Category World News

Tehran, Iran – As a result of the government’s use of dirty fuel to generate electricity and deal with numerous ongoing crises, Iranians in the capital and many other cities around the country are breathing toxic fumes.

When the power plants run out of natural gas to feed the electricity generators, authorities have for years burned mazut, a sultry residue from petroleum, whenever they run out of it.

This occurs annually as a result of what experts refer to as ongoing mismanagement and aging infrastructure. Despite having the second-largest proven natural gas reserves and third-largest crude oil reserves in the world, Iran is heavily sanctioned for doing so.

Tehran was covered in thick, suffocating smog on Monday, even though traffic was light as the nation halted travel for a religious holiday.

The capital no longer visible beneath the layers of pollutants, according to footage taken on Saturday from the nearly 4, 000-meter-high (13, 000ft-high) Tochal mountain, which is close to northern Tehran.

تهران دفن شده در زیر دود و آلودگی، از نمای قله توچال pic. https://twitter.com/hpOi8UHtEg

The city, which has a population of about 10 million, is closely followed by Lahore in Pakistan and New Delhi in India as one of the top five polluted places in the world over the past few days.

Early on Monday, the pollution index reached more than 200, making it a “very unhealthy” classification with a high concentration of PM2.5 airborne particles that can worsen heart problems, cause breathing problems, and affect lung function, particularly for children, the elderly, and those with health vulnerabilities.

A “good” index is zero to 50, while a “moderate” is 51 to 100.

Iran’s climate is expected to remain largely unchanged until the end of the week, according to state television, with hardly any significant wind or rain eating as a substitute. As well as high-emission vehicles and motorcycles, wetter inversions, which trap warmer, smog-filled air close to the Earth’s surface and stop it from dispersing, are anticipated to worsen the situation.

Over the past week, the air quality in both large and small cities across the country has been rapidly deteriorating, further putting tens of millions of people at risk from dangerous pollutants.

Tehran, Karaj, Arak, Isfahan, Tabriz, Mashhad, Ahvaz, and Urmia have all been issued health warnings from the Iranian Meteorological Organization for increased air pollution. In a number of cities, offices and schools have been closed. Despite the dangerous air, Tehran authorities have not yet announced closures.

high costs

As did his predecessors, the government of President Masoud Pezeshkian continues to burn mazut to prevent further crippling power blackouts.

By mid-November, according to the semiofficial Fars news agency, which is connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a staggering 21 million litres (5.55 million gallons) of the dirty chemical product were burning daily.

Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi confirmed to reporters during a press conference on renewable energy and energy efficiency in Tehran last week that because of the winter cold, power plants will continue to burn heavy fuel whenever they are necessary due to the shortage of natural gas.

Without making any mention of the health risks that using the fuel would have, he said, “Mazut-burning power plants are low priority because liquid fuel is expensive and we prefer to use it as a last resort.”

58, 975 Iranians died as a result of breathing in PM2.5 particles during the year that ended in March, according to deputy health minister Alireza Raisi, who spoke to state media this month. That leaves 161 people dead each day.

According to the official, the victims died from heart disease, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, strokes, and lower respiratory tract infections directly related to air pollution.

According to Raisi, the government has estimated air pollution to cost $ 17 billion annually up to March due to premature deaths, lost productivity, school closures, and business closures.

Iranian state media had praised what they had called the government’s “brave act” to stop temporarily burning mazut in November 2024. According to the government’s spokeswoman at the time, “calculated blackouts” were used to replace “producing poison” in the situation.

Another subject that caught the attention of the public was the wildfires that erupted across 8 hectares (20 acres) of forest and mountainous land in the northern provinces this week as the smog spread across Iran.

The fires threatened the world’s oldest temperate forest, Hyrcanian forests, which were listed on the UNESCO list.

The ruling party declared victory in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Republika Srpska, while the opposition filed a fraud claim.

Since a ceasefire broke out in November 2024, Hezbollah’s most senior leader has been killed.

