Новости за 24.11.2023

An Iranian in his early 20s who was executed in a case connected to the 2022 protests has been buried amid a heavy security force presence, a rights group said on Friday.  Milad Zohrevand, who was executed at dawn on Thursday in a prison in the western city of Hamadan, is the eighth convict to have been executed over the protests that shook Iran starting in September last year.  The protests erupted after the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian Kurd who had been arrested... Читать дальше...

Western powers have been reluctant to get tough on Tehran for fear of aggravating Middle East tensions as Iran grows its nuclear program and reduces cooperation with the United Nations watchdog, diplomats say. Worries of a wider regional conflict have sharpened since Hamas' October 7 attack and Israel's retaliatory bombardment and ground offensive aimed at destroying the Palestinian militants in Gaza. At this week's Board of Governors meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna... Читать дальше...

Although the national poll body of Bangladesh has announced parliamentary elections will be held on January 7, opposition parties, rights activists and political analysts are saying that the situation in the country is not suitable for elections at all.    With a massive crackdown continuing against the opposition political parties, and party leaders and activists still being arbitrarily arrested across the country, the election cannot be free and fair, rights activists said.   “Prime Minister... Читать дальше...

Taiwan’s January presidential election is emerging as a three-way race analysts say will be a referendum on China relations. The opposition Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party, both of whom want to renew talks with China, failed this month to agree on a joint presidential ticket. The Kuomintang will run Hou Yu-ih, a former police chief, for president with media commentator Jaw Shaw-Kang as his running mate. The Taiwan People’s Party ticket will be former doctor and mayor Ko Wen-je for president with Cynthia Wu... Читать дальше...

Officials in Pakistan have defended charging fees on Afghan nationals leaving the country or waiting for Western-sponsored resettlements, saying the decision complies with local immigration laws. The targeted community comprises tens of thousands of people who worked for the U.S.-led NATO military mission in Afghanistan and fled the country fearing reprisals after the then-insurgent Taliban seized power in August 2021. A Pakistani immigration official confirmed Friday that each Afghan asylum-seeker... Читать дальше...

When Niyaz Abdullah accepted an award this month, the Iraqi Kurdish journalist used her speech to highlight the challenges for Kurdish media, activists and politicians. “As I stand here, the Kurdistan Region and Iraq have transformed into a harrowing ordeal for journalists,” Abdullah told an audience in New York. The Committee to Protect Journalists honored Abdullah for her unflinching coverage of Iraqi Kurdistan, despite risks to her own safety. Abdullah had been due to receive the International... Читать дальше...

The ACT is one of two commonly used college admissions tests in the U.S. Scores have fallen year over year and are now at their lowest level in 30 years. The pandemic made students less ready for college, but the trend predates it. Joseph Pisani of The Wall Street Journal has more. (October 2023)

The United Nations called Friday for an independent investigation after an opposition activist in Zimbabwe was found dead following his abduction ahead of controversial by-elections. The body of Tapfumanei Masaya, a pastor and an activist with the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), was discovered Monday, 30 kilometers (18 miles) outside Harare, the UN rights office said. He and fellow activist Jeffrey Kalosi had been snatched by armed men in broad daylight two days earlier while campaigning in the Zimbabwean capital for a CCC candidate. Читать дальше...

Irish police arrested 34 people after suspected far-right protesters in central Dublin attacked police, damaged shops and set fire to vehicles Thursday night following the stabbing of three children by an unidentified man earlier in the day. The head of the Irish police, Commissioner Drew Harris, said one officer was seriously injured in the violence that began after news spread that a 5-year-old girl was receiving emergency medical treatment at a Dublin hospital following the attack outside a school. Читать дальше...

Organizers of the coming COP28 climate conference, believing nuclear energy must play a role in weaning the world off fossil fuels, are likely to be comfortable with Chinese plans to make nuclear power a major part of its energy future. While high-profile accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima have tarnished the image of nuclear power in much of the world, China — the world’s biggest carbon emitter — is pressing ahead with ambitious plans for new nuclear construction. Beijing... Читать дальше...

A four-day truce between Israel and Hamas went into effect at 7 a.m., local time (0500 GMT), expected to be followed by the release of dozens of Hamas-held hostages and 150 Palestinians held by Israel. The truce includes a comprehensive cease-fire in north and south Gaza, spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari told journalists in Doha earlier. According to the deal, 50 women and children who were abducted from Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7 will be released in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and minors jailed in Israel. Читать дальше...

When Daniel Skousen scrubs at the ash and soot covering his Maui home, he worries about the smell. What chemicals created the burning-trash-barrel scent that has lingered since a deadly wildfire tore through Lahaina in August? Should he believe government agencies' assessment of when the air, land and water will be safe enough for his family to return? Or will political and economic pressures to rebuild and restore Maui's robust tourism industry — where visitors normally spend $14 million per day ... Читать дальше...

