Author: Prima News

The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan on Thursday rejected an appeal by a ​prominent opposition politician who is serving ‌a nine-year prison sentence, his lawyer told Reuters. Tofig Yagublu, 65, is a member of the opposition ​Musavat party and has been jailed ​numerous times over three decades for protesting ⁠against the government of the South Caucasus ​country. Yagublu was arrested in December 2023 and ​convicted in March last year of fraud and document forgery. His supporters say the case is politically ​motivated, while the authorities maintain he was ​rightly convicted of crimes. His lawyer, Nemat Karimli, said the ‌original ⁠trial was…

Taiwan will strengthen its defences of the ​Pratas as China steps up its activities around the islands which lie at the top ‌end of the South China Sea, the minister in charge of Taiwan’s coastguard said on Thursday. Lying roughly between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance – more ​than 400 km (250 miles) – from mainland Taiwan. The Pratas, an atoll which is also a Taiwanese national ​park, are only lightly defended by Taiwan, and its coastguard has that responsibility rather ⁠than the…

Lithuania ​is preparing a ‌request to the United States for cooperation in its investigation ​into potential human ​trafficking with links to ⁠late sex offender , ​the Baltic country’s Prosecutor ​General Vita Grunskiene said on Thursday. “We are preparing to ​send a request for ​legal aid to the U.S.“, ‌Grunskiene ⁠told Lithuania‘s Ziniu radio.Investigators have interviewed around 20 people as part of ​the ​probe ⁠but prosecutors have not pressed charges ​against anyone, she ​said, ⁠and called on any victims of the suspected ⁠trafficking ​to come ​forward to authorities.

A man convicted of participating in an attack on a classified military ​facility during January’s protests in Iran was ‌executed on Thursday, the judiciary’s news outlet Mizan said, after his appeal was rejected and the Supreme Court upheld ​his sentence. The judiciary said Amirhossein Hatami was found ​guilty of entering a restricted military site in ⁠Tehran, damaging and setting fire to the facility, ​and attempting to seize weapons and ammunition — charges ​he admitted during interrogation, Mizan reported. The first deputy chief of the Judiciary, Hamzeh Khalili, said last month that cases linked to ​January protests – a nationwide anti-government…

Eight Muslim-majority countries “strongly condemned” Israel’s move to pass a law making death by hanging a default sentence for Palestinians convicted in ​military courts of deadly attacks, a joint statement released by Pakistan ‌said on Thursday. The law, passed by Israel’s parliament on Monday, will apply to Israelis convicted of murder whose attacks are aimed at “ending Israel’s existence”, meaning it would mete out ​the death penalty for Palestinians but not for Jewish Israelis who ​committed similar crimes, critics say. Eight Muslim-majority countries “strongly condemned” Israel’s move to pass a law making death by hanging a default sentence for Palestinians convicted in ​military courts…

Four astronauts blasted off ​from Florida ​on Wednesday on ⁠NASA’s Artemis ​II mission, ​a high‑stakes 10-day trip around ​the moon ​that marks the ‌United ⁠States’ boldest step yet toward returning ​humans ​to ⁠the lunar surface ​this ​decade ⁠before China’s first crewed ⁠landing.

 “Bob’s Burgers” voice actor and comedian Eugene Mirman suffered serious injuries after crashing his car into a toll plaza and being pulled from the fiery wreckage by a state trooper assigned to protect the governor of New Hampshire. The crash happened just before noon Tuesday when a northbound electric vehicle struck the Bedford Toll Plaza and caught fire, New Hampshire State Police said. Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte and her security detail came upon the crash soon after, and a trooper and two others pulled Mirman from the burning car through a window, said State Police Col. Mark Hall. The governor, who left her vehicle…

 Megan Thee Stallion was rushed to the hospital after “feeling very ill” while onstage on Broadway in “Moulin Rouge! The Musical.” She later took to social media to explain she had been “pushing myself past my limits lately.” An understudy stepped in Tuesday night for the rapper and the show continued. According to her spokesperson, doctors identified extreme exhaustion, dehydration, vasoconstriction and low metabolic levels as the cause of her symptoms. She was discharged and was resting. The Grammy Award-winning rapper wrote on Instagram that she would take off Wednesday’s matinee and evening performances to rest and recuperate. “I’ll be right back on that stage…

And with Brent Crude still trading at more than $100 per barrel, many workers and households have reverted to using oil and coal, raising concerns of lasting environmental damage, while numerous countries have already announced fuel rationing and a move to online meetings.Just over four weeks since Israeli–US bombing of Iran began, sparking the wider regional conflict, the almost immediate disruption to tanker traffic in the vital Persian Gulf waterway cut oil shipments worldwide, followed by natural gas, coal, transport, food and fertilizers. “Only a small group of LDCs [Least Developed Countries] are net energy exporters: South Sudan, Angola, Chad, Mozambique,…

Decentralized finance company Drift says it has suspended withdrawals and deposits after confirming a security incident.  The crypto platform said in a post on X that it was “experiencing an active attack,” and that it was working to “contain the incident.” Security researchers and public blockchain data suggest the losses could be significant. Blockchain security firm CertiK said on X that hackers may have stolen around $136 million, while crypto analytics firm Arkham put the figure at around $285 million stolen. If confirmed, this would make the Drift hack the largest crypto theft of the year, according to the Rekt…