MIDDLE EAST

Photo Credit: AFP

The Taliban made a fresh appeal on December 17 for Afghanistan's seat at the United Nations after the ambassador of the former U.S.-backed government left his post.

The UN seat, and some other embassies abroad, are at the centre of a tug-of-war between exiled diplomats of the old government and Afghanistan's new Islamist rulers.

No country has yet recognised the Taliban regime.

Assistant UN spokesman Farhan Haq told AFP that Afghan ambassador Ghulam Isaczai "relinquished his position as of December 15", according to a letter they received December 16.

The Taliban's nominee for the position, Suhail Shaheen, said the seat should be now given to the new government of Afghanistan, adding it was a matter of credibility for the world body.

Photo Credit: Reuters

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and Britain on Thursday said they could consider new steps in line with international law against Iran if it failed to respond by Jan. 5 to demands for reparations after the downing of a passenger airliner last year.

Most of the 176 people killed when Iran shot down a Ukrainian jet in January 2020 were citizens from those four countries, which created a coordination group that seeks to hold Tehran to account.

"The Coordination Group's patience is wearing thin," it said in a statement, adding that the group had pressed Tehran to open talks on reparations and to deliver justice but said Iran had shown it was reluctant to respond in a timely manner.

It said Iran should respond by Jan 5 or the group would "have to seriously consider other actions to resolve this matter within the framework of international law" but gave no details.

Tehran says Revolutionary Guards accidentally shot down the Boeing 737 jet and blamed a misaligned radar and an error by the air defense operator at a time when tensions were high between Tehran and the United States.

Last month, families of victims alleged in a report that high-ranking Iranian officials were responsible. In June, Canada said it had found no evidence that the downing of the plane had been premeditated.

Photo Credit: Reuters

CAIRO: An Israeli air strike killed a soldier in southern Syria on Thursday, Syrian state media reported, in an attack in a frontier area where Israel has expressed concern about deployments of Iran-backed forces.
An Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment on the report.

Israel has mounted frequent attacks against what it has described as Iranian targets in Syria, where Tehran-backed forces including Lebanon's Hezbollah have deployed over the last decade to support President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's war.
Citing a military source, Syrian state news agency SANA said "the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial aggression", firing missiles from the Golan Heights, territory Israel captured from Syria in 1967.

Photo Credit: AP 

Three “hackers-for-hire” working for a company in the United Arab Emirates “for the benefit” of the government in Abu Dhabi have agreed to pay $1.68m in penalties as part of a legal settlement in the United States, the US Justice Department said.

The suspects, two US citizens and one former American citizen, provided “zero-click” computer hacking services to the UAE company “that could compromise a device without any action by the target”, the Justice Department said in a statement on Tuesday.

It identified the individuals as Marc Baier, 49, Ryan Adams, 34, and Daniel Gericke, the former US citizen, age 40. US law allows Americans to renounce their citizenship.

Photo Credit: AP 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was still prepared to sell F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates.

“We remain prepared to move forward… if that is what the Emiratis are interested in doing,” he said during a visit to Malaysia on Wednesday.

Asked about the conditions the US has set, he did not give precise details, but said Washington wanted to ensure that Israel maintains its “military edge”.

“We wanted to make sure that we could do a thorough review of any technologies that are sold or transferred to other partners in the region,” he said.