CAIRO: Talks aiming at ending Sudan’s ongoing political deadlock began Wednesday, the UN said, although the country’s main pro-democracy alliance is boycotting them over a continued police crackdown on those protesting last October’s military coup.

The joint peace effort is brokered by the UN political mission in Sudan, the African Union, and the eight-nation east African regional group Intergovernmental Authority in Development. The effort aims to bring the generals and an array of political and protest groups to the negotiating table.

AMMAN: A Jordanian university professor accused by students of sexual harassment has been suspended from work and referred to the prosecutor general for further investigation.

Officials at the Jordan University of Science and Technology announced on Wednesday that uni President Khaled Salem had decided to suspend the professor pending the outcome of the judicial inquiry.

Students from JUST, in the northern city of Irbid, made the claims against a physics professor in a series of recent social media posts that sparked public outrage throughout the country.

LONDON: The Iranian regime’s mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 amounts to crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.

“Overwhelming evidence” points to then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini having ordered the mass executions, HRW said, adding that they took place in at least 32 cities and that up to 5,000 prisoners were murdered.

In an in-depth question-and-answer document, it said evidence also points liability to current senior Iranian politicians, including President Ebrahim Raisi.  

WASHINGTON: The United States fears Turkey will launch a new offensive in northern Syria that Washington has warned against, a senior American diplomat said on Wednesday.
“We are deeply concerned by recent increased rhetoric from Turkey about potential military moves into the north of Syria,” Assistance Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf told a congressional hearing.
“We’ve stepped up our diplomatic engagements to attempt to stop that,” she said.

ANKARA: Turkey on Tuesday called on Greece to withdraw its armed forces from Aegean islands, warning that his country will challenge the status of the islands if it fails to demilitarize them.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a joint news conference with his North Macedonian counterpart, that Greece has been building a military presence on the Aegean islands in violation of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the 1947 Paris Treaty. He said the islands were ceded to Greece on condition that they be kept demilitarized.