Unemployment fuels unrest in Arab states: IMF

Yahoo – AFP, Omar Hasan, October 28, 2019

Violent protests have broken out in several Arab countries since early 2010 and
turned into bloody civil wars, including in Yemen (AFP Photo/MOHAMMED HUWAIS)

Dubai (AFP) - Unemployment and sluggish economic growth are fuelling social tension and popular protests in several Arab countries, the International Monetary Fund said Monday.

The unrest is in turn contributing to slower growth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, alongside global trade tensions, oil price volatility and a disorderly Brexit process, the IMF said in a report on the regional economic outlook.

Earlier this month it lowered the 2019 forecast for the region -- taking in the Arab nations and Iran -- to a meagre 0.1 percent from 1.1 percent last year.

The IMF slashed its outlook for the region's three largest economies -- Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

The risks around the forecast of earlier this month "are skewed to the downside and are highly dependent on global factors," the IMF said in its report on Monday.

"The level of growth that countries in the region are having is below what is needed to address unemployment," said Jihad Azour, the IMF's director for the Middle East and Central Asia.

"We are in a region where the rate of unemployment at the youth level exceeds 25-30 percent and this requires growth to be higher by 1-2 percent" in order to make a dent in joblessness, Azour told AFP in an interview.

A new wave of demonstrations erupted over the last year in Algeria (pictured) Sudan, Iraq
and Lebanon, typically demanding economic reforms and action against corruption
(AFP Photo/RYAD KRAMDI)

The IMF report said that the high unemployment was worsening social tensions in Arab countries.

"Unemployment averages 11 percent throughout the region versus seven percent across other emerging market and developing economies," it said.

"Women and young people are particularly likely to be out of work, with more than 18 percent of women... without jobs in 2018."

Violent protests have broken out in several Arab countries since early 2010 and turned into bloody civil wars in Syria, Yemen and Libya.

A new wave of demonstrations erupted over the last year in Algeria, Sudan, Iraq and Lebanon, typically demanding economic reforms and action against corruption.

In Lebanon, where protesters have brought the country to a standstill with demands for a full overhaul of the political system, the economy grew at a very slow pace over the past few years, Azour noted.

"The government has to act firmly and swiftly in order to address those imbalances, bring confidence back by addressing the fiscal situation, and lower expenditure," he said.

The IMF also said that public debt levels were very high in many Arab countries -- exceeding 85 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on average, with rates of more than 150 percent in Lebanon and Sudan.

"Having built over many years, the cost of public debt burdens has become sizeable, preventing investments critical to the region's long-term economic future," it said.

In Lebanon, where protesters have brought the country to a standstill with demands 

for a full overhaul of the political system, the economy grew at a very slow pace

over the past few years (AFP Photo/Anwar AMRO)

Iran flounders

The IMF said that Iran, which is subject to crippling US sanctions, has entered a steep economic recession and faces a battle against spiralling inflationary pressures.

The Islamic republic's economy is projected to contract by 9.5 percent this year after posting negative growth of 4.8 percent in 2018.

Iranian authorities must align "the exchange rate close to the market rate and also reform the financial sector... and try to address some of the implications of the high level of inflation," Azour said.

As a result of the sanctions, Tehran is believed to be exporting only around 500,000 barrels per day of crude, down from over two million bpd before the sanctions.

The IMF said that oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, led by Saudi Arabia, are expected to grow by just 0.7 percent this year from 2.0 percent in 2018 due to lower oil prices and output.

"GCC economies need to diversify and grow out of oil and this requires them to accelerate the reforms that have been started in the last four to five years," Azour said.

Yemen's Saleh: the ex-president who clung to power

Yahoo – AFP, December 4, 2017

Yemen's ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh addressing loyalists in Sanaa on
March 10, 2011 (AFP Photo/MOHAMMED HUWAIS)

Sanaa (AFP) - Yemen's ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was killed on Monday, ruled the Arabian Peninsula country for more than three decades, remaining a key player long after his 2012 resignation.

