Tag: World

Posted on

China clashes with its neighbors after reopening to the world as Covid surges

China clashes with its neighbors after reopening to the world as Covid surges

HONG KONG — On the first day of unimpeded journey among mainland China and Hong Kong, Olivia Gai was a single of the initially in line. 

Crossing the border from the Chinese territory of Hong Kong to the mainland had been a inconvenience given that the get started of the Covid-19 pandemic, necessitating weeks of quarantine. But this time, it was sleek and swift, stated Gai, 27, who is effective in wealth management.

As she entered the mainland city of Shenzhen, “I observed two really festive exhibit boards and the team stated I could generate a would like and set it on — so many persons were crafting and using photos,” Gai mentioned by using Xiaohongshu, China’s model of Instagram. “I was about to cry at that moment.”

China reopened to the earth Sunday after three yrs of isolation, ending quarantine demands for inbound vacationers and issuing its citizens passports for tourism all over again. The hurried lifting of “zero-Covid” restrictions soon after mass protests has accelerated what appears to be China’s worst outbreak of the pandemic, primary the United States and numerous other governments to impose restrictions on tourists from the world’s 2nd-greatest economic system.

The U.S., the Environment Health and fitness Group and many others have mentioned China is not being clear about the extent of its outbreak, and that the deficiency of details raises the hazard of a new variant of problem rising undetected. 

China, in turn, has criticized the new testing and other specifications as unscientific and discriminatory, and threatened to get countermeasures. On Tuesday, the Chinese embassies in South Korea and Japan mentioned they would prevent issuing limited-expression visas for travelers to China. 

“We as soon as once more contact on related countries to make confident that their Covid response measures are reality-based mostly, science-primarily based and proportionate,” Overseas Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin claimed at a typical information briefing Tuesday. China itself continue to needs all arriving passengers to have analyzed adverse for the virus in just 48 hours of departure from their details of origin.

Social media customers in China experienced expressed anger over the demanding border steps in South Korea, sharing video clips of travelers from China carrying yellow cards about their necks and becoming escorted for screening on arrival by South Korean troopers in uniform. The Korea Disease Manage and Prevention Agency told NBC News that the troopers have been asked to aid in the rush to put into practice the new arrival processes and that qualified quarantine staff would support vacationers from China come across the testing place commencing Wednesday.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry says its restrictions on travelers from China are based on science. Japan explained Wednesday that it experienced lodged a protest to China above the suspension of visas.

The U.S. and other countries imposing restrictions have cited a absence of information from China, which is a “black box” when it arrives to its latest Covid outbreak, explained Ho-fung Hung, an associate professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins College.

The country, which narrowly defines Covid-similar fatalities, has reported only about a few dozen in the final month, a quantity wildly out of sync with anecdotal studies and social media photos of overcome crematoriums and funeral households. In accordance to some estimates, China’s Covid demise toll could access 1 million or extra in the coming months.

The government’s small formal situation quantities are also at odds with community reviews. A spokesperson for the provincial governing administration in Henan explained Monday that as of Jan. 6, 89{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} of the province’s 99 million people experienced been infected. The quantity of people checking out “fever clinics” for treatment method has declined continually since peaking Dec. 19, the spokesperson claimed.  

Gurus like Hung say it’s feasible that the Chinese governing administration itself does not have precise figures, especially considering the fact that mass screening packages have finished and many individuals with mild bacterial infections are recovering at dwelling without the need of reporting them.

“It’s tough to accumulate these details with precision in the context of an acute epidemic,” mentioned Karen Grépin, an associate professor in the Faculty of General public Wellbeing at the University of Hong Kong.

Chinese officials reject statements that they have not shared information transparently. They say the outbreak is predictable and below manage, and that lifestyle is returning to usual in metropolitan areas and provinces where conditions have presently peaked.

Nonetheless, a lot more nations have begun demanding detrimental Covid exams for tourists from China, and at least a person country, Morocco, has banned arrivals completely. 

Posted on

Global economy ‘perilously close’ to a recession: World Bank | Economy News

Global economy ‘perilously close’ to a recession: World Bank | Economy News

The worldwide financial state will occur “perilously close” to a economic downturn this calendar year, led by weaker advancement in all the world’s prime economies – the United States, Europe and China – the Environment Lender warned on Tuesday.

