Iran bans 15 from traveling as official resigns

Iran’s presidency announced the former chief of Strategic Studies Center resigned and Ali Rabiei (C), who already serves as the Cabinet spokesman, would replace him.(File/AFP)
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Updated 30 April 2021
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Iran bans 15 from traveling as official resigns

  • Zarif’s leaked remarks included cutting references to the limits of his power and those of Gen. Qassem Soleimani
  • He expressed regret that the recording had leaked out

DUBAI: Iran imposed travel bans on 15 people for alleged involvement in a leaked audio recording in which the foreign minister complained about the influence of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on Iranian diplomacy, a semi-official news agency said on Thursday.

In the leaked interview, aired by the London-based Iran International Persian-language satellite news channel late on Sunday, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he had “zero” influence over Iran’s foreign policy.

“According to a judiciary source, 15 people involved in the interview have been banned from leaving Iran,” the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

The recording, shedding a rare light on ties between the government and the elite IRGC, has angered hard-liners in Iran, who called the leak “an espionage act.” Some lawmakers have called for Zarif’s resignation.

President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday replaced the head of the state-run think tank that was in charge of conducting the interview. Authorities have said the recording was part of a wider project with government officials and was produced for state records rather than for publication.

“Hessameddin Ashena, head of the Strategic Studies Center, had resigned ... President Rouhani has appointed the Cabinet spokesman Ali Rabiei to replace him,” state news agency IRNA reported.

Ashena, who Iranian media said was present during the seven-hour interview with Zarif, is also an adviser to the president.

Ordering an inquiry into the recording’s release, Rouhani said on Wednesday the leak was intended to disrupt talks between Tehran and six powers in Vienna aimed at reviving a 2015 nuclear deal that Washington abandoned three years ago.


Palestinian president condemns ‘any projects’ to displace Gazans

Updated 4 sec ago
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Palestinian president condemns ‘any projects’ to displace Gazans

  • President Mahmoud Abbas said Palestinians “will not abandon their land and holy sites"

RAMALLAH: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas condemned on Sunday “any projects” to relocate the people of Gaza outside the territory, after US President Donald Trump suggested moving them to Egypt and Jordan.
Without naming the US leader, Abbas “expressed strong rejection and condemnation of any projects aimed at displacing our people from the Gaza Strip,” a statement from his office said, adding that the Palestinian people “will not abandon their land and holy sites.”


Palestinian sources say to free Gaza hostage demanded by Israel before next swap

Updated 26 min 59 sec ago
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Palestinian sources say to free Gaza hostage demanded by Israel before next swap

  • Arbel Yehud will be handed over within days, sources say
  • In exchange, 30 prisoners serving life sentences will be released

CAIRO: Two Palestinian sources told AFP on Sunday that an Israeli woman held hostage in Gaza, and whose release Israel has demanded before allowing the return of displaced Palestinians, will be handed over within days.
“Arbel Yehud is expected to be freed before the next (hostage-prisoner) exchange” scheduled for February 1, said a source from the Islamic Jihad militant group.
Another Palestinian source familiar with the issue said Yehud is expected to be released by Friday.
“The release of Arbel Yehud will happen most likely by next Friday in exchange for 30 prisoners serving life sentences,” the source said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak on the matter publicly.
Israel has accused Hamas of reneging on the ceasefire deal by not releasing Yehud when the second hostage-prisoner took place on Saturday.
As a civilian woman, Yehud “was supposed to be released” as part of the second hostage-prisoner swap under the truce deal, a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Labelling it a violation by Hamas of the ceasefire deal, Netanyahu’s office said it “will not allow the passage of Gazans to the northern part of the Gaza Strip until the release of civilian Arbel Yehud... is arranged.”
On Saturday, two Hamas sources told AFP that Yehud was “alive and in good health,” with one source saying she would be “released as part of the third swap set for next Saturday.”
But on Sunday, the two Palestinian sources said she was expected to be released following an intervention by mediators Egypt and Qatar.
“The crisis has been resolved,” said the source familiar with the issue.
Tens of thousands of displaced Gazans massed on Sunday on the road to the north but were not allowed to pass through, AFP correspondents reported.


Netanyahu says France assures Israel its firms can take part in Paris Air Show

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (File/AP)
Updated 52 min 43 sec ago
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Netanyahu says France assures Israel its firms can take part in Paris Air Show

  • Israeli defense companies were last year banned from participating in a defense industry exhibition held in Paris

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Sunday that French President Emmanuel Macron had given him assurances that Israeli companies would be able to take part in the Paris Air Show.
The two had a phone conversation during which the assurance was given, according to a statement by the prime minister’s office.
Separately, Macron’s office said in a statement that the presence of Israeli companies at the air show “could be favorably considered, as a result of the ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.”
Israeli defense companies were last year banned from participating in a defense industry exhibition held in Paris as Macron called for Israel to cease some military operations in Gaza.
That ban strained relations, but a French court in October overturned a government ban on Israeli companies taking part in a naval arms exhibition near Paris.
The Paris Air Show, the world’s largest, is held every two years, alternating every other year with Farnborough in Britain. It is due to take place from June 16 until June 22. Leading aerospace, aviation and defense companies from around the world typically take part in both events.
A ceasefire agreement reached this month between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, which it has been fighting in Gaza, remains in effect, as does another truce agreement struck last year between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.


Emirati explorer circles Antarctica in two helicopters with adventurers

Updated 26 January 2025
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Emirati explorer circles Antarctica in two helicopters with adventurers

  • The journey took a month and covered 19,050 kilometers
  • Explorers encounter massive icebergs, frozen rivers and strong winds

LONDON: Emirati explorer Ibrahim Sharaf Al-Hashemi participated in an air mission that completed the first circular flight around Antarctica using two helicopters.

Al-Hashemi is the first Emirati to participate in this historic expedition, which launched on Dec. 4, 2024, and concluded on Jan. 17, 2025, according to WAM, the official news agency of the UAE.

The journey covered 19,050 kilometers and took a month, starting and ending at Union Glacier Camp. The trip reportedly took seven years of meticulous planning to tackle the region’s logistical challenges and extreme weather.

The team flew over remote icy landscapes under explorer Frederik Paulsen’s leadership, encountering massive icebergs, frozen rivers and strong winds.

Al-Hashemi’s endeavor illustrates the UAE’s growing role in global missions and long-haul flights in harsh environments, WAM added.


Palestinian health ministry in Gaza Strip says war toll at 47,306

Updated 26 January 2025
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Palestinian health ministry in Gaza Strip says war toll at 47,306

  • New bodies are found under the rubble
  • Health ministry said war had also left 111,483 people wounded

GAZA STRIP: The Palestinian health ministry in the Gaza Strip said on Sunday the death toll from the war with Israel had reached 47,306, with numbers rising in spite of a ceasefire as new bodies are found under the rubble.
The ministry said hospitals in the Gaza Strip had received 23 bodies in the past 72 hours — 14 “recovered from under the rubble,” five who “succumbed to their injuries” from earlier in the war, and four new fatalities.
It did not specify how the new fatalities occurred.
The ministry said the war had also left 111,483 people wounded.
Some Gazans have died from wounds inflicted before the ceasefire, with the health system in the Palestinian territory largely destroyed by more than 15 months of fighting and bombardment.
The ministry again reiterated its appeal for Gazans to submit information about dead or missing people to help update its records.
The war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas was sparked by the militant group’s October 7, 2023 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.