Adept at navigating Yemen's complex politics, he survived civil war, rebellion in the north, an Al-Qaeda insurgency in the south and a June 2011 bomb attack on his palace that wounded him badly.

In 2014 he allied with his former enemies, Huthi Shiite rebels from Yemen's north, to seek revenge against those who forced him from power.

But the collapse of their alliance was the beginning of the end for the wily leader.

A stocky man with piercing eyes and a moustache, Saleh was for decades Yemen's most powerful man.

In 2015, a UN panel of experts accused him of corruption, saying he may have amassed up to $60 billion the country descended into poverty during his 33 years in power.

Hailing from the same Zaidi minority as the Huthis, Saleh joined the army aged 20 and took part in the 1962 coup against Yemen's Zaidi imamate.

The ensuing six-year civil war ended in victory for Egyptian-backed nationalists who in 1968 formed the Yemen Arab Republic, also known as North Yemen.

A few months earlier, an independent South Yemen had been formed following the British withdrawal. It would eventually become the Communist-ruled People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.

Reunification

Saleh showed his leadership skills at an early age and swiftly climbed North Yemen's military and political ladder.

Following the June 1978 assassination of president Ahmad al-Ghashmi, a constituent assembly elected Saleh -- by then a colonel -- president of North Yemen.

A picture from June 1, 2000 shows Ali Abdullah Saleh diving during free time 

at his private presidential club (AFP Photo)

He immediately surrounded himself with close aides, notably his brothers, appointing them to key military and security posts.

Saleh deftly steered the country towards reunification in 1990 and four years later crushed a southern secession bid.

He became Yemen's first directly elected president in 1999, winning more than 96 percent of the vote, but elections during his tenure were widely criticised and he was accused of stifling dissent.

Saleh became a US ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda, allowing drone strikes on Yemeni territory, the first of which in 2002 killed the group's Yemen chief, Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harithi.

Between 2004 and 2010, Saleh fought several wars against the Huthis, who had long complained of marginalisation.

In the late 2000s he also grappled with growing pro-independence demonstrations in the south.

But the first real challenge to his rule came with the eruption in 2011 of Arab Spring-inspired protests that brought thousands of people onto the streets.

Saleh clung to power amid a deadly crackdown on demonstrators demanding an end to his regime.

He left Yemen for Saudi Arabia in June 2011 to receive medical treatment after being burned in a bomb attack on his presidential compound, but returned less than four months later.

He eventually ceded power in February 2012 under a Gulf-brokered deal that granted him immunity from prosecution.

'Dancing on snakes'

Vice President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi took power after Saleh's resignation but struggled to assert his authority.

The ex-president remained behind the scenes, refusing to go into exile and remaining head of his General People's Congress party.

Ali Abdullah Saleh addressing parliament in Sanaa in

October 2001 (AFP Photo/KHALED FAZAA)

The Huthis' seizure of Sanaa in September 2014 would have been impossible without support from Saleh loyalists, analysts said.

An expert report to the UN Security Council alleged Saleh provided "direct support" to the Huthis through funding and the backing of elite forces still under his influence.

Hadi in February 2015 fled to the southern city of Aden after escaping house arrest in Sanaa, then to Saudi Arabia as the rebels advanced south.

Yassin Makkawi, an adviser to Hadi, in 2015 described the ex-president as a "tyrant", saying "the Huthis are puppets in the hands of Saleh".

A coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which feared the Huthis would help its arch-rival Iran spread its influence in Yemen, launched air strikes and sent ground troops to Yemen in support of Hadi.

That escalation has since killed more than 8,750 people and dragged Yemen towards what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The intervention helped loyalists win back control of large parts of the south but they were unable to dislodge the Huthis from Sanaa and other key strongholds.

Saleh was reported to have remained in the capital and boasted: "I will never leave Sanaa."

But in mid-2017, his alliance with the Huthis began to collapse amid simmering resentment over money, power-sharing and suspected backdoor dealings.

When Saleh reached out to the Saudi-led coalition last week, the Huthis accused him of "great treason" and staging a "coup" against "an alliance he never believed in".

