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Activists and supporters of climber Elnaz Rekabi – who returned from the last climb at the IFSC Asian Championships in Seoul, where she competed bare-haired – gathered at Tehran Airport to cheer her on. In the pictures you can also see women without veils applauding the athlete. After competing without a headscarf in an international competition, many commentators interpreted the election as a sign of support for women’s and youth’s struggle against the Tehran regime. After a few days of absence from social networks, the athlete’s official apologies appeared on her Instagram profile. Rekabi denied the political significance of her gesture, claiming she simply forgot to wear the veil. A message that was greeted with skepticism because it is not the first time that the authorities in Iran, under the pressure of threats and arrests, have forced athletes, celebrities or ordinary citizens to deny their positions.

A (very) interested support? Brazil’s left-wing presidential candidate Lula on Tuesday lashed out at Neymar, who supports current President Jair Bolsonaro, and scoffed at the election being motivated by a “reduction” in his debt to the Brazilian government. “Neymar has the right to choose who he wants as president. I think he’s scared that if I win the election, I’ll find out what Bolsonaro waived (about) his income tax debt. I think that’s why he’s scared of me,” Lula said, laughing when asked in an interview with YouTube channel Flow Podcast if he teases the player who supports his far-right rival.

“It’s obvious that Bolsonaro has reached an agreement with the father [de Neymar]. Now he has tax problems in Spain,” Lula added, citing the favorable decisions the player received in a tax evasion case in Brazil and the Barcelona tax irregularity case during his transfer to Barça in 2013.

But “it’s an issue (that affects) the tax collection agency, not mine,” Lula concluded in the interview, which was broadcast and seen by more than a million viewers. Lula won the first round on Oct. 2 with 48% of the vote, five points ahead of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who is seeking a second term. The second round will take place on October 30th.

While most footballers have opted not to make the name of their preferred candidate public, the PSG striker threw his support behind Bolsonaro ahead of the first round. This week, the former player of the capital club Rai, world champion with the “Seleçao” in the USA in 1994, supported Lula at the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony in Paris.

He started without headscarf at the Asian Championships of the International Federation of Climb sports and Seoul, in South Korea, Sunday October 16. His name is Elnaz Rekabi, 33-year-old Iranian mountaineer. That protests that annoys themIran For weeks she started with death mahsa amini, the 22-year-old girl arrested by Tehran police for not wearing the veil in an “appropriate” way, are increasingly involving aspects of the country’s civil society. For this as a sign support The mountaineer Rekabi disobedience rule that also applies to female athletes to wear the hijab outside of Iran if it is officially represented abroad. Rekabi however, in a post InstagramShe wrote that the headdress “accidentally fell off,” apologized for “worrying everyone,” and said she was on her way home. “Due to bad timing and the unexpected call to climb the wall, my hat accidentally came off,” he explained, as reported by the BBC. In the message, the girl adds that she is returning to Iran “together with the team according to the established program.”

But in reality, now there is fear for them security. The athlete did not respond to Abc News’ request for comment, and phone calls to the Iran Mountaineering and Sport Climbing Federation also went unanswered. Post aside for a few hours, There are no news of the master. Corresponding Persian BBCwhat he heard Sources Rekabi is close to her untraceable from October 17th. They would have been stolen from the athlete passport and mobile phone and his family has not heard from him since. The BBC contacted the Garden Seul Hotel where the Iranian team was staying: the team left the hotel for Iran on October 17, despite plans originally scheduled for October 19. the embassy Iranian in South Korea said Elnaz Rekabi left Seoul for Tehran this morning, October 18, along with his team.

