News in Brief

Date: 01 October 2021 - 21:53

News ID: ۹۵۰۴۲

PARIS (France 24) - A French court has imposed a one-year sentence on former president Nicolas Sarkozy after finding him guilty of illegal campaign financing for massive overspending on his 2012 re-election campaign. Sarkozy’s lawyer said he would appeal. The verdict came six months after he was found guilty of corruption in a separate trial. The court will allow the ex-president to serve the sentence at home by wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet. Sarkozy, who spent nearly twice the legal limit on his failed bid for a second term in office, wasn’t present at the Paris court for the announcement of the verdict.

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QUITO/GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador, (Reuters) - The death toll from Ecuador’s worst-ever prison riot rose to 118, authorities said, while police reinforcements maintained a presence on Friday at the Penitenciaria del Litoral detention center in the southern city of Guayaquil. The clashes on Tuesday, part of a rivalry between gangs fighting to control the facility, were the latest in a wave of prison violence in the South American country, after riots left 79 dead in February and 22 in July of this year. Officials say gangs have alliances with transnational criminal groups and are battling over drug trafficking routes. Police said late on Thursday that the number of dead from this week’s riot rose to 118, up from 116. Some 79 injured inmates were being treated in hospitals.

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ZHUHAI, China (Reuters) - China put on an extravagant display of once-secret high-end military technology at its largest air show this week, while broadcasting its growing ambitions in space exploration and for self-sufficiency in commercial aircraft. Pandemic-related travel restrictions meant Airshow China in the southern city of Zhuhai was a largely domestic affair, but foreign observers kept a close eye on developments from afar as China builds its military strength. “Key platforms in service with the PLAAF – having been operated in tight secrecy previously – being shown to the public for the first time have attracted considerable attention from the international audience,” said Kelvin.

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CALIFORNIA (Washington Post) - Two out of three Muslims living in the United States have experienced Islamophobic attitudes at least once in their lives. This is evidenced by the results of a survey conducted by the Berkeley Institute at the University of California. According to the survey, 67.5% of respondents of Muslim origin said that at least once in their life they experienced manifestations of Islamophobia. The poll showed that among Muslim women, this figure reaches 76.7 percent. At least 33 percent of respondents said that in some cases they preferred to hide their religious affiliation in order not to be discriminated against and attacked on the basis of Islamophobia. Another 88.2 percent claim that they had to avoid certain speeches and actions for fear of negative reactions.

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BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Seven people died on Friday when a fire broke out in a Romanian intensive care unit treating COVID-19 patients, officials said, the country’s third deadly hospital fire in less than a year. Video footage showed patients jumping out of windows from the hospital’s lower levels and firefighters carrying people out. The country’s emergency response unit had initially said nine people had died, but Transport Minister Lucian Bode later said there had been a miscommunication between firefighters and hospital staff.