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TUNIS — Italy's top diplomat Luigi Di Maio discussed clandestine migration with Tunisian President Kais Saied on Tuesday, in his first visit to the North African country since the president's July 25 power grab.

The foreign minister praised Tunisian efforts to stem the flow of irregular migrants, according to a statement on the presidency's website.

Saied pointed out "the limits of traditional policies in managing the phenomenon of clandestine migration".

He called for new strategies to encourage "regular migration according to mechanisms that respect the rights of migrants".

Italy is a key entry point to the European Union for migrants from across Africa, with tens of thousands boarding rickety boats each year from Libyan or Tunisian shores in search of better lives in Europe.

In May, Italy's Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese visited Tunisia and announced a deal offering the country economic aid in exchange for extra efforts to stop migrants reaching Italy.

Several Tunisian civil society groups marked Di Maio's visit with a press conference to demand answers over the death of a Tunisian migrant who had arrived in Sicily in October.

Wissem Ben Abdellatif, 26, died after being detained in a centre for migrants to be repatriated.

"The living conditions in these centres respect neither human dignity nor basic hygiene standards, especially during the pandemic," said Romdhane Ben Amor of the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights.

He said Tunisia had "turned into the coastguard", stopping some 26,000 migrants reaching Italy in 2021.

Ahmed Mssedi, a member of Avocats Sans Frontieres (Lawyers without Borders), accused Italian authorities of "forcing migrants to sign documents they don't understand".

Italian authorities have said some 55,000 irregular migrants reached Italy between January and the start of November, compared with fewer than 30,000 last year, with Tunisian nationals making up the majority of those who set out from Tunisia.

VIENNA — European negotiators stressed on Tuesday that talks to save the landmark Iran nuclear deal are "urgent", the day after discussions between world powers resumed in Vienna.

Negotiations to restore the 2015 agreement began earlier this year but stopped in June as Iran elected a new ultraconservative government. They resumed in late November with the latest round getting under way on Monday.

The aim is to bring back Washington, which left the deal in 2018, and curtail Tehran's nuclear activities, stepped up in response to the US withdrawal and reimposed sanctions.

"This negotiation is urgent... We are clear that we are nearing the point where Iran's escalation of its nuclear programme will have completely hollowed out the JCPoA," negotiators from Britain, France and Germany said in a statement, referring to the deal's official name by its acronym.

"That means we have weeks, not months, to conclude a deal before the JCPoA's core non-proliferation benefits are lost."

Besides the so-called E3 European countries, Iran, China and Russia are also taking part in the talks, while the United States is participating indirectly.

The 2015 deal offered Iran a lifting of economic sanctions in return for strict curbs on its nuclear programme aimed at ensuring it would not build an atomic bomb — an ambition Iran has always rejected.

A year after the US withdrawal and reimposition of sanctions, Iran in turn began to gradually abandon its commitments, including by stepping up its enrichment of uranium though it continues to deny that it wants to acquire a nuclear arsenal.

'Unprecedented' enrichment 

On Saturday, Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran director Mohammad Eslami said Tehran had no plans to enrich uranium beyond 60 per cent, even if the Vienna talks fail.

Eslami said the enrichment levels were related to the needs of the country, in remarks published by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

In response, E3 negotiators said on Tuesday that 60 per cent enrichment was still "unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons". Military-grade levels are around 90 per cent.

"Its increasing 60 per cent stockpile is bringing Iran significantly closer to having fissile material, which could be used for nuclear weapons," they said.

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was quoted by state news agency IRNA on Tuesday as saying the negotiations were "on a good track".

"With the goodwill and seriousness from the other parties, we can consider [reaching] a quick agreement in the near future," he said.

Moscow's ambassador to the UN in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said the working group on nuclear issues held a "useful meeting" on Tuesday, while lifting sanctions was also discussed informally.

"We observe indisputable progress," he wrote on Twitter.

EU diplomat Enrique Mora, who is chairing the talks, said on Monday that all sides were showing "a clear will to work towards the successful end" but that "very difficult" negotiations lay ahead.

