International news brief: US responds to Iran's offer on nuke deal, ex-Pak PM Khan's message to nation & more

Washington, Aug 25: The Biden administration on Wednesday responded to Iran's latest offer to resume its compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, but neither side is offering a definitive path to revive the agreement, which has been on life-support since former President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018. State Department spokesman Ned Price confirmed that the administration completed its review of Iran's comments on a European proposal. Price did not detail the administration's response.

"As you know, we received Iran's comments on the EU's proposed final text through the EU," Price said. "Our review of those comments has now concluded. We have responded to the EU today." There is now expected to be another exchange of technical details followed by a meeting of the joint commission that oversees the deal.

Pakistan: Demanding early polls, Imran Khan tells nation to wait for his call

Reiterating his demand for early general elections in the country, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief, Imran Khan on Wednesday urged his supporters and party workers to await his call for another protest movement if elections were not called by the Shehbaz Sharif-led Pakistan government. While addressing a massive public gathering in Haripur on Wednesday, Imran Khan demanded the Pak government to immediately call the general elections in the country and hinted at another protest movement if elections were not called. "I ask of the entire nation to prepare and wait for my call," Imran said, warning Shehbaz Sharif's government that they will not be able to stop the sea of people when they will gather in Islamabad from all four provinces, ARY News reported. The PTI chief maintained that fresh and fair elections are necessary for the political and economic stability in the country as he told the participants of the rally that 220 million people were being enslaved through a "regime change conspiracy," taking a sharp dig at PML-N.

3 American troops injured in rocket attacks in Syria

Three American troops were injured in two rocket attacks in Syria earlier in the day and the United States responded with strikes from attack helicopters, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement. "One US service member in Mission Support Site Conoco was treated for a minor injury and has been returned to duty. Two others are under evaluation for minor injuries," Sputnik reported quoting the CENTCOM as saying. CENTCOM said on Wednesday that suspected Iran-backed militants launched several rockets at two US facilities housing American troops in both Conoco and Green Village in northeast Syria on Wednesday evening. However, the US forces responded using attack helicopters and destroyed three vehicles and equipment used to launch several rockets, the statement said.

Boris Johnson says against any attempt to hold talks, normalize relations with Russia

Outgoing UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday during his visit to Kyiv that he opposes any attempt to hold talks and normalize relations with Russia over its ongoing military operation in Ukraine. "We must fight any creeping attempt to normalize relations with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin... We also know that this is not the time to advance some flimsy plan for negotiation with someone who is simply not interested. You can't negotiate with a bear while it's eating your leg, and you can't negotiate with a street robber who has pinned you to the floor," Johnson told a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, reported Sputnik.

EU planning to allocate another USD 7.9Bn in assistance to Ukraine

The European Union has provided Ukraine with 9.5 billion euros (USD 9.4 billion) in financial aid since February 24 and is preparing a new package worth some eight billion euros, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday.

"We are providing humanitarian support and macro-financial assistance, to keep the Ukrainian state afloat. In total, 9.5 billion euros have been mobilised by Team Europe so far, with up to 8 billion euros in additional macro-financial assistance in the pipeline," Borrell said in his EU External Action blog. The financial aid covered a range of sectors, with 2.5 billion euros going to military aid, 2.2 billion to macro-financial assistance, 620 million to budget support, 335 million to humanitarian aid, 330 million to emergency assistance packages for internally displaced people, health care, infrastructure.

New York's highest court to hear Weinstein appeal

New York's highest court has agreed to hear an appeal from disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein over his 2020 rape and sexual assault conviction.

A spokesperson for the Court of Appeals said on Wednesday that Chief Judge Janet DiFiore "granted leave to appeal" last Friday. The court did not specify the grounds for this decision.

The court has the power to uphold Weinstein's conviction and 23-year prison sentence, or order a new trial. Previously in June, a lower appeals court upheld Weinstein's conviction. It dismissed his lawyers' claims that the Manhattan judge made several errors that tainted the 2020 trial.

UN chief: Rohingya must be part of Myanmar crisis solution

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Myanmar's military-installed government Wednesday to include ethnic Rohingya in a solution to the country's political crisis. He commented on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the start of a mass exodus by the Muslim minority to Bangladesh to escape a military crackdown in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres noted "the unflagging aspirations for an inclusive future" for the Rohingya, who face widespread discrimination in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

15 reported killed in Independence Day attack in Ukraine

Russian forces Wednesday launched a rocket attack on a train station in central Ukraine on the embattled country's Independence Day, killing at least 15 people and wounding about 50, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after warning for days that Moscow might attempt "something particularly cruel" this week. The lethal attack took place in Chaplyne, a town of about 3,500 people in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukrainian news agencies quoted Zelenskyy as telling the U.N. Security Council via video.

Pak calls India's action over missile incident 'inadequate'

Pakistan has rejected India's action over the March 9 accidental firing of a supersonic missile that landed in its territory and demanded a joint probe. The services of three officers of the Indian Air Force were terminated on August 23 after a Court of Inquiry (CoI) found that deviation from the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) by them led to the accidental firing of the missile.