NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Child abuse ring: A tip from U. S. authorities has exposed a major child sex abuse ring in Australia with links to the United States, Canada, Asia, Europe and New Zealand, police said on Wednesday. A child care worker and a children’s soccer coach were among 16 men arrested in the Australian states of New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia in recent months on 828 charges of sexually abusing children, producing and distributing child abuse material and bestiality, police said. Investigators identified 46 victims in Australia aged 16 months to 15 years. Police referred 18 “matters” to the United States, where three men have been arrested for multiple offenses related to child abuse material.
2 Nuclear deal: Iran continues to increase its stockpile of lowenriched uranium far beyond the limits set in a landmark nuclear deal with world powers and to enrich it to a greater purity than permitted, the U. N.’ s atomic watchdog agency said Wednesday. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported in a confidential document that Iran had a stockpile of 5,385.7 pounds of lowenriched uranium on Nov. 2. The nuclear deal signed in 2015 with the United States, Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia, allows Iran only to keep a stockpile of 447 pounds.
3 Vanishing medicines: Drugs for everything from diabetes and blood pressure to antidepressants and fever pills used in coronavirus treatment have disappeared from shelves around Lebanon. Officials and pharmacists say the shortage was exacerbated by panic buying and hoarding after the Central Bank said foreign reserves were running low, and the government wouldn’t be able to keep up subsidies on drugs. Lebanese now scour the country and beyond for crucial medications. The elderly ask around religious charities and aid groups. Family members plead on social media or travel to neighboring Syria. Expats are sending donations. It’s the newest stage in the economic collapse of a country that was once a regional hub for banking, real estate and medical services.
4 Cemetery explosion: Three people were wounded Wednesday when an improvised explosive device targeted a ceremony of French, American, British, Italian and Greek officials commemorating the end of World War I at a cemetery for nonMuslim dead in the Saudi city of Jiddah, French Foreign Ministry officials said. Wednesday’s attack follows a stabbing on Oct. 29 that lightly wounded a guard at the French Consulate in the same city. The stabbing was carried out by a Saudi man, who was arrested. His motives remain unclear. France has suffered two deadly attacks by foreignborn Muslims in the past month. A teacher was beheaded outside Paris for showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to his class for a debate on free expression, and three people were later killed in a church in Nice.
5 _ Bahrain leader: Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, one of the world’s longestserving prime ministers who led his island nation’s government for decades and survived the 2011 Arab Spring protests that demanded his ouster over corruption allegations, is dead at 84. Bahrain’s staterun news agency announced his death, saying he had been receiving treatment at the Mayo Clinic in the United States, without elaborating. Prince Khalifa’s power and wealth could be seen everywhere in this small nation off the coast of Saudi Arabia home to the U. S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. His official portrait hung for decades on walls alongside the country’s ruler. He had his own private island where he met foreign dignitaries, complete with a marina and a park that had peacocks and gazelles roaming its grounds.