ISTANBUL — Private Turkish and Qatari companies have agreed to jointly operate five airports in Afghanistan, although they are still waiting to reach a final deal with the Taliban, officials said on Tuesday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday that a “memorandum of understanding” had been inked in Doha earlier this month, covering Kabul and four other airports in the war-ravaged country.

Cavusoglu said the United Arab Emirates, which operated the civilian part of Kabul airport before the Taliban stormed back to power in August after two decades of war, had also expressed an interest in joining the Turkish and Qatari companies.

He said the issue was discussed during Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed’s visit to the Turkish capital Ankara in late November.

“They said ‘maybe we can run work trilaterally’ but there was never any concrete proposal,” said Cavusoglu.

“We haven’t presented any proposal to them either. But operating the airport briefly appeared on the agenda.”

Turkish and Qatari officials have said little about the details of the memorandum of understanding, refusing to say which companies were to be involved.

Responding to mounting speculation that a deal may be imminent, Afghan civil aviation ministry spokesman Imamuddin Ahmadi told AFP on Tuesday that “no deal has been signed yet”.

The Taliban have already rejected Turkey’s offer to provide security for Kabul airport, which offers an escape route for civilians seeking to flee the impoverished country, as well as a way for humanitarian aid to reach Afghanistan.

Cavusoglu has stressed that no deal can be reached until the hardline Islamist group allows a trusted foreign operator to secure the airport terminal while the Taliban protects its perimeter.

“Our teams went to Kabul... to present our proposals and then our friends in Doha continued the discussions,” Cavusoglu said on Monday.

“It is natural for different countries to make bids in this process,” Cavusoglu added.

“The Taliban administration had stated it would receive proposals from different countries.”

VIENNA — Iran said nuclear talks that resumed in Vienna on Monday should focus on lifting sanctions on the Islamic republic and "guarantees" that the US will return to the fold.

Negotiations to salvage the 2015 Iran nuclear deal restarted in late November, after a five-month hiatus following the election of ultraconservative Iran President Ebrahim Raisi.

The talks seek to bring back the United States, after it withdrew from the accord in 2018 under then president Donald Trump and began imposing sanctions on Iran.

Iran has reported progress in the talks, but European diplomats have warned they are "rapidly reaching the end of the road".

US negotiator Rob Malley has said there are only "weeks" left to revive the deal, if Iran continues its current pace of nuclear activities.

"The 8th round of the Vienna Talks just started," Alain Matton, spokesman for the EU, which is chairing the discussions, wrote on Twitter.

Ahead of the resumption, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the agenda on Monday should be "the issue of guarantees and verification" on the lifting of US sanctions if Washington returns to the accord.

"The most important thing for us is to reach a point where we can verify that Iranian oil will be sold easily and without any limits, that the money for this oil will be transferred in foreign currency to Iranian bank accounts, and that we will be able to benefit from all the revenues," he said, quoted on Monday by state news agency IRNA.

The opening of the eighth round of the talks involves delegations from Iran and the other countries that remain party to the landmark accord — Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.

Washington is participating indirectly with diplomats shuttling back and forth between the Iranian and the US sides.

The nuclear deal reached in 2015 offered Iran a lifting of economic sanctions in return for strict curbs on its nuclear activities.

The goal was to make it practically impossible for Iran to build an atomic bomb, while allowing it to pursue a civilian nuclear programme.

But the deal started to unravel in 2018 when the Trump administration pulled out and began imposing sanctions on the Islamic republic.

US President Joe Biden has said he is willing to return to the deal as long as Iran also resumes the original terms.

Iran, which denies it wants to acquire a nuclear arsenal, has gradually abandoned its commitments to the accord since 2019, including by stepping up its enrichment of uranium.

‘Positive message’ 

The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, recently expressed concerns over Iran’s growing stockpile of highly-enriched uranium.

