DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Joining BRICS, Iran Shrugs Off Outcast Status in the West
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Farnaz Fassihi | More About Farnaz Fassihi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Over the past 12 months, Iran has lurched from crisis to crisis. An uprising led by women and young people seeking an end to clerical rule reverberated across the nation. And the prospect of a nuclear deal with the United States appeared ever more dim. Although joining BRICS is not expected to help solve Iran’s formidable economic problems, the primary benefit of joining the group, experts say, would be to prove that Tehran has powerful friends. That could give it leverage in any further negotiations with the United States.

Organizations: United States, BRICS, Analysts Locations: Iran, United, Islamic Republic, Tehran, United States

Dozens of countries have expressed interest in joining BRICS, a group encompassing Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa that views itself as a counterweight to the West, and is meeting this week in Johannesburg. Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are thought to be among those most likely to be admitted. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India is said to be concerned about adding nations close to Beijing; India and China have border disputes and tend to consider each other potential adversaries. Here is a look at some of the nations vying to join. Saudi ArabiaThe addition to BRICS of Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s leading oil producers, would add economic clout to the group and bolster its chances of positioning itself as a rival to the U.S.-led financial order.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi Locations: BRICS, Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Johannesburg, Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Beijing, U.S

The large crowd of men congregated at the center of a mosque in the central city of Yazd, clad in black and beating their chests rhythmically in unison. They were commemorating Ashura, Shia Islam’s most sacred ritual, showcased annually with great fanfare in Iran as a testament to the Shiite theocracy’s power and strength. The mourners who gathered in Yazd last month and in many other cities across Iran diverged unexpectedly from the script to target the clerical rulers of Iran, turning religious ballads into protest songs about the suffering of Iranians. Oh rain, oh storm, come. They have set fire to our tent.”In Kermanshah, a Kurdish city in western Iran, a religious vocalist known as a maddah stood on the street, microphone in hand, singing about officials “stealing and devouring” resources away from desolate people.

Persons: Ashura Locations: Yazd, Iran, Kermanshah, Kurdish

☆ Americans Held Prisoner in Iran Saw Promise of Better Relations
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Farnaz Fassihi | More About Farnaz Fassihi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

When Siamak Namazi traveled to Tehran in the summer of 2015, Iran had just signed a landmark nuclear deal and the government was encouraging expatriates to return home and bring their expertise and dollars. So the 51-year-old Iranian American businessman flew from his home in Dubai to visit his parents and attend a funeral in Iran. But he was arrested and charged with “collaborating with a hostile government” — an allusion to the United States — and eventually became the longest-held American citizen that Iran has acknowledged imprisoning. In January, he went on a hunger strike for seven days to bring attention to his ordeal. On Thursday Mr. Namazi, along with four other dual national Iranian Americans, became part of a prisoner swap deal between Iran and the U.S.

Persons: Siamak Namazi, ”, United States —, Namazi Organizations: Mr, Iranian Locations: Tehran, Iran, Dubai, United States, U.S

U.S. officials have repeatedly denied that they reached any nuclear “deal” with Iran after indirect talks held in Oman earlier this year. Two senior Israeli defense officials said the deal involving the prisoners and the frozen funds is part of the broader understandings reached in Oman. Mr. Rome said the Biden administration likely hopes that formal nuclear talks organized by the European Union could restart later this year. The negotiations, aimed at restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear deal from which President Donald J. Trump withdrew in 2018, collapsed last summer amid what U.S. officials called unacceptable Iranian demands. But Mr. Rome added the Biden administration was unlikely to want a new nuclear agreement ahead of the 2024 election, given the issue’s political volatility.

