Iran on Wednesday resumed commercial flights to neighbouring Afghanistan, where the Taliban took control last month.

"Today Mahan Air carried passengers between Mashhad and Kabul airport," Fars news agency reported, referring to Iran's second-largest city, in the northeast, and the Afghan capital.

"At present, this airliner is returning to Mashhad with passengers."

It was the first such flight between the two countries since the return of the Taliban to power on August 15.

The Iranian civil aviation agency had announced the interruption of flights to Kabul on August 16 for security reasons.

Previously, Mahan Air had operated two flights per week between Mashhad and Kabul.

Mahan Air, the second largest Iranian airline after the state-owned Iran Air, has been on the blacklist of entities targeted by US sanctions against Iran since 2011.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the Islamic republic hosts more than 3.46 million Afghans, most of them refugees or illegal immigrants, representing more than four percent of Iran's population.

The latest in a recent line of space-obsessed billionaires was set for lift-off on Wednesday with three less wealthy private citizens along for the ride aboard a SpaceX rocket ship, seeking to become the first all-civilian crew launched into Earth orbit.

The quartet of amateur space travelers, led by the American founder and chief executive of e-commerce firm Shift4 Payments Inc, Jared Isaacman, were due for blastoff as early as 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

SpaceX's senior director of human spaceflight, Benji Reed, told reporters at the Cape on Tuesday that "everything looked great" following a final "static" test-firing of the rocket engines on Monday morning.

"Right now the weather is trending well" for an on-time launch, he said.

The flight, with no professional astronauts accompanying SpaceX's paying customers, is expected to last about three days from liftoff to splashdown in the Atlantic.

Dragon’s first all-civilian crew https://t.co/bJFjLCilmc pic.twitter.com/BefnuerQa2

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 14, 2021
They will fly aboard a gleaming white SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, dubbed Resilience, perched atop one of the company's reusable Falcon 9 rockets and fitted with a special observation dome in place of the usual docking hatch.

Isaacman, 38, the trip's benefactor, has forked over an undisclosed but presumably hefty sum to fellow billionaire and SpaceX owner Elon Musk to send himself and his three crewmates aloft. Time magazine has put the ticket price for all four seats at $200 million.

The so-called Inspiration4 mission was conceived by Isaacman mainly to raise awareness and support for one of his favorite causes, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, a leading pediatric cancer center in Memphis, Tennessee.

It marks the debut flight of Musk's new orbital tourism business, and a leap ahead of competitors likewise offering rides on rocket ships to well-heeled customers willing to pay a small fortune for the exhilaration, and bragging rights, of spaceflight.

Inspiration4 is aiming for an orbital altitude of 360 miles (575 km) above Earth, higher than the International Space Station or Hubble Space Telescope. At that height, the Crew Dragon will circle the globe once every 90 minutes at a speed of some 17,000 miles per hour (27,360 kph), or roughly 22 times the speed of sound.

Leap ahead of rivals

Rival companies Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin inaugurated their own private-astronaut services this summer, with their respective founding executives, billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos each going along for the ride.

But those suborbital flights, lasting a matter of minutes, were short hops compared with Inspiration4's spaceflight profile.

SpaceX already ranks as the most well-established player in the burgeoning constellation of commercial rocket ventures, having launched numerous cargo payloads and astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA. Two of its Dragon capsules are docked there already.

Despite some largely honorary titles, the Inspiration4 crew will have no part to play in flying the spacecraft, which will be operated by ground-based flight teams and onboard guidance systems, even though two crew members are licensed pilots. Isaacman, who is rated to fly commercial and military jets, has assumed the role of mission "commander," while geoscientist

Sian Proctor, 51, a former NASA astronaut candidate, has been designated as the mission "pilot."

Rounding out the crew are "chief medical officer" Hayley Arceneaux, 29, a bone cancer survivor turned St. Jude physicians' assistant, and mission "specialist" Chris Sembroski, 42, a U.S. Air Force veteran and aerospace data engineer.

The four crewmates have spent five months in rigorous preparations, including altitude fitness, centrifuge (G-force), microgravity and simulator training, emergency drills, classroom work and medical exams.

Inspiration4 officials stress that the mission is more than a joyride.

Once in orbit, the crew will perform a series of medical experiments with "potential applications for human health on Earth and during future spaceflights," the group said in media materials.

Biomedical data and biological samples, including ultrasound scans, will also be collected from crew members before, during and after the flight.

