In an interview in Tehran with the US TV channel NBC NEWS, President Ebrahim Raeisi suggested that the Americans held in Iran would be released soon, saying that the US-Iran prisoner exchange deal would be completed in “due time” and that the American detainees were in “very healthy” condition.
As part of the recent agreement between Iran and the United States to exchange prisoners, Tehran will be granted access to the roughly $6 billion in Iranian oil revenues that were blocked in South Korean banks because of US sanctions.
According to the American TV channel website, Raeisi said that Iran would have “authority” over how the funds would be spent.
“This money belongs to the Iranian people, the Iranian government, so the Islamic Republic of Iran will decide what to do with this money,” he said.
Asked if the money would be used for other purposes apart from humanitarian needs, Raeisi said, “Humanitarian means whatever the Iranian people need, so this money will be budgeted for those needs…”
Iran has said that it has done the prisoner swap to release its own prisoners illegally held in the United States. As per the prisoner swap, Washington will release five Iranian citizens held illegally in the US.
The crypto space saw a shocking $20.6 billion worth of illicit transactions last year, the highest figure in the market’s history.
Published Date – 06:58 PM, Tue – 12 September 23
New Delhi: The cryptocurrency market witnessed nearly $70 billion worth of illicit transactions in the last five years, a new report said on Tuesday.
According to data presented by AltIndex.com, illicit crypto transactions increased by 308 per cent since 2017. The crypto space saw a shocking $20.6 billion worth of illicit transactions last year, the highest figure in the market’s history.
The illicit crypto activity includes transactions tied to stolen funds, scams, ransomware, human trafficking, terrorism financing, and dark net markets. In 2017, the crypto space saw $4.9 billion worth of illicit transactions. After falling to $4.6 billion a year later, this figure nearly tripled and hit $12.3 billion in 2019.
Statistics showed that 2020 saw another downturn, with roughly 30 per cent fewer illegal transactions in the market. But it was downhill from there, with 2021 and 2022 seeing a surge in illicit crypto activity, according to the report. Moreover, between 2020 and 2021, the total transfer volume of illicit transactions in the crypto space more than doubled to $18.1 billion.
The illegal activity continued growing in 2022, with the total value of transactions rising to $20.6 billion and showing a massive 308 per cent increase in five years.
However, the proportion of illicit transactions in total crypto volume has decreased during this time. They accounted for 0.86 per cent of all cryptocurrency transactions five years ago. Last year, this share fell to 0.24 per cent, the report showed. Although the illicit activities in the crypto space surged in the past five years, so did the number of sanctioned entities and addresses.
According to Chainalysis data, 2018 saw the first crypto-related sanctions of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury when it designated two Iranian nationals associated with the SamSam ransomware.
Over the next two years, most of the addresses included as sanctions identifiers were personal wallet addresses owned by individuals, with an average of two addresses per crypto-related designation in 2018, four in 2019, and nine in 2020.
“President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that we are not walking away from negotiations, but those [in Ukraine] who dodge talks should understand that the longer they procrastinate, the more difficult it will be to reach an agreement later,” Lavrov said.
“This is our official position. I will say once again, against the background of the ban on the negotiations, which was signed by [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky, this position should not raise any questions,” TASS quoted him as saying.
He added that the first step for talks between Russia and Ukraine should be the cancellation of Zelensky’s decree banning dialogue with Moscow. When asked to comment on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s statement that if Russian-Ukrainian talks begin, the US will be drawn to them, the top diplomat said that he had read the statement.
“I read the statement. Strange, indeed,” Lavrov noted. “At least a year ago, or even earlier, I can’t remember, Zelensky signed a decree prohibiting any negotiations with the government of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin. The whole world knows about it. And if those who run this regime have decided that Ukrainians should be ready to negotiate, then perhaps the first step should be a wish or an order to cancel this decree, which, I repeat, prohibits negotiations,” he said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).
The rights body noted that while the economic crisis has significantly affected the rights of large segments of the population in Sri Lanka, it has impacted the poor and marginalised communities the most
Published Date – 06:08 PM, Tue – 12 September 23
The rights body noted that while the economic crisis has significantly affected the rights of large segments of the population in Sri Lanka, it has impacted the poor and marginalised communities the most
Colombo: Sri Lanka has failed to address the long-standing challenges of political and democratic reforms, the UN human rights body has said, an assessment rejected by Colombo as “incorrect” and based on “unsubstantiated sources”.
Addressing the 54th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, Nada Al-Nashif, the UN Deputy High Commissioner, said, “Sri Lanka continues to deal with the aftermath of the deep economic crisis of 2022 and the current stresses in the global economy.” One year after the protest movement demanding deep political and democratic reforms, the transformation that was hoped for to address the long-standing challenges has still not materialised, she told the forum while reading the latest update on Sri Lanka.
“Delays in holding local government elections and reconstituting Provincial Councils under the 13th Amendment have limited people’s right to political participation and the free expression of voters,” Nada said.
The rights body noted that while the economic crisis has significantly affected the rights of large segments of the population in Sri Lanka, it has impacted the poor and marginalised communities the most.
