Politics

The UN is set to announce the lifting of sanctions on Iran today after Tehran scaled back its nuclear programme. The International sanctions had suffocated Iran’s ability to trade with the west, and was put in place to force anti-western Iran to negotiate on its nuclear programme. The lifting of the sanctions will be marked as a great achievement for U.S. President Barrack Obama and Secretary of State, John Kerry as well as their European partners.

Iran has released four Iranian Americans as part of a prisoner exchange agreement. The office of the Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said:  “In line with ratifications of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and the Islamic establishment’s general expediencies, four Iranian prisoners, who hold dual nationality, have been released within the framework of a prisoner swap” One of the prisoners is believed to be Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who was as convicted of espionage in Iran last year.

Just days after two US Navy boats and ten sailors were seized at Farsi Island ahead of President Obama's state-of-the-union address and just days before Tehran will see international sanctions lifted as part of the "historic" nuclear accord, four US hostages have been freed in a prisoner swap between Washington and Tehran.

Among the detainees is Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian who was famously held for spying after being convicted in a shadowy trial last year and faced up to 20 years in an Iranian prison.

Back in September, we brought you “Meanwhile, In Burkina Faso: Images From A West African Military Coup.”

In it, we documented renewed turmoil in the landlocked country which is Africa’s fourth-largest gold producer.

According to Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power organisation, the Cold War is raging again, and this time both China and Russia are being coerced into a military conflict with the West via North Korea. “Really, the Cold War is raging again,” Gagnon told a Russian radio program, “The US is absolutely encircling Russia and China today.” Part of the Pentagon’s strategy includes utilising a new arsenal of “smart” nuclear weapons, complete with adjustable yields, alongside missile defense systems aboard navy warships.