In an annual report, the Earth Financial institution, which lends revenue to poorer nations around the world for progress projects, mentioned it had slashed its forecast for world-wide expansion this 12 months by virtually fifty percent, to just 1.7 per cent, from its past projection of 3 p.c. If that forecast proved precise, it would be the third-weakest annual enlargement in 30 several years, behind only the deep recessions that resulted from the 2008 world-wide economic disaster and the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Though the United States could prevent a recession this calendar year – the Entire world Bank has predicted the US economic system will eke out expansion of .5 {515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} – world weak spot will probably pose one more headwind for US businesses and customers, on top rated of large costs and a lot more high-priced borrowing prices. The US would also keep on being vulnerable to more source chain disruptions if COVID-19 keeps surging or Russia’s war in Ukraine worsens.

And Europe, long a major exporter to China, will very likely go through from a weaker Chinese overall economy.

The Earth Lender report also noted that soaring fascination premiums in developed economies like the United States and Europe will attract financial commitment money from poorer nations, thus depriving them of essential domestic expenditure. At the similar time, the report mentioned, these large desire premiums will sluggish progress in made nations around the world at a time when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has saved earth food prices higher.

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has extra big new fees,” Earth Bank President David Malpass explained on a simply call with reporters. “The outlook is specifically devastating for many of the poorest economies where poverty reduction is currently ground to a halt and accessibility to electricity, fertiliser, foodstuff and capital is very likely to continue to be limited for a extended interval.”

The influence of a international downturn would tumble notably tricky on poorer nations around the world in these kinds of, parts as Saharan Africa, which is house to 60 per cent of the world’s inadequate. The World Bank has predicted for every capita earnings will develop just 1.2 percent in 2023 and 2024, which is this sort of a tepid rate that poverty charges could rise.

Chad economy
For most of the earth, this is going to be a ‘tough year’ [File: Xaume Olleros/Bloomberg]

“Weakness in growth and organization investment decision will compound the previously devastating reversals in education and learning, well being, poverty and infrastructure and the rising demands from weather transform,” Malpass mentioned. “Addressing the scale of these issues will involve appreciably much more methods for enhancement and global public goods.”

Along with trying to get new financing so it can lend a lot more to poorer international locations, Malpass explained, the Entire world Financial institution will, among other items, request to improve its lending phrases that would raise personal debt transparency, “especially for the soaring share of very poor international locations that are at superior risk of credit card debt distress”.

Major a few slowdown

The report adopted a likewise gloomy forecast a 7 days before from Kristina Georgieva, the head of the Global Financial Fund, the world lending company. Georgieva approximated on US news community CBS’s, Confront the Country, that one particular-3rd of the environment will tumble into recession this year.

“For most of the earth economy, this is likely to be a difficult 12 months, harder than the 12 months we leave behind,” Georgieva said. “Why? Simply because the three significant economies – US, EU, China – are all slowing down simultaneously.”

The World Financial institution has projected that the European Union’s economy will not increase at all subsequent year just after obtaining expanded 3.3 p.c in 2022. It foresaw China developing 4.3 {515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502}, just about a share point lower than it experienced beforehand forecast and about 50 {515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} the speed that Beijing posted in 2021.

The bank predicted building countries to fare greater, expanding 3.4 {515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} this calendar year, the same as in 2022, though nonetheless only about fifty percent the speed of 2021. It forecast Brazil’s advancement slowing to .8 p.c in 2023, down from 3 {515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} previous calendar year. In Pakistan, it predicted the economy to broaden just 2 {515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} this year, one-third of last year’s speed.

Other economists have also issued bleak outlooks, although most of them not rather as dire. Economists at JPMorgan are predicting slow progress this 12 months for innovative economies and the environment as a total, but they do not be expecting a worldwide economic downturn. Past thirty day period, the bank predicted that slowing inflation will bolster consumers’ potential to shell out and electricity advancement in the US and elsewhere.

“The world growth will transform into 2023 bent but not damaged,” the JPMorgan report reported.