Persons: Rome, Biden, Donald J, Trump, renege Organizations: U.S, European Union Locations: Iran, United States, Iraq, Syria, Oman, Russia, Ukraine, Moscow, European

One other prisoner, an American woman, had been released into house arrest earlier, according to several people familiar with the arrangements. “But there are simply no guarantees about what happens from here.”He said the Americans were told they would be held at the hotel under guard by Iranian officials. Biden administration officials declined to comment or to confirm details about what Iran will get in return. But the people familiar with the agreement said that when the Americans are allowed to return to the United States, the Biden administration will release a handful of Iranian nationals serving prison sentences for violating sanctions on Iran. The United States will also transfer nearly $6 billion of Iran’s assets in South Korea, putting the funds into an account in the central bank of Qatar, according to the people familiar with the deal.

Persons: Genser, Mr, ”, Biden, United States — Organizations: Evin, United, State Department Locations: Iran, Tehran, American, United States, South Korea, Qatar

☆ Iran Orders Nationwide Shutdown Because of ‘Unprecedented’ Heat
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Farnaz Fassihi | More About Farnaz Fassihi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Iran on Tuesday announced a two-day public holiday in response to “unprecedented” heat, ordering all government agencies, banks and schools to shut down, an unusual move prompted by soaring temperatures that threatened public health and strained the country’s power grid. The nationwide shutdown will run from Wednesday to Thursday, as temperatures exceeded 123 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) in some southwestern cities. Iran’s soccer league also canceled all games in the next few days because of the heat. “Given the unprecedented heat in the coming days and to protect public health, the cabinet has agreed with the Health Ministry’s recommendation for a nationwide shutdown on Wednesday and Thursday,” Ali Bahadori Jahromi, the government spokesman, said in a post on Twitter. Temperatures were well above 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) on Tuesday in more than a dozen Iranian cities, and in the capital, Tehran, they were expected to reach 102 degrees Fahrenheit (nearly 39 degrees Celsius) in the coming days, according to Iran’s metrological organization.

Persons: ” Ali Bahadori Jahromi, Iran’s Organizations: Tuesday, Iranian Health Ministry, Twitter Locations: Iran, Tehran

Russia barraged Ukrainian ports for the fourth night in a row on Friday, striking granaries in Odesa and mounting a show of naval force on the Black Sea in a deepening showdown that imperils a vital part of the global food supply. The Kremlin this week withdrew from a year-old agreement that allows ships carrying food from Ukrainian ports to bypass a Russian blockade, and began a concentrated bombardment of facilities used to ship grain and cooking oil across the Black Sea. The Russian military warned that any vessels attempting to reach Ukraine would be treated as hostile, and their nations “will be considered to be involved in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of the Kyiv regime.”On Friday, Russia conducted naval exercises in the northwestern Black Sea — the part near the coastline Ukraine still holds — backing up the suggestion that it could seize or destroy cargo ships of noncombatant nations. Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that a missile boat fired anti-ship cruise missiles and destroyed a “mock target” vessel, while ships and planes of the Black Sea Fleet “practiced isolating an area temporarily closed to navigation” and conducted a drill “to apprehend a mock intruder ship.”Missile strikes around dawn destroyed 100 tons of peas and 20 tons of barley at the port in Odesa, according to Oleg Kiper, the head of the regional military administration. That came two days after an attack on a port just outside Odesa destroyed 60,000 tons of grain to be loaded onto ships, the government said — enough to feed more than 270,000 people for a year, according to the World Food Program.

Persons: ”, Oleg Kiper Organizations: Russia’s Defense Ministry, Black, ”, World Food Locations: Russia, Odesa, Russian, Ukraine, Kyiv, Black

☆ U.N. Officials Urge Regulation of Artificial Intelligence
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Farnaz Fassihi | More About Farnaz Fassihi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The U.N. Security Council for the first time held a session on Tuesday on the threat that artificial intelligence poses to international peace and stability, and Secretary General António Guterres called for a global watchdog to oversee a new technology that has raised at least as many fears as hopes. Mr. Guterres warned that A.I. On Tuesday, diplomats and leading experts in the field of A.I. laid out for the Security Council the risks and threats — along with the scientific and social benefits — of the new emerging technology. Much remains unknown about the technology even as its development speeds ahead, they said.

