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A Russian rocket put an Iranian communications satellite into space on Friday, Iranian state media reported, the latest achievement for an aerospace programme that has long concerned Western governments.”The Nahid-2 communications satellite was launched from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome using a Soyuz rocket,” state television said.Weighing 110 kilograms (over 240 pounds), the satellite was designed and manufactured by Iranian engineers, the broadcaster added. Western governments have long expressed concern that technological advances made in Iran’s space programme can also be used to upgrade its ballistic missile arsenal.The launch was announced shortly before nuclear talks between Iran and Britain, France and Germany opened in Istanbul. In December, Iran announced it had put its heaviest payload to date into space, using a domestically manufactured satellite carrier.In September, Iran said it had put the Chamran-1 research satellite into orbit using the Ghaem-100 carrier, which is produced by the Revolutionary Guards’ aerospace division.

One of France’s longest-held inmates, the pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, was released from prison and deported on Friday, after more than 40 years behind bars for the killings of two diplomats.At around 3:40 am (01:30 GMT), a convoy of six vehicles left the Lannemezan penitentiary with lights flashing, AFP journalists saw.A source close to the case confirmed to AFP that 74-year-old Abdallah had left the prison.Hours later, he was placed on a plane bound for Lebanon, an airport source told AFP.Abdallah was detained in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his involvement in the murders of US military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris.The Paris Court of Appeal had ordered his release “effective July 25” on the condition that he leave French territory and never return.While he had been eligible for release since 1999, his previous requests were denied with the United States — a civil party to the case — consistently opposing him leaving prison.Inmates serving life sentences in France are typically freed after fewer than 30 years.Abdallah’s lawyer, Jean-Louis Chalanset, visited for a final time on Thursday. “He seemed very happy about his upcoming release, even though he knows he is returning to the Middle East in an extremely tough context for Lebanese and Palestinian populations,” Chalanset told AFP.AFP visited Abdallah last week after the court’s release decision, accompanying a lawmaker to the detention centre.The founder of the Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Factions (FARL) — a long-disbanded Marxist anti-Israel group — said for more than four decades he had continued to be a “militant with a struggle”.- ‘Past symbol’ -After his arrest in 1984, French police discovered submachine guns and transceiver stations in one of his Paris apartments.The appeals court in February noted that the FARL “had not committed a violent action since 1984” and that Abdallah “today represented a past symbol of the Palestinian struggle”.The appeals judges also found the length of his detention “disproportionate” to the crimes and given his age.Abdallah’s family said they plan to meet him at Beirut airport’s “honour lounge” before heading to their hometown of Kobayat in northern Lebanon where a reception is planned. 

Chinese Premier Li Qiang dismissed EU fears over Beijing’s allegedly excessive subsidies to its industry, telling the bloc’s leaders “we can’t afford it” in markedly candid remarks during a tense summit.Speaking during a roundtable with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday, Li insisted that “China is by no means doing what some call …

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France’s highest court is to decide Friday whether to uphold an arrest warrant against Syria’s ex-president Bashar al-Assad as part of a probe into deadly 2013 chemical attacks during the country’s civil war.Rights activists say that if the Court of Cassation confirms Assad does not enjoy immunity due to the severity of the accusations, it could set a major precedent in international law towards holding war criminals to account.But if the reasoning is that the warrant is valid because France did not consider Assad to be a legitimate ruler at the time of the alleged crimes, it would not have the same impact.French authorities issued the warrant against Assad in November 2023 over his alleged role in the chain of command for a sarin gas attack that killed more than 1,000 people, according to US intelligence, on August 4 and 5, 2013 in Adra and Douma outside Damascus.Assad is accused of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the case, though Syrian authorities at the time denied involvement and blamed rebels.The French judiciary tackled the case under the principle of universal jurisdiction, whereby a court may prosecute individuals for serious crimes committed in other countries.An investigation — based on testimonies of survivors and military defectors, as well as photos and video footage — led to warrants for the arrest of Assad, his brother Maher who headed an elite army unit, and two generals.Public prosecutors approved three of the warrants, but issued an appeal against the one targeting Assad, arguing he should have immunity as a head of state.The Paris Court of Appeal in June last year however upheld it, and prosecutors again appealed.Assad’s circumstances have since changed.He and his family fled to Russia, according to Russian authorities, after Islamist-led rebels toppled him in December last year.- Assad immunity issue -Agnes Callamard, a French human rights activist and the secretary general of Amnesty International, said the court’s decision could “pave the way for a major precedent in international law” if it decided immunity should be lifted in certain cases.”A ruling lifting Bashar al-Assad’s immunity would help strengthen the founding principles of international law in its fight against the impunity of war criminals,” she wrote in the newspaper Liberation on Thursday.Callamard however noted that it was unlikely any arrest warrant would lead to Assad being detained as he was protected by Russia.The high court’s prosecutor has recommended the arrest warrant be upheld, but on the grounds that France had not recognised Assad as the legitimate ruler of Syria since 2012.Mazen Darwish, a prominent Syrian lawyer who heads the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, a civil party to the case, said the prosecutor’s argument was “very clever”.But it “undermines the moral foundation” according to which “immunity should not apply” in cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity, he said.The reasoning “also grants a single foreign government the power to decide who is or is not a legitimate head of state, which sets an extremely dangerous precedent”, he said.French investigating magistrates in January issued a second arrest warrant against Assad for suspected complicity in war crimes for a bombing in the Syrian city of Deraa in 2017 that killed a French-Syrian civilian.Friday’s hearing is scheduled to start at 1300 GMT.

One of France’s longest-held inmates, the pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, will be released and deported on Friday, after more than 40 years behind bars for the killings of two diplomats.At around 3:40 am (01:30 GMT), a convoy of six vehicles left the Lannemezan penitentiary with lights flashing, AFP journalists saw, though they were unable to catch a glimpse of the 74-year-old grey-bearded prisoner.Abdallah was detained in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his involvement in the murders of US military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris.The Paris Court of Appeal had ordered his release “effective July 25” on the condition that he leave French territory and never return.He had been eligible for release since 1999, but his previous requests were denied as the United States — a civil party to the case — consistently opposed him leaving prison.Inmates serving life sentences in France are typically freed after fewer than 30 years.Once out of prison, Abdallah is set to be transported to the Tarbes airport where a police plane will take him to Roissy for a flight to Beirut, according to a source close to the case.Abdallah’s lawyer, Jean-Louis Chalanset, visited for a final time on Thursday. “He seemed very happy about his upcoming release, even though he knows he is returning to the Middle East in an extremely tough context for Lebanese and Palestinian populations,” Chalanset told AFP.AFP visited Abdallah last week after the court’s release decision, accompanying a lawmaker to the detention centre.The founder of the Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Factions (FARL) — a long-disbanded Marxist anti-Israel group — said for more than four decades he had continued to be a “militant with a struggle”.After his arrest in 1984, French police discovered submachine guns and transceiver stations in one of his Paris apartments.The appeals court in February noted that the FARL “had not committed a violent action since 1984” and that Abdallah “today represented a past symbol of the Palestinian struggle”.The appeals judges also found the length of his detention “disproportionate” to the crimes and given his age.Abdallah’s family said they plan to meet him at Beirut airport’s “honour lounge” before heading to their hometown of Kobayat in northern Lebanon where a reception is planned.