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Iran hangs 2 in rare blasphemy case as executions surge

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:14:52 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran hanged two men Monday convicted of blasphemy, authorities said, carrying out rare death sentences for the crime as executions surge across the Islamic Republic following months of unrest. Iran remains one of the world’s top executioners, having put to death at least 203 prisoners since the start of this year alone, according to the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights. But carrying out executions for blasphemy remains rare, as previous cases saw the sentences reduced by authorities. The two men executed, Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare, died at Arak Prison in central Iran. They had been arrested in May 2020, accused of being involved in a channel on the Telegram message app called “Critique of Superstition and Religion,” according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Both men faced months of solitary confinement and could not contact their families, the commission said. The Mizan news agency of Iran’s ju...

Sudan doctors: At least 100 killed in armed fighter clashes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:14:52 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — At least 100 people were killed in clashes that erupted last month between armed fighters in a city in Sudan’s restive region of Darfur, according to the Sudan’s Doctors Syndicate.Hospitals were still out of service in the Darfur city of Genena and an accurate count of the wounded was still hard to make, the doctors’ union added in a statement posted on their official Facebook page late Sunday.The fighting in Genena, which broke out a few days after Sudan’s two rival generals took arms against each other in Khartoum, pointed to the possibility that conflict in the capital could spiral to other parts of the East African country.At least 481 civilians were killed in Khartoum clashes that erupted in mid-April between the military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, according to the same doctors’ statement. The number of the wounded among civilians has jumped to more than 2560.The Associated Press

War shadows Victory Day, Russia’s integral holiday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:14:52 GMT

Victory Day, Russia’s most important secular holiday, lauds two tenets that are central to the country’s identity: military might and moral rectitude. But the war in Ukraine undermines both this year.The holiday falling on Tuesday marks the 78th anniversary of Germany’s capitulation in World War II after a relentless Red Army offensive pushed German forces from Stalingrad, deep inside Russia, all the way to Berlin, about 2,200 kilometers (1,300 miles).The Soviet Union lost at least 20 million people in the war; the suffering and valor that went into the German defeat have been touchstones ever since.However, many regions have canceled their May 9 observances because of concerns the events could be targets for Ukrainian attacks. Moscow’s famed Red Square military parade will go ahead following Russia’s claim of an attempted Ukrainian drone attack on the Kremlin, whose spires loom next to the parade venue.For all the fearsome armaments that will growl through the square, R...

Fire extinguished at Russian oil refinery after drone attack - TASS

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:14:52 GMT

A drone attack set ablaze parts of an oil products reservoir at a refinery in southern Russia, but emergency services said they extinguished the fire just over two hours later, TASS news agency reported early on Thursday (4 May).TASS said the incident occurred at the Ilsky refinery near the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in the Krasnodar region.A day earlier, a fuel depot further to the west caught on fire near a bridge linking Russia's mainland with the occupied Crimea peninsula."A second turbulent night for our emergency services," Krasnodar governor Veniamin Kondratyev wrote on Telegram, adding that tanks with oil products were on fire at the Ilsky refinery.There were no casualties, he said, citing preliminary reports and he did not say how the fire started.Ukraine rarely claims responsibility for what Moscow says are frequent drone strikes against infrastructure and military targets, particularly in regions close to Russia.Moscow blamed Ukraine for an attack on 29 April that set...

Explosions heard in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:14:52 GMT

Officials and media outlets reported hearing explosions in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, and other cities early on Thursday morning (4 May). Some local authorities claimed that anti-aircraft defenses were in action.Since October of last year, Russia has bombarded Ukraine with a variety targets. The latest explosions came less than 24 hours following Kyiv's announcement that 21 civilians had died in a Russian attack against the city of Kherson.The regional military administration announced on Telegram that "air defences are in operation in the Kyiv Region." Eyewitnesses said that there was at least one loud explosion in the city.Suspilne, a Ukrainian public broadcaster, reported explosions near Zaporizhzhia. Yuri Malashko said that the anti-aircraft defenses are in action on Telegram.Local media reported explosions also in the Black Sea Port of Odesa. According to an official map, air alerts were sounded for most of the east half of the nation.

