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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David DeForest reporting. Iran's Foreign Ministry calls missile sanctions illegitimate.
Iran drew condemnation from Western nations for two ballistic missile tests late last year which were said to have violated U.N. Security Council resolutions. Iran defended the tests as a matter of national security. The U.S. enacted new sanctions Sunday against five Iranian nationals and a network of companies with links to the banned missile activity. An Iranian spokesman says his nation will respond to the U.S. sanctions by bolstering its legal ballistic missile program and promoting its defense capabilities. Iran will increase its daily oil production by 20 percent now that sanctions related to the country's nuclear program have been lifted. An oil industry official said Iran will add 500,000 barrels a day to its current production. One of the Americans freed by Iran has arrived back home. Matthew Trevithick landed in Boston Sunday. He had been held for more than a month in Iran for reasons that are not yet clear. Several other released prisoners are in Germany, receiving medical treatment at a U.S. military hospital. Moroccan officials say they have arrested a Belgian suspect linked to the terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in Paris last November. Morocco's Interior Ministry said the man was arrested Monday near Casablanca and had "direct links with some" of the Paris attackers. Iraqi police say three Americans missing in the country were kidnapped from an apartment in Baghdad. U.S. officials say they are working with Iraqi authorities to find the missing Americans. The Baghdad Operations Command described the apartment the Americans were in as "suspicious." The Washington Post quotes a resident describing it as a "brothel" that has been subject to frequent raids by Shiite militiamen. This is VOA news. Delegates from the United States, China, Pakistan and Afghanistan gathered in Kabul Monday to discuss getting the Taliban to participate in peace talks with the Afghan government. Ayesha Tanzeem reports. This is the voice of Afghanistan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Salahuddin Rabbani, opening a meeting in Kabul Monday of what is formally called the Quadrilateral Coordination Group of Afghanistan. Rabbani emphasized drawing "red lines" for an effective road map to peace. "While we understand achieving a lasting peace would require patience and determination," Rabbani said, "it is equally important to keep in mind that the Afghan public will not accept an open-ended process without tangible results." Ayesha Tanzeem, Islamabad. British lawmakers debated Monday a petition signed by more than half million people seeking to ban U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump from Britain. Trump prompted outrage in Britain by calling for a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the United States. That proposal came after a mass shooting by two Muslims that killed 14 people in California. Conservative M.P. Paul Scully opposes the measure but poured contempt on the candidate. "I've heard of a number of cases where people have been excluded for incitement or for hatred. I've never heard of one for stupidity and I'm not sure that we should be starting now." In the past, people have been banned from entering Britain for fostering hatred that might provoke inter-community violence. British Prime Minister David Cameron has attacked what he calls a "passive tolerance" in Britain's Muslim communities for segregation and discrimination against women. In an essay published in The Times newspaper, he said a poor grasp of the English language leaves Muslim women "more susceptible" to extremist rhetoric. The essay immediately drew fire from Mr. Cameron's critics. French President François Hollande announced a $2.2 billion job creation scheme on Monday as he sought to save his 2017 reelection chances. Rising unemployment has dogged Hollande throughout his presidency. He had promised voters to put the jobless rate on the convincingly downward path, [which has] which he set as a precondition for running for the next presidential election. Authorities say five French Foreign Legionnaires on a wilderness ski training exercise in the French Alps have been killed in an avalanche near the Italian border. At least six other people were reported injured. The nationalities of the victims were not immediately released. Israeli officials say a female Palestinian attacker stabbed and wounded a pregnant Israeli woman before being shot. The attack took place Monday in the Tekoa settlement in the West Bank. In Washington, I'm David DeForest. That's the latest world news from VOA. |