News in Brief -2024-10-04

Palestinian activist wins prize
for peaceful resistance
STOCKHOLM, Oct 03: Palestinian activist Issa Amro on Thursday accepted the Right Livelihood prize-considered by some an alternative Nobel-for his "nonviolent resistance to Israel's illegal occupation" in the West Bank, the jury said. Amro was born in the city of Hebron, a flashpoint West Bank city where roughly 1,000 Jewish settlers live under heavy Israeli military protection amid some 200,000 Palestinians. He has dedicated his life to fighting against Israel's occupation of the West Bank. The 44-year-old founded the Youth Against Settlements group, which campaigns against the proliferation of Jewish settlements in the territory-communities widely regarded as illegal under international law. — AFP

EU to delay deforestation rules
BRUSSELS, Oct 03: The European Union on Wednesday offered to delay by a year the introduction of new rules that would outlaw the sale of products that come from forests following an outcry from several governments claiming that it will damage trade and hurt small farmers. The EU's executive branch, the European Commission, said that "it would make the law applicable on 30 December 2025 for large companies and 30 June 2026 for micro- and small enterprises," if the 27 member countries and the bloc's parliament agree. The deforestation regulation's scope is wide, including things like cocoa, coffee, soy, cattle, palm oil, rubber, wood and products made from them. —AP

CIA seeks informants in 3 countries
NEW YORK, Oct 03: The US Central Intelligence Agency has launched a new drive to recruit informants in China, Iran and North Korea. The organisation posted messages on its social media accounts in Mandarin, Farsi and Korean on Wednesday, instructing users how to contact it securely. This latest effort follows a campaign to enlist Russians in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, which the CIA says was a success. "We want to make sure individuals in other authoritarian regimes know that we're open for business," a CIA spokesman said in a statement. —BBC

Six migrants killed by Mexican troops
TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Oct 03: Soldiers chasing suspicious vehicles on a highway in Mexico opened fire and killed six migrants, the defense ministry said Wednesday. The patrol found 33 migrants from countries including Egypt, Nepal, Cuba, India and Pakistan, it said, without specifying the nationalities of those killed in the incident late Tuesday in southern Chiapas state. The killing happened on the same day that Claudia Sheinbaum took office as Mexico's new president with a vow to respect human rights and avoid repression by security forces. —AFP

Hospital fire in Taiwan kills nine
TAIPEI, Oct 03: Nine people have died in a fire at a hospital in southern Taiwan, according to local media. Some reports have suggested it was due to an electrical fault. The fire struck the Pingtung county hospital at around 09:40 local time (01:00 GMT) - just as Typhoon Krathon made landfall to the west, in neighbouring Kaohsiung. The wet and windy weather complicated the fire response, one report said. The cause of the fire - which was put out more than three hours later, officials said - is still under investigation. —BBC