Ahmed Shameel

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Tuesday rejected United States bid to reimpose international sanctions on Iran, saying that it was "not in a position to take further action". The remarks came from Indonesian ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani in a video conference on the Middle East, he cited the lack of consensus in the UN's highest body on the US strategy as the main reason. The Trump administration accuses Tehran of failing to comply with the terms of the historic 2015 Iran nuclear deal and is demanding the Security Council reimpose sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Washington insists on its legal right to trigger the disputed procedure, called "snapback" — despite pulling out of the deal two years ago. The move threatens to torpedo the Iran accord and plunge the Council into crisis while widening the gulf between the US and almost every other member on Iran policy. Thirteen of the 15 Council members had written to the Indonesian pre...

WELLINGTON: The father of the youngest victim in the New Zealand mosque shootings, slain three-year-old Mucaad Ibrahim, told Brenton Tarrant that there was no forgiveness and “true justice” awaited him in the next life that would be more severe than prison. “You have killed my son and to me, it is as if you have killed the whole of New Zealand,” Aden Ibrahim Diriye said during a sentencing hearing for Tarrant on Wednesday. “Know that true justice is waiting for you in the next life and that will be far more severe. I will never forgive you for what you have done,” Diriye told the High Court in Christchurch. Gunman Tarrant, a 29-year-old Australian, is scheduled to be sentenced this week after pleading guilty to 51 murders, 40 attempted murders, and one charge of committing a terrorist act during the 2019 shooting rampage in the city of Christchurch which he live-streamed on Facebook. A murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. The judge can impose a ...

The mother of Jacob Black — whose son was shot seven times by police officers and paralysed as a result and sparked violent protests in US — urged for peace and calm on Tuesday, after doctors said it would "take a miracle" for her son to walk again.  "We really just need prayers," Julia Jackson said of her son Jacob Blake, seen in video being shot up to seven times at point-blank range by a white Kenosha, Wisconsin police officer as he tried to get into his car with his three children inside on Sunday. With hundreds of protesters marching for a third night Tuesday — and at least one small group of mainly white, heavily armed men vowing to protect property — her call for healing took on greater urgency. Clashes between a smaller group of demonstrators and police broke out later Tuesday, with protesters shooting fireworks at law enforcement who responded with rubber bullets, one of which hit AFP's reporter. The most recent police shooting of an African...