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| - Duty Editor: Emma Charlton Tel: +1 202 414 0543 -- TOP STORIES -- + Alarm at Taliban gains during US troop pullout + Spain pardons nine jailed Catalan separatists + New York City holds primary to pick new mayor + US to miss Independence Day Covid shot target + Standoff over rainbow colors for Munich Euro match Afghanistan-Tajikistan-conflict-Taliban,WRAP KUNDUZ The Taliban captures Afghanistan's main border crossing with Tajikistan -- with Afghan forces abandoning their posts and some fleeing across the frontier -- scoring their most significant gain since the US began the final stage of its troop withdrawal. 600 words 2030 GMT by Hakim Hasas with Usman Sharifi in Kabul Spain-politics-Catalonia-prisoners-pardon,WRAP MADRID Spain pardons the jailed Catalan separatists behind a failed 2017 independence bid in a bid to break the deadlock over the political crisis in this wealthy northeastern region. 650 words moved by Hazel Ward. Picture. Video Also moved: Spain-politics-Catalonia-pardon,FOCUS Spain-politics-Catalonia-dates,CHRONO US-politics-vote-NewYork,WRAP NEW YORK New York City residents cast ballots in a Democratic primary that will all but certainly select the next mayor tasked with shaping the post-pandemic future of America's largest metropolis. 600 words moved by Peter Hutchison. Picture. Video Health-virus-US-vaccine,WRAP WASHINGTON The US government won't meet its goal of administering one or more doses of a Covid vaccine to 70 percent of US adults by July 4, White House Covid response team coordinator Jeffrey Zients concedes. 650 words moved by Issam Ahmed. Picture. Video Fbl-Euro-2020-2021-GER-HUN-UEFA,WRAP MUNICH UEFA's decision to block plans by Munich to light the Allianz Arena in rainbow colours for the Germany-Hungary Euro 2020 match is met with defiance in the Bavarian city which vowed to decorate other landmarks in protest at a law passed by the Hungarian government. 700 words moved by Ryland James. File picture Also moved: Fbl-Euro-2020-2021-health-virus-Britain-politics-UEFA-Wembley,2ndlead -- SPOTLIGHT -- China-animal-monk-religion,FOCUS SHANGHAI His bald head glistening with sweat, Buddhist monk Zhi Xiang peers into the eyes of a stray dog whose coat has become matted in heavy rain and says soothingly: "Let me cut your hair, cutie." 750 words moved by Peter Stebbings and Jessica Yang. Picture. Video Mali-women-prison,FOCUS BAMAKO Laughing children, yoga classes, job-training sessions: Mali's only women's prison is a far cry from the squalid, overcrowded jails found elsewhere in the war-torn Sahel. 500 words moved by Amaury Hauchard. Picture. Video -- AMERICAS -- US-Iran-media-politics-sanction,WRAP WASHINGTON The US Justice Department seizes control of the websites of Iranian state-controlled news groups including Press TV and Al-Alam, and of the Al-Masirah TV channel of Yemen's Huthis, indicating the move was for sanctions-related issues. 550 words 2130 by Paul Handley. Picture US-politics-voting-rights,lead WASHINGTON The US Senate takes up the flashpoint issue of voting rights in America -- with Democrats and Republicans locked in battle over who gets to vote and how, in the wake of a 2020 election marred by Donald Trump's baseless allegations of fraud. 650 words 2030 GMT by Michael Mathes. Picture US-EU-Germany-France-Italy-diplomacy,WRAP WASHINGTON Days after Joe Biden's first presidential trip abroad, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading back to Europe to keep up the work of building Western unity against a rising China. 700 words 2130 GMT by Shaun Tandon Nicaragua-politics-elections,FOCUS MANAGUA With five opposition challengers now in detention, Nicaragua's long-serving President Daniel Ortega is clearing domestic obstacles to a fourth successive term, but lining up significant international resistance. 750 words 2030 GMT Also moving Nicaragua-politics-elections, COUNTRY FACTFILE and Nicaragua-politics-elections, CHRONO -- EUROPE -- Vatican-pope-religion-Italy-homosexuality,WRAP ROME The Vatican confirms it has lodged a diplomatic protest against a draft Italian law against homophobia, in what a news report called an "unprecedented" act of meddling in Italy's affairs. 700 words moved by Alvise Armellini. File picture Britain-NIreland-politics-EU-Brexit,WRAP DUBLIN Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party names its third leader in under a month, the latest twist in a Brexit-soaked drama that has left the region's leadership in turmoil. 700 words moved by Joe Stenson. File picture France-Libya-Egypt-rights-cybercrime,WRAP PARIS Prosecutors charge four executives at two French companies accused of aiding Libya's former strongman Moamer Kadhafi and Egyptian authorities to spy on opposition figures who were later detained and tortured, a rights group says. 500 words moved by Eleonore Dermy -- ASIA -- HongKong-China-politics-media,2ndlead HONG KONG Media outlets in Hong Kong must not "subvert" the government, the city's leader says, rejecting US criticism of recent action against a pro-democracy newspaper under a powerful new security law. 550 words moved by Jerome Taylor and Yan Zhao. Picture. Video. Live video Also moved: HongKong-China-politics-media,FOCUS -- MIDDLE EAST -- Iraq-politics-Hashed,FOCUS BAGHDAD With the second-biggest bloc in Iraq's parliament, powerful friends in Iran and vast financial assets, the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary alliance has become the predominant force in Iraqi politics, experts say. 750 words moved by Ammar Karim and Sarah Benhaida. File picture Yemen-conflict-Marib,2ndlead DUBAI Fighting between Yemeni loyalists and Huthi rebels seeking to take the strategic northern city of Marib has killed 90 fighters in two days, pro-government military sources say. 350 words moved -- AFRICA -- Ethiopia-vote-conflict,WRAP ADDIS ABABA Vote counting gets under way following elections in Ethiopia that went ahead without polling in the war-torn northern Tigray region and other restive parts of Africa's second-most populous nation. 800 words moved by Nick Perry with Marion Douet in Bahir Dar. Picture. Video Nigeria-unrest-kidnapping-school KANO, Nigeria Fifteen Nigerian hostages have escaped from their abductors as they slept, weeks after they were among more than 130 pupils and teachers snatched by gunmen from an Islamic seminary, the school's headteacher tells AFP. 400 words moved -- BUSINESS/ECONOMY -- ElSalvador-economy-bitcoin,FOCUS MONTEVIDEO El Salvador will soon become the only country in the world accepting bitcoin as legal tender, a cutting-edge but potentially risky new avenue for its large expat community to send money back home. 700 words moved by Mauricio Rabuffetti with AFP bureaus in El Salvador, Mexico and Washington -- OLYMPICS -- Oly-2020-2021-Japan-health-virus,WRAP TOKYO The Tokyo Olympics have weathered a historic postponement, an unprecedented ban on overseas fans and persistent domestic opposition, but with one month to go, the finish line is finally in sight. 700 words moved by Sarah Hussein. Picture. Video Oly-swim-2020-2021-doping-CHN,3rdlead LAUSANNE Chinese swimmer Sun Yang will miss the Tokyo Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport handed him a ban of four years and three months for violating anti-doping rules. 750 words moved -- SPORT -- Fbl-Euro-2020-2021,WRAP LONDON England bid to win their Euro 2020 group by pipping the Czech Republic to top spot at Wembley, while Scotland hope to reach the knockout stages of a major tournament for the first time against a Croatia side also chasing a last-16 place. 700 words 2130 GMT by Steve Griffiths. Picture. Video. Graphic afp
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