IRAN EYES PRIVATE OIL EXPORTS TO HELP COUNTER U.S. TRADE SANCTIONS

DUBAI: Iran will allow private companies to export crude oil, part of a strategy to counter US sanctions, first vice president Eshaq Jahangiri said on Sunday. Iran is looking at ways to keep exporting oil as well as other measures to counter sanctions after the United States told allies to cut all imports of Iranian oil from November. “Iranian crude oil will be offered on the bourse and the private sector can export it in a transparent way,” Jahangiri told an economic event in Tehran broadcast live on state television. “We want to defeat America’s efforts ... to stop Iran’s oil exports,” he said. “Oil is already being offered on the bourse, about 60,000 barrels per day, but that has been only for exports of oil products,” Jahangiri said. REUTERS

Notorious gangster flees French jail by helicopter

RÉAU: A notorious career thief who was once France’s mostwanted man pulled off a daring jailbreak on Sunday, fleeing a prison near Paris by helicopter. Redoine Faid, 46, who previously said his life of crime was inspired by films such as Scarface, broke out of prison with the help of three accomplices, according to sources close to the case.

Six children among nine hurt in US stabbing attack

WASHINGTON: An “unprovoked” stabbing attack in an apartment complex in the US state of Idaho, that is home to many refugees left nine people injured including six children, police in the capital city of Boise said. Police apprehended a suspect, a 30-year-old man they named as Timmy Kinner who was until Friday a resident at the same complex, but not a refugee himself.

Several injured during Iran water protests

TEHRAN: Several people were injured in the southwestern Iranian city of Khorramshahr late Saturday when demonstrators protesting against water pollution clashed with police, Iranian state media reported. The protesters set fire to rubbish bins and damaged public property, prompting police to fire tear gas to disperse them, state-run IRNA news agency said Sunday.

China did not fund 2015 poll campaign: Rajapaksa

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday dismissed a media report that claimed China had funded his unsuccessful 2015 presidential re-run. “No contribution was made by China,” Rajapaksa said. A New York Times report last week claimed that $7.6 million was dispensed from a Chinese firm for his campaign.