Welcome to Thursday, where Russia announces it will formally annex four Ukraine regions, Myanmarâs former leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is sentenced to three years in jail, and the inventor of the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracker gets rewarded. Meanwhile, Persian-language Kayhan-London looks at the Iranian regimeâs tools in crushing opposition, in the light of recent mass unrest in the country.
[*yo-rah-nah â Tahitian]
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⢠Putin to annex Ukraine territories on Friday: Vladimir Putin will formally annex the four Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia during a ceremony at the Kremlin on Friday. The pro-Moscow administrators of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk and Donetsk will sign treaties to join Russia following referendums that were described as sham by Ukraine and the West.
⢠Fourth leak found on Nord Stream pipelines: A fourth leak was found by Swedenâs coast guard on the damaged Nord Stream subsea pipelines. The first leaks were discovered on Monday: two in Swedenâs exclusive economic zone, and two in Denmarkâs exclusive economic zone. Gas has since been flowing into the Baltic Sea, with the European Union suspecting sabotage.
⢠Aung San Suu Kyi and adviser get jail sentence: A Myanmar military court sentenced former democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her former adviser, Australian economist Sean Turnell to three years in jail. They were found guilty of violating a secrecy law. Turnell was sentenced to 3 additional years for violating an immigration law.
⢠Hurricane Ian hits Florida: A category 4 Hurricane Ian hit Floridaâs western coast on Wednesday, with 150 mph winds causing power blackouts for more than 2.2 million people and floods stranding families in their homes. The storm weakened to a Category 1 around 11 p.m., and was heading towards central Florida with 75 mph winds early Thursday.
⢠U.S. reach deal with Pacific islands: U.S. and Pacific island leaders agreed on a partnership which will reinforce the U.S. presence in the region to counter Chinese influence. The Biden administration is expected to invest $860 million in different programs to aid the islands.
⢠Iran attacks kill 13 in Iraqâs Kurdistan: At least 13 people including a pregnant woman have been killed in Iraqâs Kurdistan region after several Iranian missile and drone attacks. Iranâs Islamic Revolution Guard Corps said the strikes targeted bases of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups who supported the recent protests. The attacks have been condemned by Iran, the U.S. and human rights groups.
⢠COVID tracker wins top science award: U.S. professor Lauren Gardner was awarded this yearâs prestigious Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award on Wednesday for creating the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracker in the early days of the pandemic. The tracker was credited with informing global response to the virus outbreak.
The British daily The Independent issues a missing warning on its front page as Liz Truss has not made a public appearance in a week, despite launching her unpopular emergency Budget plan last Friday. In this time of crisis, with the pound falling to a record low and markets in panic, the new prime ministerâs absence is being widely criticized.
One environmental activist has been killed every two days between 2012 and 2021 âby hitmen, organized crime groups and their own governmentsâ; 1,733 deaths have been recorded according to figures from international NGO Global Witness. The deadliest countries are Brazil, Colombia or the Philippines.
Iran has long had a simple and prolific response to political opposition and the worst criminal offenses, namely death by shooting or hanging. Whether opening fire on the streets or leading the world in carrying out the death penalty, the regime insists that morality is on its side, writes Ahmad Raâfat for Persian-language Kayhan-London.
đŁ In early September, before Iranâs latest bout of anti-government protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, there was another, quieter demonstration: Relatives of several prisoners sentenced to death staged a sit-in outside the judiciary headquarters in Tehran, urging the authorities to waive the sentences. The crowd, which doggedly refused to disperse, included the convictsâ young children.
đŽđˇđ¨đł Iran is listed as the biggest executor in the world after China, though Chinaâs figures are a secret. In terms of executions in proportion to the population, Iran is in fact ahead. From January to mid-September, the Islamic Republic executed 413 convicts, sharply up from the 117 executed in those months in 2021.
đ Executions are the regimeâs ultimate tool in crushing opposition. There is a hike in execution numbers after every bout of protests or mass unrest, and no doubt that can be expected in response to the current uprising that has galvanized the nation. The regimeâs forces have opened fire in the streets, killing unarmed protesters, with the death toll rising to 76.
âĄď¸ Read more on Worldcrunch.com
Any decision of this sort has ramifications not only within India but also across the world.
â Aparna Chandra, an academic at the National Law School in Bengaluru, told Al Jazeera that the Indian Supreme Courtâs decision that even unmarried women can undergo abortion at any time up to 24 weeks will have a far-reaching impact on womenâs rights in the Indian Constitution and across the world as well. A law dating from 1971 previously limited the procedure to married women, divorcees, widows, minors, survivors of assault or rape and disabled and mentally ill women.
âď¸ Newsletter by ChloĂŠ Touchard, Lisa Berdet, Lila Paulou and Anne-Sophie Goninet
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