CANBERRA (ANP/AFP/BLOOMBERG) - Nog eens drie van de Iraanse voetbalsters die in Australië asiel hadden aangevraagd, hebben besloten terug naar huis te keren. Dat berichtte de krant The Australian zaterdag.

Het Iraanse team was in Australië voor de Asia Cup toen de oorlog tussen de Verenigde Staten, Israël en Iran begon. Zes speelsters en een staflid verlieten het team om asiel te vragen en kregen van Australië humanitaire visa. Een van de vrouwen besloot al eerder in de week toch terug te keren naar Iran.

Volgens The Australian hebben de autoriteiten de vier vrouwen die terug naar Iran wilden ruimschoots de gelegenheid gegeven om hun beslissing te herzien.

De speelsters vroegen asiel aan nadat ze in Iran als 'verraders' waren bestempeld, omdat ze het volkslied voor een voetbalwedstrijd niet hadden meegezongen.

Iran heeft verklaard dat de vrouwen "rustig en met vertrouwen" terug kunnen keren, aldus het persbureau Tasnim. De speelsters verkeerden volgens de Iraanse autoriteiten onder emotionele invloed van "vijandelijke samenzweringen".

It's America's first large-scale offshore wind project, reports WBUR — enough clean energy to power 400,000 homes in Massachusetts from 62 offshore wind turbines generating 800 megawatts.

But it took a while... The plant's first construction delay happened back in 2019, they point out — and then "Just three months ago, when the project was 95% complete, the U.S. Interior Department issued a stop-work order." But after successfully challenging that order in court, and "with a stretch of good weather offshore, the developers behind the $4.5 billion project managed to get over the finish line."

The Associated Press notes it was "one of five major East Coast offshore wind projects the Trump administration halted construction on days before Christmas, citing national security concerns."


Developers and states sued, and federal judges allowed all five to resume construction, essentially concluding that the government did not show that the national security risk was so imminent that construction must halt. Another one of the five, Revolution Wind, began sending power for the first time to New England's electric grid on Friday and will scale up in the weeks ahead until it is fully operational.

"That project is nearly complete as well," notes WBUR, "and will eventually be capable of powering up to 350,000 homes."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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International Oscar Favorites Interesting take on depictions of Americans in foreign films. Wondering about the Oscar buzz as well. the Brazilian and Swedish films have done well this year. Seems like the awards have been spread out leading to tomorrow (golden globe, sag, bafta...)

US president said he did not want to make a deal with Iran yet, while claiming that he might hit Kharg Island again ‘just for fun’

• How have you been affected by the latest Middle East events?

Hello and welcome to our continuing coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran and the widening crisis in the Middle East that it’s causing.

Donald Trump has said that the US may carry out more strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub, saying that while Tehran appears ready to make a deal to end the conflict, “the terms aren’t good enough yet”.

Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes have killed 826 people, including 65 women and 106 children, since the start of the war. In a statement today, the ministry said 31 paramedics were among those killed. Local health authorities reported this morning that an Israeli strike killed 12 medical staff at a clinic in the southern town of Burj Qalaouiya.

At least 15 people were killed when a strike by Israel and the US hit a factory in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, the semi-official Fars news agency said. There were workers inside the factory, which produces heaters and refrigerators, when the strike hit, Fars reported.

Iran issued an evacuation warning for three major ports in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, including the busiest in the Middle East, the Associated Press reported. Iran claims the US had used “ports, docks and hideouts” in the UAE to launch strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island. It urged people to evacuate areas where it said US forces were sheltering.

Trump renewed his call for other nations to help secure the strait of Hormuz and said the US will coordinate with them amid the US-Israeli war on Iran. “The United States of America has beaten and completely decimated Iran, both Militarily, Economically, and in every other way, but the Countries of the World that receive Oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage, and we will help – A LOT,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

The Trump administration rebuffed efforts by Middle Eastern allies to start diplomatic negotiations aimed at ending the Iran war that started two weeks ago with a massive US-Israeli air assault, according to reporting from Reuters.

The Israeli military says it killed two senior officials in Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Emergency Command in an airstrike on Tehran. In a post on X, army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said Abdullah Jalali-Nasab and Amir Shariat, described as senior figures in the command’s intelligence branch, were killed in the attack.

Israel informed the US this week that it is running critically low on ballistic missile interceptors as the conflict with Iran continues, Semafor reported on Saturday, citing US officials familiar with the matter.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Brendan Carr accused news broadcasters of “running hoaxes and news distortions” amid the war in Iran in a post on X. “Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions - also known as the fake news - have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,” Carr wrote.

Formula One has cancelled the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia grands prix because of the war, underlining the disruption across the Middle East. The races were due to take place on 12 April in Bahrain and 19 April in Saudi Arabia but the sport was approaching the point at which a decision on cancellation needed to be made to prevent more freight being sent to Bahrain.

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