Author: France 24

Polling stations in Iran opened Friday for voting to select members of parliament and a key clerical body, amid fears of a low turnout and with conservatives expected to tighten their grip on power. Issued on: 01/03/2024 – 05:05Modified: 01/03/2024 – 06:26 4 min “Voting for the 12th term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (parliament) and the 6th term of the Assembly of Leadership Experts began following an order by the interior ministry,” state TV reported.Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was the first to cast his ballot on Friday at the Imam Khomeini Hussainia polling station in central Tehran,…

President Vladimir Putin warned Western countries on Thursday that there was a genuine risk of nuclear war if they sent their own troops to fight in Ukraine, and he said Moscow had the weapons to strike targets in the West. Issued on: 29/02/2024 – 12:08 1 min Addressing parliament and other members of the country’s elite, Putin, 71, repeated his accusation that the West is bent on weakening Russia, and he suggested Western leaders did not understand how dangerous their meddling could be in what he cast as Russia’s own internal affairs.He prefaced his warning with a specific reference to…

Issued on: 01/03/2024 – 11:20Modified: 01/03/2024 – 11:36 06:33 There were many accusations and rumours that spread in the hours after this incident, said Jordanna Miller, ABC News Correspondent. “The Israeli army has now said it did not fire on civilians who were trying to seek aid. They did not use tank fire, they did not carry out a strike on the convoy, they did not strike from the air or the ground”, she added.  Read more on related topics: Source link

Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian oligarch who is close to Vladimir Putin, found refuge in Russia after leaving Ukraine, where he faces treason charges. He runs a Russian-language portal pushing Kremlin narratives on Ukraine and the war, but his latest foray into disinformation has run into its own challenges. Every day, new phrases hammer home messages from Another Ukraine, a Russian-language portal launched in the summer of 2023: “Russia is Ukraine’s only salvation,” “They wanted NATO and are ready to die for Western interests.” The news is uniformly negative.The project is officially led by Viktor Medvedchuk, a leading figure pushing pro-Kremlin interests…

Issued on: 01/03/2024 – 07:47Modified: 01/03/2024 – 10:53 01:29 Andrew Hilliar on March 1, 2024. © France 24 This is a classic situation in which its almost imossible to say with certainty at this stage exactly what happened, said Andrew Hilliar, FRANCE 24’s correspondent in Jerusalem. “Hamas holds Israel entirely responsible for these deaths. The Israeli military for its part, speaks of two incidents: it says that in the first incident, crowds of people rushed towards a convoy of humanitarian aid trucks, surrounding it. It claims that the majority of people died in a stampede”, said Hilliar.  Read more on…

French police said Friday they had arrested 66 people at a farmers’ protest on the Champs-Elysees in central Paris that blocked traffic during the morning rush hour. Issued on: 01/03/2024 – 09:54Modified: 01/03/2024 – 10:17 1 min Using tractors and bales of hay, farmers briefly brought traffic to a halt on the famed avenue near the Arc de Triomphe monument, only a short distance from President Emmanuel Macron’s office, the Elysee.The protesters, who held up banners on the avenue, said their action was aimed “at saving French agriculture”.Farmers across Europe have been protesting for weeks over what they say are…

Issued on: 01/03/2024 – 08:00Modified: 01/03/2024 – 08:48 03:52 “It’s a tradition in Iran that the Supreme Leader starts the elections”, said FRANCE24’s correspondent in Tehran, Iran Catalina Gomez Angel. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made a speech earlier inviting people to vote for the “unity and security of the Islamic Republic [. . . ] and in order to send a strong message to the enemies of Iran, added Gomez Angel.  Read more on related topics: Source link

Relatives and supporters of Alexei Navalny are bidding farewell to the opposition leader at a funeral Friday in southeastern Moscow, following a battle with authorities over the release of his body after his still-unexplained death in an Arctic penal colony. Issued on: 01/03/2024 – 08:05 3 min His supporters say several churches in Moscow refused to hold the service before Navalny’s team got permission from one in the capital’s Maryino district, where he once lived before his 2020 poisoning, treatment in Germany and subsequent arrest on his return to Russia.The Church of the Icon of the Mother of God Soothe…

Former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney, who made his political mark in the 1980s with the signing of a ground-breaking free trade agreement with the United States that later expanded to include Mexico, died Thursday. He was 84. “It is with great sadness we announce the passing of my father,” Caroline Mulroney, a politician in Ontario, said on X. “He died peacefully, surrounded by family.”Brian Mulroney, Canada’s last Cold War leader, opposed apartheid in South Africa and helped secure a landmark treaty on acid rain with Washington.But he brought in a consumption tax still reviled by Canadians to this day,…

Iranians are to vote Friday in elections for parliament and a key clerical body, amid fears of a low turnout and with conservatives expected to tighten their grip on power. Issued on: 01/03/2024 – 05:36 3 min Since the last elections, Iran has been badly affected by international sanctions that have led to an economic crisis. It has also been rocked by widespread protests and drawn into escalating regional tensions over the Israel-Hamas war.More than 61 million people out of Iran’s 85-million population are eligible to vote for members of parliament as well as the clerics of the Assembly of…