Canada says ready to restore ties with Iran

Here is a round-up of global news developments:

• Iran is warning that it will respond to any anti-Tehran measures by the US. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Tehran will never negotiate its defense industry. Zarif believes that the new sanctions imposed by the US Treasury on a number of Iranian individuals and companies have no legal basis.
   
• China's gross domestic product rose six-point-nine percent in 2015, which is the country’s lowest annual growth in 25 years. All main economic indices were lower than of the previous years, leading economists to believe that the real growth rates may be even lower than the data suggests.
   
• The Yemeni army says its forces, backed by Ansarullah fighters, have paralyzed the Saudi-led forces and their mercenaries. Army spokesman Sharaf Luqman added that Yemenis have managed to inflict heavy casualties on the aggressors and halt their advancements in the Arab nation.
   
• Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is in Riyadh to discuss bilateral and regional issues with Saudi officials including King Salman bin Abdulaziz. The visit is reportedly aimed at defusing tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia which escalated after Riyadh executed Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr earlier this month.
   
• Canadian Prime Minister says his country is ready to resume diplomatic ties with Iran after a four-year hiatus. Justin Trudeau says he will discuss the resumption of Ottawa-Tehran ties at a cabinet meeting in the coming weeks. Former Canadian government broke diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic in 2012.
   
• Russian Helicopters, a leading copter design and manufacturing company, hopes to provide Iran with new military choppers and improve after-sales maintenance. With the lifting of international sanctions against Tehran, many major corporations have expressed readiness to resume or start doing business with Iran.
   
• At least seven people, including two civilians, have been killed in Turkish province of Shirnak amid clashes between government forces and the militants of Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Turkey's southeast has witnessed deadly violence in recent months after a two-year ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK collapsed in July 2015.
   
• The European Union says the goods produced inside Israeli settlements must clearly be labeled in Europe. The bloc said all its accords with Israel must unequivocally and explicitly show that they cannot apply to occupied territories. The move applies to the West Bank and the Golan Heights.

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