The efforts to refine a United States peace proposal, which was initially criticized for appearing to be weighted in favor of Russia’s maximalist demands, have been welcomed with caution by Ukraine’s allies.

The leaders of Germany, Finland, Poland, and the United Kingdom all agreed on Monday that progress had been made during the previous day’s Geneva talks between Washington and Kyiv, which the US and Ukraine called a “refined peace framework.”

The leaders of Europe, however, emphasized how much work was still to be done.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, “We also know that there won’t be peace in Ukraine overnight,” noting that the US’s initial peace plan had been “modified in significant parts.”

He applauded the “interim result.”

Merz, who was speaking at a summit between African and European Union countries, said, “Russia must come to the table next.” It takes a long time to complete. This week, it will advance at most in smaller steps. This week’s breakthrough does not seem to be coming, in my opinion.

Last week, US President Donald Trump presented a 28-point peace plan to Kyiv and its European neighbors as a Russian wish list that demanded that Ukraine cede more territory, accept restrictions on its military, and abandon their plans to join NATO, blindsided them.

According to a draft that was seen by Reuters news agency, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany responded by creating a counterproposal that would end fighting at the moment’s front lines, allowing for later discussions of territory, and include a US-style security guarantee for Ukraine.

The “coalition of the willing,” which refers to roughly 30 countries supporting Kyiv in general, will hold videoconference discussions about the negotiations on Tuesday, according to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

According to the German Foreign Office, Andrii Sybiha, the country’s foreign minister, and the chief diplomats from Germany, Finland, France, the UK, Italy, and Poland spoke with the German Foreign Office on Monday regarding further steps to put an end to the conflict.

Antonio Costa, president of the European Council who was also present at the summit in Angola, reported that negotiations were “in a new compulsion.”

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, stated that the European Union would “engage with our partners from the coalition of the willing” for more discussion tomorrow.

“Big progress,”

Trump made an announcement on Monday that talks would resume on Sunday.

Is it actually possible that Russia and Ukraine’s peace talks are progressing significantly? The US president wrote on Truth Social, “Don’t believe it until you see it, but something good might be happening.”

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, is under double pressure from Russia’s continued advance on the front lines and a corruption scandal that has tainted his administration, until Thursday to agree on a plan to end the conflict. Zelenskyy was also accused of showing “zero gratitude” for peacekeeping efforts by him.

Zelenskyy stated on X on Monday that he anticipated a full report on the Geneva talks that evening.

More is required to achieve true peace, according to the statement. We all, of course, will keep working with partners, especially the United States, and seek out solutions that both strengthen and strengthen us, he said.

No one wants Americans and President Trump to be deterred from using the United States in this process, according to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who also stated on Monday that negotiations were “delicate.”

The Kremlin claimed to have been informed of the Geneva talks’ results but had been aware that “adjustments” had been made to the US proposal.

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, reiterated his view that the original US strategy could “serve as a foundation for a final peace settlement” in a Monday phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan.

Erdogan stated during the interview that Turkiye was willing to support efforts to unite Russia and Ukraine, including facilitating direct talks between the two.

However, Yuri Ushakov, a presidential adviser to Russia, claimed that the European Union plan appeared “entirely unconstructive and unsuitable for us.”

Yulia Shapovalova, a journalist from Moscow, reported that Russia was unlikely to accept the revisions made in Europe.

Russia is prepared to fight if all of Russia’s circumstances and interests are not taken into account because, in her opinion, Russia has been fairly successful on the battlefield and wants to accomplish its objectives, she said.

Zelenskyy had stated in video to a meeting at the Swedish parliament that the country would still be a significant sticking point, accusing Putin of requesting “legal recognition for what he has stolen” in remarks made at the time.

Grimaldo is a reality.

In Europe’s worst conflict since World War II, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has decimated the east of the nation, forcing millions of people to flee their homes, destroying cities and towns, and injuring tens of thousands of people.

The nearly four-year conflict raged on for what seemed like forever, with Russian forces continuing to launch deadly and devastating assaults on civilian targets in the southeast of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region.

Authorities said four people were killed and two children were hurt when Russian drones overnight hit Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine.

