Iran’s customs office (IRICA) says non-oil exports from the country rose by 18% year on year in the eight months to November 20.

IRICA chief Foroud Asgari said on Tuesday that Iran had exported $38.152 billion worth of goods and commodities in the eight months to late November.

He said that export shipments had also increased by 14.66% in volume terms over the same period to reach 103.558 million metric tons.

His figures showed that petrochemicals had accounted for 29.79% of Iran’s total non-oil exports in the eight months to late November as shipments generated $17.5 billion worth of revenues.

Main export items included liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at $5.1 billion, liquefied propane at $2.2 billion, and methanol at $1.7 billion, the figures showed.

China was the largest buyer of Iranian export shipments over the April-November period with $9.9 billion worth of purchases, followed by Iraq at $8.3 billion and the United Arab Emirates at $4.8 billion, IRICA figures showed.

Figures released earlier this month pointed to a major month-on-month increase in Iran’s non-oil exports in October thanks to a surge in shipments delivered to neighboring Iraq.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to attack decision-making centres in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv with the country's new ballistic missile, Oreshnik.

Putin was speaking hours after Russia launched a “comprehensive” strike on Ukraine’s energy grid overnight, in what he called a response to "continued attacks" using US-supplied Atacms missiles on Russian soil.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that any "Russian blackmail" would be met with a "tough response".

Ukraine used Atacms and UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles to strike inside Russian territory last week for the first time since the full-scale invasion of February 2022, following approval by the Western suppliers, the US, the UK and France.

The overnight Russian strike unfolded over several hours with waves of drones and missiles flying across the length and breadth of Ukraine - the second attack of its kind this month.

There were no fatalities, but it left more than one million people in Ukraine without power.

Zelensky said cluster munitions had been used against civilian and energy infrastructure.

"Cluster warheads [are] a particularly dangerous type of Russian weaponry used against civilians," he said, adding that they "significantly complicated" the work of rescuers and repair crews.

Putin said the Russia attack involving 90 missiles and 100 drones also included the "Oreshnik" - a new ballistic missile which, according to Putin, cannot be intercepted.

US officials believe Russia is likely only to have a small number of the experimental Oreshnik missiles and would need time to produce more of them.

The world gets a first look inside a resplendent new Notre-Dame on Friday, as France's President Emmanuel Macron conducts a televised tour to mark the cathedral's imminent re-opening.

Five-and-a-half years after the devastating fire of 2019, Paris's Gothic jewel has been rescued, renovated and refurbished - offering visitors what promises to be a breathtaking visual treat.

The president - accompanied by his wife Brigitte and Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich - are kicking off a programme of ceremonies that culminates with an official "entry" into the cathedral on 7 December and the first Catholic Mass the next day.

After being shown highlights of the building’s €700m (£582m) renovation - including the massive roof timbers that replace the medieval frame consumed in the fire - he will give a speech of thanks to around 1,300 craftsmen and women gathered in the nave.

Notre-Dame's re-vamped interior has been kept a closely-guarded secret - with only a few images released over the years marking the progress of the renovation work.

But people who have been inside recently say the experience is awe-inspiring, the cathedral lifted by a new clarity and brightness that mark a sharp contrast with the pervading gloom of before.

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, has agreed to halt migration into the United States after a recent conversation.

The president-elect issued a statement on Truth Social saying he had a “wonderful conversation” with the leader of America’s southern neighbor.

“Just had a wonderful conversation with the new President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border,” he said.

“We also talked about what can be done to stop the massive drug inflow into the United States, and also, U.S. consumption of these drugs. It was a very productive conversation!” he added.

The president-elect’s announcement comes after he recently threatened both Mexico and Canada with a 25 percent tariff on all products if they did not crack down and crime and drugs pouring through U.S. borders.

“As everyone is aware, thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before. Right now a Caravan coming from Mexico, composed of thousands of people, seems to be unstoppable in its quest to come through our currently Open Border,” he said.

“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” he added. “This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country! Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!”

When the police asked her where she was going, she simply replied: "With my mom and dad" and when they asked her where they were, she simply answered: "United States"

A migrant girl from El Salvador, only two years old, was found alone on the border between the United States and Mexico, holding a piece of paper with a name and a phone number, according to the authorities of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) through social networks.

The discovery occurred on Sunday in Maverick County, Texas, where a group of more than 200 migrants, including 60 unaccompanied minors, were detained after crossing the border irregularly. Among them, the minor, dressed in a bright pink jacket, drew attention because of her young age and because she was traveling completely alone.