A smart tactician who had portrayed himself as a "saviour" after his resignation, Saleh once compared ruling Yemen to "dancing on the heads of snakes".

But Saleh's gamble in quitting his alliance with the Huthis proved to be a fatal step.

As gun battles rocked the capital on Monday, the Huthis announced that Saleh had been killed, and a video supplied to AFP by the rebels showed what appeared to be his corpse.

Hours later, his party confirmed the news.

At the age of 75, the man who had shaped much of Yemen's post-independence history was dead.

First women's run sweeps through Algiers

Yahoo – AFP, May 6, 2016

Women take the start of the “100% women and supportive” race, named the
Algerian women’s race (L'Algeroise) on May 6, 2016 in the capital Algiers
(AFP Photo/Farouk Batiche)

Algiers (AFP) - Hundreds of women took part Friday in an unprecedented run through the streets of the Algerian capital to raise awareness about sports in the conservative Muslim country.

Wearing sweatpants, T-shirts and, in some cases, Muslim headscarves, the women took off from Didouche Mourad street in downtown Algiers for a three-kilometre (1.8 mile) run to the main post office.

Algerian middle distance runner Nouria Benida-Merah, who won a gold medal at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, took part in the race which was open to 13-year-olds and over.

The city's mayor and the minister of sports were on hand to watch the event, which organisers said was aimed at raising awareness of the role of women in society as well as women's participation in sports.

"I hope that the culture of women's running will take root in our society," Benida-Merah said.

Fridays in Algeria are usually dedicated to the weekly prayer and streets in the capital are typically busy with male worshippers heading to mosques.

Nabila Nedjar said she travelled 400 kilometres from her hometown in Constantine in eastern Algeria to take part in the race.

"It's a pleasure to see a run for women only and open to everyone," she said.

A 30-year-old mother who identified herself as Suheila said the race gives a positive image of Algerian women, portraying them as "dynamic and brave".

After the second round of elections in Iran a record 17 women will become

 lawmakers in the 290-seat parliament -- one more than the number of clerics,

which has hit an all time low (AFP Photo/Atta Kenare)

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"Listening to the Voice of Spirit" (2) - Feb 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (DNA Efficiency is on average at 35 percent now) - (Text version) - New

“… With free choice, the percentage of DNA efficiently started to go down as humanity grew. As soon as the DNA started to lose percentage, the gender balance was dysfunctional. If you want to have a test of any society, anywhere on the planet, and you want to know the DNA percentage number [consciousness quota] as a society, there's an easy test: How do they perceive and treat their women? The higher the DNA functionality, the more the feminine divine is honored. This is the test! Different cultures create different DNA consciousness, even at the same time on the planet. So you can have a culture on Earth at 25 percent and one at 37 - and if you did, they would indeed clash. …”

“… You're at 35. There's an equality here, you're starting to see the dark and light, and it's changing everything. You take a look at history and you've come a long way, but it took a long time to get here. Dear ones, we've seen this process before and the snowball is rolling. There isn't anything in the way that's going to stop it. In the path of this snowball of higher consciousness are all kinds of things that will be run over and perish. Part of this is what you call "the establishment". Watch for some very big established things to fall over! The snowball will simply knock them down. …”

World Muslim body condemns attacks on Saudi missions in Iran

Yahoo – AFP, January 21, 2016

Secretary General of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Saudi Iyad Ameen
Madani (R) shakes hands with Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during
an emergency meeting in the Saudi city of Jeddah, on January 21, 2016 (AFP Photo)

Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) - A global Muslim body on Thursday condemned the attacks on Saudi missions in Iran earlier this month and denounced Tehran's regional "interference".

Foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, in a statement, said it "condemns the aggressions against the missions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Tehran and Mashhad".

The statement followed an extraordinary meeting requested by Saudi Arabia after protesters in Iran burned Riyadh's embassy in Tehran and a consulate in the second city of Mashhad.

Such "aggressions" contravene international law as well as the OIC charter, said the communique, which member state Iran rejected.

The violence against Riyadh's missions occurred after the kingdom executed dissident Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a driving force behind anti-government protests.

