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Dubai: A court in Iran sentenced two female journalists to up to seven years in prison for “collaborating” with the United States government among other charges, local reports said. Both have been imprisoned for over a year following their coverage of the death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody in Sept. 2022.

This is a preliminary sentencing that can be appealed in 20 days.

The two journalists, Niloufar Hamedi, who broke the news of Amini’s death for wearing her headscarf too loosely, and Elaheh Mohammadi, who wrote about her funeral, were sentenced to seven and six years in jail respectively, reported the judiciary news website, Mizan on Sunday.

Tehran Revolutionary Court charged them with “collaborating with the hostile American government,” “colluding against national security” and “propaganda against the system,” according to Mezan.

Hamedi worked for the reformist newspaper Shargh while Mohammadi for Ham-Mihan. They were detained in September 2022.

In May, the United Nations awarded them both its premier prize for press freedom “for their commitment to truth and accountability.”

Amini’s death touched off months-long protests in dozens of cities across Iran. The demonstrations posed one of the most serious challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 2009 Green Movement protests drew millions to the streets.

While nearly 100 journalists were arrested amid the demonstrations, Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi’s reporting was crucial in the days after Amini’s death to spread the word about the anger that followed.

Their detentions have sparked international criticism over the bloody security force crackdown that lasted months after Amini’s death.

Since the protests began, at least 529 people have been killed in demonstrations, according to Human Rights activists in Iran. Over 19,700 others have been detained by authorities amid a violent crackdown trying to suppress the dissent. Iran for months has not offered any overall casualty figures, while acknowledging tens of thousands had been detained.

AP

Tel Aviv: A summit of international leaders in Cairo to discuss the Gaza war ended on Saturday night without any consensus towards averting an Israeli ground invasion. No joint statement was issued as Arab and Western leaders failed to even agree on language condemning Hamas's attack on Israeli communities.

An Egyptian commentator explained that a number of countries including the United States, Great Britain and Germany refused to accept a clause calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Instead, the Egyptian government issued its own statement criticizing the international community for preferring to “manage the conflict and not end it permanently.”

A “temporary solutions and palliatives... do not live up to even the lowest aspirations” of the Palestinians, the statement added.

In response, Lior Haiat, a spokesperson for Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on X—formerly called Twitter—that the Hamas attack of Oct 7 was “a wakeup call to the world to fight terrorism together.”

Wrote Haiat, “The Islamist terror threat does not only endanger Israel, it endangers the states of the region and the whole world. It is unfortunate that even when faced with those horrific atrocities, there were some who had difficulty condemning terrorism or acknowledging the danger. Israel will do what it has to do and expects the international community to recognize the righteous battle.”

Earlier in the day, the first trucks delivering humanitarian aid arrived in Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Israeli officials denied a New York Times report that quoted a UN official saying that trucks entering the Strip had not been checked beforehand.

“All of the equipment was checked before going into Gaza,” said Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT). COGAT, a unit of Israel’s Defence Ministry, said that only water, food and medical equipment had been allowed in.

Rafah is the only border crossing out of Gaza controlled by Egypt, not Israel. The crossing is not equipped to handle large numbers of commercial deliveries. Commercial deliveries to the Strip from Egypt are routed through Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing, which is adjacent to the Egypt-Gaza border.

The Kerem Shalom crossing is closed for security reasons.

Israel has been striking Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip since an Oct 7 assault by Hamas that caught Israelis off-guard. Fighting raged for days as the Israel Defence Forces initially struggled to clear out the terrorists. More than 1,400 Israelis were killed, and over 4,800 more were injured. Over 200 hostages were taken to Gaza. 

ANI/TPS

Canberra: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he will visit China in early November, making the announcement Sunday hours before he was to fly to the United States to meet with President Joe Biden.

Albanese also said China agreed late Saturday to review the crippling tariffs it levied on Australian wine that have effectively blocked trade with the winemakers’ biggest export market since 2020.

Albanese will become the first Australian prime minister to visit China in seven years when he travels to Beijing and Shanghai on Nov 4-7.

“It’s in Australia’s interest to have good relations with China, and certainly my focus in the coming days will be very much on the visit to the United States,” Albanese told reporters at Australian Parliament House.

“With Australia’s closest partner, talking about the future of our alliance, the future which has been upgraded by the AUKUS arrangements, a future based upon our common values, our commitment to democracy, and our commitment to the international rule of law and stable order throughout the globe,” Albanese added, using the acronym for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Under the trilateral pact, the US and Britain will cooperate to provide Australia with a fleet of submarines powered by US nuclear technology to counter a more assertive China.

Albanese said he will meet with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing and then attend the China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

The visit to China and a potential breakthrough in the wine dispute mark a further repair in relations since Albanese’s center-left Labor Party won elections last year after nine years of conservative government in Australia.