"The crew of Inspiration4 is eager to use our mission to help make a better future for those who will launch in the years and decades to come," Isaacman said in a statement.

Russia has deadlocked the Security Council over the one-year renewal of the United Nations political mission in Libya, threatening international unity ahead of a presidential election on December 24, diplomatic sources said Tuesday.

Moscow, which has veto-wielding power, did not approve the language in a resolution drafted by Britain on the withdrawal of foreign troops and mercenaries from Libya as well as the role of the UN envoy to the North African country, the sources said.

The mandate for the UN mission expires late Wednesday, and the Security Council planned to vote in the morning on a simple "technical rollover" until the end of the month in order to "resolve issues" by then, said a diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity.

When asked, the Russian diplomatic mission to the UN refused to comment, citing ongoing negotiations.

During the last Security Council debate on Libya, Russia insisted that any withdrawal of foreign troops should be handled so as not to jeopardize the balance of power in the country.

Libya was gripped by violence and political turmoil in the aftermath of the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

In recent years, the oil-rich country has been split between two rival administrations backed by foreign powers and myriad militias. Eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar was backed by Russia.

After Haftar's forces were routed from the country's west last year, the two camps signed a ceasefire in Geneva in October.

An interim administration was established in March this year to prepare for presidential and parliamentary polls on December 24.

But divisions quickly resurfaced, raising concerns elections would go ahead.

In a recent report, the United Nations also recommended having just one person lead its mission to the country.

In 2020, the United States imposed a dual leadership, against the advice of the other 14 members of the Security Council: an emissary in Geneva, Slovak Jan Kubis, and a coordinator based in the Libyan capital, Zimbabwean Raisedon Zenenga.

The UN recommends having only one emissary based in Tripoli, as was the case in the past.

The European Union's chief executive Ursula von der Leyen pledged to accelerate the rate of Covid-19 vaccinations around the world, offering another 200 million jabs for low-income countries in her annual State of the European Union speech on Wednesday.

"Our first and most urgent priority is to speed up global vaccination," von der Leyen told the European Parliament in Strasbourg. "We have already committed to share 250 million doses of vaccine. I can announce today that our mission will add a new donation of another 200 million doses until the middle of next year," she said.

Speaking to lawmakers in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, von der Leyen hailed the EU’s vaccination drive. With 70 percent of its adult population fully vaccinated so far, the bloc is now among the world’s leaders in its pandemic response.

Looking forward, von der Leyen said the next year will be "a test of character" for the EU. "A pandemic is a marathon, it's not a sprint," she noted. "Let us make sure that it does not turn into a pandemic of the non-vaccinated."

The former German defence minister has put tackling climate change at the top of her agenda with bold steps for the EU to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, along with a digital transformation of its economy.

Von der Leyen said the EU would double its international funding to protect nature and halt the decline of the world's biodiversity, adding: "My message today is that Europe is ready to do more."

"This is a generation with a conscience, they are pushing us to go further and faster to tackle the climate crisis," she said.

She said the EU would increase its financial support to help poorer countries fight climate change and adapt to its impacts.

"We will now propose an additional €4 billion for climate finance until 2027," said von der Leyen before calling on the EU’s allies to step up their commitments on tackling climate change.

“We expect the United States and our partners to step up too. This is vital, because closing the climate finance gap together, the US and the European Union, would be such a strong signal for global climate leadership," she said.

The EU already contributes $25 billion per year in climate finance, von de Leyen said.

Climate finance is expected to be a decisive issue at the UN’s COP26 summit in November, where world leaders will attempt to unlock commitments to cut emissions faster and stave off catastrophic climate change.

With seven weeks to go until COP26, finance remains a sore point.

Rich countries have so far failed to deliver their 2009 pledge to provide $100 billion per year in climate finance to poorer countries by 2020.

Without that support, some developing nations say they cannot make the huge investments required to wean their economies off fossil fuels and onto clean energy, or bolster their infrastructure to cope with worsening storms, floods and rising sea levels.

The EU and its member countries are, taken together, the biggest provider of climate finance to developing countries, according to the OECD.

France to host defence summit as Afghanistan pullout sparks ‘deeply troubling questions’

On the foreign policy front, von der Leyen said the EU would hold a defence summit next year during France’s rotating presidency of the bloc to push for a more autonomous military capacity.

