Latest News
Iran-US prisoner swap ongoing after $6bn transfer
Iran has released five American prisoners, moving them to Tehran’s airport for a flight to the Qatari capital, Doha, as part of a prisoner exchange with the United States.
Four of the five were moved to house arrest last month as part of the deal. The fifth prisoner had been moved to house arrest earlier.
Monday’s developments signal that the prisoner exchange clinched last month has gone through. The agreement also includes a release of frozen Iranian funds.
The Agreement:
The United States and Iran will each free five prisoners under an agreement that also involves the transfer of $6bn of frozen Iranian assets from South Korea.
The deal first made public on August 10, will remove a major irritant between Washington and Tehran although the rivals remain deeply at odds over a range of other issues.
Iran and the US have a history of prisoner swaps dating back to the 1979 US embassy takeover and hostage crisis following the Iranian Revolution.
There has been no indication the prisoner deal will spur movement on restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear accord, which saw Tehran scale back its nuclear programme in exchange for a lifting of international sanctions against its economy. The US withdrew from that agreement in 2018.
The prisoners :
Five Iranian prisoners are expected to be released by the US as part of the deal:
Kaveh Afrasiabi, a political scientist and US resident who was charged with being an unregistered agent for the Iranian government.
Mehrdad Moein Ansari, a 40-year-old Iranian resident of the United Arab Emirates and Germany who was convicted of violating sanctions on Iran.
Amin Hassanzadeh, a permanent US resident accused four years ago of stealing secrets to send to Iran.
Reza Sarhangpour Kafrani, a 46-year-old who is also a Canadian national charged with illegally exporting laboratory equipment to Iran.
Kambiz Attar Kashani, a 44-year-old dual national convicted of conspiring to illegally export technologies and goods to Iran.
Only two of the Iranian prisoners will return to Iran, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said. “One of them, as he has family in another country, will be moved to join them in that third country, and apparently two of our citizens imprisoned in the US have said they wish to remain there due to their history of staying there,” Kanani said.
The identities of three of the American prisoners, all of whom were arrested on charges of espionage and collaborating with a foreign government, are known. They are:
Siamak Namazi, a 51-year-old businessman held in Evin Prison since 2015, making him the longest-serving American prisoner in Iran.
Emad Sharghi, a 59-year-old businessman arrested in 2018.
Morad Tahbaz, a 67-year-old environmentalist who also holds British citizenship and was arrested in 2018.
The identities of the other two prisoners have remained secret, but Western media have reported that one is a woman.
(Aljazeera)
Bangladesh posted their first Test win in the West Indies in 15 years when they beat the hosts by 101 runs in Jamaica. It was a remarkable comeback by the visitors after their big defeat in the first Test in Antigua, with the series finishing 1-1. It was cathartic for a side that lost their last five Tests so emphatically, as the likes of Taijul Islam, Jaker Ali and Nahid Rana scripted their third away win in 2024 – their most in a calendar year.
Left-arm spinner Taijul took 5 for 50 in the fourth innings to help bowl out West Indies for 185. It was his 15th five-wicket haul, fourth abroad and a first in the Caribbean after 10 years. Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud and Rana took the other five wickets.
Rana took his maiden Test five-wicket haul in the second innings, helping bowl West Indies out for 146.
Bangladesh had made only 164 in their first innings, but their revival in the second innings was a notable one too. This was courtesy Jaker, who cracked five sixes and eight fours in a counter-attacking 91. Jaker scored 62 out of Bangladesh’s 75 runs in the morning session of the fourth day.
West Indies will feel they gave away a great start in the Test match when Jayden Seales returned remarkable figures of 5 for 4 from 15.5 overs. A fired up Seales however leaked runs in the third innings as Bangladesh shifted the momentum in a feisty third afternoon.
On the fourth morning, Jaker held Bangladesh’s key to grow their lead from 211. It didn’t start well for him, as Alzarri Joseph pinged him on the top of his helmet. The Bangladesh physio Bayezid Islam Khan took a bit of time to clear Jaker, with the BCB wary of his history of concussions.
The situation compounded when Bangladesh lost back to back wickets.
Taijul edged a short ball on 14, after he and Jaker added 34 runs for the sixth wicket. Mominul Haque completed his second Test pair when he fell off his fourth ball. He looked visibly ill as he walked off, with Bangladesh’s tail now exposed.
With his back to the wall, Jaker went after the West Indies attack. He hooked Kemar Roach over wicketkeeper Joshua Da Silva for a boundary. Jaker then timed a pull shot off Alzarri for his first six, which took him to his third consecutive fifty in his first three Tests. He is only the second Bangladesh player with the feat after Zakir Hasan.
Jaker got on a roll in the next two balls. He flayed at a short ball to get a four over the slips, and then followed it up with a hooked six. Jaker smashed Roach over wide long-on in the next over, but he fought back with two more wickets. Roach removed Mahmud and Taskin in consecutive overs.
Jaker however had one more burst of boundaries in him. He smashed Shamar Joseph for two fours in an over, both pull shots, before launching Roach for his fourth six, straight down the ground. His fifth six was off Shamar, hoicked over midwicket, before falling to a catch in the deep later in the over.
Taijul got to work as early as the fifth over when he had Mikyle Louis in a tangle. Attempting to drive the ball, Louis edged the ball on to his front foot, with Shahadat Hossain claiming a diving catch at forward short leg.
Sensing the need to grab the momentum, Brathwaite went after the Bangladesh bowling. He had already picked up a boundary with a square-cut, but after the lunch break, he drove Mahmud through the covers. He launched Taijul over wide long-on for a six, but Keacy Carty couldn’t quite get the bowlers away at the other end.