Iran’s arch-rival Israel, which staunchly opposes the nuclear deal, had reportedly warned in November that the Islamic republic had taken the technical steps to prepare to enrich uranium to military-grade levels of around 90 per cent.

“Stopping Iran’s nuclear programme is the primary challenge for Israeli foreign and security policy,” Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said on Monday.

“We prefer to act through international cooperation, but if necessary, we will defend ourselves, by ourselves.”

On Saturday, Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran director Mohammad Eslami said Tehran has no plans to enrich uranium beyond 60 per cent, even if the Vienna talks fail.

Eslami said the enrichment levels were related to the needs of the country, in remarks published by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

Moscow’s ambassador to the UN in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, welcomed that statement on Twitter, calling it “a positive message”.

In a tweet on Monday, Ulyanov said delegations from China, Iran and Russia met in the morning “to compare notes” before the talks start.

He said he also met EU coordinator Enrique Mora, the two discussing “possible ways ahead at presumably final round of negotiations”.

“We advise all the participants in the negotiations to come to Vienna with the will to obtain a good agreement,” Iran’s Foreign Affairs spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday.

BAGHDAD — Iraq's top court on Monday ratified the country's October parliamentary election results after rejecting a complaint of irregularities filed by the pro-Iran Hashed Al Shaabi former paramilitary alliance.

The long-awaited ruling will allow parliament to meet and pave the way for the election of a president who will then appoint a prime minister tasked with forming a new government.

Iraq is trying to recover from years of war and violence but remains hobbled by political divisions, corruption and poverty.

The ratification follows a delay of more than two months since the October 10 legislative polls won by Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, a political maverick and former anti-US militia leader who opposes all foreign interference.

Sadr's movement won more than a fifth of the seats — 73 out of the assembly's total 329, well ahead of the 17 seats of the Fateh (Conquest) Alliance, the political arm of the pro-Iran Hashed.

That was sharply down from the Alliance's 48 seats in the outgoing assembly. Hashed leaders rejected the result as a "fraud".

They took their case to court seeking "to have the results annulled" because of "serious violations", their lawyer said earlier in December when the hearing began.

Judge Jassem Mohamed Aboud of the federal supreme court on Monday said the tribunal “rejects the request of the plaintiffs... not to ratify the final results of the election”.

He declared the judgement “binding on all authorities”.

Later the court media officer announced that the body “has ratified the results of the legislative elections”.

The Hashed had also organised protests over the preliminary election results. Political tensions soared, and in November at least one protester was killed and more than 100 injured when police clashed with demonstrators.

The Fateh Alliance alleged the electronic voting system had failed to recognise the fingerprint identification of many voters.

On Monday, Fateh Alliance leader Hadi Al Ameri reiterated “the profound conviction that the electoral process was tainted by fraud and manipulations”.

He said he would accept the court’s verdict but accused it of coming under “heavy pressure”.

Iraqi analyst Ihsan Al Shamari said that was not the case.

“The most important thing about the verdict is that the judiciary did not bow to pressure from the losing parties,” he said.

Judge Aboud, reading out the verdict, said the court also decided to make the plaintiffs bear the costs of the appeal.

In multiconfessional and multiethnic Iraq, the formation of governments has involved complex negotiations ever since the 2003 US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein.

The prime minister tasked with forming a Cabinet line-up will be, according to tradition, chosen by the largest parliamentary coalition.

Sadr, a self-styled defender against all forms of corruption, has repeatedly said that the next prime minister will be chosen by his movement.

He has also demanded that the new government include members of political parties and blocs which scored highly in the October polls.

The scion of an influential clerical family who led a militia against the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, has distinguished himself from other Shiite factions by seeking to distance himself from both Iranian and US influences.

The Hashed alliance which helped defeat the Daesh group holds opposing views.

It has said that the choice of a new prime minister should be made through compromise.

Backed by Iran and supported by 160,000 fighters who are now integrated into the regular armed forces of Iraq, the alliance remains a force to be reckoned with despite its losses in the October vote.