In a historic move, Iranian athlete Elnaz Rekabi, who represented Iran at the Asian Climbing Competitions finals in Seoul, competed without a hijab, flouting the Islamic Republic’s restrictions on female athletes. pic.twitter.com/KvxE5NoQLi

– Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) October 16, 2022

According to IranWire, place where some work journalists dissidents Iranians who guards revolutionary Muslims would have arrested them today Brothers by Elnaz Rekabi to use it hostage. The athlete reportedly turned over his passport and phone to authorities. Then she would be immediately transferred from the Garden Seoul Hotel to the Iranian embassy in the city, where she awaited her flight to Tehran. His destination, according to IranWire sources, would be the Evin prisonwhere I prisoners Politician of the Islamist regime and where the Italian Alessia Piperno is imprisoned. Rekabi would have been fooled reza Tzareithe head of the Iranian Climbing Association, formerly a member of the Ministry of Information: He should have guided them from the hotel in Seoul to the Iranian Embassy after receiving orders from the President of the Iranian Olympic Committee, Mohammed Khosravivafa. In return, Khosravivafa would respond to input from Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps“Elnaz had decided to show up without a hijab about a month ago, she knew it was mandatory,” a source told IranWire, adding that the woman he did not seek asylum “Because his Husband he is in Iran and wanted to return to him after the competition”.

Before Rekabi, 2019, was the 27-year-old Sadaf Khadem She was the first Iranian female boxer to win a match abroad, facing the match bareheaded and in shorts. A choice of clothes what she had tasted mandate the arrest issued by Tehran and forced them to stay in France.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis called for the formation of a coalition to fund the Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine.

“Ukraine’s internet connectivity is too important to be left to a private individual. Let’s find a way to form a coalition of Ukraine’s allies to pay for Starlink or let’s find an alternative supplier,” Landsbergis wrote on Saturday. twitter.

According to the minister, Lithuania would be ready to join the coalition.

Billionaire Elon Musk said his company SpaceX would stop providing Starlink satellite internet service for free in Ukraine. On Saturday, however, he backtracked and said his company would continue to pay for internet service in Ukraine.

Starlink, a constellation of more than 3,000 small satellites in low Earth orbit, has been vital in keeping Ukraine connected to the internet amid the Russian invasion. SpaceX has donated about 25,000 ground terminals to Ukraine, according to Musk.

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Ukraine will find a solution to continue operating Starlink if Musk stops funding.

This article was originally published on EURACTIV media partner LRT.lt

The controversial Court No. 2 of Valencia has ratified the imposition of a fine of 100 euros on the man who tried to enter the city of justice naked where the trial was to take place, precisely because of this fine imposed in the Valencian city of Xirivella. The judge claims that it is clear from the statement by the police officers who fined them that practicing nudity outside a police station is an obscene act.

The incidents date back to 2021, when Alejandro C. went to the Xirivella police station to protest proposed sanctions for acts similar to the fine later imposed. He went naked to the main entrance of the police station “except for shoes and the obligatory mask”. According to the police officers who sanctioned him, several people were outside the courthouse, including “elderly people and minors.” The verdict includes the testimony of the agents, who asserted that the man’s nudity caused “visible uneasiness among those present and other passers-by, who, in the face of their protests to cover their private parts and the signing agents’ request to surrender themselves When asked about some items of clothing, he replied that he felt more comfortable completely naked and had nothing to wear.

The man was fined 100 euros, and on September 27 the trial to appeal against this sanction took place, in which he also took part naked. That day, three Civil Guard agents from the Valencia City of Justice Security Group prevented him from passing him, and another group of five National Police officers surrounded him and forced him to dress, warning that he would be sanctioned if he proposed did not do this, because at that very moment a minor entered the building.

The judge finds that contrary to the claims of the man who claimed he was merely exercising his right to ideological liberty or freedom of conscience and practicing nudism, there is a crime contained in the Gag Act which sanctions “obscene display”. For the judge, “an act of obscenity is an act which, according to the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, is immodest, clumsy or offensive to decency. And so it is in its ultimate meaning, the obscene act, from the perspective of whoever perceives the act and not whoever performs it. So the question is to assess the circumstances or context in which nudism is being practiced in a public space where it is obviously not expressly permitted.” It is thus ruled that the nudity “attacked the modesty of these persons” and that “this attack on the modesty or modesty of some persons who observed the applicant means that the fact of being naked at the doors of the police station in the presence of a group of people, is an obscene act.” Furthermore, the judge points out that “although contemporary society has moved towards the normalization of naked bodies, nudity is still considered part of the privacy or sphere of intimacy of people and their Display in public or viewed in public spaces such as in cars, it may affect the modesty of citizens”.

