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UNRWA says Israel using Google ads to undermine UN body

By
IFP Media Wire
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UNRWA

Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA commissioner-general, took to X (formerly Twitter) to denounce what he described as a “misinformation campaign” by Israel amidst the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

“The spread of misinformation and disinformation continues to be used as a weapon in the war in Gaza,” Lazzarini stated.

He accused the Israeli government of buying Google ads in an effort to block users from donating to the agency and to carry out a defamation campaign against UNRWA.

“UNRWA is the largest humanitarian organization responding to the crisis in Gaza,” Lazzarini noted, stressing that the campaign not only damages the agency’s reputation but also endangers the lives of its staff.

Lazzarini called for an end to these “deliberate efforts” to spread misinformation and urged for an investigation into the matter. He also criticized companies, including social media platforms, for profiting from the dissemination of disinformation, stressing the need for stronger regulations to combat these practices.

Israel has long sought the closure of UNRWA, which is the only UN agency specifically mandated to address the basic needs of Palestinian refugees. Established by a UN resolution in 1949, UNRWA provides assistance and protection to refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the occupied West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

Earlier this year, Israel alleged that some of the agency’s staff participated in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel, leading more than a dozen international donors to suspend support.

A UN-authorised independent review found that Israel had not provided credible evidence for its accusations and most donors have since reinstated funding.

Israeli attacks in Gaza have frequently targeted UNRWA facilities, killing 212 of its staff members and hitting at least 70 percent of its schools, according to the organisation.

Iranian daily renews warning on new Afghan migrants ‘trained by Taliban’

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Afghan Refugee

In an editorial on Sunday, Jomhuri-e Eslami blamed the former administration of late Ebrahim Raisi for providing the Taliban with various kinds of facilities, and advised the newly-inaugurated cabinet of President Massoud Pezeshkian not to follow suit.

“For those who feel the danger of the presence of millions of illegal Afghan nationals in our country, it is very strange that President Pezeshkian has not said anything about this issue and has not clarified his stance,” it wrote.

The daily also argues that after the 2021 takeover of Afghanistan, the Taliban managed to take advantage of the existing facilities and send tens of thousands of its trained forces into Iran and settle them in different parts of the country, adding the armed militants have committed many crimes in Iranian cities and even villages.

Many Iranian citizens, media, and authorities have raised the alarm over the influx of undocumented Afghan migrants in Iran who have put an extra strain on the country’s resources and facilities.

Unofficial estimates put the number of Afghan migrants in Iran at over 8 million. Iranian officials have set March 20 as the deadline for the illegal migrants to leave the country.

Atomic chief: Iran exports radiopharmaceuticals to five continents

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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In an interview with Iran’s state-run IRIB Television on Saturday, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami, who has been reinstated by President Pezeshkian in his post, highlighted the country’s plans and agendas in the new administration.

Noting that Iran is among the top three countries in the world in terms of producing radiopharmaceuticals and exports them to five continents in the world, Eslami explained, “Increasing the accuracy rate in diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals, as well as their effectiveness and making the capacity more stable were among our goals.”

“The second and third units of Bushehr, which are half finished, are more active,” the nuclear chief said about the nuclear power plant in southern Iran and added the Karun power plant is also under construction in its vicinity in Khuzestan province.

He stressed that the organization has been instructed by the president to move forward according to the plans and time-frames and would be held answerable regarding its responsibilities.

Irradiation center, training human resources, plasma therapy, detoxification industry, and increasing nuclear-generated electricity to 3,000 megawatts are among other projects the atomic organization will seriously pursue in the new administration, Eslami explained.

The AEOI head also said Iran is ready to welcome the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi in Iran according to an arranged schedule.

Shooter Sareh Javanmardi grabs first gold medal for Iran at 2024 Paralympics

By
IFP Media Wire
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On Saturday, the 39-year-old Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games gold medalist scored 236.8 points to finish in first place and win the gold medal.

Her Turkish opponent Aysel Ozgan earned 231.1 points to land in the second spot and scoop up the silver medal. Indian female athlete Rubina Francis collected 211.1 points altogether and received the bronze.

Fatemeh Hemmati of Iran has also claimed a silver medal in the Women’s Individual Compound Open of the 2024 Paralympic Games on Saturday.

Alireza Bakht and Hamed Haghshenas have also claimed two bronze medals in the 2024 Paralympic Games on Saturday.

Iranian athletes have already taken home seven medals – one gold, four silvers and two bronzes – and the Islamic Republic is in the 21th slot of the medal count table.

The Islamic Republic of Iran National Paralympic Committee has dispatched a 65-strong delegation to the Paris 2024 Paralympics. Iranian sportsmen and women are in action in 10 different sports.

