IAEA chief renews call to Iran to cooperate on inspections

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Yukiya Amano of Japan, waits for the start of the IAEA board of governors meeting at the International Center in Vienna, Austria, Monday, June 4, 2018. (AP)
Updated 04 June 2018
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IAEA chief renews call to Iran to cooperate on inspections

  • Yukiya Amano spoke Monday to the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna
  • The IAEA said that Iran continues to stay below the maximum level to which it allowed to enrich uranium and appears to be fulfilling other obligations

VIENNA: The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog is renewing calls for Iran to provide “timely and proactive cooperation” in inspections that are part of the deal meant to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.
Yukiya Amano spoke Monday to the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. Last month, in its first report since the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal that Israel also opposes, the IAEA said that Iran continues to stay below the maximum level to which it allowed to enrich uranium and appears to be fulfilling other obligations. But it said Iran is slow when it comes to “complementary access” inspections.
Amano said Tuesday that “timely and proactive cooperation by Iran in providing such access would facilitate implementation ... and enhance confidence.”


Libya to try a gang member linked to a mass grave of 21 migrants for human trafficking

Updated 7 sec ago
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Libya to try a gang member linked to a mass grave of 21 migrants for human trafficking

  • Authorities found evidence that the criminal gang organized illegal migration and trafficked people in Al-Kufra city
  • It remains unclear how the 21 migrants died or when, or exactly when and where they were found

CAIRO: A member of a criminal group linked to a mass grave containing the bodies of 21 migrants will stand trial on a charge of human trafficking, Libya’s attorney general’s office said Friday.
The office said in a statement on Facebook that the gang member was being referred to court.
Authorities found evidence that the criminal gang organized illegal migration and trafficked people in Al-Kufra city in southeast Libya and Ajdabiya city in the eastern part of the country. The attorney general’s statement didn’t identify the gang.
Libya has been a main transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The country plunged into chaos after a 2011 uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
It remains unclear how the 21 migrants died or when, or exactly when and where they were found. The attorney general’s office released images Friday showing bodies wrapped in black plastic bags, with some remains partially covered in dirt. The Associated Press could not immediately independently verify the images.
The statement said 195 migrants were released by the criminal group after being detained and subjected to torture aimed at extorting ransom from their families. Authorities arrested one of the members of the group, while remaining members are still being pursued, according to the attorney general’s office.
Many migrants who take the risky sea route to reach Europe seeking a better lives do not survive. Most recently, at least 42 people went missing and were presumed dead after a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of Libya, according to the International Organization for Migration.
The latest shipwreck adds to the rising death toll in the Central Mediterranean, where more than 1,000 people have died since the beginning of 2025, including over 500 lost off the coast of Libya, according to the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project.
After Qaddafi was killed, Libya was split in two, with rival administrations in the east and west, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments. The western part of the country is governed by Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah’s government in Tripoli, and the administration of Prime Minister Ossama Hammad rules in the east.