Latest news with #NaharnetNewsdesk
Nahar Net
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Nahar Net
Syrian president tells country reconstruction effort has 'just begun'
by Naharnet Newsdesk 28 May 2025, 15:35 Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said in a speech that the country's post-war reconstruction had 'just begun', calling on his people to unite. Sharaa was speaking at the "Aleppo, Key to Victory" event in said city, the first major population center to fall during the Islamist-led offensive that toppled longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December. Pictures of fighters killed in the battle for Aleppo were shown on screens prior to Sharaa's speech. "O great Syrian people, the battle of construction has just begun," Sharaa said to a jubilant crowd. "Let us all unite and seek the help of God to create a bright future for a venerable country and a deserving people," he added. Syria's 14-year civil war killed over half a million people and left the country in desperate need of reconstruction. Western sanctions imposed on Assad were recently lifted, paving the way for a potential recovery. Addressing the Syrian people, Sharaa said they "let us seize the available opportunity and take on this duty". "Let our slogan be as we raised it before, we do not rest and we do not relax until we rebuild Syria anew and boast about it to the entire world," he said.
Nahar Net
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Nahar Net
Gaza rescuers say 16 killed in Israeli strikes Wednesday
by Naharnet Newsdesk 28 May 2025, 15:33 Gaza rescuers said sixteen people were killed Wednesday in Israeli strikes across the besieged Palestinian territory where Israel intensified its operations this month. "Sixteen people have been killed as a result of Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since dawn", civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP. Among them, nine belonged to the family of photojournalist Osama al-Arbeed and were killed in a strike on their home in Gaza's north at 2am, Bassal said. He added that Arbeed was injured, noting that he is a videographer and editor at a local film production organization. Another six members of the same family were killed in central Gaza in a strike that left 15 people wounded, "including children". One other person, a civilian per Bassal, was killed near the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis. When contacted by AFP, the Israeli military declined to comment on the strikes, saying it could not do so without precise coordinates. Israel has stepped up its offensive in Gaza this month, aiming for "the defeat of Hamas", more than 18 months after the group's October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war. Some 1,218 people were killed in that attack, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli military says are dead. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Monday that at least 3,822 people had been killed in the territory since Israel ended a ceasefire on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 53,977, mostly civilians.
Nahar Net
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Nahar Net
Iran executes man convicted of spying for Israel
by Naharnet Newsdesk 28 May 2025, 15:32 Iran has executed a man convicted of spying for Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, the judiciary said on Wednesday. "After identification, arrest, and judicial proceedings against Pedram Madani, who was spying in favor of the Zionist regime, and following the complete process of criminal procedure and the final confirmation and upholding of the verdict by the Supreme Court, he was brought to justice and executed," the judiciary's Mizan Online reported. According to the report, Madani was accused of transmitting classified information and holding meetings with Mossad officers abroad, including in Brussels. The judiciary said he had travelled to "the occupied territories" -- the term used by Iranian officials to describe Israel -- prior to his arrest in 2020–2021. He was also convicted of acquiring "illicit wealth" by receiving euros and bitcoin from Israel. Mizan added that Madani was ultimately found guilty of "espionage on behalf of the Zionist regime's intelligence service (Mossad)" under charges of waging war against God and "corruption on earth", and sentenced to death. The report did not detail Madani's age, profession or how he obtained the classified information. His case follows a string of similar executions in Iran targeting individuals accused of collaborating with Israel. In April, Iran executed Mohsen Langarneshin for allegedly aiding Mossad in the 2022 assassination of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodaei in Tehran. Authorities said Langarneshin provided technical support to Mossad and met with Israeli agents overseas. Iran, which does not recognize Israel -- referred to by officials as the "Zionist regime" -- has repeatedly accused its arch-foe of carrying out covert operations inside the country, including attacks on its nuclear program and the assassination of its scientists. Tensions between the two rivals recently escalated to direct exchanges of fire amid the ongoing war in Gaza. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Tehran has made support for the Palestinian cause a central pillar of its foreign policy. Iran carries out annually, the highest number of executions globally after China, according to rights groups including Amnesty International.
