Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Virus is spreading in Middle East, with confirmed cases in Lebanon and Israel
Four Iranians have died after contracting the coronavirus, with health authorities warning it has spread to multiple cities, while Israel and Lebanon declared their first domestic cases as the deadly epidemic spreads across the Middle East.
Asked on Friday if the new cases put the crisis at a tipping point, the World Health Organization director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the “window of opportunity is narrowing, so we need to act quickly before it closes completely”.
While some want to show solidarity with the supreme leader in face of US pressure, others feel their voice won’t be heard
At dawn, Dr Mostafa, a psychologist, went to pray at the Imamzadeh Saleh shrine in north Tehran before taking the short walk to be the first in line at the polling booth. So determined was he to do his religious duty and show his support for the supreme leader, that he voted in Friday’s parliamentary elections as soon as the polling booth opened at 8am. “We all have a duty to vote, if we want to be responsible citizens,” said Mostafa, who claims to have worked for the Iranian delegation in the Hague. Saying he had voted for the Conservatives, he added that he believed the US was “a liar”, insisting: “The parliament should never have believed American promises.”
But such enthusiasm for the parliamentary elections is likely to be the exception. By mid-afternoon there was just a smattering of people queuing to vote by the same mosque, while the nearby Tajrish bazaar was, in contrast, teeming. The mosque itself, too, seemed more attractive to mid-afternoon visitors than the chance to vote.
Hardliners aiming to take advantage of fury over corruption to take power and keep President Rouhani on a tight leash
“They’ve been stealing the money. Cut off their hands, make them pay and answer,” shouted an elderly woman in a black chador, suddenly standing up at a conservative election rally in south Tehran.
Mohammad Hosseini, Iran’s minister for culture and Islamic guidance from 2009 to 2013 under the then president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, replied. If elected, he said, he would always be available to his people. He even read out his phone number to the crowd to underline his sincerity.
Canada, Ukraine, Britain and others ask for box to be sent to third country for examination
Canada and other countries whose nationals were killed in the Iranian strike on a Ukrainian civilian jet leaving Tehran have stepped up their requests for Iran to hand over the black box to a third party for examination.
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has suggested specialist equipment should be sent to Tehran to help the Iranians decrypt the contents of the black box and has given a commitment the box will not be opened except in the presence of all interested parties. But with an impasse looming, western aviation experts have said it is not possible to send the cumbersome equipment to Tehran.
‘Terrible’ attack thought to be Saudi-led reprisal for the shooting down of one of its planes that was claimed by Houthi rebels
Thirty-one people were killed in air strikes on Yemen on Saturday, the United Nations says, the victims of an apparent Saudi-led retaliation after Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed to have shot down one of Riyadh’s jets.
The Tornado aircraft came down on Friday in northern Al-Jawf province during an operation to support government forces, a rare shooting down that prompted operations in the area by a Saudi-led military coalition fighting the rebels.
Democratic resolution to limit Trump’s power will likely not become law
Pelosi says Trump comments on Stone case are ‘abuse of power’
Hope Hicks reportedly returning to the White House
Help us cover the critical issues of 2020. Consider making a contribution
A judge has temporarily blocked Microsoft’s cloud-computing work with the Pentagon after Amazon complained that it lost the contract partly because of Trump’s bias against the company.
Trump has repeatedly lashed out against Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and owner of the Washington Post.
A judge ordered Thursday a temporary block on the JEDI cloud contract, which was awarded to Microsoft, in response to a suit filed by Amazon. Shares of Microsoft fell on the news, while Amazon’s stock rose slightly. A court notice announcing the injunction was filed on Thursday, but wasn’t public. It’s unclear why the documents were sealed.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is instructed to earmark $42 million for any ‘costs and damages’ that could be incurred in the event that the ‘injunction was issued wrongfully,’ the filing states. Amazon must file a notice with the courts indicating it has obtained the $42 million by Feb. 20. Microsoft and Amazon must respond to the filing by Feb. 27.
The eight Republicans who supported the Iran War Powers resolution in the Senate were: Todd Young, Mike Lee, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Rand Paul, Bill Cassidy, Jerry Moran and Lamar Alexander.
The resolution, aimed at limiting Trump’s authority to launch military operations in Iran, was expected to attract some Republican support, but the number of defections was surprising.
Rafael Grossi, IAEA director general, said he told Iranian officials a repeat of the ‘grave’ incident would be a ‘serious problem’
The new head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned Iran there would be serious consequences if there is any repeat of last year’s detention of an IAEA inspector.
Speaking to journalists on his first official trip to Washington as IAEA director general, Rafael Grossi said he had met a senior Iranian official inVienna in December and expressed his concern over what he described as a “grave” incident.
Musician was detained in Istanbul after Tehran issued Interpol request
The rapper Amir Tataloo, one of Iran’s most famous musicians, has been detained in Istanbul after an Interpol request from Tehran authorities.
Turkish police confirmed on Tuesday they detained Tataloo, real name Amirhossein Maghsoudloo, in Istanbul’s Fatih district because of an Interpol red notice flagging him as a wanted person.
