Briefly

MALDIVES

Key suspect held over blast hurting ex-leader

The Maldives police have arrested the primary suspect in a terrorist bomb attack last week that injured Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed, who is a former president, local media reported on Monday. Ahmed Adhuham, 25, was apprehended by the police in Hulhumale 15 hours after the release of CCTV footage featuring him at the scene of the attack. Two other suspects, 21-year-old Mujaz Ahmed and 32-year-old Thahumeen Ahmed, were arrested on Saturday. The fourth suspect remains at large. State media reported that Maldives' Parliamentary Committee on National Security Services will conduct an inquiry into the breach of the speaker's security.

IRAN

US urged by central bank to lift sanctions

The governor of the Central Bank of Iran, Abdolnasser Hemmati, said on Sunday the United States should remove banking sanctions against the Islamic republic, state TV reported. Iran has been insisting on the removal of banking sanctions as a condition to return to full compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Hemmati was quoted as saying. Then, Iran will verify the removal of sanctions against the central bank and other Iranian banks, and money transfer via SWIFT and between Iranian and other major foreign banks, said Hemmati.

SYRIA

Fire at oil refinery extinguished after leak

Firefighters extinguished a blaze on Sunday in a distillation unit at one of Syria's two oil refineries, Syrian state TV reported. No one was hurt, but the fire caused some damage to the facility, a refinery official said. The reports named the cause of the fire as crude oil leakage from one of the pumping stations at the Homs Oil Refinery in the central province of Homs. The fire came amid a series of mysterious attacks on vessels and oil facilities in Syria over the past months. The war-torn country has been suffering from fuel shortages in recent months. The head of Homs Oil Refinery, Suleiman Mohammed, said the distillation unit that caught fire is one of four at the refinery.

Agencies - Xinhua