The humanitarian and security fallout of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan has intensified debate in Brussels' about the EU's global security role.

"It is time for Europe to step up to the next level," said von der Leyen, adding that she will co-host the upcoming defence summit with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Macron is expected to push for member states to commit to more defence coordination.

North and South Korea tested ballistic missiles hours apart Wednesday in a display of military might that is sure to exacerbate tensions between the rivals at a time when talks aimed at stripping the North of its nuclear program are stalled.

South Korea’s presidential office said the country conducted its first underwater-launched ballistic missile test. It said the domestically built missile flew from a submarine and hit its designated target.

The statement said the weapon is meant to help South Korea deter external threats — a clear reference to North Korea, which tested two short-range ballistic missile earlier in the day. Those launches came two days after the North said it fired a newly developed cruise missile, its first weapons test in six months.

Experts say the North Korean launches are an effort to apply pressure on the United States in the hopes of winning relief from sanctions aimed at persuading the North to abandon its nuclear arsenal. U.S.-led talks on the issue have been stalled for more than two years — and in the meantime, tensions have been rising on the Korean peninsula.

Meanwhile, observers say South Korean President Moon Jae-in's government, which has been actively pursuing reconciliation with North Korea, may have taken action to appear tougher in response to criticism that it’s too soft on the North.

The rival nations are still technically in a state of war since the 1950-53 Korean War, which pitted the North and ally China against the South and U.S.-led U.N. forces, ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the launches “threaten the peace and safety of Japan and the region and are absolutely outrageous.” The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the move “highlights the destabilizing impact of (North Korea’s) illicit weapons program” though it said it didn’t pose an immediate threat to the U.S.

The South Korean test will likely infuriate the North, which has often accused its rival of hypocrisy for introducing modern weapons while calling for talks between the divided countries.

South Korea’s military said the North Korean ballistic missiles flew about 800 kilometers (500 miles) before landing in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. The launches represent a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that bar North Korea from engaging in any ballistic missile activity. But the council typically doesn’t impose new sanctions when the North launches short-range missiles, like Wednesday's.

Wednesday’s tests came as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was in Seoul for meetings with Moon and other senior officials to discuss North Korea and other issues.

It’s unusual for North Korea to make provocative launches when China, its last major ally and biggest aid provider, is engaged in a major diplomatic event. But some experts say North Korea may have used the timing to draw extra attention.

Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said Wednesday’s tests appeared to be of an improved version of a short-range missile it tested in March. He said the weapon is likely modeled on Russia’s Iskander missile, whose flattened-out low altitude flight makes it hard to intercept.

The international community is bent on getting the North to abandon its nuclear program and has long used a combination of the threat of sanctions and the promise of economic help to try to influence the North. But nuclear talks between the United States and North Korea have stalled since 2019, when then-U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration rejected the North’s demand for major sanctions relief in exchange for dismantling an aging nuclear facility.

North Korea leader Kim Jong Un's government has so far rejected U.S. President Joe Biden administration’s overtures for dialogue, demanding that Washington abandon what it calls “hostile” policies first. But the North has maintained its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests, a sign that it may not want to completely scuttle the possibility of reopening the talks.

In 2017, North Korea claimed to have acquired the ability to strike the American mainland with nuclear weapons after conducting three intercontinental ballistic missile tests and its most powerful nuclear test. In recent years, it’s also performed a series of underwater-launched missile tests in what experts say is a worrying development because such weapons are difficult to detect in advance and would provide the North with a second, retaliatory strike capability.

South Korea, which doesn’t have nuclear weapons, is under the protection of the U.S. “nuclear umbrella,” which guarantees a devastating American response in the event of an attack on its ally. But South Korea has been accelerating efforts to build up its conventional arms, including developing more powerful missiles.

Experts say the South’s military advancements are aimed at improving its capacity for preemptive strikes and destroying key North Korean facilities and bunkers.

Separate from the submarine-launched missile, South Korea also tested a missile from an aircraft that is in development.

Fearful of Donald Trump's actions in his final weeks as president, the United States' top military officer twice assured his Chinese counterpart that the two nations would not go to war, according to a forthcoming book.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army that the United States would not strike. One call took place on Oct. 30, 2020, four days before the election that defeated Trump. The second call was on Jan. 8, 2021, just two days after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of the outgoing chief executive.

Milley went so far as to promise Li that he would warn his counterpart in the event of a U.S. attack, according to the book “Peril,” written by Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.