Posted on

Why Lionel Messi as The Sporting News Athlete of the Year? No one else conquered the entire world

Why Lionel Messi as The Sporting News Athlete of the Year? No one else conquered the entire world

Via the program of the calendar year 2022, it’s feasible Lionel Messi was the finest soccer participant on the planet only for a one particular-month period. It was the great month, although. It was the thirty day period when he experienced to be the finest in purchase to fulfill a lifelong desire and dispel a vocation-very long curse, and it’s not entirely sure which of these was additional essential.

The Entire world Cup arrives each and every 4 several years. Only a couple adult men have appeared in 5 of them, and that’s how several attempts it took Messi to get this exactly appropriate. As opposed to in 2006, there was not a checklist of more substantial stars, much more recognized veterans forward of him. Compared with in 2010, these in demand of Argentina’s nationwide staff did not use a “name” head mentor, Maradona, with tiny on his resume other than a genius participating in job and no clear gift for the position. Compared with in 2014 and 2018, the countrywide group was youthful, motivated and related.

Possibly everybody was driven by the singular intention of receiving Leo his Earth Cup. As it turned out, he acquired a single for them.

A lot more: Why Argentina-France was FIFA’s best match

In the afterglow of a gripping Planet Cup closing, Sporting Information named Messi its Athlete of the Yr, an award that commenced in 1968 and has now been awarded to a soccer participant for the first time.

Messi has gained four UEFA Champions Leagues, 11 domestic league trophies and a Copa The united states, and he may have played superior soccer in a concentrated period of time in pursuit of one or extra of people trophies. In truth, he surely has. He scored 12 targets in 13 matches as FC Barcelona claimed the 2011 Champions League title. He scored 46 targets and assisted on 11 many others in Barca’s 2013 La Liga period, which meant he had a direct purpose in 51 p.c of the targets for a league winner.

His dominance at the 2022 FIFA World Cup conveyed far more that means, although, and was conceived beneath the most serious force.

This was his previous possibility to accomplish what Pele and Maradona had carried out just before him, and as a lot younger gentlemen. Messi turned 35 back again in June. Pele performed his previous online games for Brazil at 31. Maradona performed only 5 instances in aggressive matches for Argentina following achieving the 1990 Planet Cup final at age 30.

Far more: Is Messi the ideal male athlete of all time?

Here was Messi, nevertheless, in soccer’s version of outdated age, attaining matters he had not performed right before – that experienced not, in point, been done by any person. He was named gentleman of the match five situations in Argentina’s 7 online games that was a report for a FIFA World Cup. He grew to become the only gentleman at any time to get the Golden Ball as greatest participant at two distinctive Planet Cups. He also scored in each spherical of the event: group phase, spherical of 16, quarterfinal, semifinal, ultimate. No guy at any time experienced finished that, possibly.

In the burning intensity of what probable was the best Entire world Cup final ever performed, Argentina vs. France, he scored the purpose that gave Argentina a very first-fifty percent direct they hoped would stand for the remainder of the game. When it did not, he wrestled in a target in the second 50 percent of extra time that could have gained it. When France’s tenacity forced the video game to penalty kicks, Messi stepped forward to acquire the to start with and knocked it in the aim. He did anything he could to supply Argentina its first Environment Cup considering the fact that Maradona’s masterpiece in 1986.

There was the requisite club accomplishment, as well. In France’s Ligue 1, Paris Saint-Germain concluded 15 factors ahead of runner-up Marseilles for the 2021-22 season, with Messi contributing 14 assists, 10 of those in this calendar 12 months. And in the to start with 50 percent of the 2022-23 season, he has seven plans and 10 assists in 13 league game titles, additionally four targets and 4 helps in five team stage online games of the 2022-23 Champions League. As astounding as all of that may possibly be for a 35-yr-previous, even so, Messi’s 2022 will always be about the Planet Cup.

DECOURCY: Messi receives his Entire world Cup with a big hand from his teammates

Without a doubt, Aaron Decide slugged an American League report 62 household runs in 2022 for the New York Yankees, and they won 99 games and reached the ALCS just before slipping to Houston.

Steph Curry gained his fourth NBA championship ring with the Golden Point out Warriors, finishing 10th in the league in scoring, fifth in the playoffs and very first in the NBA Finals at 31.2 details per recreation.

There was a lot more demanded of Messi, while, than any athlete in entire world sport in 2022. And he did not merely produce, he dominated. He did this in a manner his activity commonly does not accommodate and on a phase introduced only on a periodic basis.