In a video released by DPS, the girl answered questions from an officer. When questioned about her fate, she said she was looking for her parents: "With my mom and dad," she said. When asked about his location, he replied, "The United States."

The minor showed a small piece of yellow paper on which a name and a telephone number were written. The authorities have not reported whether they have already managed to locate the girl's parents or identify the person to whom the contact corresponds written on the paper.

Chris Olivarez, a lieutenant and spokesman for DPS, said on social media that the girl's case was a clear example of the "precarious journey" that children make from their country of origin "and how criminal organizations traffic them across the southern border and into the interior."

"Regardless of political opinions, it is unacceptable for a child to be exposed to dangerous criminal trafficking networks," Olivarez said in his X (formerly Twitter) post.

The spokesman added that there is a "record number" of unaccompanied children and another "hundreds of thousands" who are missing, likewise, there is no one to guarantee their safety, except for "the men and women who are on the front line every day." Similarly, he commented that "many children" suffer from exploitation and trafficking "and nothing is ever heard from them again."

"DPS has rescued more than 900 children during Operation Lone Star from abandonment and human trafficking," Olivarez said.

Attached to the information of the discovery of the two-year-old girl, the DPS spokesman shared a series of images and videos of unaccompanied minors, highlighting that of a Salvadoran infant who was heading to Washington state.

In the same clip, a group of unaccompanied minors of different ages can be seen, some from El Salvador, others from countries such as Guatemala and Honduras with destinations as varied as California, North Carolina, Florida, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

The youngest of all those interviewed in the videos shared by Olivarez was a 9-year-old boy who claimed to be from El Salvador and who was looking to go to California.

On the other hand, the department's agent attached a clip in which an exclusive row of underage women was interviewed. It was found that some came from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala and other countries, highlighting the discovery of a four-year-old girl and a seven-year-old girl.

The next Republican administration will coexist in the region with allied countries, Caribbean dictatorships and a bloc of nations that are strategic partners of China, Russia and Iran

(From Washington, United States) The triumph of Yamandú Orsi in the presidential elections in Uruguay ends up assigning the pieces of the puzzle that Donald Trump will have to put together in Latin America, a geopolitical scenario that exhibits allies of the next Republican administration, Marxist dictatorships and a bloc of countries that will have zigzag diplomatic relations with the United States due to their ties with China. Russia and Iran.

Trump's regional agenda aims to end China's influence, force institutional change in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, facilitate government management in Argentina, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador, and establish specific political agreements with Brazil and Mexico.

However, Trump appointed Marco Rubio as secretary of state, a descendant of Cuban exiles who will not miss the historic opportunity: it is the first time that the head of American diplomacy knows – for real – what is happening from Mexico City to Santiago de Chile.

Dictators Nicolás Maduro, Daniel Ortega and Miguel Díaz-Canel have transformed Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba into proxies for China, Russia and Iran. In addition, these authoritarian leaders exercise state control over the opposition that violates all the human rights established by the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of American States (OAS).

Trump plans a roadmap that will involve greater economic and financial sanctions on Havana, Managua and Caracas, instead of establishing certain agreements from the White House as Joe Biden executed without result. Maduro committed fraud against Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado, and Biden barely had a diplomatic response that Venezuela's regime treated like tropical rain.

If there were an order of priority for Trump and Secretary Rubio, Maduro heads the list and behind Díaz-Canel, who deploys his intelligence apparatus in Venezuela to capture and torture members of the opposition, and also meet the members of the Armed Forces who are already proposing an orderly democratic transition.

Unlike the political cold that it will apply to Caribbean dictatorships, the Republican administration plans to promote a privileged relationship with Javier Milei, Santiago Peña, Luis Abinader and Nayib Bukele. This political relationship will not be linear – Trump foresees a protectionist agenda that may affect regional exports to the United States – but it will aim to grant certain benefits to Argentina, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador.

In this context, Milei participated in a dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, and Paraguayan Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano was with the president-elect in his condo, before leaving for Taiwan. Milei is negotiating a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and President Peña supports his Foreign Minister Ramírez as a candidate for Secretary General of the OAS.

Trump will support Milei and Peña to fulfill their political objectives. If you look at the whole regional puzzle that the future president of the United States will have to put together, Argentina and Paraguay are the only two pieces with their own volume that will be aligned with Trump's global agenda.