Persons: General António Guterres, Guterres, — Organizations: . Security, Security

The agreement, known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative, was struck a year ago, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, to alleviate a global food crisis after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia had blockaded Ukrainian ports, blocking ships from carrying its grain and sending global prices soaring to record highs. The deal has been extended three times, most recently in May. Russia has repeatedly complained about the agreement, which it calls one-sided in Ukraine’s favor. Moscow has said that Western sanctions, imposed because of Moscow’s devastating war, have restricted the sale of Russia’s agricultural products, and Moscow has sought guarantees that free up those exports.

Persons: upending, António Guterres, “, Vladimir V, Putin, Mr Organizations: Initiative, United, United Nations Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Africa, United Nations, Turkey, Ukrainian, Ukraine’s, Moscow

When a renowned Iranian artist hosted friends at his apartment in Tehran last month, he served, as he did often, a bottle of homemade aragh, a traditional Iranian vodka distilled from raisins, that he had secured from a trusted dealer. His guests and his partner did not drink that evening, so he raised shot glasses to them and drank alone. Within a few hours, the artist, Khosrow Hassanzadeh, 60, felt his vision blur. By the next morning, his sight was gone, he was delirious and short of breath. He was rushed to a hospital, where doctors diagnosed him with methanol poisoning from the aragh, according to his partner, Shahrzad Afrashteh.

Persons: Khosrow Hassanzadeh, Shahrzad Afrashteh Locations: Iranian, Tehran

☆ Syria Authorizes U.N. Use of Border Crossing for Aid, Giving Itself Oversight
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Farnaz Fassihi | More About Farnaz Fassihi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Syria announced on Thursday that it would give state approval for the United Nations to deliver humanitarian aid into rebel-held northern areas through a contentious border crossing with Turkey, effectively giving President Bashar al-Assad’s government control over all aid deliveries to the northern areas of the country. Until two days ago, the U.N. and other international aid agencies had access to the Bab al-Hawa border crossing based on a 2014 mandate from the Security Council. Syria’s government abided by the resolution and was not involved in the aid deliveries, but attempts by the Council this week to extend the authorization failed. In a letter submitted to the United Nations and the Security Council, Syria said it would allow the United Nations access to the crossing for six months “in full cooperation and coordination” with the Syrian government. Aid agencies have said their convoys traveling inside the country between government-held territory and rebel-held areas face hurdles and slowed movement.

Persons: Bashar al, Bab Organizations: United Nations, Security, Security Council Locations: Syria, Turkey

Medical school curriculums, for example, include erroneous claims that Black women’s nerve endings are “less sensitive” and require less anesthesia, and that Black women’s blood coagulates faster than that of white women, leading to delayed treatment for dangerous hemorrhages, according to the report. There are more than 200 million people of African descent in the Americas — one in four people in Latin America and the Caribbean, and one in seven in the United States and Canada. Among countries that provide maternal death rates by race, the United States has the lowest death rate overall, but the widest racial disparities. Black women in the United States are three times more likely than white women to die during or soon after childbirth. Those problems persist across income and education levels, as Black women with college degrees are still 1.6 times as likely to die in childbirth than white women who have not finished high school.

Persons: it’s, Kanem, “ Organizations: São Paulo Locations: São, New York, America, North America, Caribbean, Americas, Latin America, United States, Canada

And they clearly had little interest in helping Mr. Putin avoid a major, embarrassing fracturing of his support. While it is not clear exactly when the United States first learned of the plot, intelligence officials conducted briefings on Wednesday with administration and defense officials. Placing Wagner forces under the control of Mr. Shoigu was “out of the question” for Mr. Prigozhin, Ms. Stanovaya said. But it was only in recent days that intelligence officials got the initial warnings that Mr. Prigozhin might take action. President Biden, speaking in October, talked of the dangers that Mr. Putin would pose if he felt cornered and said the United States was looking for “off ramps” for Mr. Putin.