Taskin had Carty caught behind for 14, after a build-up of dot balls, before Taijul accounted for the big one of Brathwaite. He troubled the West Indies captain a few times, before getting one to turn and pop on the shoulder of Brathwaite’s bat. Mahmudul Hasan Joy ran to his right from slip, to complete a tumbling catch. Taijul then got one to pitch on a rough patch and spin back through Alick Athanaze’s huge gap between bat and pad. Athanaze, who went for an expansive drive, looked confused about his approach in his six-ball stay.
All this time, Hodge kept his shape, looking sharp as he picked up regular boundaries. He slapped Rana and cut Taskin in consecutive overs. He struck Mehidy for two fours in an over, before going inside out against Taijul before tea.
West Indies started the third session on a happy note. Hodge got to his fifty off the first ball after the interval, but he fell shortly afterwards too. Hodge played back to a Taijul delivery that kept very low, trapping him lbw. Keshav Maharaj and Shoaib Bashir have also got him out in similar fashion before.
Taskin then cleaned up Justin Greaves with one that kept a little low too, but the batter didn’t make an effort to get low enough to meet the ball. Joshua Da Silva’s miserable series ended when Taijul had him lbw, again another West Indies batter falling lbw to a ball that they could have played off the front foot.
When Mehidy brought around Mahmud for a second spell, he made an instant impact. He removed Alzarri and Roach to bring Bangladesh to the brink. Then came the big moment when Rana, who changed the momentum of the game with his first-innings five-for, removed Shamar with a yorker to seal the hard-fought win.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 164 (Shadman Islam 64, Jayden Seales 4-5, Shamar Joseph 3-49) and 268 (Jaker Ali 91, Shadman Islam 46, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 42; Kemar Roach 3-36, Alzarri Joseph 3-77) beat West Indies 146 (Keacy Carty 40, Kraigg Brathwaite 39; Nahid Rana 5-61, Hasan Mahmud 2-19) and 185 (Kavem Hodge 55, Kraigg Brathwaite 43, Taijul Islam 5-50, Hasan Mahmud 2-20) by 101 runs
[Cricinfo]
Women training as midwives and nurses in Afghanistan have told the BBC they were ordered not to return to classes in the morning – effectively closing off their last route to further education in the country.
Five separate institutions across Afghanistan have also confirmed to the BBC that the Taliban had instructed them to close until further notice, with videos shared online showing students crying at the news.
The BBC has yet to confirm the order officially with the Taliban government’s health ministry.
However, the closure appears to be in line with the group’s wider policy on female education, which has seen teenage girls unable to access secondary and higher education since August 2021.
The Taliban have repeatedly promised they would be readmitted to school once a number of issues were resolved – including ensuring the curriculum was “Islamic”. This has yet to happen.
One of the few avenues still open to women seeking education was through the country’s further education colleges, where they could learn to be nurses or midwives.
Midwifery and nursing are also one of the only careers women can pursue under the Taliban government’s restrictions on women – a vital one, as male medics are not allowed to treat women unless a male guardian is present.
Just three months ago, the BBC was given acess to one Taliban run midwife training centre where more than a dozen women in their 20s were learning how to deliver babies. The women were happy to have been given the chance to learn.
“My family feels so proud of me,” a trainee called Safia said. “I have left my children at home to come here, but they know I’m serving the country.”
But even then, some of the women expressed fear about whether even this might be stopped eventually.
What will happen to those women – and another estimated 17,000 women on training courses – is unclear.
No formal announcement has been made, although two sources in the Ministry of Health confirmed the ban to BBC Afghan off the record.
In videos sent to the BBC from other training colleges, trainees can be heard weeping.
“Standing here and crying won’t help,” a student tells a group of women in one video. “The Vice and Virtue officials who enforce Taliban rules are nearby, and I don’t want anything bad to happen to any of you.”
Other videos shared with the BBC show women quietly protesting as they leave the colleges – singing as they make their way through the hallways.
One Kabul student said she had been told to “wait until further notice”.
“Even though it is the end of our semester, exams have not yet been conducted, and we have not been given permission to take them,” she told the BBC.
Another student revealed they “were only given time to grab our bags and leave the classrooms”.
“They even told us not to stand in the courtyard because the Taliban could arrive at any moment, and something might happen. Everyone was terrified,” she said. “For many of us, attending classes was a small glimmer of hope after long periods of unemployment, depression, and isolation at home.”
What this means for women’s healthcare also now remains to be seen: last year, the United Nations and Afghanistn need an additional 18000 midwives to meet the country’s needs.
Afghanistan already has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), with a report released last year noting 620 women were dying per 100,000 live births.
[BBC]
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol lifted the martial law order after a chaotic night which saw MPs block the surprise move
Less than two hours after his martial law declaration, MPs had defied the president, gathering at the National Assembly and voting to block his move.
(BBC)
Jaker, Taijul and Rana script Bangladesh’s first win in West Indies since 2009
Afghan women ‘banned from midwife courses’ in latest blow to rights
South Korea president backs down from martial law order after MPs vote to block it
-
News6 days agoDialog Smart Home Celebrates Continued Partnership as Gold Sponsor for Kadella 2024
-
Editorial4 days agoGreed for diplomatic appointments
-
Business7 days agoCurrent deflation situation would not adversely impact economy – CBSL Governor
-
News7 days agoFirst-ever floating solar photovoltaic power plants operational
-
News3 days agoAKD gladdens Ranil’s heart
-
Business3 days agoCentral Bank aware of upside and downside risks to its inflation projections
-
News6 days agoEx-Northern Governor: Deployments prerogative of armed forces
-
Editorial7 days agoShadow education in spotlight