There are other deserving alternatives for The Sporting Information Athlete of the Calendar year.

There is only one particular excellent decision.

Posted on

One third of world economy expected to be in recession in 2023, says IMF chief

One third of world economy expected to be in recession in 2023, says IMF chief


New Delhi
CNN
 — 

This calendar year is likely to be harder on the world-wide economy than the a person we have still left behind, the Global Financial Fund’s (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva has warned.

“Why? Due to the fact the three big economies, US, EU, China, are all slowing down at the same time,” she stated in an interview that aired on CBS Sunday.

“We expect a person 3rd of the entire world economy to be in recession,” she said, adding that even for nations that are not in economic downturn: “It would really feel like recession for hundreds of hundreds of thousands of men and women.”

Although the US might finish up staying away from a recession, the predicament seems much more bleak in Europe, which has been hit really hard by the war in Ukraine, she mentioned. “Half of the European Union will be in recession,” Georgieva additional.

The IMF currently jobs international growth to be at 2.7{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} this yr, slowing from 3.2{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} in 2022.

The deceleration in China will have a dire impression globally. The world’s next most significant economic system weakened considerably in 2022 due to the fact of its rigid zero-Covid policy, which remaining China out of sync with the relaxation of the globe, disrupting provide chains and harmful the movement of trade and expenditure.

Chinese chief Xi Jinping claimed this weekend that he expected China’s economy to have expanded by at least 4.4{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} past yr, a determine a lot stronger than numerous economists experienced predicted but considerably lower than the 8.4{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} development charge seen in 2021.

“For the 1st time in 40 decades China’s advancement in 2022 is likely to be at or down below international expansion,” Georgieva said. “Before Covid, China would deliver 34, 35, 40{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} of world growth. It is not executing it anymore,” she claimed, incorporating that it is “quite a stressful” period of time for Asian economies.

“When I speak to Asian leaders, all of them begin with this problem, ‘What is heading to occur with China? Is China heading to return to a greater amount of growth?’ ” she reported.

Beijing deserted Covid limitations in early December, and though its reopening might give some a lot-wanted reduction to the worldwide economy, the recovery is likely to be erratic and unpleasant.

China’s haphazard reopening has unleashed a wave of Covid instances that have confused the health care process, dampening intake and creation in the method.

The upcoming pair of months will “be challenging for China, and the impact on Chinese progress would be negative,” Georgieva reported, introducing that she expects the country to shift little by little to a “higher stage of economic functionality, and end the calendar year much better off than it is heading to get started the year.”

Posted on

News in review: Around the world

News in review: Around the world

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Wednesday the 28th of December, 2022.

Thank you for joining us for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. First up today: Ukraine.

Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine began ten months ago, and the consequences of this second invasion have been devastating.

At least 6,700 civilians have died and more than 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in action.

In addition, nearly 13 million people have been displaced and the damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure amounts to more than 100 billion U.S. dollars.

REICHARD: WORLD’s Jill Nelson gives us a rundown of the key events of the war and how it’s affected the lives of Ukrainians.

AUDIO: [Bombings]

JILL NELSON, REPORTER: The sun had not yet risen on Feb. 24th, when Pastor Oleg Magdych realized Ukraine was on the brink of war. Russians were firing rockets less than a mile away.

OLEG: So this morning we were driving through Kharkiv. We heard this noise that you can’t get it wrong. So um the rocket shelling was in place.

Magdych was trying to deliver supplies to Ukrainian troops in eastern Ukraine. He and his friends quickly turned around to implement their Russian-invasion game plan: Get their families to safety and join the fight.

AUDIO: [Traffic]

A mass exodus of people created traffic jams and gas shortages, and many Ukrainians were trapped.

Four days later, a 40-mile long Russian military convoy stretched from Belarus to Kyiv. Washington offered to help evacuate Ukraine’s leader.

ZELENSKY: [Ukrainian]

But Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky turned down the offer with his now-famous response: “I need ammunition, not a ride.”

The former comedian and TV star quickly became a global symbol of resistance and courage. He posted videos of himself unshaven and wearing khakis on the streets of Kyiv and called on Ukrainians and the world to stand up to Russia.

ZELENSKY: We all must stop Russia. The world must stop the war.

