WASHINGTON: The White House stressed on Friday that there would be restrictions on what Iran could do with any funds unfrozen under an emerging agreement that has led to the release of five Americans from prison to house arrest in Tehran.
White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the United States would have “full visibility” into where any released Iranian funds are directed and used. An estimated $6 billion in Iranian assets are now held in South Korea.

RIYADH: Authorities in Bahrain are working to instill in the nation’s youth the values and principles of leadership and ambition, while supporting and empowering them to fulfill their full potential, according to Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, the king’s representative for humanitarian work and youth affairs.

NEW YORK CITY: The armed hostilities between July 30 and Aug. 3 at Ein El-Hilweh, a camp for Palestinian refugees in southern Lebanon, and their aftermath have once again shone a spotlight on the dire circumstances in which the camp residents are living.

Dorothy Klaus, director of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, on Thursday described the effects of the violence on the people in the camps as “profound” as she called for an urgent and sustained aid effort.

CAIRO: When war in Sudan’s capital forced Sarah Al-Sharif and her family to flee, the 19-year-old information technology student left her books and computer behind.

Now in Sennar, 30km southeast of Khartoum, she lacks a stable internet connection or passport to travel abroad and like many others sees no way of continuing her studies while fighting between rival military factions rages.

BAGHDAD: An Iraqi court has overturned the death sentence handed down over the 2020 killing of prominent academic Hisham Al-Hashemi and sent the case back to investigators.

Ahmed Hamdawi Oueid was sentenced to death by a Baghdad criminal court in May after being found guilty of killing Al-Hashemi, an internationally recognized expert in Sunni Muslim extremism.

Al-Hashemi, who was also a security adviser to the Iraqi government, was shot dead on July 6, 2020 by men on motorcycles in front of his home.