Special envoy calls for emergency meeting of security council as violence flares
The sudden surge in violence in Yemen could scupper fragile moves towards a peace settlement, the UN’s special envoy for the country has said.
“We have to get the genie back in the bottle,” said Martin Griffiths. “Whoever started this renewed violence, it is unequivocally the case that there has been a huge rupture of confidence and a huge loss of life for the sake of uncertain territorial gains.”
Our world affairs editor reflects on how, despite years of negotiations, we came once again to the brink of conflict
Countries tend to go to war when diplomacy fails. But Washington and Tehran are now facing off because it succeeded. It was because the 2015 nuclear deal was Barack Obama’s proudest foreign policy achievement that Donald Trump was so determined to destroy it.
The US and Iran are sliding back towards the brink of conflict. If a missile had landed a little bit differently in the course of the latest exchange of hostilities, they would probably be at war by now.
Trump downplayed injuries: ‘I heard they had headaches’
Expert calls president’s comment ‘insulting and disrespectful’
Thirty-four US soldiers have been diagnosed with concussion or traumatic brain injury from an 8 January Iranian missile attack on their base in Iraq, the Pentagon has revealed.
The Pentagon spokesman, Jonathan Hoffman, said on Friday that eight service members who had been previously transported to Germany had been moved to the United States.
Tehran issues first acknowledgement of precise number of rounds fired at plane
Iran says its armed forces mistakenly launched two surface-to-air missiles at a Ukrainian passenger jet that crashed with 176 people onboard earlier this month, its first acknowledgement of the precise number of rounds fired at the airliner.
Assessments by western intelligence agencies and video footage from the launch site had pointed to two missiles being fired at the Boeing 737-800 on the morning of 8 January, but Iranian officials had so far referenced only one until the release of preliminary report on Tuesday by the country’s civil aviation authority.
Melbourne University academic rebuffed bid to recruit her in exchange for her release, letters reveal
Iran tried to recruit the British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert as a spy for Tehran in exchange for her release, but the overture was furiously rebuffed, letters smuggled out of Evin prison reveal.
Moore-Gilbert, a Cambridge-educated academic specialising in Middle East politics, is currently being held in Ward 2A, an isolated Revolutionary Guard-run wing of Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, serving a 10-year sentence for espionage, a charge she, and the Australian government, rejects as entirely false.
Pilgrimages made by loved ones of those who died in combat are also supported and organised by the regime, which sees in them the opportunity to spread its doctrine
In Iran, every spring, thousands of families travel to the battle sites of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88). Many of those who make these pilgrimages – called Rahian-e Noor in Persian (the passenger of light) – lost loved ones in the war, which caused more than half a million deaths on the Iranian side.
But they are also supported and organised by the regime, which sees the opportunity to disseminate its doctrine.
Its new commission is failing to enact its grand ambitions, as destructive global power games are played out by others
It has been a difficult start to 2020 for the EU and the new European commission, which took office last month. Ursula von der Leyen, who succeeded Jean-Claude Juncker as commission president, is not short of ambition. She believes Europe should take a leading “geopolitical” role in international affairs, reflecting the EU’s status as the world’s largest trade bloc. But turning words into deeds is proving problematic.
“The EU needs to be more strategic, more assertive and more united in its approach to external relations,” Von der Leyen told Josep Borrell, the newly nominated EU high representative for foreign and security policy, in a mission statement last autumn. “We must use our diplomatic and economic strength to support global stability and prosperity… and be better able to export our values and standards.”
Remark came as US revealed 11 of its troops had been injured in 8 January missile attacks
Iran’s supreme leader has delivered a rare sermon at Friday prayers in Tehran in which he described Donald Trump as a “clown” who pretended to support the Iranian people but would push a poisonous dagger into their backs.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei struck a defiant tone following weeks of domestic and international turbulence, including the US killing of a top general, missile attacks on US military bases in Iraq and the accidental downing of an airliner that killed 176 people.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Iran's missile strikes on US targets in Iraq earlier this month show it has divine support in delivering a 'slap on the face' to a 'bullying' world power. Addressing Friday prayers, Khamenei added that the killing of general Qassem Suleimani showed the US's 'terrorist nature'
Supreme leader will deliver sermon in Tehran as anger continues over downing of passenger plane
Iran’s supreme leader will deliver a Friday sermon in Tehran for the first time since 2012 as the Islamic republic grapples with the fallout from the killing of its top general in a US airstrike and popular anger at its accidental shooting down of a passenger plane.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has held the country’s top office since 1989 and has the final say on all major decisions.
Trump and military initially said no service members were hurt in retaliatory strike over Suleimani killing
The United States treated 11 of its troops for symptoms of concussion after an Iranian missile attack on an Iraqi base where US forces were stationed, the US military said on Thursday, after initially saying no service members were hurt.
The attack was retaliation for a US drone strike in Baghdad on 3 January that killed Qassem Suleimani, the commander of the elite Quds force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.