China has agreed to review its tariffs on Australian wine over five months, Albanese's office said. In return, Australia has suspended its complaint against its free trade partner to the World Trade Organization.

A similar dispute resolution plan led to China removing tariffs from Australian barley.

Albanese said reopening the Chinese wine market would be worth more than $631m to exporters.

“We’re very confident that this will result in once again Australian wine, a great product, being able to go to China free of the tariffs which have been imposed by China,” Albanese said.

“It is important that we stabilize our relationship with China. That is in the interests of Australia and China, and it is indeed in the interests of the world that we have stable relations and that is what this visit will represent,” he added.

The visit will come near the 50th anniversary of Labor Party leader Gough Whitlam becoming the first Australian prime minister to visit the People's Republic of China in 1973.

Albanese accepted an invitation weeks ago to visit China this year, but finding suitable dates had been challenging.

Albanese is visiting Washington to meet with Biden this week and will return to the United States after his China trip to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ forum in San Francisco on Nov 15-17.

It will be the ninth time Biden has met with Albanese as prime minister. The first meeting was in Tokyo hours after Albanese was sworn in as government leader in May last year for a leaders' summit of the Quad strategic partnership that also includes Japan and India.

As well as the AUKUS deal, the leaders will also seek more cooperation on clean energy, critical minerals and climate change.

Albanese’s department announced Friday that it decided after an investigation not to cancel a Chinese company’s 99-year lease on the strategically important Darwin Port despite US concerns that foreign control could be used to spy on its military forces.

Some security analysts interpreted the decision to let Shandong Landbridge Group keep the lease signed in 2015 and long criticized Albanese as a concession to China ahead of his visit.

China’s release of Australian journalist Cheng Lei this month after she spent three years in detention in Beijing on espionage allegations was widely seen as a concession to Australia.

Albanese said the breakthrough on wine “has not been transactional,” meaning Australia did not make any corresponding concessions to Chinese demands.

“We’ll continue to put our case on matters that are in Australia’s national interest,” he said.

“I’ve said very consistently: We’ll cooperate with China where we can, we’ll disagree where we must, and we’ll engage in our national interest, and that’s precisely what we’re doing,” he added.

AP

Islamabad: Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived home Saturday on a chartered plane from Dubai, ending four years of self-imposed exile in London as he seeks to win the support of voters in parliamentary elections due in January.

Sharif, who was elected prime minister three times, is expected to face tough competition from the party of the former premier and his main rival, Imran Khan. He was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 and is currently imprisoned after a court convicted and sentenced him to three years in a graft case.

Sharif has been a fugitive since he failed to appear before a Pakistani court in 2019 following his conviction and a 10-year prison sentence on corruption charges.

Khan, at the time, had allowed him to travel abroad to receive medical treatment after complaining of chest pains. Sharif later prolonged his stay in London, saying his doctors were not allowing him to return to Pakistan.

A Pakistani federal court on Thursday granted him several days of protection in graft cases, clearing the way for his return.

At Islamabad’s airport Saturday, legal advisers and senior members of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League party gave him a warm welcome. He then flew to Lahore, where tens of thousands of supporters gathered at a public park for Sharif’s speech expected later on Saturday.

His return comes as Pakistan struggles with a deepening political turmoil and one of its worst economic crises. In Lahore, Sharif’s supporters decorated the city with his photos and party flags.

“Today I am going to Pakistan after four years and I am feeling very happy with the grace of Allah,” Sharif told reporters before leaving for Islamabad from Dubai. He had arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Friday from Saudi Arabia after traveling there last week from London.

He said Pakistan’s economy and political situation both declined in recent years, according to multiple videos shared by his party on X, formerly Twitter.

But he added: “As I have said earlier, I leave everything to God.” He said he made more than 150 court appearances after his ouster in 2017.

Thursday’s decision by the Islamabad High Court to allow for his return was a major boost for Sharif and his party, which is struggling to counter the popularity of Khan, who remains the leading opposition figure.

Sharif is also facing multiple legal challenges. In 2020, an anti-graft court in Islamabad issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to return home. The same court on Thursday suspended that arrest warrant until Oct 24. Another federal court has granted Sharif bail until Oct 24, giving him protection from arrest until then.

Last month, Sharif claimed that the country’s former powerful army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and spy chief Faiz Hameed orchestrated his ouster in 2017. He had troubled relations with the military.

His party became hugely unpopular after Khan’s removal, when Nawaz Sharif’s brother, Shehbaz Sharif, replaced Khan, a former cricketer turned politician.

Shehbaz, whose tenure ended in August, failed to improve the economy, though he saved Pakistan from default.

A caretaker government is currently in power and it will hold the vote in January.

AP