“As the country’s poverty rate has doubled from 13% in 2021 to 25% in 2022, another 2.5 million people have been driven into poverty and an estimated 37% of households face acute food insecurity,” Nada said.
Fourteen years since the civil war ended, tens of thousands of victims and their families continue to suffer in agony and grief as they wait for truth, justice, and remedy, she said.
Himalee Subhashini Arunatilaka, the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office in Geneva, rejected the accusations.
“Sri Lanka rejects all conclusions and recommendations, including references to targeted sanctions, as they are based on incorrect and unsubstantiated sources, contravening the principles of natural justice and the principles of universality, impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity,” she said.
“It is regrettable that the OHCHR has also chosen to ignore the democratic resilience of the country and its institutions demonstrated in the past year,” Arunatilaka noted.
In her statement, the deputy UN rights chief, Nada, also said that accountability is central to securing Sri Lanka’s present and future.
“While it remains the obligation of the Sri Lankan authorities to acknowledge past violations and undertake credible accountability measures, this Council and member states can play an important and complementary role in advancing accountability,” she said.
The rights body recognises the initiatives the government has initiated to advance reconciliation, including its proposal for a new truth-seeking mechanism. However, it said the country should do more on governance, transparency, and accountability.
Nada said, “The accountability project established by our office to collect, consolidate, analyse, and preserve relevant information and evidence and provide support to relevant judicial and other proceedings, including those in member states, with competent jurisdiction. The project is receiving a steady increase in requests from competent state authorities, including in relation to 10 named (Sri Lankan) individuals to date.” Sri Lanka has been consistently rejecting all the allegations of its past human rights violations in the final stage of a 26-year war that ended in 2009.
The UN rights body since 2013 has adopted several resolutions calling for rights accountability for war crimes blamed both on the Sri Lankan government troops and the LTTE group that ran a violent campaign to create a separate state for the Tamil minority in the north and east regions.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the ousted former president, at that time ruthlessly ended Sri Lanka’s nearly 30-year civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) with the killing of its supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran Velupillai Prabhakaran in 2009.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the former defence secretary, who stands accused of violating human rights, vehemently denies the charge.
Then-president Mahinda Rajapaksa, the elder brother of Gotabaya, on May 18, 2009, declared the end of the 26-year war in which over 1,00,000 people were killed and millions of Sri Lankans, mainly minority Tamils, displaced as refugees inside the country and abroad.
The latest work of Behrouz Shoaybi, ‘No Prior Appointment’, will be showcased as part of its ongoing international presence, at the 26th edition of the Religion Today Film Festival in Trento, Italy, in the Migration and Migrants section.
The movie narrates the story of an Iranian immigrant who, after 30 years, is compelled to return to her home country upon learning of her estranged father’s death. She hastily takes leave from her work as a doctor in Germany, bringing her young autistic son with her.
‘No Prior Appointment’ had previously won two awards for best director and actress at the 44th edition of the Moscow International Film Festival.
Religion Today is an international and itinerant film festival dedicated to religious diversity for a culture of peace and interfaith dialogue.
The 26th edition of the festival will take place in Trento, Italy on September 13-20, 2023.
Introducing a USB-C charging cable point in iPhone 15 is set to herald a new era for Apple.
Published Date – 06:09 PM, Tue – 12 September 23
New Delhi: Elon Musk-run has added a unique animation to the “like” button for Apple’s mega event — Wonderlust, which will take place later on Tuesday.
On using the ‘#AppleEvent’ hashtag, the new animation gets implemented. According to MacRumors, clicking the like button pushes the logo to spread into pieces, before changing back into the typical love heart. The brief animation mimics the Apple logo graphics used to promote the Apple event — multi-coloured metallic Apple logos — possibly a reference to the titanium frame on the iPhone 15 Pro. The colours used in the Apple logo also match the colours expected for the iPhone 15 Pro, including silver, grey, black, and dark blue, the report said. A number of users also shared the development on X.
“Is the #AppleEvent animation working for you too,” a user wrote. “The #AppleEvent hashtag has implemented an animation for the like button,” another user said. One more user stated, “The #AppleEvent has changed the like button. Tap the button twice to see it”.
Three years ago, Apple began using Twitter “like” animations to promote its events, with the first use being for the September 2020 “Time Flies” event. The “Wonderlust” event also features a custom Twitter hashtag with Apple’s logo, just like WWDC in June.
At the event, the iPhone 15 is expected to be the most significant update to the device in three years. It will include camera system upgrades across the range, with the Pro models getting an improved 3-nanometer processor. iPhone 15 is also expected to feature USB-C type for the first time. Introducing a USB-C charging cable point in iPhone 15 is set to herald a new era for Apple.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a seminar attended by a group of professors of political science and international relations held at the Institute for Political and International Studies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran on Tuesday.
As regards the September Document, the foreign minister recently said that the JCPOA-related talks were close to a conclusion in September 2022, adding that there is still a “September Document” on which Iran and other parties agreed in the talks. The foreign minister said that the Western powers walked away from concluding the talks after wrongly pinning hope on last year’s riots in Iran which they thought could topple the Iranian government.
