The speaker of Iran’s parliament says a three-month monitoring deal between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog has expired and that its access to images from inside some Iranian nuclear sites would cease.The International Atomic Energy Agency and Tehran struck the three-month monitoring agreement in February to cushion the blow of Iran reducing its cooperation with the agency, and it allowed monitoring of some activities that would otherwise have been axed to continue.IAEA chief Rafael Grossi is in talks with Iran about extending the agreement.European diplomats say that a failure to agree upon an extension would plunge the wider, indirect talks between Washington and Tehran on reviving the 2015 deal into crisis. Those talks are due to resume in Vienna this week.

In Gaza, a UN official called for a genuine political process to avert further bloodshed after the military conflict between Israel and Islamist group Hamas that ravaged the Palestinian enclave.Head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency, Philippe Lazzarini, says the reconstruction needed to go hand in hand with efforts to create a different political environment.He says they need to have a genuine focus on human development on proper access to education, jobs and livelihoods.

Top European Union officials warned Belarus on Sunday that it would be held responsible for the fate of a flight diverted to Minsk and demanded all passengers be released.EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tweeted that they hold the government of Belarus responsible for the security of all passengers and the aircraft.The president of the European Council Charles Michel, who will host a summit of the 27 EU national leaders on Monday, also spoke out.He says an ICAO investigation of the incident will be essential referring to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a UN agency.

Interior minister Priti Patel says Britain is to announce plans for a fully digital border, including US-style electronic travel authorisation to pre-check travellers to the UK.The minister will announce the plans in parliament on Monday as part of a wider overhaul of the country’s immigration system, including introducing a points-based migration system.Patel says the new fully digital border will provide the ability to count people in and out of the country, giving us control over who comes to the UKPatel unveiled elements of her New Plan for Immigration in March, calling it the most significant overhaul of our asylum system in decades.

The United States is imposing wide-ranging restrictions on economic and security assistance to Ethiopia over the conflict in the Tigray region.The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, also announced visa restrictions on Ethiopian and Eritrean officials and others who are accused of atrocities.Mr Blinken stressed that international action was needed to help resolve the crisis and said those involved had taken no meaningful steps to end hostilities.The Ethiopian government dismissed allegations that civilians in the war-hit Tigray region were targeted with chemical weapons by the Ethiopian or Eritrean armies.

A court in Egypt has denied a request made by the owner of the ship that blocked the Suez Canal in March to have it released.The Ever Given ship owner wanted his vessel to be released pending the determination of another case in which the Suez Canal Authority is seeking compensation for the six days blockage.The authority wants the ship to be detained until a deposit of the compensation is paid.The authority says the compensation covers the costs of freeing the ship, damage caused and diversion of ships away from the canal.

The organised labour cautioned the National Economic Council against approving a recommendation by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum seeking an N385 pump price for petrol.Their warning came ahead of a National Executive Committee meeting of the Nigeria Labour Congress, scheduled for Abuja tomorrow, to deliberate on the issue.The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva, had however fears of an increase in petrol price, the various states’ chapters of the labour unions vowed to resist the proposed price regime if approved.

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product has recorded a growth of 0.51 per cent year-on-year in real terms in the first quarter of 2021.The National Bureau of Statistics in the latest Nigerian Gross Domestic Product Report noted that the new figure represented two consecutive quarters of growth following the negative growth rates recorded in the second and third quarters of 2020.The rate of growth recorded in the first quarter of 2021 was slower than the 1.87 per cent rate recorded in the first quarter of 2020.The figure was however higher than the 0.11 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020, indicative of a slow but continuous recovery.

The Presidential Steering Committee has published the names of 90 returning travellers who evaded the mandatory seven-day quarantine for persons arriving from restricted countries.A statement by the PSC Chairman, Boss Mustapha, revealed that the erring persons comprised 63 Nigerians.Mustapha noted that the committee had issued a travel advisory on May 1 for passengers arriving in Nigeria from Brazil, India, and Turkey, saying the measures were necessary to mitigate the risk of importation of variants of concern and break the chain of transmission to the population.The erring persons, according to the SGF, arrived in Nigeria between May 8 and 15 through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that the national flag be flown at half-mast in all public buildings, facilities, and official residences across the country.The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, explained that the presidential directive was to honour the memory and services of the late Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru, as well as the senior military officers and service members who died in a plane crash on Friday last week.Mustapha added that the President has approved Monday as a work-free day for members of the Nigerian Armed Forces.