Garfield boys’ basketball team wins first championship in school’s history

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:14:52 GMT

The Garfield High School boys' basketball team became the City Section Division III title champions after a 47-42 win against Arleta High School on Friday, the first-ever City title in program history."It’s just a rich tradition around here and just a championship culture,” said Jamaal Barnes, the varsity basketball head coach. “To win as a family, I believe we won as a community. Everybody played a big part of why we are City Section champions.”The team is now seeking help in raising money through a GoFundMe campaign to purchase their championship rings for their 2023 historic championship season.  85-year-old grandmother fatally struck by cement truck in Riverside  “What brings us all here today is trying to fundraise to get rings for the young men that have put in tremendous work,” Barnes said. “It’s hard to raise money especially when you’re obviously in the inner city and we have a lot of families who come from low income. In order for it to be ours, we have to work for it, a...

MTV Movie & TV Awards 2023: Conoce a los ganadores

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:14:52 GMT

(CNN) — Tras una semana loca llena de cambios en la producción de los MTV Movie & TV Awards en medio de la huelga de guionistas, un variopinto grupo de estrellas recibió este domingo estatuillas doradas de palomitas.La taquillera película “Top Gun: Maverick” se unió a las series de televisión “Stranger Things”, “The Last of Us”, “The White Lotus” y “Wednesday” con el mayor número de nominaciones entre los contenidos de ficción. A la cabeza de las nominaciones en las categorías de contenido sin guion [reality TV] se situaron programas como “Jersey Shore Family Vacation”, “RuPaul’s Drag Race”, “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” y “Vanderpump Rules”. Jennifer Coolidge recibió el premio al genio cómico, mientras que el galardón al mejor momento musical fue para Purple Hearts por “Come Back Home”.La ceremonia anual iba a ser presentada originalmente ...

EU Parliament seeks to speed up ammo deal for Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:14:52 GMT

European People’s Party chief Manfred Weber wants the European Parliament to use a fast-track procedure to vote on plans to boost weapons and ammunition production to help Ukraine as soon as this month, he said in a letter to Parliament President Roberta Metsola obtained by POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook.“In view of the urgent need to help Ukraine in filling up its ammunition stocks, the EPP Group would like to request an urgent procedure pursuant to Rule 163 of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure,” Weber wrote in his letter, dated May 5.The clock is ticking: The EU has promised to supply Ukraine with 1 million shells in the next year, but there are concerns it may fall short of its promise to produce on the Continent the quantity needed. EU ministers in March asked Brussels to come up with a law to use the EU budget to ramp up defense manufacturing capacity in Europe to meet those goals.Last week, the Commission approved plans to increase the EU’s ammunition production c...

Fishy business: EU flashes green money to support Indian Ocean tuna grab

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:14:52 GMT

The EU’s sustainable fishing funds are intended to save the environment. In the Indian Ocean, critics say they’re being used as leverage to allow Europe’s fishing fleets to keep fishing vast amounts of tuna.EU vessels — most of them French or Spanish — catch up to a third of tuna in those waters, according to data from the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), an international body tasked with managing the fisheries. To do so, they deploy so-called fish aggregating devices — floating objects made of plastic or wood used to attract fish — that scientists say lead to overfishing and cause plastic pollution.Concerned by the EU’s practices, a group of 11 IOTC member countries are calling to limit the use of floating devices to allow fish to recover and ensure the species’ survival. Their proposal calls for a 72-day moratorium on the practice every year, and a limit on how many devices can be used.The EU has launched a campaign to ensure that doesn’t happen.Through so-called “sustain...

The pendant is 20,000 years old - Ancient DNA shows who wore it

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:14:52 GMT

Inside a Siberian cave that has been an archeological treasure trove, an elk's canine tooth (pictured) - pierced to become a pendant - was unearthed by scientists with care to avoid contaminating this intriguing artifact made roughly 20,000 years ago.The pristine collection of the pendant from Denisova Cave paid dividends. Scientists on Wednesday (3 May) said a new method for extracting ancient DNA identified the object's long-ago owner - a Stone Age woman closely related to a population of hunter-gatherers known to have lived in a part of Siberia east of the cave site in the foothills of the Altai Mountains in Russia.The method can isolate DNA that was present in skin cells, sweat or other bodily fluids and was absorbed by certain types of porous material including bones, teeth and tusks when handled by someone thousands of years ago.Objects used as tools or for personal adornment - pendants, necklaces, bracelets, rings and the like - can offer insight into past behavior and cultur...