Sunni Saudi Arabia and some of its allies cut diplomatic ties with Shiite Iran as a result of the violence against its missions.

Nimr was one of four Shiites put to death on January 2 alongside 43 Sunnis. All were convicted of "terrorism".

The 57-member OIC said it "rejects and condemns Iran's inflammatory statements" over the executions, "considering those statements a blatant interference in the internal affairs" of Saudi Arabia.

It also denounced "Iran's interference in the internal affairs of the states of the region and other member states (including Bahrain, Yemen and Syria and Somalia) and its continued support for terrorism".

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attended the meeting but his country "declared its rejection of the communique," the document said.

It added that Lebanon also "distances itself" from the meeting's final statement.

The OIC calls itself the collective voice of the Muslim world.

Tensions between the leading Sunni and Shiite nations have caused concern around the globe. China, France and Pakistan have all sought a de-escalation.

Iranian protesters set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran during a demonstration 

against the execution of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi 

authorities, on January 2, 2016 (AFP Photo/Mohammadreza Nadimi)

'Continuous attacks'

At the start of Thursday's meeting, OIC Secretary General Iyad Madani called for "building bridges of understanding and restoring mutual trust" through dialogue.

This will prevent conflicts "that will waste energy and hinder the development of our people," he said.

Tensions between members "distract us from addressing the real challenges", including "terrorism", which threaten members of the organisation, Madani told the group based in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah.

The final communique underscored the "importance of reinforcing relations of good neighbourliness" among members.

Iran sacked a senior security official over his failure to stop the attack on Riyadh's embassy, while Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday said the attack was against Islam.

But Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir charged at Thursday's meeting that Iran respects neither Islam nor the charter of the OIC.

"The importance of this meeting is in the fact that this aggression is not the first but only a part of a series of continuous attacks that diplomatic missions have been subjected to in Iran for 35 years," Jubeir said.

"It is important to point out that the aggression against the kingdom's missions comes as part of Iran's aggressive policies and its continuous interference in the internal issues of the countries in the region".

Saudi Arabia and Iran support opposite sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Iran has also consolidated its influence in Iraq and Lebanon.

Riyadh had also called for an emergency meeting of the Arab League after the attack on its missions.

The Cairo-based body on January 10 expressed full support for Saudi Arabia in dealing with the "hostile acts and provocations of Iran".

Saudi Arabia executes top Shiite cleric

Yahoo – AFP, January 2, 2016

Saudi Shiite women hold placards bearing portraits of prominent Shiite Muslim
 cleric Nimr al-Nimr during a protest in the eastern coastal city of Qatif against
his execution by Saudi authorities, on January 2, 2016 (AFP Photo)

Riyadh (AFP) - Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia executed Saturday a prominent Shiite cleric, who had been behind anti-government protests, drawing angry condemnation from Shiite-majority Iran and Iraq.

Nimr al-Nimr was executed along with 46 other men, including Shiite activists and Sunnis accused of involvement in Al-Qaeda killings, the interior ministry said.

Nimr al-Nimr was executed this morning

 along with 46 other people convicted by

Saudi Arabia of "terrorism" (AFP Photo)

It prompted calls for demonstrations, but the brother of the 56-year-old cleric called for calm in oil-rich Eastern Province where Shiites complain of marginalisation.

"This action will spark anger of (Shiite) youths" in Saudi Arabia, but "we reject violence and clashing with authorities", said Mohammed al-Nimr.

The interior ministry said the 47 men had been convicted of adopting the radical "takfiri" ideology, joining "terrorist organisations" and implementing various "criminal plots".

A list published by the official SPA news agency included Sunnis convicted of involvement in Al-Qaeda attacks that killed Saudis and foreigners in 2003 and 2004.

Some of them had been convicted of taking part in May 2003 attacks on expatriate compounds in Riyadh that killed 35 people, nine of them Americans, the ministry said.

Others were involved in attacks the following year on a housing complex in the eastern city of Khobar, in which 22 people were killed, most of them foreigners, and other assaults.

