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Hirmand water share

Iran has once again called on Afghanistan’s Taliban government to allow technical teams to inspect the dam built on the Hirmand River, which is shared between the two countries. Afghan authorities claim the river does not have enough water to be shared with Iran. Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said despite frequent calls from Iran, the Taliban government has not yet allowed Iranian experts to visit the dam. He added that the main criterion for confirming the lack of enough water behind the dam is technical and objective inspections by experts not issuing political statements. His remarks came after the Taliban government once again claimed in a statement that the river does not have enough water to be shared with Iran. It also described frequent demands for the country’s water share by Iranian officials as harmful. Earlier on Thursday, Iran’s president issued a stern warning to the Afghan government, asking Kabul to give the people of Iran's Sistan and Baluchistan province their rights. Under a 1973 treaty, Afghanistan has to share waters of the Hirmand River with Iran. But the Iranian Energy Ministry has repeatedly accused Afghan authorities of failing to meet their commitments.

Sudan conflict

The United Nations has condemned Sudan’s warring parties for serious violations of a humanitarian agreement signed last week. The deal requires both sides to spare civilians and civilian infrastructure and to let in badly needed humanitarian aid. The UN aid chief said there have been important and egregious breaches of the agreement since it was signed. Martin Griffiths particularly pointed to a recent attack on the World Food Program office in the Sudanese capital among many examples. He stressed the need for scaling up assistance to Sudan dramatically to deal with what he called the spiraling situation in the country. The Sudan conflict erupted on April 15 between army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who leads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. According to the UN official, around 1,000 people have been killed in and around the capital Khartoum and in the western region of Darfur. Griffiths added that more than a million people have been also displaced by the ongoing battles.

Canada wildfires

Officials in Canada’s Alberta province say speeding wildfires have slowed the outflow of natural gas into the US, increasing prices. They say the gas flowing from Canada to the US has dropped to a fresh 25-month low as wildfires disrupted production.  On Thursday, US natural gas futures gained about two-percent to hit a two-week high on the reduction in imports from Canada. US gas futures have also gained about 13-percent over the past two weeks since imports from Canada started to decline. There are currently about 92 active wildfires across Alberta, forcing over 10,000 people out of their homes. Officials have warned that more wildfires could spread in next few days due to record-high temperatures and tinder-dry vegetation.

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