According to regional authorities, Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad on Monday with drones, inflicting three injuries to the area’s Dnipropetrovsk region.

According to the military administration of the city in southern Ukraine, a 61-year-old woman was killed by Russian shelling that morning in Kherson.

Russian air defenses downed Ukrainian drones on their way to Moscow, causing three airports serving the capital to halt flights across the border.

After he admitted tampering with his ankle monitor, a panel on the Brazilian Supreme Court voted unanimously to keep former president Jair Bolsonaro in the care of federal police.

After being taken into custody on Saturday, the panel of four justices convened on Monday to decide whether to continue Bolsonaro’s preventative detention.

Alexandre de Moraes, Cristiano Zanin, Carmen Lucia, Flavio Dino, and Cristiano Zanin make up the panel’s justices. Voting is open until 8 p.m. local time (23:00 GMT). Luiz Fux, one of the panel’s fifth members, has since moved to another panel, leaving him with no seats.

De Moraes alleged Bolsonaro of making repeated “repeated” attempts to break court orders and compared the former president to a flight risk in an explanation of the decision on Monday.

Bolsonaro, according to de Moraes, has shown “patent disregard for the justice system.”

Therefore, there is no denying the necessity to convert house arrest to pre-trial detention in light of the need to uphold public order, ensure criminal law application, and prevent disregard for the already taken precautionary measures.

Bolsonaro might flee the country to avoid justice, according to Justice Dino.

Dino wrote that the “admitted breach of electronic monitoring” “not only increases the risk of escape but also demonstrates a flagrant disregard for the Judiciary’s precautionary measures.”

The far-right Bolsonaro, who attempted to overturn the 2022 presidential election’s results, was given a 27-year prison sentence in September.

On five counts, he was found guilty. They included attempting a coup, engaging in organized crime, attempting to overthrow the democratic system of justice, engaging in violent damage, and deteriorating the heritage of the listed buildings.

On Monday, a panel that had previously voted in favor of Bolsonaro’s conviction reconvened to decide whether or not he should remain in custody.

Only one of the panel’s five original justices, Fux, cast a ballot in September to support Bolsonaro’s conviction. However, Fux is no longer a member of the panel.

Bolsonaro has maintained his innocence while denying that he was trying to stoke a coup. His defense team has attempted to dampen his political standing by describing the proceedings as a protest.

Bolsonaro’s ally, United States President Donald Trump, has called the case a “witch hunt” and has attempted to intervene in his place by imposing severe tariffs on Brazil and sancting Justice de Moraes.

Bolsonaro’s defense team filed an appeal while his former residence in Brasilia was under house arrest.

Bolsonaro’s request to renounce his sentence was rejected by the Supreme Court panel in early November. In response, Bolsonaro’s attorneys have since requested that the court allow him to serve his 27-year prison sentence while he is currently on house arrest because of health issues caused by a stabbing Bolsonaro survived on the 2018 campaign trail.

After the 70-year-old allegedly used a soldering tool to damage his ankle monitor, Justice de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro to go to jail on Saturday.

Later, Assistant Judge Luciana Sorrentino later explained to the court that Bolsonaro claimed to have “paranoia” and “hallucinations” that made him believe that his ankle monitor had some wiretap. The former president claimed to have noticed the symptoms after altering his medication.

Given Bolsonaro’s growing legal issues, federal police have suggested that he might have had a past whereabouts.

A report from the police that documented some of Bolsonaro’s attempts was released in August. For instance, officials claimed to have seized a 33-page letter from Argentine President Javier Milei, a co-author of the right-wing movement, and seized it.

Bolsonaro claims that he has been “persecuted for reasons and crimes that are primarily political” in the letter from February 2024.

Bolsonaro spent a few nights in the Hungarian embassy in Brasilia at the same time as the letter, which further raises the possibility that he might seek diplomatic refuge.

According to the claim that one of Bolsonaro’s sons petitioned the Trump administration to obstruct his father’s case, Eduardo Bolsonaro is currently facing a trial for obstruction.