Iran Summons UK Ambassador over Extradition of Iranian to the US

A plague marks the re-opening of the British Embassy by Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in Tehran, Iran August 23, 2015. REUTERS/Darren Staples
A plague marks the re-opening of the British Embassy by Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in Tehran, Iran August 23, 2015. REUTERS/Darren Staples
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Iran Summons UK Ambassador over Extradition of Iranian to the US

A plague marks the re-opening of the British Embassy by Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in Tehran, Iran August 23, 2015. REUTERS/Darren Staples
A plague marks the re-opening of the British Embassy by Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in Tehran, Iran August 23, 2015. REUTERS/Darren Staples

Iran on Wednesday summoned the British ambassador to Tehran after London extradited an Iranian citizen, wanted on legal charges of circumventing sanctions on Tehran, to the United States.
The Iranian foreign ministry said it had “conveyed to the British ambassador Iran’s strong protest” against the “illegal arrest of the Iranian citizen and his extradition to the United States”, reported Agence France Presse.
On Tuesday, the US Justice Department announced that Saeid Haji Agha Mousaei, 53, had been extradited by Britain to appear before a court in Chicago.
The United States has accused him of transporting to Iran advanced US technology with “military applications”.
Washington has imposed crippling sanctions on Iran since 2018, after withdrawing from an agreement secured three years earlier that placed curbs on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Talks aimed at reviving the 2015 agreement failed in the summer of 2022.



Typhoon Gaemi Lashes Southeast China After Pounding Taiwan, Flooding Philippines 

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, huge waves lash the shore ahead of landfall by Typhoon Gaemi in Sansha Township of Xiapu County, southeast China's Fujian Province, Thursday July 25, 2024. (Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, huge waves lash the shore ahead of landfall by Typhoon Gaemi in Sansha Township of Xiapu County, southeast China's Fujian Province, Thursday July 25, 2024. (Xinhua via AP)
TT

Typhoon Gaemi Lashes Southeast China After Pounding Taiwan, Flooding Philippines 

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, huge waves lash the shore ahead of landfall by Typhoon Gaemi in Sansha Township of Xiapu County, southeast China's Fujian Province, Thursday July 25, 2024. (Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, huge waves lash the shore ahead of landfall by Typhoon Gaemi in Sansha Township of Xiapu County, southeast China's Fujian Province, Thursday July 25, 2024. (Xinhua via AP)

Typhoon Gaemi lashed towns on China's coastal Fujian province on Friday with heavy rains and strong winds as the most powerful storm to hit the country this year began its widely watched trek into the populous interior.

The storm, which has already killed dozens of people as it swept through Taiwan and worsened seasonal rains in the Philippines, has affected almost 630,000 people in China's Fujian so far, with almost half of them having to be relocated, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Gaemi was still packing winds of up to 100.8 kph (62.6 mph) near its center, easing slightly from 118.8 kph logged on Thursday night when it landed in the Fujian city of Putian.

While Gaemi has been downgraded as a tropical storm due to the slower wind speeds, its vast cloud-bands remain a significant flood risk, particularly to rivers in central China already elevated due to an earlier bout of summer rains.

Scientists have warned that global warming was worsening tropical storms, making them less frequent but much more intense, according to a report published on Friday.

Hours ahead of the typhoon's arrival, the Standing Committee of the Communist Party's politburo, helmed by President Xi Jinping, held a special meeting on flood control and urged cadres across the country to protect lives.

Efforts must be made to prevent any breaches of major rivers and the collapse of large and key medium-sized reservoirs, according to a readout of the meeting published by Xinhua.

Due to the typhoon, 72 townships across Fujian recorded an accumulated precipitation exceeding 250 mm (9.8 inches), with the highest reaching 512.8 mm, local weather bureaus said.

By late Friday, Gaemi is expected to reach Jiangxi province, home to Poyang lake, China's largest freshwater lake.

On Thursday, Gaemi swept through Taiwan with super-gales of up to 227 kph (141 mph) and dumped over 1,800 mm of rain in the island's southern mountains, flooding several cities and towns. It injured more than 500 people and killed five.

The typhoon also sank a freighter off the Taiwanese coast and killed 32 people in the Philippines, where its capital Manila declared a "state of calamity" after widespread flooding. A marine tanker carrying industrial fuel also sank in rough seas off the Philippines.