Brazil and Mexico lead a bloc of nations that, due to their ideological outlook and strategic agreements with China, Russia and Iran, will be refractory to Trump's foreign policy. Those countries are Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Peru and certain Caribbean islands that need oil from Venezuela and military intelligence from Cuba.

From this perspective, Trump will have to maximize Rubio'sdiplomatic capacity. Lula da Silva is president of the most important country in the region, while Claudia Sheinbaum acceded to the presidency of Mexico with a notable victory in the general elections.

Mexico is a privileged trading partner of the United States – along with Canada – and Brazil has enough political capacity to condition Trump's international agenda. Lula is playing on par with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, and Sheinbaum will demand that the Republican government establish a common policy regarding undocumented immigrants and the Fentanyl crisis.

Rubio will announce his team for Latin America in the coming weeks, following his approval hearing as secretary of state in the Senate. He has a team of experts who have accompanied him for years in his parliamentary activity. Unlike other heads of American diplomacy - both Republicans and Democrats - Rubio knows the region and speaks the same language.

WASHINGTON/SEOUL, Nov 25 (Reuters) - North Korea is expanding a key weapons manufacturing complex that assembles a type of short-range missile used by Russia in Ukraine, researchers at a U.S.-based think tank have concluded, based on satellite images.

The facility, known as the February 11 plant, is part of the Ryongsong Machine Complex in Hamhung, North Korea's second-largest city, on the country's east coast.

Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), located at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, said the plant was the only one known to produce the Hwasong-11 class of solid-fuel ballistic missiles. Ukrainian officials say these munitions - known as the KN-23 in the West - have been used by Russian forces in their assault on Ukraine. The expansion of the complex has not been previously reported.

Both Moscow and Pyongyang have denied that North Korea has transferred weapons for Russia to use against Ukraine, which it invaded in February 2022. Russia and North Korea signed a mutual defense treaty at a summit in June and have pledged to boost their military ties. North Korea's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

The satellite images, taken in early October by the commercial satellite firm Planet Labs, show what appears to be an additional assembly building under construction as well as a new housing facility, likely intended for workers, according to the analysis by researchers at CNS.

PITTSBURGH, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump warned on Monday that, if elected, he would punish Mexico and China with tariffs unless both governments moved to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States.

At a campaign rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Trump said he would move quickly to crack down on drug trafficking along the southern U.S. border with Mexico and that he would use tariffs. "We will immediately stop the drugs pouring across our border," he said.

Trump said he would impose tariffs on goods from Mexico of 25% and would do the "same thing to China" for exporting fentanyl to Mexico. "Every damn thing that they sell into the United States is going to have like a 25% (tariff) until they stop drugs from coming in. And let me tell you something, those drugs will stop so damn fast that your head will spin," Trump said.

You can see thick plumes of smoke rise from the Agbogbloshie dumpsite from miles away.

The air at the vast dump, in the west of Ghana’s capital Accra, is highly toxic. The closer you get, the harder it is to breathe and your vision starts to blur.

Around these fumes are dozens of men, who wait for tractors to unload piles of cables before setting them on fire. Others climb up a toxic waste hill and bring down TVs, computers and washing machine parts and set them alight.

The men are extracting valuable metals like copper and gold from electrical and electronic waste - or e-waste – much of which has made its way to Ghana from rich countries.

“I don’t feel well,” says young worker Abdulla Yakubu, whose eyes are red and watery as he burns cables and plastic.

“The air, as you can see, is very polluted and I have to work here every day, so it definitely affects our health.”

Abiba Alhassan, a mother of four, works near the burning site sorting out used plastic bottles, and the toxic smoke does not spare her either.

“Sometimes, it’s very difficult to breathe even, my chest becomes heavy and I feel very unwell,” she says.

E-waste is the world's fastest-growing waste stream, with 62 million tonnes generated in 2022, up 82% from 2010, according to a UN report.

It is electronisation of our societies that is primarily behind the e-waste rise — ranging from smartphones, computers and smart alarms, to automobiles with electronic devices installed, whose demand is steadily on the rise.

Annual smartphone shipments, for instance, have more than doubled since 2010, hitting 1.2 billion in 2023, according to a UN Trade and Development report this year.

The UN says only around 15% of the world’s e-waste is recycled, so unscrupulous companies are seeking to offload it elsewhere, often through middle men who then traffick the waste out of the country.

Such waste is difficult to recycle because of their complex composition including toxic chemicals, metals, plastics and elements that cannot be easily separated and recycled.