Among them was Fares al-Shuwail, described by Saudi media as Al-Qaeda's top religious leader in the kingdom.

Notably absent from the list, was Nimr's nephew, Ali. He was arrested at the age of 17 and allegedly tortured during detention before being sentenced to die, sparking fury from rights watchdogs and the United States.

All those executed were Saudis, except for an Egyptian and a Chadian.

Some were beheaded with a sword while others were shot by firing squad, said ministry spokesman Mansur al-Turki.

Executions have soared in the country since King Salman ascended the throne last January, with 153 people put to death in 2015, nearly twice as many as in 2014.

'Oppression and execution'

Saturday's executions were condemned by Iran and Iraq as well as the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, and drew protest calls.

"The Saudi government supports terrorist movements and extremists, but confronts domestic critics with oppression and execution," said Hossein Jaber Ansari, spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry.

It will "pay a high price for following these policies," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.

Turki described Iran's reaction as "irresponsible".

"We are completely confident with what we're doing and we believe in it and do not care how others view our procedures, whether on justice or implementation of sentences," he said.

Tehran ally Hezbollah said Saudi Arabia's rulers are "global criminals" and denounced Nimr's execution as a "heinous crime".

Saudi justice ministry spokesman Mansur al-Qafari said "interference in the kingdom's judiciary is unacceptable".

Rights groups have repeatedly raised concern about the fairness of trials in Saudi Arabia, where murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.

Bahraini girls run for cover from tear gas in Jidhafs, west of Manama, on 

\January 2, 2015 following a protest against the execution of Nimr al-Nimr

by Saudi authorities (AFP Photo/Mohammed al-Shaikh)

Trial standards 'grossly flouted'

Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa director Philip Luther told AFP the kingdom was using "the guise of counter-terrorism" to clamp down on dissent.

The trials "were politicised on the one hand and grossly unfair, because the international standards for fair trial were grossly flouted."

Iran's Basij student militia, connected to the country's elite Revolutionary Guards, called for a demonstration Sunday outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

In Saudi ally Bahrain, police used tear gas to disperse dozens of youths from the majority Shiite population protesting the executions.

And prominent Iraqi Shiite lawmaker Khalaf Abdelsamad called for the closure of Riyadh's embassy and urged the government to expel its ambassador.

"The execution of Sheikh al-Nimr will have serious consequences and bring about the end of the Al-Saud (royal family's) rule," his office said.

In Yemen, where the kingdom is leading a coalition against Shiite rebels, the religious scholars association controlled by them condemned the execution.

Awakening is not suppressible. 16/5/2015 #SheikhNimr, #NimrAlNimr, #NimrMartyred pic.twitter.com/bVTz61FTDN

— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) January 2, 2016

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"The Dysfunction of Darkness" - Nov 14, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Reference to Paris/ISIS/Dark-Old Energy/USA+Warning for Governments around the World !!!) - (Text version) New

“…  The Dark Menace is Here

I have been giving you messages of the recalibration of dark and light for years:

"Civilization itself is at stake within this movement, and you've passed the marker - an alignment that many said would never happen. This is the fifth time you've been through this opportunity and now, dear ones, you're headed for the potential of peace on Earth. Twenty-three years ago, we told you this could happen and that the potentials were strong for it. Now, all that is around you is struggling with it, for the shift is here. I'll say this over and over: The old energy of darkness dies hard, screaming and struggling to keep what it has had, and it struggles with its own demise. So that is the energy we speak of now, and the subject is the Human consciousness balance between dark and light."

Kryon, Feb 2012, San Antonio, TX (*)

Over a year ago, I also gave you predictions that the coming change will be different from anything you have ever expected. (**) There is darkness that has come together on this planet, and we told you it would increase. It is a response to the light that you have turned on. It is fighting for its own life within the old energy. A consciousness of darkness has always prevailed on the planet. Corruption and greed, and uncaring death, have always been the way of an older Human nature. Suddenly, in this precession of the equinoxes, the prophecies are starting to come true. The end of the indigenous calendars predicted it, and it's here.