Aboud said the new parliament should amend Iraq’s electoral law and opt for a manual count of ballots in order to protect the credibility and transparency of future elections.

BETHLEHEM, Palestinian Territories — The last time Milad Ayyad travelled outside of the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip he was just 10 years old, but for Christmas this year he received a “priceless” gift to visit Bethlehem.

The day before Christmas Eve, Israeli authorities gave Ayyad, who is now 30, a blue slip allowing him to visit the biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ.

“It’s a great joy to [finally] get a permit,” Ayyad told AFP, adding that he had tried for years to secure one to no avail.

“I have been hoping to go to Bethlehem for a long time now to celebrate [Christmas] with my relatives whom I haven’t seen in years.”

He is one of 500 Christians from Gaza who have been permitted by Israeli authorities to travel to the occupied West Bank for the holidays this year.

The permit to exit the impoverished Gaza Strip, which has been blockaded by Israel for 15 years, came too late for him to organise to be there on Christmas Day.

Like most Christian Gazans, Ayyad is a Greek Orthodox who usually marks Christmas Day on January 7, meaning he can still look forward to more holiday cheer.

“The celebrations in the city of peace, Bethlehem, are special,” said Ayyad, a student of history whose first name means “birth”.

“They can’t be compared to those in Gaza, which only take place behind the church walls with just a mass.”

Unlike war-scarred Gaza, he said, Bethlehem is full of “joy... even its streets have more spirit than Gaza”.

According to local church officials, there remain only about 1,000 Christians in the enclave, compared to 7,000 before 2007.

Journey 

Until the last minute, Ayyad’s journey appeared rife with pitfalls.

To begin with, the Israeli authorities had not indicated when the permit would be issued, leaving matters uncertain. He then had to call his uncle to make sure he was prepared to receive him at his home in Beit Sahur, a town near Bethlehem.

This was followed by organising his trip up to the Erez crossing point to Israel, a mission requiring nerves of steel to make it through the massive ultra-secure barrier that resembles an airport terminal.

But his biggest challenge by far was convincing his father, Suhail Ayyad, that he would be able to make the trip alone.

“I care about my sons like the apples of my eyes,” said the father, who suffers from a serious illness.

The only images in his mind associated with crossing Israeli territory were those of soldiers shooting at Palestinians, leaving him convinced his son would face a similar fate.

In the courtyard of their Gaza home, where an unreliable supply of electricity causes their Christmas tree lights to flicker erratically, it took a group effort to convince Ayyad’s father that the trip is safe.

Even a loquacious neighbour chimed in, insisting that so long as Ayyad had a permit, there was no risk.

On the day of the grand departure, the young man, who did not recall ever having seen an Israeli, peered out at signs pointing the way to Israeli cities.

Sporting a heavy coat to protect himself from “the cold of Bethlehem”, he gazed admiringly at the greenery, remarking that “there are no forests like these in Gaza”.

Freedom of religion 

Ayyad arrived in Bethlehem the day after Christmas.

The number of Christians gathered in Manger Square doubtlessly far outnumbered those in all Gaza.

Ayyad took a selfie in front of the giant Christmas tree, visited the Church of the Nativity, lit a candle, and knelt at the cave where Jesus Christ is said to have been born.

His trip to Bethlehem marked a brief relief from his life in crisis-hit Gaza.

The impoverished coastal enclave is still emerging from the effects of war between Hamas and Israel seven months ago, the victims of which “we still mourn”, Ayyad said.

According to Janine di Giovanni, a researcher at Yale University, Christians in Gaza “should have freedom to go to where they want to worship”.

Restrictions on their movement constitute an “absolute affront to religious freedom”, said di Giovanni, who recently authored the book “The Vanishing: Faith, Loss, and the Twilight of Christianity in the Land of the Prophets”.

But Ayyad is nonetheless delighted to have gotten a taste of this freedom this Christmas.

Despite not having boarded a plane or suffered jet lag, his trip from one Palestinian territory to another gave him the impression of having “travelled from one country to another”.