Interesting Global News

Last week a government source told the media that Burkina Faso’s military junta plans to reinstate the death penalty, which was abolished in the 2018 penal code.

Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20241112125658/https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/11/11/burkina-faso-plans-reinstate-death-penalty

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hrw.org%2Fnews%2F2024%2F11%2F11%2Fburkina-faso-plans-reinstate-death-penalty

Drivers in this former Soviet Central Asian state are forbidden to stop until they reach their final destination -- a storage zone where the waste will be buried under thick layers of compacted clay and rock.

Three decades on from independence, Kyrgyzstan is still dealing with the consequences of the Cold War nuclear arms race, when Central Asia provided the Soviet Union with all of its uranium. Kyrgyz authorities say there are now six million cubic metres of radioactive waste in 30 sites such as Min-Kush, which require complex and costly disposal measures.

"When the Soviet Union collapsed, Kyrgyzstan had neither the equipment nor the money to transfer the waste to safe sites," said Ilgiz Ernis, deputy mayor of the Min-Kush municipality. "The process was badly delayed," he said.

The disposal work is now in its final stages and is being carried out by the Russian nuclear giant Rosatom as well as the European Union and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Radioactive waste has also been found in the river running through Min-Kush that flows into the Syr Darya, the second-largest river in the region, potentially threatening up to 80 million people.

Health risks from radiation were covered up in Soviet times but, unlike many other parts of the Communist bloc, atomic industry towns like Min-Kush had no food shortages. "Everything was available," Berdaliyeva remembered. Scientific studies have found an abnormal prevalence of illnesses such as cancer and depleted immune systems among people living close to nuclear waste sites.

The town in central Kyrgyzstan wants to turn the page from its toxic past and local officials are even hoping that it could have tourism potential. "The transfer of uranium waste to a safer area will allow Min-Kush to be taken off the red list for tourism," deputy mayor Ernis said.

Some 200,000 vulnerable New Zealanders were abused in state care in the seven decades since the 1950s, according to a six-year public inquiry that described its findings as an "unthinkable national catastrophe". Youngsters were sexually abused by church carers, mothers were forced to give up children for adoption, and troublesome patients were strapped to beds for seizure-inducing electroconvulsive therapy.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Tuesday apologised on behalf of successive governments that turned a blind eye to such harrowing reports. "I am sorry you were not believed when you came forward to report your abuse," he said in an address delivered to parliament.

Survivor Tu Chapman told reporters the government had to answer for "decades of abuse, neglect, and torture by those running state, church and faith-based institutions".

Many victims reported lingering trauma that has fuelled addiction and other problems. The report found that some of the abuse was "overlaid with racism" targeting Indigenous Maori.

Elephant conservation has been a roaring success: numbers in Tsavo rose from around 6,000 in the mid-1990s to almost 15,000 elephants in 2021, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).But the human population also expanded, encroaching on grazing and migration routes for the herds. Resulting clashes are becoming the number one cause of elephant deaths, says KWS.

A nine-year study published last month found that elephants avoided farms with the ferocious bees 86 percent of the time.

The deep humming of 70,000 bees is enough to make many flee, including a six-tonne elephant

It has been effective, but recent droughts, exacerbated by climate change, have raised challenges. It is also expensive -- about 150,000 Kenyan shillings ($1,100) to install hives -- well beyond the means of subsistence farmers, though the project organisers say it is still cheaper than electric fences.

"An elephant ripped off my roof, I had to hide under the bed because I knew I was going to die," said a less-fortunate neighbour, Hendrita Mwalada, 67.

For those who can't afford bees, Save the Elephants offers other solutions, such as metal-sheet fences that clatter when shaken by approaching elephants, and diesel- or chilli-soaked rags that deter them.

"I don't think this position is realistic today and we must be realistic," the newly appointed minister said in response to a question about the creation of a Palestinian state in exchange for a normalisation of ties between Israel and Arab countries. The normalisation drive was a part of the 2020 Abraham Accords overseen by Donald Trump, and the process could resume after the president-elect returns to the White House in January.

A Palestinian state would be "a Hamas state", Saar added

Abbas, in comments carried by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, said Sunday that "security and stability" could only be achieved with the establishment of "sovereignty and independence on the land of the Palestinian state".

As Saar spoke in Jerusalem, Arab and Muslim leaders gathered in Saudi Arabia for a summit addressing the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, where Israel is also fighting Hamas ally Hezbollah.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told a summit of Arab and Muslim leaders that the international community should oblige Israel "to respect the sovereignty of the sisterly Islamic Republic of Iran and not to violate its lands".

