuters) - Iranian security forces cracked down on protests in Kurdish areas of the country on Saturday and briefly detained the father of Mahsa Amini, a year after the young woman's death in custody set off some of the worst political unrest in four decades.

State-affiliated media reported arrests of several "counter revolutionaries" and "terrorists" in different Iranian cities and said security forces had foiled plots to create disturbances around illegal demonstrations.

NEW YORK, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- American veteran diplomats have made a united call for revitalizing U.S.-China relations at a reception celebrating the 74th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Speaking at the event held Wednesday evening, 80-year-old Robert Hormats, former under secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, lamented the status quo.

"Unfortunately, this is not one of those good times. This is a very difficult time and it's a very sad time for all of us who believe in the relationship," he said.

15 September 2023; MEMO: At least eight per cent of the population of Libya’s eastern Derna city was killed or went missing and a quarter of the city’s neighbourhoods were wiped off the map as a result of the disastrous floods which ravaged the country.

At least 6,000 people were killed and thousands of others remain missing, according to the latest official numbers.

ISTANBUL, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said that Türkiye may "part ways with the European Union (EU)," suggesting that his country may end the bid to join the European bloc.

"The European Union is trying to break away from Türkiye," Erdogan told journalists in Istanbul before leaving for New York to attend the annual UN General Assembly meetings.

15 September 2023; MEMO: The Biden administration, on Thursday, imposed sanctions on five Turkish companies and a Turkish national, accusing them of helping Russia evade sanctions and supporting Moscow in its war against Ukraine, Reuters reports.

According to the report, the companies are accused of helping repair sanctioned vessels tied to Russia’s Defence Ministry and helping the transfer of “dual-use goods”.

Sept 15 (Reuters) - When a devastating earthquake shook Morocco's High Atlas mountains on Sept. 8, residents of poor areas where it struck turned for help to the state and the man who leads it, King Mohammed VI.

Yet the monarch, with his sweeping power, has kept a low profile, making just three appearances since then. He chaired two emergency response meetings with officials in Rabat and visited a hospital in Marrakech, near the disaster zone, where he gave blood after a nationwide appeal for donors.

ROME, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Data show that the trade volume between China and Italy has increased for three consecutive years in 2022. Bilateral cooperation in various fields has been fruitful and has a broad prospect, experts said.

Vito Petrocelli, former chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Italian Senate, told Xinhua that Italy and China have highly complementary economies, whose bilateral relationship, especially in the economic and trade fields, has made a "leap forward."

15 September 2023; MEMO: Palestinian Finance Minister Shukri Bishara yesterday stressed the need for the donors’ meeting to produce serious results and work mechanisms that would exert pressure on the Israeli occupation government to release Palestinian funds that have been withheld since 2019, and which currently amount to around $800 million.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil is reinstating stronger greenhouse gas commitments it made in 2015 as part of the Paris Agreement that were weakened under former President Jair Bolsonaro.

The announcement was made Thursday by the country’s Committee on Climate Change, a joint body made up of 18 government ministries. “Brazil is a major actor in helping the planet in this challenging moment,” Vice President Geraldo Alckmin said during the committee meeting in Brasilia.

FRANKFURT/SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Sept 15 (Reuters) - European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde seized the mobile phones of her fellow policymakers at this week's meeting and rebuked them for leaking crucial information ahead of a policy decision, two sources told Reuters.

The unprecedented move is the boldest step that Lagarde has taken to stop information leaking out from the Governing Council, an issue that has plagued her presidency as well as that of her predecessor, Mario Draghi.