IRGC says detained member of Jaish al-Adl terror group in SE Iran

By
IFP Media Wire
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IRGC

The arrest took place in the Pishin District of the province’s Rask County, the Corps reported on Saturday.

It followed intelligence surveillance operation and prompt action by the forces of the Quds Headquarters of the IRGC’s Ground Force in the province, the report added.

Upon facing imminent arrest, the terrorist wounded himself with a self-inflicted gunshot, but was transferred to the hospital, where he is receiving treatment, it noted.

According to the report, the arrested person had in the past engaged in armed attack against the headquarters of the Basij volunteer force and the police station in Pishin.

In May, the Corps’ Ground Force captured primary sponsors of the terrorist group in Sistan and Baluchestan during two separate joint operations conducted by intelligence and security forces.

Jaish al-Adl is a notorious terrorist group with headquarters in Pakistan, and has been involved in numerous terror attacks against Iran.

The latest of the attacks took place in April, when at least five police officers were killed in an attack staged by members of the group in the province.

On January 16, two major strongholds of the group in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan were precisely struck and completely wiped out by a salvo of missiles as well as a squadron of combat drones.

That occurred after the group claimed responsibility for an assault on Rask County’s police headquarters on December 15 last year that had claimed the lives of 11 police forces and injured at least six others.

Israel confirms deaths of six more Hamas-held hostages

By
IFP Media Wire
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The Israeli military (IDF) said it had located and recovered the bodies of Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Master Sergeant Ori Danino on Saturday from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area in the Gaza Strip and returned them to Israel.

“They were all taken hostage on October 7th and were murdered by the Hamas terrorist organisation in the Gaza Strip,” said an IDF statement.

“Following an identification procedure carried out by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, the Israel police, and the IDF military rabbinate, the IDF manpower directorate’s hostage team, which is responsible for accompanying the families of the hostages, notified their families.”

“The IDF and ISA send their heartfelt condolences to the families. The IDF and Israeli security forces are operating with all means to bring home all the hostages as fast as possible,” it added.

Family of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American, had a few hours earlier confirmed his death after Israel initially announced the discovery of as-yet unidentified bodies during combat.

The US President, Joe Biden, followed up the family’s announcement with a statement saying the body of Goldberg-Polin was among six recovered in Gaza.

“Earlier today, in a tunnel under the city of Rafah, Israeli forces recovered six bodies of hostages held by Hamas,” Biden said, adding, “We have now confirmed that one of the hostages … was an American citizen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin.”

Biden, who had met with Goldberg-Polin’s parents, stated he was “devastated and outraged”.

“It is as tragic as it is reprehensible. Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages.”

The family issued their statement early on Sunday.

“With broken hearts, the Goldberg-Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their beloved son and brother, Hersh,” it said, adding, “The family thanks you all for your love and support and asks for privacy at this time.”

Goldberg-Polin was one of the best-known hostages as his parents had met with world leaders and pressed relentlessly for their help. Last month, they addressed the Democratic convention, where the crowd chanted: “Bring them home.”

At least 40,691 Palestinians have been killed and 94,060 injured in Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip since 7 October, the Palestinian territory’s health ministry announced in a statement on Saturday.

The war was triggered when the Palestinian group Hamas attacked the occupied territories, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Iran’s president terms expansion of intl. interactions as key to resolving economic problems

By
IFP Media Wire
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In his first televised address to the Iranian nation after taking office, President Pezeshkian stated that achieving 8% economic growth in Iran requires an investment of $200 to $250 billion, with $100 billion needing to come from foreign investment.

He stressed that this goal is tied to Iran’s relations with other countries and the Iranian diaspora, focusing on how Iran engages with its neighbors and the world.

Pezeshkian also highlighted the need for officials to change their perspectives on various issues, suggesting that this shift would foster unity and cohesion within Iran.

He called for resolving internal disputes and improving relations with neighbors and the global community.

Over the past month, since assuming the presidency, Pezeshkian mentioned that he has engaged in discussions with leaders from over 40 countries, including presidents, prime ministers, parliament speakers, and ministers, and is in the process of clinching agreements with these nations.

He emphasized that the satisfaction of the Iranian people is the benchmark for his government’s success.

Additionally, Pezeshkian touched on the necessity of managing cyberspace in Iran, stating that coordination with the Supreme National Security Council and the Supreme Council of Cyberspace is planned. This coordination aims to create and implement a framework that benefits the country and the Iranian nation in terms of culture, commerce, and the spread of knowledge and awareness.

