Iran puts blame for killing of scientist on Israel

Tehran: Iran’s foreign minister has blamed

Israel for the “terrorist” murder of a nuclear scientist and has urged the international community to condemn the killing.

His condemnation came hours after Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, an Iranian scientist that Israel alleged led the Islamic Republic’s military nuclear programme until its disbanding in the early 2000s, was killed in a shootout.

The attack happened in Absard, a small city just east of the capital, Tehran. Witnesses heard an explosion and then machine gun fire. The attack targeted a car that Mr Fakhrizadeh was in.

Tehran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested Israel was behind the attack. In a tweet he said: “Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today.

“This cowardice – with serious indications of Israeli role – shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators.

“Iran calls on int’l community –and especially EU – to end their shameful double standards & condemn this act of state terror.”

Israel declined to comment on the killing of Mr Fakhrizadeh

Israel has long been suspected of carrying out a series of targeted killings of Iranian nuclear scientists nearly a decade ago.

Meanwhile, BritishAustralian academic Kylie Moore-gilbert has arrived back in Australia and will soon reunite with her family after more than two years in an Iranian prison.

Dr Moore-gilbert was met by public health officials and members of the Australian defence force after leaving her plane at Canberra Airport, less than 24 hours after being released from prison in Iran.

Australia’s foreign minister Marise Payne has said the 33-year-old will have to undergo quarantine due to Covid-19 concerns.

The academic from Melbourne University was released after 804 days behind bars on spying charges. She was freed in exchange for the release of three Iranians who were held in Thailand.

Vatican City: Pope Francis is encouraging Argentine women who are protesting about a proposed law to legalise abortion, saying the protection of life is above all a matter of human ethics.

In the letter to the women dated November 22, the Pope wrote: “Is it fair to eliminate a human life to solve a problem? Is it fair to hire a hit man to solve a problem?”

Vatican News said Francis was responding to a group of women from the shanty towns of Buenos Aires, where he used to minister, who have organised in recent years to oppose efforts to decriminalise abortion.

New Delhi: Thousands of Indian farmers faced tear gas and baton charges from police as they resumed their march to the capital to protest against new laws they fear will give more power to corporations and reduce their earnings.

Heading toward New Delhi, the farmers used tractors to clear walls of concrete, shipping containers and parked trucks set up by police on roads leading to the capital.

The farmers began their march on Thursday to mount pressure on prime minister Narendra Modi’s government to abolish the laws.

But they were stopped by large numbers of security officers in riot gear on the boundary between New Delhi and Haryana state.