Persons: Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Prigozhin, Vladimir V, Putin, Mr, Prigozhin’s, “, ”, Sergei K, Valery Gerasimov, Wagner ., Tatiana Stanovaya, Shoigu, Stanovaya, Gerasimov, Biden, Donald J, Trump Organizations: Wagner Group, United, CNN, United States, Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, Associated Press, Intelligence, Russian, Ukrainian, Mr, Ministry of Defense, Defense Ministry, Carnegie Endowment, International Locations: Rostov, Don, Russia, United States, Ukraine, St . Petersburg, Moscow, Belarus, United, U.S, Russian, Bakhmut, Wagner . Russia

The Biden administration has been negotiating quietly with Iran to limit Tehran’s nuclear program and free imprisoned Americans, according to officials from three countries, in part of a larger U.S. effort to ease tensions and reduce the risk of a military confrontation with the Islamic Republic. The broad outlines of the talks were confirmed by three senior Israeli officials, an Iranian official and a U.S. official. American officials would not discuss efforts to win the release of prisoners in detail, beyond calling that an urgent U.S. priority. The indirect talks, some occurring this spring in the Gulf Arab state of Oman, reflect a resumption of diplomacy between the United States and Iran after the collapse of more than a year of negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear deal. That agreement sharply limited Iran’s activities in exchange for sanctions relief.

Persons: Biden Organizations: The U.S, U.S Locations: Iran, U.S, Islamic Republic, The, Russia, Ukraine, Gulf Arab, Oman, United States

☆ Dreaming of a New Iran
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Farnaz Fassihi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +9 min

Dreaming of a New Iran Diaries from three young womenThe uprising began in September, after a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, died in the custody of Iran’s morality police. To better understand how daily life in Iran has transformed, we asked three young women to keep a diary for five weeks. We are brothers and sisters.”Since November, hundreds of schools across Iran have reported mysterious incidents of poisoning with toxic gas. In the weeks since the three young women chronicled their experiences, the government has engaged in diplomatic outreach to project stability. For many in the country, including Ghazal, Kimia and Parnian, a desire for a better life in a new, free Iran remains.

Persons: Mahsa Amini, “, ”, I’ve, “ moharebe, “ Reza, —, Don’t, wouldn’t, didn’t, crackdowns Organizations: Authorities, Revolutionary, Health Locations: Iran, Tehran, Kurdistan, Kurdish, Islamic Republic, Saudi Arabia, China

Registering for aid and receiving instructions after arriving in Mykolaiv from Kherson, Ukraine, on Tuesday following damage to the Kakhovka dam. Evacuees, who fled after the Kakhovka dam was destroyed, exiting a train in Mykolaiv on Tuesday. In Mykolaiv, the southern port city, an emergency train pulled out of the station to collect people fleeing the rising waters in Kherson, about 40 miles to the east. The city of Kherson straddles the Dnipro River, which has become a front line in the war, dividing the warring armies. It mostly sits on elevated land but there are some neighborhoods close to the river bank where flooding has already been reported.

Persons: ”, don’t, “, Brendan Hoffman, The New York Times Alim, Chupyna, Olha Napkhanenko, Serhiy Prytula, ” Svitlana, Sitnik Organizations: Volunteers, Red Cross, ., The New York Times, Foundation, Telegram, “ Local Locations: Mykolaiv, Kherson, Ukraine, Dnipro, Vasyl, Ostriv, ”, Ukrainian, Russian, Oleshky, Crimea

☆ Even in Prison, She’s ‘an Indomitable Voice’ for Freedom in Iran
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Farnaz Fassihi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

When Narges Mohammadi was just a little girl, her mother told her to never become political. The price of fighting the system in a country like Iran would be too high. That warning has proved prescient. Ms. Mohammadi, 51, Iran’s most prominent human rights and women’s rights activist, is now serving a 10-year jail sentence in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison for “spreading anti-state propaganda.”Her current imprisonment is hardly her first encounter with Iran’s harsh approach to dissent. Over the past 30 years, Iran’s government has penalized her over and over for her activism and her writing, depriving her of most of what she holds dear — her career as an engineer, her health, time with her parents, husband and children, and her liberty.

