Europe

16 Sep 2021; MEMO: A new report has found that conditions in hotels housing asylum seekers are sub-standard and sometimes unsafe.

For the report, over 50 asylum seekers in Glasgow provided information to academics at Edinburgh Napier University and their co-producers Migrants Organising for Rights and Empowerment.

GENEVA, Sep 15 (APP): A Pakistani diplomat Wednesday categorically rejected India's sweeping allegations about Pakistan's treatment of its minorities and involvement in terrorism, and called New Delhi the principal sponsor, financier and abettor of state terrorism.

MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/: Russian Northern Fleet forces wrap up the exercise in the Arctic after a successful completion of all tasks, Russian Defense Ministry told journalists Wednesday.

"The forces that took part in the exercise proved their readiness to defend Russia’s Arctic territories, ensure the Russian military security and economic activity in the Arctic," Northern Fleet Commander Admiral Alexander Moiseyev said.

BELGRADE, September 15. /TASS/: Serbian President Alexander Vucic praised the quality of Russian weapons and announced the procurement of the Pantsir-S1M air defense system while examining the Serbian military exposition, dedicated to the Day of Unity, Freedom and National Flag of Serbia.

MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/: Silicon Valley-based Big Tech companies will corroborate their involvement in meddling in Russia’s State Duma elections, if they fail to participate in a meeting of the Federation Council’s Commission on Protecting State Sovereignty and Preventing Interference in the Domestic Affairs of the Russian Federation, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated on TV Wednesday.

ATHENS, Sept 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Greek authorities are investigating the crash of a private plane from Israel that killed a prosecution witness in Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial.

Haim Geron, a former senior official at Israel’s ministry of communications, and his wife Esther were killed when the single-engine Cessna 182 plane crashed late on Monday off the island of Samos.

Geron was one of more than 300 witnesses prosecutors listed for Netanyahu’s trial on corruption charges.

LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban-controlled central bank said it had seized nearly $12.4 million in cash and gold from former top government officials on Wednesday, including former vice president Amrullah Saleh.

In a statement, the central bank said the money and gold had been kept in officials' houses, although it did not yet know for what purpose.

Saleh's whereabouts are unknown. He has vowed to resist the Taliban, who stormed to power a month ago, and last week a family member said the Taliban had executed his brother Rohullah Azizi.

BERLIN, Sept 15 (Reuters) - German lawmakers will question Finance Minister Olaf Scholz over suspected failings at the government anti-money laundering agency next Monday, only days before a federal election which his party is projected to win.

Scholz will answer questions at a special meeting of the lower house of parliament's finance committee on Sept. 20, though it is unclear if he will take part in person or join remotely via video link, lawmakers said on Wednesday.

LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - A unit in Afghanistan's central bank leading a 15-year effort to counter illicit funding flows has halted operations, four staff members said, threatening to hasten the country's slide out of the global financial system.

Since 2006, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center of Afghanistan (FinTRACA) has gathered intelligence on thousands of suspicious transactions and helped convict smugglers and terrorist financiers, according to its website.

LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson demoted his foreign secretary on Wednesday in a major reshuffle, removing his more under-fire colleagues to refocus the government on raising living standards after COVID-19.

After months of criticism of several of his top team for missteps and gaffes, Johnson finally started a process some say he wanted to do many weeks earlier, to make the changes he feels he needs to press on with his "levelling up" agenda.