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Afghanistan Turns Away Plane Carrying Its Vice President Wall Street Journal (subscription) KABULA plane carrying a top Afghan official under investigation for kidnapping and raping a political rival was prevented from landing in northern Afghanistan, authorities said Tuesday. The official, First Vice President Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, was ... Afghan Vice President's Return Thwarted as Plane Is Turned BackNew York Times Noor says no legal hindrance for Gen. Dostum's return to AfghanistanKhaama Press (press release) (blog) all 12 news articles »

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Afghanistan Turns Away Plane Carrying Its Vice President - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Christina Gregg, AOL.com

Jul 18th 2017 1:37PM

President Trump's eldest daughter and senior adviser greeted participants at a global robotics competition in Washington on Tuesday, paying a special visit to one team that struggled to get visa clearance before the event.

The FIRST Global competition is an annual event put on by the non-profit with a mission of inspiring STEM around the world.

"With 160+ countries represented, @FIRSTweets goes beyond robotics," Ivanka Trump wrote with a Twitter post on Tuesday. "It is a game everyone can play & where everyone can turn pro!"

Click through to see photos from Ivanka's appearance at the robotics competition:

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Ivanka Trump greets participants at global robotics conference

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The six girls representing Afghanistan in the competition faced an uphill battle leading up to the July event when they were twice denied visas allowing them to participate. Eventually, President Trump and Washington officials involved themselves in the affair, and all participants -- even those from Yemen and Syria -- were allowed to come to Washington for the robotics event.

The U.S. team was paired with the Afghanistan team on Tuesday morning before the competition began, during which Ivanka Trump visited and shared some words with the girls.

"For many of you who have traveled great lengths to be here, we welcome you," Ivanka said, smiling at the Afghan girls. "It's a privilege and an honor to have you all with us."

The competition will conclude with an awards ceremony on Tuesday night, after which many team participants will spend the rest of the week touring the nation's capital.

"I am excited to meet these young men and women, whose work ethic, ingenuity and passion has driven them to achieve tremendous success and granted them the opportunity to represent their home countries at this challenging competition," Ivanka Trump echoed in an Instagram post. "Teaching robotics and engineering skills to the next generation of innovators is critical to the future of our economy and the world!"

RELATED: A look at the FIRST Global robotics conference:

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FIRST Global robotics conference

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Team Portugal talks business in the hallways during the robot cometition July 17, 2017 at the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

A member of the Lebanon Team looks up for a photo while working his booth with team computer during the robot cometition July 17, 2017 at the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

Members of the Morocco robotic team work on their robot July 17, 2017 outside the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

Computer aficiendos from Lebanon (rainbow hair) and Oceania(blue shirts) do a version of the Macarena in the hallways during the robot cometition July 17, 2017 at the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

A member of the Senegal team works on the team computer during the robot cometition July 17, 2017 at the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 17: Participants compete during the first of two days of the First Global International Robot Olympics, an international robotic challenge, July 17, 2017 at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. Teams from over 150 countries, including an all-girl team from Afghanistan whose visas had been initially denied to enter the U.S., took part in the competition. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

One of the members of the United Arab Emirates robotics team carries his robot to the comptetion floor July 17, 2017 outside the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 17: A member of Team Libya works on his team's robot during the first of two days of the First Global International Robot Olympics, an international robotic challenge, July 17, 2017 at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. Teams from over 150 countries, including an all-girl team from Afghanistan whose visas had been initially denied to enter the U.S., took part in the competition. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 17: (2nd L-R) Rodaba Noori, Yasimin Yasinzadah, Somayeh Faruqi, Kawsar Roshan, and Lida Azizi of Team Afghanistan test their team's robot as coach Alireza Mehraban (L) looks on during the first of two days of the First Global International Robot Olympics, an international robotic challenge, July 17, 2017 at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. Teams from over 150 countries, including an all-girl team from Afghanistan whose visas had been initially denied to enter the U.S., took part in the competition. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Members of the Afghan all-girls robotics team make adjustments to the team robot in the practice area July 17, 2017, between 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall, in Washington, DC. A team of Afghan girls prevailed in their first encounter at an international robotics competition in Washington Monday, but the result was perhaps less significant than the fact they made it at all. Twice denied visas into the United States until a late intervention by the Trump administration, the team of six from the war-torn country's western Herat are now determined to strike a blow for gender equality and national pride. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

