Today’s news: WHO director general against Israel: stop attacks on Gaza hospitals. A new board game simulates the Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The Taliban leader prohibits windows (and forces existing ones to be closed) on the upper floors of buildings that overlook patios or areas used by women. Phnom Penh pardons and repatriates 13 Filipinos imprisoned for illegal trafficking of surrogate mothers.
MIDDLE EAST – USA
The 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, Democrat in office from 1976 to 1980, died yesterday at age 100. Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2002, the former White House tenant is remembered for two episodes related to the Middle East: the success of the 1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, the first Arab nation to recognize the Jewish State , with Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin. And the hostage crisis in Iran, with the kidnapping of the US embassy staff in Tehran, was only resolved by his successor, the Republican Ronald Reagan, who had defeated him at the polls. Carter was also the president who completed the normalization of relations with China on January 1, 1979, at the price of breaking formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
GAZA – WHO
The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) called for the end of attacks against hospitals in the Strip after Israel attacked one and assaulted another. “The people of Gaza,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in X, “need access to health care.” Israeli forces detained more than 240 Palestinians, including dozens of workers at the Kamal Adwan hospital, including its director, Hussam Abu Safiya.
TAIWAN – CHINA
A new board game titled 2045on sale since January, simulates a Chinese invasion of Taiwan within the next 20 years. Players must study the themes and events related to the war, using colorful action cards and playing characters involved in the operations, in the 10 days before the “imaginary” invasion. Characters include Taipei’s military, pro-Chinese agents and politicians working to sabotage defenses, citizens collecting weapons to defend their homeland.
AFGHANISTAN
The supreme leader of the taliban issued an order prohibiting the construction of windows in residential buildings that open onto areas used by women, and existing ones must be blocked. They should not be seen, explains a note from Kabul, “in the patio, the kitchen, the neighbor’s well and other places usually used by women” because watching them work “can lead to obscene acts.”
CAMBODIA – PHILIPPINES
Cambodia pardoned and repatriated yesterday to 13 Filipino women imprisoned for participating in the illegal trafficking of surrogate mothers, a practice outlawed by Phnom Penh. The women were part of a group of 24 foreigners arrested by police in September and found guilty and sentenced to four years in prison on December 2 for attempted cross-border human trafficking.
JAPAN
Japan’s Mount Fuji lost a month of “winter” due to the “acceleration” of global warming. According to a report published by Climate Central, The town of Fuji, in Shizuoka prefecture, added 35 days above zero per year on average between 2014 and 2023, the highest amount among the 901 cities in the northern hemisphere analyzed. Human activities are increasingly affecting snowfall and ecosystems, highlighting the urgent need to reduce the use of fossil fuels.
RUSSIA – AZERBAIJAN
Azerbaijan could tighten its rules for the entry of Russian citizens, following restrictions imposed by Moscow on Azerbaijani emigrants. A decision that is also part of the irritation over the Aktau air disaster in which an Azerbaijani vehicle was involved, probably the fault of Moscow, “in accordance with the rules of equality and reciprocity,” according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baku. .
UZBEKISTAN
The inhabitants of Uzbekistan, despite the fact that the country has extensive gas and oil resources, are forced to burn coal and wood for heat. This practice is skyrocketing pollution levels throughout the country, as experts and environmentalists denounce with increasing apprehension, among other things due to the massive destruction of trees.
Add Comment