News In Brief

Imran Khan may visit Saudi Arabia, Iran
Reuters, Islamabad
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan is likely to visit Saudi Arabia and Iran, the foreign office in Islamabad said on Thursday, weeks after Islamabad said Washington had asked it to mediate with Tehran.
“The possibility of a visit of the prime minister to Saudi Arabia and Iran is on the cards and I will update you as things unfold,” foreign office spokesman, Mohammad Fasisal, told a news briefing. Faisal declined to comment when asked whether the visit was related to the mediation request.

Daughter of jailed UK-Iranian woman returns to UK
AFP, London
The five-year-old daughter of a British-Iranian woman jailed in Tehran since 2016 has arrived back in Britain, her father said Friday, after making the “bittersweet” decision to bring her home.
Gabriella Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been staying with relatives in Iran since her mother Nazanin’s detention on sedition charges, visiting her in jail each week.

Security kills militant in north Sinai
AP, Cairo
Egypt’s state-run news agency says security forces killed a militant who tried to blow himself up near a checkpoint in a restive province in northern Sinai.
MENA news agency reports that security forces shot and killed the militant on Thursday in the Mediterranean coastal city of el-Arish, before he could detonate his explosive-laden belt.

Vast majority of Colombia rebels back peace deal
AP, United Nations
“The vast majority” of former fighters with Colombia’s largest rebel group remain committed to the 2016 peace deal with the government despite a few ex-commanders taking up arms again, the country’s U.N. ambassador said Thursday.
Carlos Ruiz Massieu told the Security Council the actions of the ex-commanders are “regrettable and unjustified” and stressed “the swift and categorical rejection of these actions by all sectors across the country.”