Members of the Afghan all-girls robotics team make adjustments to the team robot in the practice area on July 17, 2017, between 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall, in Washington, DC. A team of Afghan girls prevailed in their first encounter at an international robotics competition in Washington Monday, but the result was perhaps less significant than the fact they made it at all. Twice denied visas into the United States until a late intervention by the Trump administration, the team of six from the war-torn country's western Herat are now determined to strike a blow for gender equality and national pride. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC- JULY 15: L-R, Katie Johnson, Sanjna Ravichandar, and Colleen Johnson, sit with their robot while watching the FIRST Global competition held at the DAR building (Photo by April Greer For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

A member of the Afghan all-girls robotics team makes a few adjustments to her team's robot on July 17, 2017, between 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall, in Washington, DC. A team of Afghan girls prevailed in their first encounter at an international robotics competition in Washington Monday, but the result was perhaps less significant than the fact they made it at all. Twice denied visas into the United States until a late intervention by the Trump administration, the team of six from the war-torn country's western Herat are now determined to strike a blow for gender equality and national pride. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC- JULY 15: L-R, Katie and Colleen Johnson, and Sanjna Ravichandar hold their group's robot at the FIRST Global competition held at the DAR building. (Photo by April Greer For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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More from AOL.com: GOP congressman: Trump should remove Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner form White House MSNBC takes a jab at Trump with snarky chyron about familys products during 'Made in America' speech Debbie Wasserman Schultz is trying to strip Jared Kushner of his security clearance

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PHOTOS: Ivanka Trump attends global robotics conference, meets Afghanistan team - AOL

With the stark injustices women and girls continue to face in the country, Afghanistans Sesame Streethas unveiled a new boy muppet whose mission it is to promote gender equality.

Last month,Sesame Workshop introduced Zeerak, a 4-year-old male orange muppet who will be joining his big sister on Baghch-e-Simsim, Afghanistans local version of Sesame Street, an educational series for preschoolers.

According to the Sesame Workshops press release,Zeerak will fight for gender equality and girls education, among other issues, important topics for a country where girls have often been excluded from educational and other critical opportunities.

Kids in Afghanistan will meet Zeerak a little over a year after his sister, Zari, made her debut on the show. The 6-year-old girl has been an advocate for female empowerment.

In a male-dominant country like Afghanistan, I think you have to do some lessons for the males to respect the females. So by bringing a male character to the show who respects a female character, you teach the Afghan men that you have to respect your sister the same way as you do your brother, Massood Sanjer, head of TOLO TV, which broadcasts the show in Afghanistan, told The Associated Press.

WAKIL KOHSAR via Getty Images

During the Talibans rule in the 1990s, harsh laws were implemented in the country to drastically restrict social opportunity for women and girls, including outlawing school for girls and largely banning women from working outside the home.

While Afghanistan has made progress in terms of educational opportunities for girls, the country still lags globally in many categories measuring human development and gender equality.

At 14 percent, the literacy rate for Afghan women is among the lowest in the world, according to the United Nations Girls Education Initiative.

Meanwhile, between 2008 and 2012, about 21 percent of girls attended secondary school, compared to about 42 percent of boys, according to the United Nations Childrens Fund.

Despite recent gains, girls are still often forced to drop out of school because of realities including persistent conflict,the existence of early marriage and the fact that girls schools are still targetedby anti-government insurgentsopposed to educating women, according to UN Women, the United Nations body tasked with empowering women and fighting for gender equality.