Just as they have for millions of years, sea turtles by the thousands made their labored crawl from the ocean to U.S. beaches to lay their eggs over the past several months. This year, record nesting was found in Florida and elsewhere despite growing concern about threats from climate change. In Florida, preliminary state statistics show more than 133,840 loggerhead turtle nests, breaking a record set in 2016. Same for green turtles, where the estimate of at least 76,500 nests is well above the previous mark set in 2017. Читать дальше...

Expect big discounts and other enticements to lure shoppers to stores for Black Friday. But retailers worry those may not be enough. Consumers are coming under pressure as their savings dwindle and their credit card debt grows. And although they have gotten some relief from easing inflation, many goods and services like meat and rent are still far higher than they were just three years ago. Barbara Lindquist, 85, from Hawthorne Woods, Illinois, said she and her husband plan to spend about $1,000... Читать дальше...

A Thai-backed hydropower dam is under construction on the Mekong River near Luang Prabang, the old royal capital of Laos. It aims to export electricity to neighboring Thailand. But it is also raising alarm over the future of this scenic UNESCO heritage site. Tom Fawthrop reports from Luang Prabang, Laos. Camera: Houmphanh

An activist who documented murders in one of Mexico's deadliest cities has himself been killed, authorities confirmed Wednesday. Adolfo Enríquez was killed in the city of Leon, in north-central Guanajuato state. The city has the third-highest number of homicides in Mexico, trailing only the border cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez. Enríquez described himself on his social media profiles as an "activist, demanding a country with the rule of law." For years, Enríquez has posted a simple, moving tally of each murder in Leon... Читать дальше...

A four-day cease-fire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas will begin Friday morning. Fifty Israeli hostages and about 150 Palestinian prisoners are expected to be released. Protests break out in Dublin after Irish police said a 5-year-old girl was attacked with a knife.

Myanmar 's military-controlled government said Thursday that almost half of more than 250 cargo trucks stranded by fighting against ethnic minority armed groups near the northeastern border with China have been destroyed in a fire caused by bombs dropped by drones. Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson of the ruling military council, said in a statement phoned to state television MRTV that trucks parked in a compound near a trade zone in Muse township caught fire after drones belonging to ethnic... Читать дальше...

A Chinese dissident who fled across the Yellow Sea on a Jet Ski-style watercraft is free in South Korea after three months in detention, at least for now.  A South Korean court on Thursday sentenced Kwon Pyong, 35, to one year in prison for entering the country illegally but suspended the sentence for two years, effectively ending his detention.  Kwon’s request for asylum in South Korea is still pending, meaning he still faces the threat of being deported to China if his request is rejected.... Читать дальше...

Daniel Noboa, an inexperienced politician and heir to a fortune built on the banana trade, was sworn in Thursday as Ecuador's president, a role that citizens are demanding he use to restore the public safety that drug cartels and other criminal organizations robbed them of at the decade's start.  Noboa's term will run through May 2025, which is what remains of former President Guillermo Lasso's tenure. Lasso cut his term short when he dissolved the National Assembly in May as lawmakers pursued impeachment proceedings against him. Читать дальше...

The United States is seeking a swift extradition from Mexico of Nestor Isidro Perez Salas, or "El Nini," who is accused of heading security for the faction of the Sinaloa cartel headed by the sons of founder Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said  Thursday.  The Mexican National Guard on Wednesday captured Perez Salas. Viewed by U.S. anti-narcotics agents as one of the most ruthless Mexican drug figures, Perez Salas was detained in Culiacan, the Sinaloa cartel's heartland... Читать дальше...

Three journalists have been kidnapped in southern Mexico's Guerrero state over the past few days, two press rights organizations reported Thursday, demanding urgent government action.  The groups Article 19 and CIMAC said in a statement that journalist Marco Antonio Toledo, director of the El Espectador weekly and a correspondent for various media outlets, had been kidnapped by armed men in the Guerrero town of Taxco on November 19 along with his wife and son.  The state prosecutor's office on Thursday announced a search for the journalist.

Ambulances were on standby Thursday as Indian rescuers dug through the final meters of debris separating them from 41 workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel for nearly two weeks.  Rescue teams have specially fitted stretchers with wheels, ready to pull the exhausted men out through 57 meters of steel pipe, once it is driven through the final section of the metric tons of earth, concrete and rubble blocking their escape.  Emergency vehicles and a field hospital stood ready, preparing to receive... Читать дальше...

Chinese officials say they did not detect any "unusual or novel diseases" in the country, the World Health Organization said Thursday, following an official request by the U.N. health agency for information about a potentially worrying spike in respiratory illnesses and clusters of pneumonia in children.  WHO cited unspecified media reports and a global infectious-disease monitoring service as reporting clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in northern China and formally requested more details from China earlier this week. Читать дальше...