The metaphor is clear. Light is starting to be turned on. That is a metaphor for increased awareness - of everything! We told you many years ago that, "When everyone can talk to everyone, there can be no secrets." This was given before the Internet, and now you know what we speak of. This technology is actually a tool for you to fight the darkness. I will show you in a moment. What I give you in this channel may seem impossible. Let me start at the beginning.  …”

"The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

“..  The Internet - The first Worldwide Tool of Unification

Now I give you something that few think about: What do you think the Internet is all about, historically? Citizens of all the countries on Earth can talk to one another without electronic borders. The young people of those nations can all see each other, talk to each other, and express opinions. No matter what the country does to suppress it, they're doing it anyway. They are putting together a network of consciousness, of oneness, a multicultural consciousness. It's here to stay. It's part of the new energy. The young people know it and are leading the way.

I gave you a prophecy more than 10 years ago. I told you there would come a day when everyone could talk to everyone and, therefore, there could be no conspiracy. For conspiracy depends on separation and secrecy - something hiding in the dark that only a few know about. Seen the news lately? What is happening? Could it be that there is a new paradigm happening that seems to go against history?... "

Saudi blogger wins Sakharov rights prize, sparking pardon calls

Blogger Raif Badawi's long struggle for freedom of expression

An Amnesty International activist holds a picture of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi

during a protest against his flogging punishment on January 29, 2015 in front of

Saudi Arabia's embassy to Germany in Berlin. The 30-year-old Saudi has been

 sentenced to 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam and is serving a 10-year jail term - a

case which has drawn widespread international criticism. (AFP Photo/Tobias Schwarz)

Saudi King Salman names new crown prince

Saudi Arabia's king Salman sacked his younger half brother Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz bin Saud as heir to the throne, state television has said. Muqrin was the last top official from the era of late King Abdullah.

Deutsche Welle, 29 April 2015

King Salman's nephew and Interior Minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Nayefwas appointed crown prince on Wednesday by a royal decree, replacing Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz bin Saud.

"We have decided to respond to his highness and what he had expressed about his desire to be relieved from the position of crown prince," said a statement from the royal court, carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The statement added that king's half brother Muqrin will also be relieved of his duties as deputy prime minister of the oil-rich kingdom.

The latest shake-up at the top further strengthens the influence of King Salman's Sudayri branch of the royal family, which has waned during reign of late king Abdullah. Muqrin was the only remaining high-level dignitary who kept his position since Abdullah passed away in January.

King Salman also appointed his son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as deputy crown prince, making him second in line for the throne. The king's son, in his early 30s, will retain his position as minister of defense.

Record-breaking diplomat

King Salman has also replaced Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal with the kingdom's ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir.

Faisal "asked to be relieved from his duties due to his health conditions," the royal decree said, adding that the former foreign minister was appointed as an advisor and a special envoy of King Salman.

Faisal was first named in 1975, making him the world's longest-serving foreign minister.

This is a second cabinet reshuffle since the 79-year-old king took over the throne some three months ago. It comes amid serious tension with Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional rival. Riyadh and Teheran have been trading accusations over involvement in the bloody Yemen conflict, with Saudi Arabia conducting airstrikes in the neighboring country.

dj/sms (AFP, Reuters)

Iran nuclear deal: negotiators announce 'framework' agreement

EU foreign policy chief hails ‘decisive step’ after 18-months of intensive bargaining

The Guardian, Julian Borger in Lausanne and Paul Lewis in Washington, 2 April 2015

Iran nuclear talks: negotiators arrive at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in
Lausanne after the talks finished. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Iran has promised to make drastic cuts to its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief as part of a historic breakthrough in Lausanne on Thursday night that could end a 13-year nuclear standoff.

The “political understanding”, announced in the Swiss city’s technical university and accompanied by a list of agreed parameters, followed 18 months of intensive bargaining, culminating in an eight-day period of near continuous talks that went long into the night, and on Wednesday, all the way through the night.

Reading out a joint statement, the European Union foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, hailed what she called a “decisive step” after more than a decade of work.

The Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, told reporters the agreement would show “our programme is exclusively peaceful, has always been and always will remain exclusively peaceful”, while not hindering the country’s pursuit of atomic energy for civilian purposes.

The US secretary of state, John Kerry, mindful of scepticism back in the US, declared: “A final deal will not rely on promises; it will rely on proof.”

The declaration of a framework deal is both preliminary and partial. It does not cover all the issues in dispute and is intended to be only a precursor to a full comprehensive and detailed agreement due to be completed by the end of June. Before then, the understanding must survive attack from hardliners in Iran and the US.

But the joint statement and the details published in Lausanne represent a set of basic compromises that had eluded negotiators for many years. Iran will cut its nuclear infrastructure to the point that western governments are satisfied it would take a year to “breakout” and build a bomb, if Tehran chose to follow that path.

At the same time, Iran will open itself up to a level of monitoring and scrutiny of its nuclear programme that is likely to unparalleled anywhere in the world.

When all that has been achieved, which could be in as little as six months, the overwhelming bulk of international sanctions would be lifted and Iran would re-enter the global economy.

The accord also has the potential to be a turning point in normalising Iran’s adversarial relations with the west, which have been a constant in world affairs since the Islamic revolution of 1979.

“This could be one of the most important diplomatic achievements in a generation or more,” said Ali Vaez, an Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group.

The UK foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, said: “This is well beyond what many of us thought possible even 18 months ago.”

Among the main points of the understanding unveiled in Lausanne are:

• Iran’s infrastructure for uranium enrichment will be reduced by more than two thirds, from 19,000 installed centrifuges, to 6,104, of which only 5,060 will be used for uranium enrichment, for a period of 10 years.
• Iran’s stockpile of low enriched uranium will be reduced by 98% to 300kg for a period of 15 years.
• Iran’s heavy water reactor will be redesigned so it produces only tiny amounts of plutonium.
• Iran’s underground enrichment plant at Fordow will be turned into a research centre for medical and scientific work.
• Iran will be open to enhanced inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency for 20 years.

The first major test of the understanding will come in the next few days when Kerry is expected to present the details to a closed session of the Senate foreign relations committee,before a vote on a bill that would give Congress the power to accept or reject any nuclear agreement and another that would impose new sanctions.

Kerry’s opposite number at the talks, Mohammad Javad Zarif, is expected to return to Tehran to a hero’s welcome from a public desperate to escape the shackles of sanctions, but he has frequently warned his fellow negotiators that he will face a backlash from hardliners opposed to dismantling any of Iran’s prized nuclear infrastructure.

Kazem Sadjadpour, an Iranian university professor, said on state TV: “I feel very proud as an Iranian … This is a turning point in Iran’s history of diplomacy. “This is a night of mourning for [Israeli PM Binyamin] Netanyahu and his warmongering allies in the US congress.”

The nuclear standoff with Iran has been a threat to global security and non-proliferation for well over a decade since a uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and a heavy water production plant at Arak were exposed in 2002 by an opposition group, most likely using Israeli intelligence.

Negotiations began in 2003 with European states in which Iran offered to limit its capacity to 3,000 centrifuges if its right to enrichment was recognised. The deal collapsed by 2005 and there was no sign of compromise for the next eight years as the international community ratcheted up sanctions and Iran responded defiantly by expanding its nuclear programme, moving from production of low-enriched uranium or 20%-enriched uranium, a major step towards the capacity to make weapons grade fissile material.

The confrontation continued to escalate until 2013 and the election of a pragmatist president in Iran, Hassan Rouhani, who acted swiftly to establish lines of communication with the White House and between Kerry and Zarif. An interim deal was agreed in November 2013 that halted production of 20%-enriched uranium and eliminated Iran’s stockpile of the material in return for access to $700m a month of its assets frozen around the world.

The interim deal, known as the Joint Plan of Action, bought time for a comprehensive agreement which was initially intended to be completed by July last year. The negotiators gave themselves another four months until November, and then after marathon talks in Vienna, it was postponed again, setting 30 June as the new deadline.

