IRAN: President Masoud Pezeshkian formally approved the resignation of one of his vice-presidents, who served as Tehran’s key negotiator in its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, just hours before the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog was due to arrive in the country yesterday.

Mr Pezeshkian’s announcement about Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday night came as Iran prepared for a second round of talks with the United States on its nuclear programme.

MALDIVES: The country has changed its immigration law to bar Israeli passport holders from entering over the war in Gaza.

The amendment was passed by parliament on Monday and approved by President Mohamed Muizzu the following day, according to a statement from the president’s office.

GERMANY: A Berlin doctor has been charged with murder over the deaths of 15 patients receiving palliative care, prosecutors said yesterday. He is also accused of trying to cover up the evidence by starting fires in their homes.

The doctor was part of a nursing service’s end-of-life care team and investigators reported finding evidence linking him to the deaths of 15 people between September 22 2021 and July 24 last year.

UNITED STATES: A federal judge in Washington has  allowed the Justice Department to temporarily stop funding legal education programmes for people facing deportation or immigration court hearings while a lawsuit brought by the organisations that provide the service moves forward.

The decision by US District Judge Randolph D Moss means a coalition of non-profit groups that offer the education programmes will lose their federal funding — and possibly some access to potential clients in detention centres.