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Israel fears Australia could recognize a Palestinian state after Canberra withdrew its recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, reports said Tuesday.

Australia said earlier Tuesday it would no longer recognize West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and would instead recognize Tel Aviv again. The announcement by the centre-left Labor Party government in Australia reversed a 2018 decision by the previous Conservative government.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid slammed the decision and the Foreign Office invited the Australian ambassador to a dressing-down, telling him the move was a “miserable decision”.

An Israeli official linked the harsh response to Israel’s fears that the left-wing Australian government could prompt recognition of a Palestinian state.

“That’s why we reacted so strongly and we’re sure that got the message across,” the official told news site Walla. He also said Israel was surprised by Australia’s announcement.

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The official did not elaborate on concerns that Canberra might recognize a Palestinian state, but a separate report from news site Ynet noted that the now-ruling Labor party agreed to a pledge to do so in 2018.

A former senior Israeli diplomat told Ynet that Australia’s potential recognition of a Palestinian state is Israel’s key concern.

“We took a hit from the Australians, but that’s a lot less than recognizing a Palestinian state. One can only hope that this doesn’t lead to this,” said the former diplomat.

A senior official also criticized Australia’s handling of the announcement, saying it violated “every diplomatic protocol that anyone has ever heard of”.

The official told Ynet that Australia had not given Israel any warning prior to the announcement, claiming that Australia’s ambassador to Israel was not even aware of the move in advance.

In addition to its pledge to recognize a Palestinian state, Australia’s centre-left Labor Party had also vowed to reverse then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s recognition of West Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. Penny Wong of the Labor Party, which now acts as Australia’s Foreign Office, had argued the move was “all risk and no gain” and put Australia “off rhythm” with the international community.

Wong’s announced the reversal of the message on Tuesday in response to a media report on the matter. She said Jerusalem’s status should be decided through peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, not unilateral decisions.

Lapid called the announcement “a hasty response to false news in the media.”

“We can only hope that the Australian government will take other matters more seriously and professionally,” said Lapid. “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of united Israel and nothing will ever change that.”

The State Department, which Lapid also heads, said Israel “expresses its deep disappointment” with the decision, calling it the result of “short-sighted political considerations.” The ministry said the government is considering further steps in response.

Prime Minister and Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid speaks during a faction meeting in Tel Aviv October 18, 2022. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Wong had earlier on Tuesday denied there had been a change in policy, but hours later a Conservative government’s decision four years ago said it “created conflict and hardship in part of the Australian community and today the government is trying to address that.” to solve”.

Wong accused the Morrison government of being motivated by a crucial by-election in a Sydney beachfront suburb with a sizable Jewish community. “Do you know what that was? This was a cynical game, unsuccessful to win the Wentworth seat and a by-election,” she said.

Wong insisted that the current decision does not signal hostility towards Israel.

“Australia will always be an unwavering friend of Israel. We were among the first countries to officially recognize Israel,” she said. “We will not waver in our support for Israel and the Jewish community in Australia. We are just as steadfast in our support for the Palestinian people, including humanitarian assistance.”

Canberra’s decision came amid confusion after Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported on Monday that the Australian Foreign Office had removed text from its website about the recognition of West Jerusalem.

The deleted text described “West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel” and noted that Australia “looks forward to moving its embassy to West Jerusalem when practicable, in support and after final establishment of two-state status.” -Solution”.

This file photo taken on January 6, 2022 shows then-Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaking to the media during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. (AFP)

According to The Guardian, the page was updated after the British newspaper contacted the Australian Foreign Office for the government’s view on the status of Jerusalem.

Morrison’s decision in 2018 was received lukewarmly in Israel at the time. Many politicians charged that the move didn’t go far enough as they didn’t recognize the entire city as the capital of the Jewish state and kept the Australian embassy in Tel Aviv. The year before, the United States, under then-President Donald Trump, recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and later moved the American embassy there.

Both Israel and the Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community. For decades, the international community claimed that the city’s status should be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians. Critics argue that making Jerusalem the capital of both is stoking tensions and anticipating the outcome of final status peace talks.

Agencies contributed to this report.

