Striking French oil workers have voted to continue their industrial action, which has led to shortages at fuel stations across the country. They responded angrily after the government said it would use mandatory powers to force some of them to go back to work. The strike, in its third week, has shut six of France’s seven oil refineries. With long queues of cars now a regular sight at the pumps, the government wants to get the fuel flowing again. Nearly a third of French petrol stations are now reported to be running short of at least one kind of motor fuel. Unions want pay increases for their workers, which they say should take account of the huge profits being made at the moment by the oil companies.(BBC)…[+]
english news
Iran protester: ‘You know that you might never come back’
Protests in Iran are continuing despite a crackdown by security forces that one human rights group says has killed at least 201 people. The unrest erupted in response to the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman detained by the morality police for allegedly breaking the strict hijab rules. There are heavy restrictions on independent and foreign reporting in the country. But the BBC Today programme’s Nick Robinson was able to interview Fawaz – not his real name – who has been protesting on the streets in Tehran. The atmosphere is quite tense and yet it is exciting. People are hopeful this time and we hope that a real change is just around the corner. I don’t think people are willing to give up this time. Now, we are seeing women in the street who are not wearing a hijab. They are walking past and people are quite supportive. Drivers in the street honk whenever they see a woman is not covered up. They don’t cover up their heads.
Usually, the protests start in the evening, in the afternoon. And they are in different locations in a city, so people do not just gather round in one specific area. If you just go out, you can hear cars honking. In some parts, people are out in the street. They are protesting against the security forces. And at night, the people who do not want to leave their houses are shouting slogans like “down with the dictator” out of their windows. You can hear some sort of protest everywhere, almost every night. That feels good, that feels really good.(BBC)…[+]
Creeslough explosion: Jessica Gallagher ‘leaves behind ripples of love’
A young woman who was killed in Friday’s explosion in County Donegal will be remembered for the “ripples of love, affection and warmth” she left behind, funeral mourners have heard. The service for Jessica Gallagher, 24, took place at St Michael’s Church in Creeslough. The funeral of another victim, 49-year-old Martin McGill is taking place at the same church. The priest said he had a “beautiful, gentle soul”. Ten people were killed in the blast at a service station in the small village. An investigation is under way into the cause of the explosion but police have said it appears to have been an accident. The building complex where the blast occurred included a service station, convenience shop and residential apartments. The store, which included a post office, was the main shop serving the 400-strong village, which has been mourning an unprecedented loss of life in its community. During Ms Gallagher’s funeral Mass, Creeslough priest Father John Joe Duffy said she had a “radiant smile”. “She always brought the sun whether things were happy or difficult,” he said. Mourners were told how the fashion designer, who was to start a new job in Belfast on Monday, used Donegal tweed as a feature in her work.(BBC)…[+]
IMF warns worst is yet to come for world economy
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned “the worst is yet to come” for the world economy as war in Ukraine continues and prices spiral. In its latest assessment of the global economy it said “for many people 2023 will feel like a recession”. The body, which works to stabilise the global economy, has downgraded its economic growth forecasts due to the impact of Russia’s Ukraine invasion. UK growth is set to grind to a near halt next year, growing by 0.3%. That marks a 0.2% downgrade from the IMF’s July forecast, and a sharp fall from the 3.6% rate of growth for the UK economy expected in 2022. The analysis by the influential financial institution does not, however, take into account the chancellor’s recent mini-budget. After Kwasi Kwarteng unveiled plans for huge tax cuts, the IMF criticised the government’s proposals warning that the measures are likely to fuel the cost-of-living crisis.
In an unusually outspoken statement, the IMF said the proposal was likely to increase inequality and add to pressures pushing up prices. The IMF works to stabilise the global economy and one of its key roles is to act as an early economic warning system. It said it understood the government’s package aimed to boost growth, but it said that the tax cuts could speed up the pace of price rises, which the UK’s central bank is trying to bring down.(BBC)…[+]
Ex-wife of Dubai royal pleads for help from UN in child custody battle
Lawyers for the former wife of a member of Dubai’s ruling family have lodged a request to the UN Human Rights Council. They want the council to intervene with authorities in the UAE to ensure Zeynab Javadli and her children’s safety. The request claims that Ms Javadli has faced abuse, harassment and intimidation by authorities during a bitter custody battle with Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum. His lawyers have argued Ms Javadli is an unfit mother, which she has denied. It’s the latest case in Dubai to reveal rifts within the ruling family. “Please help me,” Ms Javadli says in a video exclusively obtained by the BBC. “My children and I are terrified and frightened for our lives and safety.” “We are effectively homeless and trapped in a hotel in Dubai, with my children unable to leave without fear that I might be arrested and have my children taken from me.”
