UN SECURITY COUNCIL REJECTS CONTINUING IRAN SANCTIONS RELIEF
The United Nations Security Council has voted down a proposal to continue sanctions relief for Iran, raising the likelihood that restrictions will be back in place by the end of the month.Sanctions relief was part of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and Western nations. Britain, France, and Germany came to believe that Tehran violated the deal and started the process to resume sanctions.
The vote was taken on Friday. Of the 15 Security Council members, only four voted in favor of continuing relief, including Russia and China. Western countries called on Iran to seriously commit to a diplomatic solution to avoid the return of sanctions. Iran's ambassador to the UN insisted that the country still places importance on diplomacy, noting its agreement to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, despite recent Israeli and US attacks on its nuclear facilities. Now, the deadline for the process to reimpose sanctions is the end of next week.
It remains unclear whether any concessions will be made between the two sides by then.
JAPAN NOT TO RECOGNIZE PALESTINIAN STATE FOR NOW
Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip is set to be a major topic next week at the United Nations General Assembly, but Japan will not be using the meeting in New York to recognize a Palestinian state. Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi says he held separate phone talks on Friday with his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts. He says he told them that Japan will not recognize the Palestinian state for the time being.Still, Iwaya will attend a conference in New York on Monday seeking a two-state solution. France recently announced plans to recognize the Palestinian state.
Britain and Canada followed, subject to certain conditions. EYA also says he spoke by phone with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, stressing the need to pressure Israel into immediately halting its unilateral actions.
RUSSIAN JETS ENTER ESTONIAN AIRSPACE
And officials in Estonia are reeling over an act they're calling unprecedented and brazen. They saw Russian military jets violate their airspace on Friday and have asked their allies in NATO to react.Estonia's Foreign Ministry says three MiG-31 fighters entered the airspace over the Gulf of Finland. They remained there for 12 minutes. The Estonian military says Italian jets participating in NATO policing missions responded to intercept. Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna says Russia has committed four such violations this year. He warned they must be met with political and economic pressure.
Other countries have reported similar incursions. Poland and Romania said earlier this month the drones violated their airspace. That prompted NATO to take steps to bulk up defenses on its eastern flank. EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, formerly served as prime minister of Estonia. She criticized the airspace violation as an extremely dangerous provocation. And she says sanctions already under discussion will put additional pressure on Russia. EU leaders released that proposal on Friday. It calls for a ban on imports of Russian liquefied natural gas by the end of 2026.
That's one year earlier than previously discussed. And it targets an additional 118 ships in Russia's so-called Shadow Fleet.
Those vessels are used to skirt restrictions on oil transports.
PUTIN DISMISSES KEY KREMLIN AIDE
Russian President Vladimir Putin is removing a key aide. Dmitry Kozak served as the Kremlin's deputy chief of staff.He's believed to have proposed peace negotiations with Ukraine.
Putin signed a presidential decree on Thursday relieving Kozak of his duties.
Moscow says Kozak submitted his resignation of his own will. The New York Times quoted Kremlin sources as saying that Kozak advised Putin against the war in Ukraine. The report also said that he presented a proposal this year to stop the fighting and hold peace talks.
The sources reportedly said that Kozak was the only senior official close to Putin. Known to openly disagree with the war, the US think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, commented on Kozak's dismissal. It calls it a sign that Putin and his advisers are coalescing around a commitment. Continue the war in Ukraine, as well as what it calls Putin's maximalist war demands.
US IMPOSES $100K VISA APPLICATION FEE ON SKILLED WORKERS
US President Donald Trump has signed a proclamation that could make it difficult for highly skilled workers to enter the country. He's introducing a huge application fee for a visa known as an H1B. It's used by many foreign workers, including software engineers and other IT professionals. The current fee is $215.00. But the Trump administration is raising it to $100,000.The proclamation says the number of foreign workers who specialize in areas such as science and technology has more than doubled to two and a half million from 2,000 to 2,019.
It claims there was abuse of the visa program. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says the new policy is about protecting the US workforce.
You're going to train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land, train Americans, stop bringing in people to take our jobs.
Many foreigners are working in the US on H-1B visas at businesses, including some of the biggest tech companies.
TANZANIA'S GOLD MEDALIST REFLECTS ON TOKYO MARATHON
The Tanzanian Marathon gold medalist at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo says his medal has inspired athletes in his country who are trying to follow in his footsteps.Alphonse Simbu was the winner in a sensational dead heat with a German runner in Monday's race. The difference was just 0.03 seconds. In an interview with NHK on Friday, Simbu said he is grateful to God that his dream of winning a gold medal came true. He said he took all measures to cope with Tokyo's relentless heat. He drew on his bitter experience at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 when he failed to reach the podium.
The heat rising from the road is very intense. But my team took all possible measures, arranging aid stations and even preparing ice.
Simbu said he was glad to hear from younger people in Tanzania who say they were moved by his historic win.
SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES DISCOVERED IN SEVEN GALAXIES
An international team of astronomers says that it has discovered supermassive dust-shrouded black holes in seven galaxies. They made the breakthrough using a combination of telescopes on Earth and in space.The team, including researchers from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, used the James Webb Space Telescope to study 11 distant galaxies identified with the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. They say they detected bright light from quasars in seven of the 11 galaxies, confirming the existence of black holes. Now, supermassive black holes shine as quasars when they consume surrounding gas and dust. The team says the Earth-based telescope could not detect light from quasars because the black holes are surrounded by dust. But the space telescope was able to capture the faint infrared light from the hidden quasars.
The discovery shows how effective the combination of the Subaru telescope's survey capability for finding galaxies and the space telescope's narrow but highly sensitive observations can be.
And those are the top stories for this hour.
♫～ 3-DAY FORECAST ～♫
And that's a wrap for this edition of NHK Newsline. I'm Ramin Mellegard. Thank you very much for joining us.
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