The top Iranian diplomat said in the seminar on Tuesday that while Iran is ready for talks based on the September Document, it will also continue other efforts to neutralize the impact of the sanctions.
He defended the record of the Raeisi administration’s foreign policy, saying, “The membership of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS group are big steps that show the high position and capabilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran among emerging global economies.”
He further pointed to the resuming diplomatic ties with Riyadh, dismissing allegations of any drone deliveries to Russia for use in the Ukraine war.
“So far, no document has been presented by the Ukrainian authorities about the use of Iranian weapons in this war, and what is being said is only Western media propaganda with political goals against our country,” he asserted.
Ranjith Varma of Virginia became unresponsive while hiking with a group of about six others at the national park’s North Kaibab Trail on Saturday
Published Date – 05:47 PM, Tue – 12 September 23
Ranjith Varma of Virginia became unresponsive while hiking with a group of about six others at the national park’s North Kaibab Trail on Saturday
Houston: A 55-year-old Indian-origin man died while attempting to hike the US’ Grand Canyon rim-to-rim in a single day, media reports said.
Ranjith Varma of Virginia became unresponsive while hiking with a group of about six others at the national park’s North Kaibab Trail on Saturday, the Arizona Daily Sun newspaper reported on Monday.
The group had been attempting to hike from the canyon’s South Rim to the North Rim on the North Kaibab Trail in a single day, Grand Canyon National Park spokesperson Joelle Baird was quoted as saying in the report.
North Kaibab is considered the most difficult of the Grand Canyon’s major inner trails, reports said.
An emergency call about a hiker in distress on the North Kaibab Trail was received by the Regional Communications Centre at approximately 1:55 pm. But, soon after the call, the hiker became unresponsive.
The search and rescue personnel responded to the call via helicopter but faced difficulties fully landing the aircraft, given the steep and rocky terrain.
Their attempts to resuscitate Varma failed, and he was pronounced dead, KSL-TV station reported.
His body was transported to the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office in Flagstaff, which is investigating the incident together with the National Park Service, according to the KTAR news channel.
Although the precise cause of Varma’s death is not yet known, Baird said it was likely that heat was a factor.
On Saturday, temperatures within the inner canyon were over 100°F (37.7°C), according to the report.
In the summer, temperatures on exposed parts of the trail can reach over 120°F (49 °C) in the shade.
The report said North Kaibab is the most difficult of the Grand Canyon’s major inner trails.
Grand Canyon National Park, in Northern Arizona, encompasses 447 km of the Colorado River and adjacent uplands. The Grand Canyon is one of the most spectacular examples of erosion anywhere in the world, according to the website of the park.
“We have never turned our back on the East, and almost 20 years after [Vladimir] Putin became president, our foreign policy has always taken into account the advantages we have in the east of our country, first of all on the Eurasian continent. <…> The trend of cooperation is historical and objective, and it will be strengthened,” he told Izvestia on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).
Lavrov pointed out that Russia is currently taking a number of steps to establish contacts with its eastern neighbors. “Long before the current events, we’ve started to pay more attention to the eastern flank of our country. We can see this in the creation of investment projects, transport and logistics routes, new ports and ships,” the top diplomat added, TASS reported.
The 8th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) is being held in Vladivostok on September 10-13, 2023. The slogan for this year’s forum is: On the Path to Partnership, Peace and Prosperity.
Imran Khan has been kept in jail since August 5 after his conviction in the Toshakhana corruption case
Published Date – 05:30 PM, Tue – 12 September 23
File Photo
Islamabad: A Pakistani court on Tuesday reserved judgement on a petition filed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan challenging the hearing of the cipher case inside the Attock prison in Punjab province.
The 70-year-old chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has been kept in jail since August 5 after his conviction in the Toshakhana corruption case.
His sentence was suspended by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on August 29, but he continues to remain in Attock prison in the cipher case. His remand has been extended till September 13 by a special court in the case.
The cricketer-turned-politician is charged with the violation of the Official Secrets Act in connection with the leakage of a confidential diplomatic cable from Pakistan’s embassy in Washington.
During the hearing at the Islamabad High Court, Imran’s counsel Sher Afzal Marwat alleged that there was malice behind the change of venue for the cipher case hearing, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.
“The purpose of this change of venue notification is to keep the PTI chairman in jail. We have not even been notified why the notification was issued,” he said.
Underlining that any trial of a civilian registered under the Official Secret Acts takes place in a special court, as per the law, Marwat argued the rule should be applicable in Khan’s case as well.
He further questioned under which law and authority was the law ministry able to transfer the hearing of the case to Attock Jail.
“How can the trial be transferred from Islamabad to Punjab? Transferring a trial to another province can legally be done only by the Supreme Court, not by the chief commissioner or home secretary,” Marwat argued, adding that if the trial venue was to be changed, a petition should have been filed with the trial judge.
In his argument, Additional Attorney General Mansoor Iqbal Dogal said the notification related to the jail trial was for one time only and that the exception made the PTI chief’s petition ineffective.
After hearing both parties, the IHC reserved its decision in the petition.