The 31-year-old former international gymnast from Azerbaijan is speaking from Dubai, where she has remained since her divorce from Sheikh Saeed at the end of 2019. She has stayed there with her three young daughters out of concern that if she left the country, she might never see them again. For nearly three years, she’s been locked in a custody battle with her ex-husband. The couple were married in 2015. They lived in Dubai, where Sheikh Saeed is part of the ruling family – he is the nephew of Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.(BBC)…[+]
Easter Island statues damaged by fire
A fire has damaged the enigmatic statues on Easter Island, with some of the charring said to be irreparable. An unknown number of the stone-carved statues have been affected by the blaze, Chile’s cultural heritage undersecretary said. Easter Island has nearly 1,000 of the megaliths, known as moai. They have oversized heads and generally stand about 4m (13ft) high. They were carved by a Polynesian tribe more than 500 years ago.
The fire, which broke out on Monday, affected nearly 60 hectares (148 acres), cultural heritage official Carolina Perez Dattari tweeted. It is reported to have been started deliberately, and is centred around Easter Island’s Rano Raraku volcano – which is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Easter Island lies 3,500km (2,174 miles) off the coast of Chile. It relies on tourism and reopened just three months ago following its closure during the Covid-19 pandemic. The site has now been closed again while a conservation team examines the extent of the damage. The island’s Mayor, Pedro Edmunds, told local media: “The damage caused by the fire can’t be undone.”(BBC)…[+]
Nika Shakarami’s mother says her daughter was murdered
The mother of a teenage girl who died during protests in Iran has accused authorities of murdering her daughter. In a video sent to US-funded Radio Farda, Nasrin Shakarami said she had seen injuries on her daughter’s body which contradict an official statement. Authorities say Nika Shakarami, 16, appears to have been thrown from a building, possibly by workmen. Meanwhile, an official forensic report has said a woman whose death sparked the protests died from ill health. The family of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, say she died as a result of being beaten by morality police. She was detained on 13 September in Tehran for allegedly breaking the strict law requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab, or headscarf.(BBC)…[+]
Biden says nuclear risk highest since 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
The risk of a nuclear “Armageddon” is at its highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, US President Joe Biden has said. Mr Biden said Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was “not joking” when he spoke of using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering setbacks in Ukraine. The US was “trying to figure out” Mr Putin’s way out of the war, he added. The US and the EU have previously said Mr Putin’s nuclear sabre-rattling should be taken seriously. However, the US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan last week said that, despite Moscow’s nuclear hints, the US had seen no signs that Russia was imminently preparing to use a nuclear weapon. Ukraine has been retaking territory occupied by Russia, including in the four regions Russia illegally annexed recently. For several months US officials have been warning that Russia could resort to the use of weapons of mass destruction, if it suffers setbacks on the battlefield. President Biden said the reason the Russian leader had not been “not joking” when he talked about using tactical nuclear, biological or chemical weapons – “because his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming”. “For the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, we have a direct threat to the use of nuclear weapons, if in fact things continue down the path they’d been going,” Mr Biden told fellow Democrats. “We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis.”(BBC)…[+]
Mexico mayor assassinated in town hall massacre
Gunmen have shot dead the mayor of a small town in western Mexico, and at least 17 others, officials say. Police say gunmen stormed the San Miguel Totolapan town hall at 14:00 (19:00 GMT) on Wednesday. Photos online show it riddled with bullet holes. Mayor Conrado Mendoza Almeda’s left-wing PRD party condemned his “cowardly” assassination and demanded justice. The attack has been blamed on the Los Tequileros criminal gang, which is linked to a powerful drug cartel. Police officers and council workers were also killed in the massacre, with graphic images of bloodied bodies lying on the ground circulating on social media. Mr Mendoza Almeda’s father, former mayor Juan Mendoza Acosta, was also killed – in his home – before the attack moved to the town hall. A highway in the state of Guerrero, where San Miguel Totolapan lies, was reportedly briefly blocked by large vehicles to prevent security forces from getting into the city.(BBC)…[+]
UK’s Truss joins big European club seeking ‘new order without Russia’
The leaders of 44 European countries are having talks in Prague, at a historic first meeting of a new political club of nations. As he arrived, France’s Emmanuel Macron spoke of building a “common strategy” in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. UK Prime Minister Liz Truss joined leaders from the EU, Turkey, Norway and the Balkans, with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky expected via video link. She made clear the summit was “not an EU construct or an EU alternative”. However, her decision to take part could mark a new phase in the UK’s post-Brexit relations with Europe. Writing in The Times ahead of the summit, she said that, after Brexit, the UK should be involved in discussions that affected “the entire continent and all of us here at home”. The idea of a broader European political community beyond the EU has been championed by Emmanuel Macron, who told reporters on Thursday it sent a “message of unity”. But there’s scepticism, even within the EU, about the new forum.(BBC)…[+]