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drone war. The conflict in Ukraine has taken a new turn in recent weeks as Russia used Iranian-made kamikaze drones, which fell notably on Kyiv earlier in the week.

>> War in Ukraine: what do we know about Iranian drones used by the Russian army?

Can Tehran become Moscow’s new armed arm? The Islamic Republic denies these allegations, while Westerners fear a development of arms sales in favor of Vladimir Putin’s army.

While Iran is already supplying Russia with Ababil-2 and 3 reconnaissance drones, simple and inexpensive machines, Tehran has also supplied Moscow with kamikaze drones called the Shahed-136. They are equipped with an explosive charge and are mainly used at night or at dawn to thwart the Ukrainian army’s anti-aircraft defenses. Iran even manages to mass-produce them at $20,000 a piece, sometimes at the expense of their reliability: much cheaper than cruise missiles at $2 million.

The Russians are also demanding Zolfaghar and Fateh 110 surface-to-surface missiles capable of withstanding up to 500 kilos of explosives. Weapons that were the subject of an agreement signed between the two countries on Oct. 6 during a visit to Moscow by Iran’s First Vice President Mohammed Mokhber.

Short-range missiles are added to these supplies. Iranian-made devices used during the war in Syria and which the Lebanese Hezbollah have in their military arsenal. A relative of the Shia movement also points out that about fifty trainers, “guardians of the revolution,” have been dispatched to the Donbass to inspect Russian defense lines and offer their military advice.

While Russia today speaks of a particularly “tense” situation, especially in southern Ukraine, in view of the Kiev counter-offensive, this Iranian engagement once again shows the weaknesses of the Russian army, but remains tantamount to an intensification of fighting.

>> Iran approaches Russia with its kamikaze drones and interferes in the war

Tehran’s military aid has been denounced by the Ukrainian president. “The mere fact that Russia is asking Iran for help is the Kremlin’s recognition of its military and political bankruptcy,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday, October 18. In response, Ukraine reduced its diplomatic presence in Iran. As soon as the missiles were used, Tehran replied: “Where they are used is not the problem of the seller. We are not taking sides in the Ukraine crisis like the West. We want a solution to the crisis through diplomatic means.”

The fact remains that it is in any case a criminally reprehensible act. According to Anne-Claire Legendre, spokeswoman for the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, in an interview with Franceinfo, “this could potentially constitute a violation of UN Security Council resolutions”. In fact, according to a 2015 UN decision, Iran is subject to an arms embargo, and Anne-Claire Legendre recalls that this embargo “is imposed not only on Iranians but also on other states”. The spokeswoman for the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs pointed out that “this issue will be raised in the United Nations Security Council on Thursday”.

President Biden and the Democratic Party are plummeting in the polls ahead of the midterm elections scheduled for Nov. 8, with the increasingly real risk of a sharply divided Congress. The polls are not all unanimous, but the scenario is not at all favorable for Potus (President of the United States) and his deployment, also given the temptations in the Ukraine issue and the increasingly weak economy.

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For the New York Times, worries about the economy are pushing voters towards the Conservative Party, with independent voters, especially women, now appearing to favor the Grand Old Party, even though abortion rights, for example, are under threat. According to the poll, Republicans lead with 49% of voting preferences versus 45% for Democrats. In the previous survey by New York Times and Siena College, in September Democrats had an advantage. In three weeks, the House of Representatives will be renewed and a third of the Senators will be elected.

midterm elections

According to election prediction website Five Thirty Eight, Democrats have a 65% chance of retaining the Senate majority, while Republicans have a 72% chance of regaining the House of Representatives. In addition, 36 of the country’s 50 states vote for the election of the governor.

Instead, according to the latest survey Yahoo News/YouGov shows that Republicans are still behind but are recovering to the point where the gap is no more than 2 percentage points, the worst-case scenario since the campaign began.

When asked which candidate they would vote for in their congressional district if the elections were held today, 46% of voters said they would vote for the Democratic Party, while 44% would vote for the Republican Party. In August, Democrats were 6 points ahead (45% vs. 39%).

Ultimately, how will Biden’s work be evaluated by the White House? Only 43% of Americans support it, while 51% oppose it.