ISIS' toxic legacy: Iraqis battle the blazing oil wells suffocating residents
Updated 0720 GMT (1520 HKT) December 2, 2016
Menacing black smoke hangs over the town of al-Qayyara. The air here is poison.
Children with blackened hands and soot-stained faces play beneath the toxic plumes. The early afternoon sun is so eclipsed by the haze that day seems like endless twilight.
The dark filth coating the landscape and choking residents' lungs comes from oil wells sabotaged and set alight by ISIS in August.
Engineers and firefighters have been battling the flames for 100 days now. When CNN first visited al-Qayyara back in early October, they had tackled six fires with nine to go. But the real extent of the damage had yet to be determined.
Jakarta protests: Muslims turn out in force against Christian governor Ahok
Huge crowds descend on Jakarta to demand the Indonesian capital’s governor be arrested for insulting Islam
A crowd of at least 200,000 Muslim protesters has descended on Jakarta to demand the Christian governor of the Indonesian capital be arrested for insulting Islam.
There was heavy security at the rally on Friday with authorities wary of the kind of violence that marred a similar demonstration in November.
People headed towards a huge park in downtown Jakarta to protest against Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known by his nickname Ahok, who has become the target of widespread anger in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.
Clown of Aleppo 'dies in air strike' as Syrian government closes in on besieged city
Anas al Basha stayed behind in the city to comfort children and sent his salary to his parents to help when they fled to the countryside
A social worker who dressed up as a clown to cheer up traumatised children in Aleppo has been killed by an air strike.
Anas al-Basha was killed in a presumed Russian or Syrian government missile strike on the Mashhad area in the east of the city.
The 24-year-old was the director of Space for Hope – one of the dwindling number of local initiatives supporting the besieged residents of the city.
The charity supports 12 schools and four psycho-social support centres in eastern Aleppo where they provide counselling and financial support for at least 365 children who have lost one or both their parents in the fighting.Migrants confined to camp over fears of health crisis
OBSERVERS
Over two thousand refugees have been confined to a migrant camp in Harmanli, a town in the southeast of Bulgaria, for ten days, in a supposed bid to stop infectious diseases from spreading outside the camp. Rumours that the migrants are carrying contagious diseases have been circulating in the town. According to our Observer and a UNHCR spokesperson, the medical problem is greatly exaggerated.
Deputy Minister of Health Vanio Sharkov declared on November 21 that the camp would be quarantined in order to stop infectious diseases being spread to the town’s inhabitants, according to local media. There is no indication as to when it will be reopened.
The announcement was made the day after a massive demonstration led by locals erupted in the town of Harmanli. Hundreds of residents marched from the centre of the town to the camp, equipped with banners and signs, chanting anti-migrant slogans, and calling for the camp’s closure. The protest was also joined by far-right political groups.
Our Observer Firas, a 24-year-old Syrian refugee who has been living inside the camp for seven weeks, called the situation “unbearable”.
China’s top court posthumously clears Nie Shubin
More than two decades after the 20-year-old worker from Hebei was executed for rape and murder, the country's Supreme Court has found him innocent
DECEMBER 2, 2016 2:01 PM
More than two decades after Nie Shubin was executed for rape and murder, China’s Supreme Court overturned his conviction on Friday, putting the spotlight on the country’s criminal justice system.
The top court overturned the conviction 21 years after Nie, a then 20-year-old worker from China’s Hebei province, was executed in 1995 for raping and killing a woman in a corn field, reported Xinhua News Agency on Friday morning (in Chinese).
“The Supreme Court overturned the original verdict, and ruled that Nie Shubin was innocent,” said the Xinhua report.
Four major cities move to ban diesel vehicles by 2025
The leaders of four major global cities say they will stop the use of all diesel-powered cars and trucks by the middle of the next decade.
The mayors of Paris, Mexico City, Madrid and Athens say they are implementing the ban to improve air quality.
They say they will give incentives for alternative vehicle use and promote walking and cycling.
The commitments were made in Mexico at a biennial meeting of city leaders.
The use of diesel in transport has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, as concerns about its impact on air quality have grown. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that around three million deaths every year are linked to exposure to outdoor air pollution.
Diesel engines contribute to the problem in two key ways - through the production of particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Very fine soot PM can penetrate the lungs and can contribute to cardiovascular illness and death
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