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Canada asks Iran to send airliner’s black boxes to Ukraine or France

Canada on Sunday repeated its request that Iran quickly hands over to France or Ukraine black boxes from the Ukrainian airliner which Tehran’s forces accidentally shot down.
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois-Philippe Champagne said he had spoken with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on the subject.
“I repeated Canada’s position that the black boxes be sent as quickly as possible either to Ukraine or France so it can be done somewhere the expertise exists and it can be done transparently,” Champagne said on the sidelines of a government seminar in Winnipeg.
Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 went down shortly after takeoff from Tehran on January 8, killing all 176 people on board including 57 Canadians.
Champagne said that he judges Iran “not by their words, but by their actions.”
The minister was reacting to a statement from Hassan Rezayifar, head of investigations at Iran’s aviation authority, who said his country intends to keep the black boxes for the time being.
“The black box of the Ukrainian Boeing 737 is in Iran and we currently have no plans to send it,” Rezayifar said, according to the Iranian state news agency IRNA.
“We will try to read the crashed Ukrainian airplane’s black box in Iran and our next options are Ukraine and France, but for now we have no plans to send them to another country,” he said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had on Friday urged Iran to hand over the black boxes to France, saying it has one of the few laboratories capable of properly examining them.
Trudeau has said that Canada was the final destination for 138 of the 176 passengers and crew on the Kyiv-bound plane, including visitors and students.
After initial denials, Iran admitted it shot down the plane “unintentionally” while on high alert after firing missiles towards bases housing US troops stationed in Iraq. Their strike was in retaliation for the killing of top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike.
Canada severed diplomatic ties and shuttered its embassy in Tehran in 2012.
Champagne had his first face-to-face meeting with Zarif in Oman at the end of last week.
source: AFP
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BENEFIT Sponsors BuildHer...
- April 23, 2025
BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”
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