Iran spokesman: Zionists delusion of ending Palestine resistance will never materialize

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Nasser Kanaani

In a post on X social media on Saturday, Nasser Knaaani said “On the contrary, the end of this corridor of crimes will mark the beginning of the victory of the patient and striving Palestinian people and the complete collapse and defeat of a regime whose illegitimate and fabricated identity is based on aggression, occupation, terror, crime, and the killing of innocents.”

Referring to eleven months of the Israeli regime’s “crimes against Palestinians in Gaza”, Kanaani added during this time over 40,000 Gaza residents, most of them women and children, have been brutally killed by the Zionist criminal gang, the shattered bodies of thousands of people, including women, men, children, and adolescents, lie buried under the rubble and ruins of Gaza and about 90% of the Gaza residents have been displaced.

Slamming the world body’s inaction regarding “Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza”, he went on to say “The cruel war of the Zionist regime against the residents of the Gaza Strip has not only openly revealed the vile and inhumane face of the occupiers of Palestine to the world but has also stripped the mask of hypocrisy from the false claims of human rights advocates in the West.”

The Iranian diplomat warned that “The bloodthirsty Zionists, who seem not yet satisfied with the blood of tens of thousands of Palestinian residents of Gaza, are now, under the inaction of the international community, harboring the ambition to repeat the Gaza crimes in the West Bank of Palestine.”

Kanaani said, “Supported unconditionally by the US government, the Zionist regime, in its delusion, seeks to create deterrence and end resistance across the entire geography of Palestine. However, undoubtedly, with the level of crimes committed against the oppressed people of Palestine, especially in the past 11 months, this regime has sown the seeds of many storms in the land of Palestine.”

EU says bloc’s total military aid to Ukraine reaches 43.5bn euros

By
IFP Media Wire
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Western Weapons Russia Ukraine War

“Today, our military support exceeds 43 billion [euros]. [That is] 43.5 [billion euros, to be exact],” he said following an informal meeting of defense ministers of the 27 EU member states.

At the same time, the top EU diplomat added that the association’s defense ministers had not found a solution to unblocking 6.6 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine through the European Peace Facility.

Borrell also emphasized that EU countries should speed up the delivery of military aid to Ukraine. He noted that he plans to visit Ukraine in September or October, before his mandate expires.

Earlier, Borrell said the defense ministers of 27 European Union countries haven’t reached an agreement on lifting restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western-donated weapons for strikes inside Russia.

“The member states have decided that this is something that belongs to the bilateral decisions of each member state providing equipment to Ukraine,” he pointed out.

“There was a strategic discussion about it but this remains a national policy [matter] and member states want it to be a national decision on bilateral relations with Ukraine,” Borrell added.

According to the top EU diplomat, he personally supports the idea of lifting these restrictions, because, in his view, this is the way for Ukraine to defend itself in accordance with international law.

Borrell had called on European Union nations to provide Kiev with more air defense systems and lift all restrictions on the use of Western weapons for strikes inside Russia. However, he admitted that it wouldn’t be easy to send new air defense systems to Ukraine without delays.

Russia: Ukrainian strike kills 5, injures dozens in Belgorod

By
IFP Media Wire
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Since the start of the conflict in February 2022, Ukrainian forces have on multiple occasions shelled Russian border regions, causing civilians deaths, injuries and damage to infrastructure. Kiev, in turn, has repeatedly accused Moscow of targeting residential areas and civilian buildings on its territory.

In a post on its Telegram channel on Saturday, the investigative committee wrote that it had launched a criminal probe into a suspected terrorist act in connection with the “Ukrainian armed groups’ attack on Belgorod and Belgorod district”.

“Russia’s investigative committee is establishing the circumstances of the event and the individuals involved in the terrorist attack,” the message added.

In a separate post on Telegram late on Friday, Belgorod Region’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, claimed that Ukrainian forces had used cluster munitions fired from a Czech-made Vampire multiple-launch rocket system in their latest strike on Belgorod.

According to the official, “one woman and four men died at the scene from their injuries before the ambulances arrived.” Out of the 46 injured people, seven are minors, the mayor revealed. Ten people are said to be in serious condition as a result of the attack.

The shelling also inflicted damage on at least three apartment buildings, as well as two commercial buildings in Belgorod, Gladkov reported.

The official noted that some of the incoming rockets had been “shot down [by Russian air defenses] as they approached the city”.

Also under fire that day was the city of Shebekino, where one civilian was wounded, the governor wrote in a separate message.

Earlier on Friday, Gladkov reported that a number of settlements had been targeted by Ukrainian drones, with at least three local residents sustaining injuries and several households incurring material damage as a result.

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