The restored ties between Riyadh and Tehran have reshaped the diplomatic landscape, which Trump will have to reckon with when he takes office again next year, said H.A. Hellyer, Middle East expert at the Royal United Services Institute. "Clearly Riyadh and Tehran are warming their relationship, and this is a very different regional environment as compared to when Trump was last in office," Hellyer said. "Trump may want to expand the Abraham Accords when he takes office next year, but unless Israel changes tack drastically in the region, that's going to (be) fraught with many more challenges than last time."

Sunni Muslim-majority Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iran have often found themselves on opposing sides of regional conflicts including Syria's. In 2015, Saudi Arabia mobilised a military coalition to support Yemen's internationally recognised government after Iran-backed Huthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa and advanced towards the main southern city of Aden. The following year, Riyadh and Tehran severed ties following attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran during protests over Riyadh's execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. In March 2023, however, they announced a rapprochement deal brokered by China.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have maintained high-level contact as part of efforts to contain the war that broke out in Gaza

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/6209678

Check it out.

North Korea had never sent troops into combat abroad before, primarily out of fear that they might defect or make unflattering comparisons between foreign armies and their own. "The regime is worried that soldiers from the isolated country might pick up 'incorrect' ideas," wrote Fyodor Tertitskiy, a researcher at Seoul's Kookmin University.

According to Blinken, they are equipped with Russian uniforms and trained in artillery, drones, and infantry operations, including trench clearing. This, he said, showed that Moscow intends to use them in frontline operations.

But are they cannon fodder or special forces? South Korean analysts lean towards the latter option.

"North Korea must showcase the combat effectiveness and operational capabilities of its soldiers to maximise the outcomes of its deployments," added Lim Eul-chul at Kyungnam University.

Reliable figures are hard to come by, but Western sources say there are around 10,000 North Korean soldiers deployed, while Kyiv says there are 11,000. This is the equivalent of current Russian losses in about 10 days of fighting.

"The strength of North Korean special operations forces lies in their ability to endure harsh conditions, even when food and other resources are in short supply," said Lim. "They have strong mental resilience."

Meanwhile, there remains a plethora of organisational questions: will the North Koreans deploy rank-and-file soldiers as well as command structures? Will they be autonomous or integrated into Russian units? For what tasks? "Ukrainian intelligence has stated that the North Koreans arrived in Russia with 500 officers and three generals," said Ivan Klyszcz, a research fellow at the International Centre for Defence and Security in Estonia.

"This could facilitate communication if the Russian and North Korean generals manage to work together, but there are too many unknowns at this stage to be conclusive," he said.

Pyongyang's special forces are primarily trained to prevent a coup d'etat at home. [...] Moreover, North Korean troops who have not fought since 1953 would likely struggle against Ukrainians who have been at war for two-and-a-half years.

But the reverse also appears true, according to Tertitskiy, who wrote that "Seoul seems to sense an opportunity to acquire intelligence on its longstanding foe". This is especially valuable since the pandemic-related border closure significantly reduced the number of refugees from the North reaching the South, who constitute "the main source of information" for Seoul about its neighbour.

Typhoon Toraji hit near Dilasag town, about 220 kilometres (140 miles) northeast of the capital, Manila, the national weather agency said.

Rescuers said around 7,000 people were moved from coastal areas as well as flood-prone and landslide-prone areas in Aurora and Isabela, the first two provinces to be struck before Toraji ploughed inland to the mountainous interior of the main island of Luzon.

The national weather agency warned of severe winds and "intense to torrential" rainfall exceeding 200 millimetres (eight inches) across the north of the country, along with a "moderate to high risk of a storm surge" -- giant waves up to three metres (10 feet) high on the north coast.

After Toraji, a tropical depression could also potentially strike the region as early as Thursday night, weather forecaster Veronica Torres told AFP. Tropical Storm Man-yi, currently east of Guam, may also threaten the Philippines next week, she added. Toraji came on the heels of three cyclones in less than a month that killed 159 people.

About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the archipelago nation or its surrounding waters each year. A recent study showed that storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change.

The 28-year-old was later sentenced to 20 years in jail. His case illustrates the severity of the crackdown on dissent -- both real and imagined -- in Russia since the invasion of Ukraine. And how ordinary Russians are again living under the shadow of denunciation, the old Soviet practice of informing on colleagues, neighbours, friends and even family.

On the website of the state school where he worked, there are still photos of the classroom where he taught, decorated with posters of famous paintings, including a self-portrait by Van Gogh. But Klyuka's life took a nightmarish turn one day in February 2023 when he was arrested by masked members of Russia's feared FSB security service. He was accused of sending 135,000 rubles (around $1,380) in cryptocurrency to Ukraine's ultranationalist Azov brigade, classified as "terrorist" in Russia -- a charge he denies.

