A U.S. official says women are the force behind the massive protests in Iran, and that the United States is unaware of whether Iranian Olympic athlete Kimia Alizadeh is seeking asylum in the U.S.
Alizadeh, Iran’s only female Olympic medalist, said earlier this week on social media that she has permanently left Iran because she had had enough of being used by its authorities for political purposes.“
I don’t know if she is seeking asylum so I can’t speak to that,” Brian Hook, U.S. Special Representative for Iran, said Friday when asked by VOA if the  U.S. would welcome Alizadeh if she seeks asylum in the United States. 
“Much of the strength and the energy in the anti-regime protests are being led by Iranian women,” Hook said, adding he believes “many more Iranian women would like to leave the oppression that this regime presents to them.”
Iran was shocked when Alizadeh announced her defection earlier this week.
Iranian politician Abdolkarim Hosseinzadeh accused “incompetent officials” of allowing Iran’s “human capital to flee,” according to media reports.
A deputy Iranian sports minister, Mahin Farhadizadeh, reportedly told the news agency ISNA that Alizadeh defected to pursue her education “in physiotherapy,” according to a New York Post report.
Friday, Shohreh Bayat, an Iranian chess referee who is in Russia for the Women’s World Chess Championship, told Reuters she does not want to return home out of fear for her safety. Bayat has been accused of violating her nation’s Islamic dress code while adjudicating a women’s tournament.
Last week, protests erupted across Iran after a period of increasing tensions between Washington and Tehran. The U.S. killed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 2, and Iran responded Jan. 8 by launching an airstrike from Tehran against an Iraqi base that housed U.S. military. Shortly after, a Ukrainian International Airline Boeing 737 taking off from Tehran’s airport crashed, killing all 176 people on board. Three days later, Iran admitted to mistakenly shooting down the airplane, which led to street protests in Tehran and several other Iranian cities.
The 21-year-old Alizadeh, who won a bronze medal in taekwondo at the 2016 Rio Olympics, did not reveal her whereabouts but in the past has said she wants to settle in the Netherlands.
She said she no longer wanted to “sit at the table of hypocrisy, lies, injustice, and flattery.”
“I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran with whom they have been playing for years,” she wrote on social media.
In a tweet, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said “#KimiaAlizadeh, Iran’s only female Olympic medalist, has rejected the regime’s oppression of women. She has defected for a life of security, happiness, and freedom. #Iran will continue to lose more strong women unless it learns to empower and support them.”#KimiaAlizadeh, Iran’s only female Olympic medalist, has rejected the regime’s oppression of women. She has defected for a life of security, happiness, and freedom. #Iran will continue to lose more strong women unless it learns to empower and support them. https://t.co/NIzdo4PPwI— Morgan Ortagus (@statedeptspox) January 12, 2020Western media had credited the taekwondo medalist with “emboldening Iranian girls and women to push the boundaries of personal freedom.”
In December, Alireza Firouzja, Iran’s top-rated chess champion, said he would not play for Iran in an upcoming tournament and is ready to renounce his citizenship because of a ban on competing against Israeli players.
Saeid Mollaei, an Iranian judo world champion, left the country for Germany last fall and sought asylum. Mollaei said he had been pressured to deliberately lose in the semifinals at the 2019 World Judo Championships in Tokyo to avoid facing Israelis.
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U.S. firearms makers will be able within days to export as much as 20% more guns, including assault rifles and ammunition, under rules the Trump administration announced on Friday.The change, which had been contemplated for more than a decade, will officially move oversight of commercial firearm exports from the State Department to the Commerce Department, where export licenses will be much easier to obtain.A woman uses a virtual reality based firearms simulator at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting, in Indianapolis, Indiana, April 28, 2019.A draft of the rules was published on Friday, with publication in the Federal Register expected next week, said Clarke Cooper the State Department’s Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs.”While we are providing industry a some regulatory relief and a cost savings, it does improve enforceability,” Cooper said.U.S. Representative Ted Lieu, a California Democrat, called the move “bad,” at Tuesday’s Forum on the Arms Trade Annual Conference, in comments that echoed arms control advocates. Under the change, Lieu said, more weapons will be sold overseas and “give Congress even less authority as a check and balance on those sales.”Under the new rule 3D printed guns will still be regulated.”This control will help ensure that U.S. national security and foreign policy interests are not undermined by foreign persons’ access to firearms production technology,” a version of the rule posted on the Federal Register said.Reuters first reported on the Trump administration’s interest in the oversight shift in 2017 .The action is part of a broader Trump administration overhaul of weapons export policy.
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Miss Universe 2019 is using her global platform to strive for gender equality, saying she wants to encourage girls and young women to “tap into their power,” and use their voice. VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer has more on South African Zozibini Tunzi’s mission to empower women and girls.
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The United States has long seen North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons as a major national security threat.  But the missiles Pyongyang would use to deliver a nuclear bomb appear to be a different matter. A top U.S. general Friday dismissed concerns North Korea’s rapidly developing missile program is capable, for now, of producing anything that could get by U.S. defenses. “I have 100% confidence,” General John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an audience in Washington.  “I don’t say 100% confidence often. I have 100% confidence in those capabilities against North Korea.” ‘Gift’ wasn’t givenU.S. military and intelligence officials have been keeping an especially close eye on Pyongyang since late last year, when leader Kim Jong Un threatened to give Washington a “Christmas gift” it might not like. At the time, U.S. officials expected some sort of weapons test or a test of one of the country’s new long-range ballistic missiles. Only no such test ever materialized. And with negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang seemingly stalled, there are growing concerns a peaceful, diplomatic solution may be drifting out of reach. Earlier this week, during a news conference at the Pentagon with Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters the next move was “in Kim Jong Un’s hands.” FILE – Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Japan’s Defense Minister Taro Kono speak during a news conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Jan. 14, 2020.”We continue to send the message to North Korea that the best path forward is through a diplomatic solution that results in the denuclearization of North Korea,” Esper said. “We monitor very closely what’s happening,” Esper added, warning that if necessary, “we remain ready to fight tonight.” Speaking alongside Esper, Kono voiced hope that dialogue could prevail. “Hopefully, he will make the right decision for his own people,” the Japanese minister said of North Korea’s Kim. Nearly 70 testsEven as Pyongyang engaged in talks with the U.S. last year, it launched 13 missile tests, bring the total of tests under Kin Jong Un to almost 70. “They’ve changed the entire structure of the world with the 115th most powerful economy,” Hyten said Friday at the Center for Strategic International Studies.  FILE – People watch a TV that shows a file picture of a North Korean missile for a news report on North Korea firing short-range ballistic missiles, in Seoul, South Korea, July 31, 2019.“North Korea has been building new missiles, new capabilities, new weapons as fast as anyone on the planet,” he added.  “They learned how to go fast.” In contrast to his confidence in defending against North Korean missiles, Hyten warned U.S. systems are not nearly as capable against new and emerging technologies, like hypersonic missiles being developed by Russia and China. “It doesn’t matter what the threat is, if you can’t see it, you can’t defend against it,” the former commander of U.S. Strategic Command warned, calling for space-based sensors while acknowledging their likely hefty price tag. “I would like to see research and development into low-Earth-orbit as well as medium-Earth-orbit,” he said. “That’s the only way to get a global [missile defense] capability that is affordable.” 
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Антимонопольний комітет опублікував рекомендації для теплопостачальних компаній та органів місцевого самоврядування у зв’язку зі зниженням цін на газ.