“General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay,” Milley told him in the first call, according to the book. “We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you.”

“If we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise," Milley reportedly said.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the book. Details from the book, which is set to be released next week, were first reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday.

The second call was meant to placate Chinese fears about the events of Jan. 6. But the book reports that Li wasn’t as easily assuaged, even after Milley promised him: “We are 100 percent steady. Everything’s fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.”

Milley believed the president suffered a mental decline after the election, agreeing with a view shared by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a phone call they had Jan. 8, according to officials.

Pelosi had previously said she spoke to Milley that day about “available precautions” to prevent Trump from initiating military action or ordering a nuclear launch, and she told colleagues she was given unspecified assurances that there were longstanding safeguards in place.

Milley, according to the book, called the admiral overseeing the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the military unit responsible for Asia and the Pacific region, and recommended postponing upcoming military exercises. He also asked senior officers to swear an “oath” that Milley had to be involved if Trump gave an order to launch nuclear weapons, according to the book.

Milley was appointed by Trump in 2018 and later drew the president's wrath when he expressed regret for participating in a June 2020 photo op with Trump after federal law enforcement cleared a park near the White House of peaceful protesters so Trump could stand at a nearby damaged church.

In response to the book, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., sent President Joe Biden a letter Tuesday urging him to fire Milley, saying the general worked to “actively undermine the sitting Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces and contemplated a treasonous leak of classified information to the Chinese Communist Party in advance of a potential armed conflict with the People’s Republic of China (PRC).”

Requests for comment from Milley were not immediately returned. Milley's second warning to Beijing came after Trump had fired Secretary of Defense Mike Esper and filled several top positions with interim officeholders loyal to him.

The book also offers new insights into Trump's efforts to hold on to power despite losing the election to Democrat Biden.

Trump refused to concede and offered false claims that the election had been stolen. He repeatedly pressed his vice president, Mike Pence, to refuse to certify the election results at the Capitol on Jan. 6, the event that was later interrupted by the mob.

Pence, the book writes, called Dan Quayle, a former vice president and fellow Indiana Republican, to see if there was any way he could acquiesce to Trump's request. Quayle said absolutely not.

“Mike, you have no flexibility on this. None. Zero. Forget it. Put it away,” Quayle said, according to the book.

Pence ultimately agreed. He defied Trump to affirm Joe Biden's victory. Trump was not pleased.

“I don’t want to be your friend anymore if you don’t do this,” Trump replied, according to the book, later telling his vice president: “You’ve betrayed us. I made you. You were nothing.”

“Peril” describes Trump’s relentless efforts to convince Attorney General William Barr that the election had been stolen. Barr is quoted as telling Trump, “The Justice Department can’t take sides, as you know, between you and the other candidate.” According to the book, Barr had determined that allegations about rigged voting machines “were not panning out.” Barr also expressed disgust with Rudolph Giuliani and others insisting Trump had won, calling them a “clown car.”

Trump’s office had no immediate comment on the book.

Bayern Munich showed Barcelona exactly how dreary life will be without Lionel Messi on Tuesday when it dealt the Spanish team its first loss since the exit of the star forward.

Thomas Müller scored a goal and Robert Lewandowski added two more to help Bayern ease to a 3-0 victory at Camp Nou in their Champions League opener.

Müller’s 34th-minute strike took his career tally to seven goals against Barcelona, including the two he netted in the 8-2 shellacking Bayern dealt Barcelona the last time they met in August 2020.

Without Messi to rely on as it had for years, Barcelona was running scared from the start as it focused on protecting itself from another embarrassing defeat.

The final score hid the total dominance of the Bundesliga powerhouse. Julian Nagelsmann’s team turned the once great attacking juggernaut of Barcelona into a jittery bunch hunkered down in their own area.

Lewandowski capitalized on Bayern’s complete control with goals in the 56th and 85th, both times putting in rebounds from shots that came off the post to the striker.

“We gave little away at the back," Müller said. "Going forward, we could have scored one or two more. It’s a lot of fun playing here, the boys enjoyed it.”

Even having its fans back at Camp Nou, which was at 40% capacity, for the first time in the Champions League since the start of the pandemic could not muster a better showing from the home squad.

Barcelona had two wins and a draw in its three previous matches, all in the Spanish league, that it had played this season after its wretched finances had kept it from resigning Messi.

