KABUL/WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) - The Afghan Taliban government on Tuesday released U.S. detainee Dennis Coyle after more than a year in detention, but Washington said the move was not sufficient to lift its recent designation of Kabul as a "state sponsor of wrongful detention" and called for it to take more action.
By Victoria Waldersee
MADRID, March 25 (Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday it was unjust for citizens worldwide to bear the cost of what he called illegal U.S. and Israeli actions in Iran, warning the war was inflicting severe global economic damage, with Spanish firms alone losing 100 billion euros ($116 billion) in under a month.
Mohamed Salah's long goodbye from Liverpool signals the end of a glorious era and leaves the Premier League giants facing another expensive rebuild.
The Egyptian superstar announced on Tuesday that he would be leaving Anfield at the end of the season after a glittering nine-year spell at the club.
An emotional Salah, 33, expressed his love for Liverpool, where he stands alongside the all-time greats.
By Nidhi Verma
NEW DELHI, March 25 (Reuters) - India has bought its first cargo of Iranian liquefied petroleum gas in years after the U.S. temporarily removed sanctions on Tehran's oil and refined fuels, LSG trade flows and three industry sources said.
India had shunned energy purchases from Iran in 2019 under pressure from Western sanctions. The tanker was initially bound for China, according to LSEG data.
Sanctioned tanker Aurora carrying Iranian LPG is expected to shortly reach the west coast port of Mangalore, the sources said and LSEG data showed.
Khalil and his young family are sheltering in a theatre in south Lebanon's Tyre, refusing to leave despite Israeli bombardment on the city that is now almost cut off from the rest of the country.
"They'll have to take us by force," said the man in his thirties, who fled his home with his wife and two-year-old son, insisting they "will not surrender".
Despite Israeli ground operations and the spectre of a full-blown invasion, "we don't want to leave our land... our heart is here", he told AFP.
March 25 (Reuters) - Libya’s coast guard has begun towing away a damaged liquefied natural gas tanker that several Mediterranean countries warned posed an environmental risk after drifting unmanned for weeks, the Tripoli‑based Government of National Unity (GNU) said.
The Russian-flagged Arctic Metagaz, carrying LNG from the Arctic port of Murmansk, has been adrift since early March, when Russia’s Transport Ministry said it was hit by Ukrainian naval drones.
With no crew aboard, it eventually drifted close to the shores of the western Libyan port of Zuwara.
BAGHDAD, March 25 (Reuters) - Seven Iraqi soldiers were killed and 13 others wounded in an airstrike on a site belonging to Iraq's Shi'ite Popular Mobilization Forces near an army medical centre in western Anbar, security sources and the defence ministry said on Wednesday.
The ministry said the strike, which took place at around 0900 local time, hit a military clinic and a nearby engineering unit. Rescue teams were still searching the site for possible additional casualties.
By Emma Farge
GENEVA, March 25 (Reuters) - Gulf Arab states told the U.N. Human Rights Council on Wednesday they face an existential threat from Iran as they condemned Iranian attacks on their infrastructure, which the U.N. rights chief said might constitute war crimes.
The nearly month-long U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has sparked large-scale Iranian retaliation in the form of drone and missile strikes on energy and civilian infrastructure in Gulf countries, killing civilians and driving up oil prices.
By Jonathan Spicer
ISTANBUL, March 25 (Reuters) - Turkey "is playing a role passing messages" between Iran and the U.S. to encourage de-escalation and direct negotiations, Harun Armagan, vice chair of foreign affairs for President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party, told Reuters on Wednesday.
He did not elaborate on the messages but said they were also being conveyed to Gulf nations, which have been caught up in the widening regional war sparked by the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.
By Katya Golubkova and Irene Wang
TOKYO, March 25 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi asked International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol for an additional coordinated release of oil stockpiles when they met on Wednesday, as Tokyo seeks to hedge against a prolonged Middle East conflict.
After agreeing to release a record amount of oil stockpiles in coordination with the IEA to cover for the Middle East supply loss, Takaichi on Tuesday said Japan would also open up joint oil stockpiles co-owned by producing nations in the country.
