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Sweden and Iran exchange prisoners in a revolutionary exchange

Sweden and Iran exchange prisoners in a revolutionary exchange

“This was an affront to justice,” said Gissou Nia, president of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center in New Haven, Connecticut. “There has been a constant call for countries that have universal jurisdiction to open investigations into Iranian officials, including into the women-led protests.” She was referring to the mass protests of 2022, which began with the death of a young woman in the custody of the morality police after she was accused of violating the mandatory hijab rule. Nia added: “It is horrific for victims of atrocity crimes in general,” adding that it has also been a disincentive for…
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Fire at South Korea lithium battery plant kills at least 22

Fire at South Korea lithium battery plant kills at least 22

According to Kim, workers who fled the fire said the fire started when a single battery cell caught fire, triggering a series of explosions among some of the 35,000 lithium battery cells stored on the second floor of the factory. Fires can occur in lithium batteries when the internal layers are compressed, causing a short circuit. The layers can be compressed by a sudden impact, such as during a vehicle collision, or by the gradual swelling of the batteries from regular use. Lithium is a metal that can store large amounts of energy in a small space, which is why…
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American travelers in Europe face phone outage

American travelers in Europe face phone outage

US mobile operators AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile suffered an outage that affected travelers in Europe. Many vacationers have lost access to essential phone features such as data, calls and texts. Social media is full of frustrated travelers from Britain to Turkey, unable to connect for 24 hours. The cause of the outage remains unclear, but appears to be related to an issue with a third-party provider used for international roaming. Carriers have acknowledged the problem: AT&T says its network is operating normally, but some international customers may experience outages due to an external issue. They are working with a roaming…
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Colombia’s peace agreement creates a birdwatching paradise

Colombia’s peace agreement creates a birdwatching paradise

The 2016 peace treaty, which ended decades of civil conflict in Colombia, has transformed the country into a birdwatcher's paradise. This agreement has liberated vast swathes of forests previously dominated by armed groups, making them accessible to both wildlife enthusiasts and researchers. For years, Colombia's rich biodiversity has been hidden behind the barriers of a long-running civil war. The nation's forests, home to an astonishing variety of bird species, were largely off-limits due to the presence of guerrillas and associated dangers. However, the peace agreement has made these once inaccessible areas accessible, revealing a treasure trove of avian diversity. Birdwatchers…
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Saudi Arabia’s Next Billion-Dollar Sports Play: A Boxing Takeover

Saudi Arabia’s Next Billion-Dollar Sports Play: A Boxing Takeover

Each class would include around 15 fighters each, allowing top talent to face off against each other regularly. The move would effectively create a single boxing entity that would replace the sometimes chaotic and frustrating system of warring fight promoters and sanctioning bodies. The new entity would have the resources and fighters to stage high-profile cards around the world. And unlike many of the sports that Saudi Arabia has already attempted to revolutionize, professional boxing may be ripe for reinvention. The sport has lost its luster and some of its allure in recent decades and is currently run by a…
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Having overcome the last obstacle, the Dutch leader is ready to become head of NATO

Having overcome the last obstacle, the Dutch leader is ready to become head of NATO

Mark Rutte, the outgoing prime minister of the Netherlands who has provided more than $3 billion in military support to Ukraine since 2022, on Thursday secured the final support he needs to become NATO's next secretary general. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis withdrew his candidacy to lead NATO on Thursday, making it all but certain that Rutte, 57, will be formally elected to a four-year term at the head of the Atlantic alliance. This could happen as early as next week, ahead of the high-level NATO summit in Washington in July. The Netherlands is a founding member of NATO and Rutte…
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