As Russian missiles fell on Kyiv, the Ukrainian military and ordinary citizens began fortifying the capital.

By then, Pastor Magdych was leading a civil defense unit stationed in Kyiv.

OLEGBRIDGE: So this is one of the bridges that is closed to public, and you can only cross it if you are military personnel (honk) or some kind of special force. The bridge is empty and it’s ready to be destroyed if the enemy comes close to the bridge.

Russia had more firepower, but Ukraine had grit, Western aid, and knowledge of the terrain. By March 25th, Russian troops pulled back from Kyiv and shifted to the east. Victory number one for Ukraine.

The Russian retreat exposed thousands of war crimes in cities just outside the capital and in northeastern Ukraine.

Oleksandra Matviichuk leads the Center for Civil Liberties. She sent teams in to document the atrocities and add them to their growing list of Russian war crimes.

MATVIICHUK: I asked to myself why such cruelty? Why such brutality? Even me, professional human rights lawyer who was documented war crimes, as I mentioned before, for 8 years, I wasn’t prepared because so much human pain.

And the war crimes continued.

AUDIO: [Mariupol bombing]

Bombings in the southern city of Mariupol killed more the 600 people in March. In April, a Russian missile struck a train station near Donetsk, killing 50 civilians. By then, Russia had taken over key regions in the south and northeast.

By May, Russia’s northern neighbors were getting nervous.

AUDIO: [Announcement]

Both Finland and Sweden announced plans to apply for NATO membership after two centuries of neutrality. Foundation for Defense of Democracy’s Bradley Bowman:

BOWMAN: NATO is not a threat to Russia. But I think the reason why Putin resents NATO is because when a country becomes a member of NATO, it prevents Putin from invading, bullying, and occupying that country.

Meanwhile, Magdych was injured when his unit came under fire in the eastern Donbas region in May. He had surgery on his arm, and two of his men died.

OLEG: I’m back from Kyiv where we had funerals for two of our fallen soldiers. I’m doing okay. My leg and my arm are healing well. I can hold the gun. Not for long, but I can hold the gun.

During the summer months, Russia completed its conquest of Luhansk in the east, and Ukraine began a massive counteroffensive in the south.

AUDIO: [Missiles]

Fall brought two more victories to Ukraine: They reclaimed 3000 square miles of the northeastern Kharkiv region in September and declared a November victory in the strategic southern region of Kherson. But renewed missile attacks on Kyiv rattled the capital. So did the presence of Iranian-supplied drones.

In December, Matviichuk traveled to Stockholm to deliver a speech on the world stage.

NOBEL PRIZE: I have the honor to call up Oleksandra Matviichuk representing the Center for Civil Liberties to deliver the Nobel Peace Prize lecture…

Her organization won the Nobel prize for their work documenting Russian war crimes in her country. During her speech she called out the democratic world for making concessions to dictatorships.

MATVIICHUK: And that is why the willingness of the Ukrainian people to resist Russian imperialism is so important. We will not leave people in the occupied territories to be killed and tortured.

Now, it’s winter in Ukraine. Pastor Magdych is back home with his family in Kyiv for a two-week break before he returns to the front lines. He says blackouts are common as Russia attacks the country’s infrastructure. They only have power for part of the day.

MAGDYCH: At the moment we are getting ready for the Russians and Belarusians to try to take Kyiv again. And It breaks my heart as a father because I know my son really wants to be with me and fight with me.

Magdych says a Russian takeover of Kyiv would put his family in danger.

MAGDYCH: If Russians advance, it would put under danger all Christian ministers because Russians hate two things. They hate all Ukrainians and they hate non-Russian Orthodox.

Russian forces have taken over churches and tortured and killed Christian leaders in occupied Ukrainian territory. Ukrainians have a long road ahead, but Magydych says God is at work, strengthening the church through these times of suffering.

MAGDYCH: I’ve been saying since 2014 that 10 minutes under heavy shelling in the bunker changes your theology, it changes the way you think about God and everything. And I know that after we win this war, the Protestant church would be much much better.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Jill Nelson.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with our reporter in Africa, Onize Ohikere. Today, significant international stories of 2022.

ONIZE OHIEKERE, REPORTER: The conflict in Ukraine spurred a food crisis in other parts of the world this year.