US President Bararck Obama gestures while making a statement at the White 

House in Washington, DC, on April 2, 2015 after a deal was reached on Iran's 

nuclear program (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

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Obama hails 'historic understanding' with Iran

Syria's Assad announces wide-ranging prisoner amnesty

Yahoo – AFP, 9 June 2014

Two women walk past a huge billboard bearing a portrait of Syrian President Bashar

al-Assad in the capital Damascus on May 27, 2014 (AFP Photo/Louai Beshara)

Damascus (AFP) - Syria's President Bashar al-Assad announced an unprecedented prisoner amnesty on Monday, less than a week after his re-election, the most wide-ranging since the beginning of the revolt against him.

Announced five days after Assad was re-elected with nearly 90 percent in a ballot decried as a "farce" by the opposition and the West, the amnesty is the first extended to those accused under a controversial anti-terrorism law.

The July 2012 law has been used to jail tens of thousands of regime opponents, armed and unarmed.

Meanwhile, in key rebel-backer Qatar, the prime minister urged the United Nations to impose a ceasefire to end Syria's conflict.

And Iran's president pledged during a trip to Ankara to work with Turkey despite opposing positions on the war.

Syrian state television said Monday's amnesty would cover all crimes committed before June 9, and would for the first time extend to those accused under the country's controversial terrorism law.

The government has accused all those opposed to Assad's rule -- armed opposition fighters and peaceful activists alike -- of "terrorism".

State media cited Justice Minister Najem al-Ahmad as saying the decree was issued in the context of "social forgiveness, national cohesion calls for coexistence, as the army secures several military victories".

The amnesty is not the first time the government has offered clemency, but it is the first that pledges reduced sentences, and in some cases freedom, to regime opponents.

There are an estimated 100,000 people in custody for activities related to the uprising which began in March 2011.

Some 18,000 of those detained have "disappeared", according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The conflict began with peaceful anti-government demonstrations that were met with live fire by government forces, eventually prompting some in the opposition to take up arms.

In the more than three years since, upwards of 162,000 people have been killed.

Picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on May 22,

 2014 shows the entrance to Aleppo prison after Syria's army broke a siege, cutting

off a major rebel supply route in the main northern city of Aleppo (AFP Photo)

'Dire conditions in prisons'

Rights groups, including the Observatory, have described dire conditions, including torture and malnutrition in both prisons and detention facilities such as security service buildings.

On Monday, the Observatory reported that the families of 25 people being held in regime facilities had been informed a day earlier that their relatives had died in detention.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP the detainees had been tortured to death.

Abdel Rahman also said the new amnesty should in theory cover many opposition activists being held.

"The amnesty should cover many opponents -- regardless of whether they bore weapons or not. Opponents of the regime are all considered terrorists," he said.

The amnesty announcement comes after Assad won another seven-year term in the country's first multi-candidate presidential vote.

Assad secured 88.7 percent of the vote in a ballot that was widely criticised by the international community and the opposition.

Voting was held only in regime-held areas, with many refugees barred from participating and election rules making it impossible for opposition figures abroad to stand.

It also came as the International Committee of the Red Cross and Syria's Red Crescent made rare aid deliveries in rebel territory in the northern province of Aleppo, according to ICRC spokesman Ralph El Hage.

The delivery comes a day after aid was delivered to two government hospitals and two others in rebel-held parts of Aleppo city.

The city has been divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since shortly after fighting began there in mid-2012.

In Doha on Monday, Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani warned of the continuing threat to regional stability posed by Syria's conflict.

"It is incumbent on the international community, especially the (UN) Security Council, to act urgently and decisively to adopt a resolution imposing a ceasefire," he said.

Qatar has been a key backer of rebels in Syria, reportedly providing financial and military backing.

And in Ankara, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani -- a key Assad ally -- pledged to work with rebel supporter Turkey, emphasising their opposition to extremists.

"Iran and Turkey, the two important countries in the region, are determined to fight against extremism and terrorism," he said.

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