Even developed countries do not have adequate e-waste management infrastructure.

UN investigators say they are seeing a significant rise in the trafficking of e-waste from developed countries and rapidly emerging economies. E-waste is now the most frequently seized item, accounting for one in six of all types of waste seizures globally, the World Customs Organisation has found.

Officials at Italy’s Naples port showed the BBC World Service how traffickers mis-declared and hid e-waste, which they said made up around 30% of their seizures.

They showed a scan of a container bound for Africa, carrying a car. But when port officials opened the container, broken parts of vehicles and e-waste were stacked inside, with oil leaking from some of them.

The Biden administration is loosening some key immigration restrictions ahead of President-elect Trump’s second term, opening the door for thousands more illegal immigrants to enter the country.

Trump has indicated that he could declare a national emergency and use military assets to carry out mass deportations. The Biden administration, however, is taking steps to make Trump's plans for the border more difficult. The Biden Department of Homeland Security is launching an ICE Portal app in December that will allow migrants to skip their in-person check-ins at an ICE office and instead check in with immigration officials via an app on a phone or computer, according to reporting by The New York Post.

The app reportedly has severe glitching issues and does not track a migrant's location if he or she is using an Android phone or laptop.

Further, the app does not check migrants for past arrests or outstanding warrants and allows them to opt out of or contest government orders to undergo electronic tracking.

President-elect Trump announced Thursday evening that he's nominating former attorney general of Florida Pam Bondi as the next attorney general of the United States.

Trump's latest Cabinet pick replaces Matt Gaetz, the former Florida representative and nominee for attorney general, who on Thursday withdrew as Trump's pick for the top prosecutor after the "distraction" his nomination had caused due to a swirl of allegations about paying underage women for sex.

"Pam was a prosecutor for nearly 20 years, where she was very tough on Violent Criminals, and made the streets safe for Florida Families," Trump wrote in his announcement. "Then, as Florida’s first female Attorney General, she worked to stop the trafficking of deadly drugs, and reduce the tragedy of Fentanyl Overdose Deaths, which have destroyed many families across our Country. She did such an incredible job, that I asked her to serve on our Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission during my first Term — We saved many lives!

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that an attack by his forces on the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday morning was carried out using "a new conventional intermediate-range missile".

He said that the missile, codenamed Oreshnik, was a response to the use by Ukraine of US and UK long-range weaponry to hit targets inside Russia.

Putin added that Russia could attack military facilities of those countries which allowed their weapons to be used for this purpose.

The US and the UK authorised the use of US ATACMS and UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles this week, in a major change of policy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia's use of the new missile was "a clear and severe escalation in the scale and brutality of this war."

"[This] is yet more proof that Russia has no interest in peace," he wrote on X, adding: "Putin is not only prolonging the war - he is spitting in the face of those in the world who genuinely want peace to be restored."

Earlier, Zelensky said the missile had the characteristics of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), even as Western officials cast doubt on this theory.

The US National Security Council, meanwhile, said "an experimental medium-range ballistic missile" had been used against Ukraine, adding that Russia probably only possessed a handful of these weapons and that they would not be a game changer in the war.

New Delhi: The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has argued for Google to divest itself from the web browser Chrome, as well as potentially giving up its popular operating system Android, in court filings Wednesday.

These steps are a part of suggested remedies by the justice department against the American tech giant, following a court ruling in August that said it has a monopoly in the search engine market.

“Google’s ownership and control of Chrome and Android—key methods for the distribution of search engines to consumers—poses a significant challenge to effectuate a remedy that aims to ‘unfetter (these) market(s) from anticompetitive conduct’,” said the 23-page filing by the US Department of Justice.

The DOJ added: “In order to safeguard against the possibility of further foreclosure and exclusion of rivals and potential entrants including via self-preferencing, the PFJ [proposed final judgment] requires Google to divest Chrome.”

According to the DOJ, the “Chrome default” is a “market reality” that “significantly narrows the available channels of distribution” and therefore harms the emergence of new competitive products. The divestment of Chrome “will restore incentives to rivals and potential entrants to compete” in the search-engine space.

Apart from this, the DOJ has also argued that Google should be prevented from entering exclusive distribution agreements with companies such as Apple and Samsung for the use of its search engine as a default for their products.

In fairness, the left is out of options I guess. Grasping at straws?

> I look forward to working with the Trump Administration on fulfilling his promise to cap credit card interest rates at 10%.

> We cannot continue to allow big banks to make record profits by ripping off Americans by charging them 25 to 30% interest rates.