Persons: Narges Mohammadi, Mohammadi, ”, — Locations: Iran

☆ In First, Palestinian Displacement Commemorated at United Nations
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Farnaz Fassihi | Hiba Yazbek | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The United Nations for the first time on Monday officially commemorated the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the war surrounding the creation of Israel 75 years ago, drawing a sharp response from the Israeli ambassador to the world body. The United States and Britain did not attend. “This resolution represents a recognition by your organizations of the ongoing historic injustice that fell on the Palestinian people in 1948 and before that date, and that continues after,” Mr. Abbas said. To Israelis, the creation of their state was a heroic moment for a long-persecuted people that deserves celebration. But to Palestinians, it was a moment of profound national trauma.

☆ مقام عالی‌رتبه داخلی و جاسوس بریتانیا: زندگی دوگانه‌ای که به چوبه‌ی دار ختم شد
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Farnaz Fassihi | Ronen Bergman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Send any friend a storyAs a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.

☆ Iranian Insider and British Spy: How a Double Life Ended on the Gallows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Farnaz Fassihi | Ronen Bergman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But later, in an audio message broadcast by BBC Persian — it had been obtained through his family, according to Mr. Akbari’s brother — Mr. Akbari said the confessions were coerced. Iran says Mr. Akbari betrayed the country and traded state secrets for money. In the videos, Mr. Akbari said he was recruited in 2004 and told he and his family would be given visas for Britain. Iran has said that MI6 paid Mr. Akbari nearly 2 million pounds, currently about $2.4 million. Mr. Akbari met with the British ambassador in Tehran as part of his official job, and traveled to Europe often for business, Mehdi Akbari said.

☆ High-Ranking Iranian Cleric Gunned Down by Bank Guard
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Farnaz Fassihi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A senior Iranian cleric and member of a powerful government committee was shot and killed by a security guard at a bank in the northern province of Mazandaran on Wednesday, according to the Iranian authorities. In CCTV camera footage shown on the Iranian news media, the cleric, Ayatollah Abbas Ali Soleimani, is seen sitting on a chair in the bank when the security guard casually approaches him from behind, points his rifle at his head and fires a shot. Ayatollah Soleimani, 75, slumps in the chair, his white turban knocked to the floor, as the guard calmly wanders to the side. Strangely, nobody comes immediately to the cleric’s aid, and the room remains rather calm. Two men grab the security guard and wrestle away his gun, then seem to let him slip away.

☆ The Russian foreign minister hints of a possible prisoner swap for Gershkovich.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Farnaz Fassihi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, hinted on Tuesday at the possibility of a prisoner swap involving two Americans detained in Russia, Paul Whelan and the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. Speaking at a wide-ranging news conference at the United Nations, Mr. Lavrov said the channel to discuss detained American and Russian citizens was created when President Biden and Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, met in Geneva in 2021. Back then, Mr. Lavrov said, the channel did not provide “for the involvement of journalists.”“This is work that is not public in nature and publicity here will only complicate the process,” Mr. Lavrov said at the U.N., where Russia is wrapping up a contentious monthlong stint as president of the Security Council, a rotating position. Mr. Lavrov said that several American citizens were serving prison sentences in Russia for various crimes, but that Mr. Whelan and Mr. Gershkovich had been detained “when they were committing a crime, receiving material” that he maintained consisted of state secrets.

Many other hospitals were also reported to have come under attack on Monday, the third day of fighting in Sudan. Russia has also been trying to make inroads in Sudan, and members of the Kremlin-affiliated Wagner private military company are posted there. Leaders from around the world called for a cease-fire, but it was not clear who, if anyone, was in control of Sudan, Africa’s third-largest country, by area. “Everyone is afraid,” said Ahmed Abuhurira, a 28-year-old mechanical engineer who went out to try to charge his cellphone. “The humanitarian situation in Sudan was already precarious and is now catastrophic,” he said.

Search resuls for: "Farnaz Fassihi"

24 mentions found