“We would like to have competed better, but this is what we have right now,” Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman said. “I can’t complain about our attitude, we tried our best. But there is a difference in talent and a difference between a team that has played a long time together and our team with lots of young players. It is difficult to accept, but we have to keep working.”

After going undefeated in 38 consecutive Champions League home games until last year, Barcelona has lost three in a row. Bayern, meanwhile, increased its record unbeaten run away from home in the competition to 19 straight games.

Also in Group E, Benfica drew 0-0 at Dynamo Kyiv.

When Bayern routed Barcelona in the 2020 Champions League quarterfinals, Barcelona could count on Messi, Luis Suárez and Antoine Griezmann. They are all gone because the club could not afford their wages.

Barcelona’s attack is now speared by Memphis Depay, one of the few bright spots for the club this season. He was joined by new arrival Luuk de Jong, who made his debut after a last-minute move from Sevilla.

Neither, however, could receive a ball in a scoring position from their teammates.

Barcelona fell into defending deep inside its area and paid for it when Müller was left alone outside the box. His unchallenged shot took a deflection off Eric García, leaving Marc-Andre Ter Stegen no chance to save.

Barcelona didn’t produce a shot on goal in 90-plus minutes. The closest it came to even making Manuel Neuer work was a desperate try by Sergio Busquets from long range that sailed wide shortly before Lewandowski doubled the lead when he put in a rebound from a shot by Jamal Musiala.
Seeing the defeat was assured, Koeman gave Champions League debuts to 18-year-old Yusuf Demir and 17-year-old Gavi. A hamstring problem that forced Jordi Alba off let 18-year-old Alejandro Balde make his competitive debut.

Philippe Coutinho came on as a late substitute for his first match for Barcelona since a left knee injury he suffered in December.

A loss of possession by Demir led to Lewandowski’s double when he again was alone to put in a shot by Serge Gnabry that came off the upright.

“We came to win this game and we knew that we had to show respect to Barcelona," Lewandowski said. "When you play at the Camp Nou against them they are always dangerous. But we had this game under control and we showed we were here for the three points.”

Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry on Tuesday sacked his top prosecutor, who was seeking charges against the premier over the July assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

Henry's decision to fire Bed-Ford Claude came hours after the prosecutor asked the judge investigating Moise's murder to charge the prime minister with involvement in the case.

"I have the pleasure of informing you that it was decided to terminate your post," the prime minister said in a publicly distributed letter.

Claude, who was the government commissioner in Port-au-Prince -- the equivalent of a federal prosecutor -- had made the request due to alleged phone calls Henry made with one of the main suspects in the hours after the killing.

"There are sufficient compromising elements that form (my) conviction on the appropriateness of prosecuting Mr. Henry and requesting his outright indictment," wrote Claude in an official letter addressed to a Port-au-Prince court.

In a second letter, sent to the director of migration administration, Claude requested Henry be banned from leaving the island nation "for serious presumptions of assassination of the President of the Republic."

Moise, a politically and publicly controversial figure, was killed overnight from July 6 to 7 when an armed group burst into his private residence in the Haitian capital.

Henry had already been asked to appear for questioning in the case about the alleged conversations he had just a few hours after Moise's murder, with a former government official wanted in connection with the killing.

'Diversionary tactics'

Police are still searching for the former official, Joseph Felix Badio, who worked in the justice ministry's anti-corruption unit.

Badio's phone was allegedly tracked to the area near Moise's residence when Badio called Henry twice in the early hours of July 7, after the president was shot dead by gunmen.

In his letter to the judge, Claude said the calls lasted a total of seven minutes. He also noted a government official tweeted last month Henry claimed he never spoke with Badio.

Henry was named by Moise as prime minister days before the president's death and was sworn in on July 20, pledging to improve the country's dire security situation and to organize long-delayed elections.

A prime minister legally cannot be questioned unless the president authorizes it, but in the wake of Moise's slaying, Haiti does not have a president.

So far, 44 people -- including 18 Colombians and two Americans of Haitian descent -- have been arrested in connection with the inquiry into the assassination. None of the president's security guards were injured in the attack.

Henry on Saturday slammed the earlier request for him to be questioned, saying: "These diversionary tactics, designed to create confusion and prevent justice from calmly running its course, will not stand."

"Those who are truly guilty, the masterminds of the odious assassination of president Jovenel Moise and those who ordered it, will be found, brought to justice and punished for their actions."