Briefly

TURKIYE

Attacks mounted in Iraq, Syria operation

Turkiye has launched air and ground attacks in northern Syria and northern Iraq, hitting 471 targets and neutralizing 254 "terrorists", Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Wednesday. "The operation continues with punishing fires carried out by air and ground fire support vehicles," Akar was quoted by the news outlet Anadolu Agency as saying. An aerial operation was mounted on Sunday against the Kurdish People's Protection Units in northern Syria and the Kurdistan Workers' Party in northern Iraq.

IRAN

IAEA officials to visit Teheran for talks

Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, or AEOI, announced on Wednesday that the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency and accompanying officials will travel to Teheran for talks. "Negotiations between Iran and the IAEA are still ongoing to reach a concrete and workable plan," Eslami told the official IRNA news agency. Referring to the recent start of uranium enrichment to the purity of 60 percent at the Fordow nuclear facility, Eslami said political pressures and extensive sanctions "have no effect".

EUROPE

Space agency gets first parastronaut

The European Space Agency made history on Wednesday by selecting an amputee who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident to be among its newest batch of astronauts — a leap toward its pioneering ambition to send someone with a physical disability into space. Briton John McFall, 41, who has been dubbed the first "parastronaut", lost his right leg at 19 and went on to compete in the Paralympics. He called his selection at Europe's answer to NASA "a real turning point and mark in history".

Xinhua - Agencies