Ukraine is one of the world’s largest grain exporters, but the war stymied the export of wheat, other foodstuffs, and fertilizers.

AUDIO: [Iraq protest]

Worldwide, protesters crowded the streets, decrying rising food prices from Iraq and Tunisia, to Ghana. Lebanon was also hit hard by the shortage as it imports 80 percent of its wheat from Ukraine.

AUDIO: [Ship offloading]

In September, a cargo ship from Ukraine offloaded dried corn, other grains, and vegetable oil at a port in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli.

A month earlier, a UN-chartered ship loaded with 23,000 tonnes of wheat docked in Djibouti. The UN’s World Food Program said the food brought much-needed support to the drought-hit Horn of Africa region, which is still in the throes of a record dry-spell.

AUDIO: [Sounds from Somalia’s streets]

Aid workers in the Horn of Africa sounded the alarm this year that a perfect storm of multiple crises will fuel unprecedented starvation.

Five consecutive rainy seasons have disappointed across Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia.The drought has destroyed crops, killed livestock, and forced millions of people to migrate in search of food and water. The region is facing its worst drought in at least 40 years.

The United Nations humanitarian office has projected that 1 in 23 people will need some form of emergency aid over the next year.

Meanwhile in Pakistan…

AUDIO: [Water rushing]

Record floods this year displaced more than 660,000 people and killed nearly 1,500—about a third of them children. The disaster left aid groups scrambling to provide emergency and long-term support to stop diseases from spreading.

We head over to Haiti, where teeming gang violence came to a head this year.

AUDIO: [Protesters chanting]

In September, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced the government’s plans to withdraw fuel subsidies. That sparked street protests.

A powerful gang dug trenches and blocked access to the largest fuel terminal in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The blockade forced gas stations to close, fueled a shortage of clean water, and limited operating hours for grocery stores and hospitals. A cholera outbreak also began during the blockade, triggering even more calls for a solution.

AUDIO: [Motorcycles queuing for fuel]

Haitian security regained control of the terminal last month allowing fuel to flow again.

But the unrest has taken a much larger toll. The UN said this month that gangs killed more than 1,400 people and kidnapped more than 1,000 others this year alone. Haiti was already battling instability that heightened last year after the former president’s assassination and an ongoing economic crisis.

Next, we remember the Christians who faced persecution for their faith. We begin in Nigeria.

AUDIO: [Choir singing]

Just before Mass ended, gunmen opened fire inside St. Francis Catholic Church in southwestern Ondo state. About 40 people died in the Pentecost Sunday attack in one of Nigeria’s more peaceful states.

The country has faced a surge in violence from Islamist insurgents to criminal gangs.

AUDIO: [Sound of protests]

An irate mob of Muslim students in Nigeria’s Sokoto state stoned to death Deborah Samuel, a Christian classmate who posted a social media message they found offensive.

AUDIO: [Worshippers singing]

In Nicaragua, President Daniel Ortega’s government shut down seven radio stations owned by the Catholic Church. Authorities also detained Rolando Álvarez, the Catholic bishop of Matagalpa. He was charged this month with undermining national security and propagating false news.

Relations between Ortega and the Catholic Church have been tense since the bloody suppression of anti-government protests in 2018 that left more than 350 people dead.

In China, authorities introduced regulations to control religious expression online. The measures implemented in March stop individuals from sharing religious content without a license among other measures.

AUDIO: [Evin fire aftermath]

There was some good news, Iran unexpectedly released two imprisoned Christians in October after a fire and clashes erupted at the notorious Evin prison. They were convicted on national security charges and for starting illegal house churches.

We wrap up this year looking back at the protests in Iran.

AUDIO: [Protesters chanting]

Nationwide demonstrations that began in September have persisted.

The protests began after a 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman died in police custody. Iran’s morality police arrested Mahsa Amini for wearing her headscarf incorrectly.

AUDIO: [Protesters chanting]

Authorities have detained more than 18,000 people since the protests began and executed some of them.

Iran accused Majid Reza Rahnavard of stabbing to death two security officials last month. Authorities hanged him from a construction crane. In the first confirmed execution, authorities hanged Mohsen Shekari after sentencing him for attacking a security force member with a machete.

Activists warn others have already received death sentences.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.

Posted on

Nation and world news at a glance

Nation and world news at a glance