Nahar Net
12 hours ago
- Sport
- Nahar Net
More to life than football, says Klopp after Liverpool parade crash
by Naharnet Newsdesk 28 May 2025, 16:03 Liverpool's beloved former manager Jurgen Klopp said there are more "serious things in the world than football" after car ploughed into supporters at the end of a parade to celebrate the club's Premier League title triumph. A 53-year-old man from the Liverpool area has been held by police on suspicion of attempted murder and taking drugs after 65 people were injured in Monday's shocking scenes. Klopp, who left the English giants a year ago, was in attendance for the parade. It was the first chance the club and supporters had to celebrate a title triumph together for 35 years as the 2019/20 league won by Klopp's side came during a period of restrictions on public gatherings due to Covid-19. "The mood was incredible and from one second to the other, everything changed because we then learned again there are more serious things in the world than football," Klopp when being presented with an award by the League Managers' Association. "Thoughts and prayers go definitely to the, as far as I know right now, to the injured people, but to the families, of course, as well. "It should have been one of the greatest days in the history of the city, after a long, long time, because we didn't have the opportunity to do that the last time." Liverpool boss Arne Slot withdrew from the same event, where he was due to pick up a manager of the year award, out of respect for the victims. In the shock that followed the incident, even Liverpool's fiercest rivals Everton, Manchester United and Manchester City were among the clubs to offer their support to the Premier League champions and their fans. Police said in a press conference on Tuesday 11 of the injured remained in hospital in a stable condition. "Football is and always should be a game built on rivalry, but it is also a great source of comradeship, especially at times like this," Slot said in a statement. "I would also like to pay tribute to the emergency services and other authorities in Liverpool who swung into action as soon as the incident happened. "Along with the supporters and bystanders who helped one another in an hour of need, I think everyone involved in the aftermath deserves the gratitude of all of us." Everton manager David Moyes said the solidarity between Liverpool's two major clubs is what makes the city special. "On behalf of all my players and staff, I'd like to pass on my heartfelt best wishes to all those who were injured and affected, as well as their families and friends," Moyes said in a statement posted on Everton's social media. "One of things that makes this city special is the solidarity between the people, who always come together in times of hardship. "We always stand together in the most difficult times."
Nahar Net
12 hours ago
- Science
- Nahar Net
Get ready for several years of killer heat, top weather forecasters warn
by Naharnet Newsdesk 28 May 2025, 16:29 Get ready for several years of even more record-breaking heat that pushes Earth to more deadly, fiery and uncomfortable extremes, two of the world's top weather agencies forecast. There's an 80% chance the world will break another annual temperature record in the next five years, and it's even more probable that the world will again exceed the international temperature threshold set 10 years ago, according to a five-year forecast released Wednesday by the World Meteorological Organization and the U.K. Meteorological Office. "Higher global mean temperatures may sound abstract, but it translates in real life to a higher chance of extreme weather: stronger hurricanes, stronger precipitation, droughts," said Cornell University climate scientist Natalie Mahowald, who wasn't part of the calculations but said they made sense. "So higher global mean temperatures translates to more lives lost." With every tenth of a degree the world warms from human-caused climate change "we will experience higher frequency and more extreme events (particularly heat waves but also droughts, floods, fires and human-reinforced hurricanes/typhoons)," emailed Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. He was not part of the research. And for the first time there's a chance — albeit slight — that before the end of the decade, the world's annual temperature will shoot past the Paris climate accord goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) and hit a more alarming 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) of heating since the mid-1800s, the two agencies said. There's an 86% chance that one of the next five years will pass 1.5 degrees and a 70% chance that the five years as a whole will average more than that global milestone, they figured. The projections come from more than 200 forecasts using computer simulations run by 10 global centers of scientists. Ten years ago, the same teams figured there was a similar remote chance — about 1% — that one of the upcoming years would exceed that critical 1.5 degree threshold and then it happened last year. This year, a 2-degree Celsius above pre-industrial year enters the equation in a similar manner, something UK Met Office longer term predictions chief Adam Scaife and science scientist Leon Hermanson called "shocking." "It's not something anyone wants to see, but that's what the science is telling us," Hermanson said. Two degrees of warming is the secondary threshold, the one considered less likely to break, set by the 2015 Paris agreement. Technically, even though 2024 was 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial times, the Paris climate agreement's threshold is for a 20-year time period, so it has not been exceeded. Factoring in the past 10 years and forecasting the next 10 years, the world is now probably about 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.5 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter since the mid 1800s, World Meteorological Organization climate services director Chris Hewitt estimated. "With the next five years forecast to be more than 1.5C warmer than preindustrial levels on average, this will put more people than ever at risk of severe heat waves, bringing more deaths and severe health impacts unless people can be better protected from the effects of heat. Also we can expect more severe wildfires as the hotter atmosphere dries out the landscape," said Richard Betts, head of climate impacts research at the UK Met Office and a professor at the University of Exeter. Ice in the Arctic — which will continue to warm 3.5 times faster than the rest of the world — will melt and seas will rise faster, Hewitt said. What tends to happen is that global temperatures rise like riding on an escalator, with temporary and natural El Nino weather cycles acting like jumps up or down on that escalator, scientists said. But lately, after each jump from an El Nino, which adds warming to the globe, the planet doesn't go back down much, if at all. "Record temperatures immediately become the new normal," said Stanford University climate scientist Rob Jackson.