> That is usury.

https://x.com/SenSanders/status/1857527478715031865

Traditionally for Christians (although this is associated perhaps with Muslims more today) all interests on loans was considered to be usury, I think.

Catholicism attempted to clarify some "nuances" on the teachings in the 1500s, here's the Catholic encyclopedia on the topic: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15235c.htm

Honestly I don't get the "nuances" so I advocate ideally for no interests on loaning (which is morally allowed, but possibly at a loss). Jesus even advocates as an ideal (not required) to loan without even expecting the principal back:

"But love ye your enemies: do good, and lend, hoping for nothing thereby" Luke 6:35

Obvious problems exist like enslaving the poor with interest-debts (like compounding credit card debt), or nations like our national "debt" (it's interest payments...)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The party of Sri Lanka’s new Marxist-leaning President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has won a majority in parliament, according to official election results Friday, providing a solid mandate for his program for economic revival.

Dissanayake’s National People’s Power Party won at least 123 of the 225 seats in parliament, according to partial results released by the Elections Commission.

The Samagi Jana Balawegaya, or United People’s Power Party, led by opposition leader Sajith Premedasa had 31 seats.

Dissanayake was elected president on Sept. 21 in a rejection of traditional political parties that have governed the island nation since its independence from British rule in 1948. But he received just 42% of the votes, fueling questions over his party’s outlook in Thursday’s parliamentary elections. But the party received large increases in support less than two months into his presidency.

In a major surprise and a big shift in the country’s electoral landscape, his party won the Jaffna district, the heartland of ethnic Tamils in the north, and many other minority strongholds.

The victory in Jaffna marks a great dent for traditional ethnic Tamil parties that have dominated the politics of the north since independence.

It is also a major shift in the attitude of Tamils, who have long been suspicious of majority ethnic Sinhalese leaders. Ethnic Tamil rebels fought an unsuccessful civil war in 1983-2009 to create a separate homeland, saying they were being marginalized by governments controlled by Sinhalese.

According to conservative U.N. estimates, more than 100,000 people were killed in the conflict.

BAKU, Azerbaijan - Pay now to help poorer countries cope with climate change or pay more later, negotiators were warned on Thursday, as experts said poor states need at least copy trillion per year by the end of the decade to move to greener energy and protect against extreme weather.

Money is a central focus of the COP29 climate talks being held in Azerbaijan. The success of the summit is likely to be judged on whether nations can agree a new target for how much richer nations, development lenders and the private sector must provide each year to developing countries to finance climate action.

A previous goal of copy00 billion per year, which expires in 2025, was met two years late in 2022, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said earlier this year, although much of it was in the form of loans rather than grants, something recipient countries say needs to change.

Setting the tone at the start of the day, a report from the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance said the target annual figure would need to rise to copy.3 trillion a year by 2035, or potentially more if countries drag their feet now.

Tiger King star Joe Exotic has written a letter to President-elect Donald Trump, begging for his early release from prison.

In the letter obtained by RadarOnline, the 61-year-old — whose real name is Joe Maldonado-Passage — asks to be released from the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas. Exotic, who went viral thanks to the hit 2020 Netflix documentary, shared his support for Trump, 78, while stressing the hardships of his current condition.

"A lot of people went to bat for you in 2021 who have been living in hell ever since then," wrote Exotic, who is serving 21 years in prison for his murder-for-hire case against rival Carole Baskin. "Everyone hopes you keep the promises you made during your campaign, which include pardoning everyone sooner than later in January 2025."

"Some, like myself, have fought like hell to hang on, hoping for you to win this election," he continued, noting he had been "scared as hell" of Vice President Kamala Harris potentially winning.

He also took to X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, November 12, to share an article from The Daily Beast about possible Trump pardons, with the caption, "Trump you got to make my Pardon Happen in January. The media is counting on you this time."

The former owner of the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, was arrested in 2019. He was convicted of two counts of murder for hire, nine counts of violating the Endangered Species Act, and nine counts for violations of the Lacey Act, a law that prohibits the illegal trafficking of wildlife, fish, and plants — and is set to be released in 2036.

Exotic, however, is hoping to be released in 2025, as his legal team has filed an appeal for a retrial based on alleged newly discovered evidence. His attorney, Roger Roots, said that their evidence shows that his client's trial was "fundamentally riddled with errors that went to the very heart of the accusations." He added, "Had that evidence been known at the time, he would not have been convicted."