Klyuka believes all this happened because he idly scribbled moustaches, horns and beards onto photos of officials in a pro-Kremlin newspaper that staff at his school were expected to read. AFP has been able to piece together his descent into the depths of the Russian penal system, where prisoners can sometimes disappear without a trace, through letters he has exchanged with a Russian anti-war activist exiled in Italy.

PARIS - France has stepped up its bird flu risk assessment to 'high' from 'moderate', it said on Friday in a decree that will trigger reinforced security measures around poultry farms.

Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20241111021546/https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/france-raises-bird-flu-risk-to-high-as-eu-cases-spread

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.straitstimes.com%2Fworld%2Feurope%2Ffrance-raises-bird-flu-risk-to-high-as-eu-cases-spread

Belarusian prankster Vladislav Bokhan, posing as a representative of Russia’s United Russia party, convinced teachers in Voronezh Oblast to create tin foil hats in a “patriotic workshop” dubbed the Helmet of the Fatherland. The local Education Ministry department has reportedly praised their efforts.

Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20241111021341/https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/11/10/7483770/

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pravda.com.ua%2Feng%2Fnews%2F2024%2F11%2F10%2F7483770%2F

When nations at last year’s global climate conference historically agreed to transition away from coal, oil and gas, Australia’s climate minister predicted that the “age of fossil fuels will end.” Norway’s foreign minister lauded countries for at last tackling the climate crisis “head-on.” President Joe Biden said the deal put the world “one significant step closer” to its climate goals.

Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20241111021301/https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2024/nov/10/countries-promised-to-ditch-fossil-fuels-but-inste/

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.spokesman.com%2Fstories%2F2024%2Fnov%2F10%2Fcountries-promised-to-ditch-fossil-fuels-but-inste%2F

Britain's oldest satellite is in the wrong part of the sky, but no-one's really sure who moved it.

Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20241111020924/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwrr58801yo

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Farticles%2Fcpwrr58801yo

"If you fight in Afghanistan, that's not the same as fighting the Russians in Ukraine," Admiral Rob Bauer said on Sunday.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/v825b

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Fnato-russia-nuclear-weapons-ukraine-ground-troops-rob-bauer-1983425

The government will stop registering petrol-powered motorcycles for public transport in the City of Kigali in January 2025, limiting registration to electric motorbikes only, as part of the government’s shift toward sustainable mobility.

Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20241111020608/https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/21528/news/rwanda/rwanda-to-halt-registration-of-petrol-motor-cycles-in-2025

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newtimes.co.rw%2Farticle%2F21528%2Fnews%2Frwanda%2Frwanda-to-halt-registration-of-petrol-motor-cycles-in-2025

A 6.8 magnitude earthquake has shaken eastern Cuba after weeks of hurricanes and blackouts that have left many on the island reeling.

Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20241111020606/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/earthquake-shakes-cuba-hurricanes-blackouts/

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbsnews.com%2Fnews%2Fearthquake-shakes-cuba-hurricanes-blackouts%2F

Queretaro, the capital of Queretaro state, is considered one of the safer cities in Mexico, which has been plagued by years of drug cartel-related violence.

Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20241111020330/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gunmen-mexico-shooting-bar-queretaro-cartel-violence/

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbsnews.com%2Fnews%2Fgunmen-mexico-shooting-bar-queretaro-cartel-violence%2F

The move is the latest blow to political stability in the country already plagued by escalating violence. Interim Prime Minister Garry Conille has asked the governing council to reconsider.

Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20241111011335/https://www.dw.com/en/haitis-transitional-council-to-oust-interim-pm-conille/a-70749318

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dw.com%2Fen%2Fhaitis-transitional-council-to-oust-interim-pm-conille%2Fa-70749318

The Taliban will attend a U.N. climate conference for the first time since their takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the environment agency said on Sunday.

Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20241111011048/https://www.euronews.com/2024/11/10/afghanistans-taliban-to-attend-their-first-un-climate-conference

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.euronews.com%2F2024%2F11%2F10%2Fafghanistans-taliban-to-attend-their-first-un-climate-conference

Extending life of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas processing plant on Burrup Peninsula could result in billions of tonnes of climate pollution, critics say

Archived version: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Faustralia-news%2F2024%2Fnov%2F11%2Ffifty-year-extension-for-one-of-australias-biggest-co2-emitters-likely-after-wa-ditches-emissions-reduction-rules

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Faustralia-news%2F2024%2Fnov%2F11%2Ffifty-year-extension-for-one-of-australias-biggest-co2-emitters-likely-after-wa-ditches-emissions-reduction-rules