WAKIL KOHSAR via Getty Images

To demonstrate the importance of education, Zeerak and Zari will be featured discussingthe benefits of school, and Zeerak is intent on listening to his sisters daily stories.

In show segments, Zari urges Zeerak to think about his future, what he wants to be when he grows up and how he can excel at future educational opportunities.

We know children learn best when they can identify with characters, and research shows that Zari has been a powerful role model for boys and girls alike, Sherrie Westin, an executive vice president at Sesame Workshop, said in the statement last month announcing the new characters. The debut of Zeerak builds on the incredible impact weve seen Zari achieve over the past year.

Sesame Street Musical Guests 35

Johnny Cash, "Five Feet High" (1973)

The best part of this is how mildly nonplussed Johnny Cash looks, as if he's not quite sure where he is.

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New Boy Muppet On Afghanistan's 'Sesame Street' Is A Feminist - HuffPost

A day after declaring that Iran was obeying international restrictions on its nuclear program, the Trump administration went in the opposite directionand slapped new sanctions on the Tehran government for separate alleged transgressions.

The Treasury Department on Tuesday blacklisted 18 individuals and entities for supporting Iran's military and Revolutionary Guards Corps, accusing them of trying to build ballistic missiles andsteal U.S.computer software and of harassing U.S. naval vessels.

The sanctions mean it is illegal for American citizens or companies to do business with those on the list, and any assets they have in the U.S. can be seized.

The back-to-back actions reflect the policy crosscurrents for President Trump in trying to reconcile his campaign promises with the realities of foreign policy governance.

As a candidate, he vowed to "rip up" the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, which was brokered by the United States with five other countries and the European Union. It required the Islamic Republic to get rid of most of its nuclear material and to refrain from nuclear weapons production for a decade.

The United Nations has repeatedly said Iran is complying.

But the administration has sought a way to thread the needle between not walking away from the deal which would have potentially disastrous international consequences andholding Iran accountable for other behaviors, such as its support for militant groups in Lebanon and Yemen.

Iran, along with Russia, also backs Syrian President Bashar Assad, whom the U.S. accuses of numerous atrocities against his citizenry.

"The United States remains deeply concerned about Irans malign activities across the Middle East, which undermine regional stability, securityand prosperity," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Tuesday.

The nuclear agreement's terms are limited to the nuclear weaponry issue. Itdoes not address Iran's ballistic missile program or any other aspects of its military activities or human rights record. Diplomats said at the time it would have been impossible to reach the nuclear agreement if the other issues were mixed in.

At a midnight deadline Monday, the Trump administration certified that Iran was complying with the nuclear deal. By law, the U.S. must issue certification every 90 days. This is the second time Trump's government has done so. It came with last-minute drama this time, as Trumpbalked at certificationagainst the wishes of his principal national security advisors, according to by a person close to the White House who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the internal debate.

On Monday, after talking points for certifying Iran's compliance already had been distributed within the administration, Trump told senior advisors he was having second thoughts and wanted other options.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson came to the Oval Office around 1:30 p.m. for a previously scheduled and unrelated meeting with Trump, but the discussion was dominated by what to do with the Iran deal.

Tillerson argued that allies needed more notice before stating Iran wasnt complying with the deal. Trump national security advisor H.R. McMaster and other senior advisors present, including Gen. Joseph Dunford,chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also made the case for holding off.

But Steve Bannon, Trumps strategic advisor who keeps a list of Trumps campaign pledges on a white board in his White House office, said Trump should follow through with his promiseto tear up the deal.

After nearly an hour, Trump agreed to support certification, but demanded a plan for getting tougher on Iran. Facing the midnight deadline to inform Congress, advisors were still were tweaking the wording of the announcement as late as 9:30 p.m.

Hours after the certification, the administration announced the new sanctions for Iran's separate actions. The penalties are the latest in a long list of attempts to punish Tehran.

