DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi will visit Iran next Wednesday and start consultations with Iranian officials the following day, state media reported on Sunday. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Wednesday he might head to Iran in the coming days to discuss its disputed nuclear program and that he expected to work cooperatively with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Long-standing issues between Iran, the IAEA, and Western powers include Tehran barring uranium-enrichment experts from IAEA inspection teams in the country and its failure for years to explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites. Iran has also stepped up nuclear activity since 2019, after then-President Trump abandoned a 2015 deal Iran reached with world powers under which it curbed enrichment -- seen by the West as a disguised effort to develop nuclear weapons capability -- and restored tough U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Tehran is now enriching uranium to up to 60% fissile purity, close to the roughly 90% required for an atom bomb. It has enough higher-enriched uranium to produce about four nuclear bombs, if refined further, according to an IAEA yardstick. Iran has long denied any nuclear bomb ambitions, saying it is enriching uranium for civilian energy uses only. 

Dubai, United Arab Emirates — The chief of staff of Saudi Arabia's armed forces, Fayyad al-Ruwaili, visited Tehran on Sunday to meet with his Iranian counterpart and discuss defense ties, state media reported the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff as saying.  The visit follows the election of Donald Trump, who will take office for a second term as U.S. president in January, and who has promised to bring peace to the Middle East.  During his first term, Trump initiated normalizations between Arab states and Iran's regional arch-enemy Israel, known as the Abraham Accords.  Saudi Arabia has not established ties with Israel, but Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner has discussed the possibility with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman multiple times over the last years, a source familiar with the discussions told Reuters on the condition of anonymity.  Iran's state media said al-Ruwaili headed a high-level Saudi military delegation in Tehran and met Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri.  Iranian state media said the two military officials discussed various issues, including "the development of defense diplomacy and the expansion of bilateral cooperation."  State media added that Bagheri held a phone call with Saudi Arabia's Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud last year to discuss regional developments and improve defense cooperation between the two countries.  Separately, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the phone, Iranian media said.  Pezeshkian told the crown prince he would not be able to attend a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Riyadh due to his busy schedule and would be dispatching the Iranian first vice president as a representative, the Mehr news agency said.  Tehran and Riyadh agreed in March 2023, via Chinese intermediation, to reestablish relations after seven years of hostility that had threatened stability and security in the Gulf and helped to fuel conflicts in the Middle East from Yemen to Syria. 

An intercepted missile fired from Yemen sparked blazes near Jerusalem Monday, and later the Houthi rebels said they carried out a successful attack on central Israel. The Iran-backed militant group said it executed a "military operation targeting the Nahal Sorek military base" southeast of Jaffa, and that the "hit was accurate and led to a fire." Meanwhile, the main television news outlet operated by the Houthis said U.S. and British forces carried out a series of airstrikes targeting the Amran and Saada governorates in Yemen. The Israeli military told Agence France-Presse a projectile from Yemen was intercepted in the Bet Shemesh area west of Jerusalem, and debris from that interception caused fires. In a statement to the AFP, it said: "Following the sirens that sounded in the Shfelat Yehuda, Yehuda, and Lakhish areas of central Israel, the IAF (Israeli Air Force) intercepted one projectile that approached Israel from the direction of Yemen. "The projectile did not cross into Israeli territory. Sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol." An Iran-backed coalition, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, claimed to have carried out four drone attacks on “vital targets” in Israel Monday, but did not disclose details about the targets in a series of Telegram posts. Strikes in Gaza, Lebanon At least three people were killed Sunday when an Israeli strike hit a tent sheltering a displaced family in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials reported. Palestinians reported heavy bombing late Sunday in the western areas of Nuseirat camp, and least 24 people were wounded and taken to the Awda hospital in Nuseirat, the head of the hospital’s ambulance service told the Associated Press. Earlier Sunday in northern Gaza, an Israeli strike on a home sheltering displaced people in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya killed at least 17 people including nine women, according to Dr. Fadel Naim, director of Al-Ahly Hospital in Gaza City. An Israeli airstrike killed at least 23 people, including seven children, in Aalmat village north of Beirut, far from the areas in the east and south where Hezbollah militants have a major presence. Lebanon's health ministry said another six people were wounded. There was no Israeli evacuation warning and no immediate Israeli comment on the attack. The United Nations children’s agency says the war between Israel and Hezbollah has killed more than 200 children in Lebanon.   Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least 3,189 people have been killed and over 14,000 wounded in Lebanon in more than a year of conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group. Some 1.2 million people have been displaced. The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, although about one-third of them are believed to be dead. Israel's counteroffensive has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities. The Israeli military says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas militants. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, the United Kingdom, European Union and others. Israeli President Isaac Herzog is scheduled to meet with outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday in Washington as the mid-month deadline approaches for Israel to meet a Biden administration ultimatum that it allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza to assist Palestinians or risk possible restrictions on U.S. military funding. Information from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters was included in this report.

Judges of the Federal High Court of Nigeria are to proceed on 2024 Christmas Vacation on Monday December 16, this year. According to a circular signed by the Chief Judge of the Court, Hon. Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, the Judges are to return to work on Monday January 6, 2025. However, normal court sitting would […]

Federal High Court of Nigeria Judges begin Christmas Vacation Dec 16