"Irans other malign activities are serving to undercut whatever 'positive contributions'to regional and international peace and security were intended to emerge from the" nuclear agreement, Nauert said.

Besides Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the new sanctions target the military's support of so-called "fast attack boats," which are the small vessels Iran uses to harass U.S. ships in the region's waters.

Most of those sanctioned Tuesday were Iranian, but one company isbased in Turkey and one individual is a Chinese national.

The sanctions "send a strong signal that the United States cannot and will not tolerate Irans provocative and destabilizing behavior," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

As part of the nuclear accord, numerous international sanctions on Iran were lifted, allowing it to export oil and rejointhe global financial system.

The State Department also reissued calls for the release of U.S. citizens arrested in Iran.

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Certify and punish: US slaps new sanctions on Iran after saying Tehran was complying with nuclear deal - Los Angeles Times

PRINCETON, N.J. (Reuters) - By the time Princeton University graduate student Xiyue Wang arrived in Iran to conduct research for his doctorate in history, he had already spent years living and working in politically turbulent countries.

The Chinese-born U.S. citizen previously worked as a Pashto translator for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan and spent time in Uzbekistan while a student at Harvard University.

Wang, 37, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on spying charges after his arrest last summer, an Iranian official said on Sunday. He is the latest American citizen to face jail in Iran for what the U.S. State Department has denounced as fabricated charges.

His sentencing shocked his colleagues at Princeton, who described him in interviews as a quiet but collegial scholar whose intellectual curiosity stood out even at the elite school in New Jersey.

Wang is married and has a 4-year-old son. In addition to Pashto, English and his native Mandarin, Wang is also proficient in Russian and Turkish and was learning Persian in Iran.

His wife, Hua Qu, said in a statement on Tuesday that her husband "has been unjustly imprisoned for espionage that I know he did not and never would commit."

"We fervently hope that the Iranian authorities will release him soon so that he can return home to his young family," she added.

University President Chris Eisgruber said in a letter to the school on Monday that Princeton had kept his arrest confidential on the recommendation of advisers inside and outside of government.

Wang, a history student at Princeton since 2013, was conducting field work for his dissertation, which is focused on how Muslim regions are governed.

Iran accused him of scanning 4,500 pages of digital documents. His academic adviser, history Professor Stephen Kotkin, and fellow graduate students said in interviews that scanning historical documents the ones Wang was studying were a century old, Kotkin said for later review is a common practice for researchers.

Kotkin said Wang was pursuing a "very ambitious" dissertation plan that included on-site research in Iran, Russia and potentially Afghanistan.

"He's one of these kids who lives for research and ideas," Kotkin said.

Several history graduate students described Wang as a respected scholar but declined to go into detail, citing the sensitivity of the case. The history department's chairman, Keith Wailoo, emailed students on Monday asking them to refer news media inquiries to the school's communications office.

One student and friend of Wang's, who requested anonymity after Wailoo's email, said Wang was "very driven" to succeed, working hard to learn Persian to read source material in its original form.

An official at Iran's interests section in Washington, the country's de facto diplomatic outpost in the U.S. capital, declined to comment in detail on Wang's case, referring questions to Iran's United Nations mission, which did not respond to a request for comment.

After high school in Beijing, Wang studied in China and India before moving to the United States, according to a lecture he gave years ago.

He graduated from the University of Washington in 2006 and earned a master's degree at Harvard University, where he traveled to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan for research.

In 2008-09, Wang worked at a law firm in Hong Kong through Princeton in Asia, a program that arranges fellowships in Asia for U.S. residents.

"For better or worse, he still can't tell you what exactly he has been studying in the many years that have passed," a biographical note on Princeton in Asia's website said. "What he does know is that his dream is to walk the ancient Silk Road from Xi'an to Rome one day."

Reporting by Joseph Ax; Additional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati in Washington and Ethan Lou in Calgary; Editing by Jonathan Oatis

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US student imprisoned in Iran is scholar, not spy: colleagues - Reuters