Згідно з ними, влада та підприємства повинні:

адаптувати нарахування за опалення і гарячу воду протягом поточного опалювального сезону у зв’язку зі зменшенням ціни на природний газ
повідомити споживачів про зміни нарахувань
здійснити перерахунок всім категоріям споживачів за ненадані, надані не в повному обсязі або невідповідної якості послуги, враховуючи «умови аномально теплої зими»

Таке рішення в комітеті пояснили тим, що ціна на природний газ знизилася на 20%. За рішенням комітету, органи влади та компанії-теплопостачальники повинні поступово знижувати ціну на газ щомісяця, починаючи з 2020 року.

Повний текст рекомендацій планують оприлюднити згодом.

За даними Держстату, вартість житла, води, електроенергії, газу та інших видів палива протягом 2019 року зросла на 8%.
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Six Somali government soldiers and 19 militants were killed when Islamist group al-Shabab attacked two bases before dawn Friday, according to officials and residents.Local security officials and residents told VOA Somali that the attackers targeted a Somali government military base in Haji Ali village, near the Indian Ocean coastal town of Addale, in Middle Shabelle region.Somali government forces at the base responded to the attack, sparking a deadly gun battle.Local sources said five government soldiers were killed, including a military commander. The Somali National Army Headquarters, in a statement, put the death toll at four soldiers, with two others injured.The statement said 15 al-Shabab militants were killed and 26 were injured.Al-Shabab said its fighters overran the base and seized weapons and vehicles.Separately, one government soldier and four militants were killed in another al-Shabab attack Friday in the town of Hosingow, Lower Juba region.Residents told VOA that the militants briefly entered a Somali military camp near the town. Troops launched a counterattack and retook the base, killing four militants and a soldier, residents say.U.S. airstrikeMeanwhile, the U.S. military has confirmed killing two al-Shabab militants in an airstrike near the town of Kunyo Barrow in Lower Shabelle region on Thursday. It is the second U.S. airstrike in Somalia in 2020.Last year, U.S. Africa Command conducted a record 63 strikes in Somalia.Al-Shabab has conducted several high-profile attacks in recent weeks, including one on a Kenyan military base housing U.S. forces. The militants killed three Americans in the Jan. 5 attack.
 
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At least 700,000 people die every year due to drug-resistant diseases, including 230,000 from multidrug resistant tuberculosis, according to the World Health Organization.  Last year, a U.N. report predicted growing antimicrobial resistance could cause 10 million deaths each year by 2050 and trigger a financial crisis.The WHO said the health threat affects everyone, but those most at risk include people whose immune system is compromised, the elderly, and patients undergoing chemotherapy, surgery and organ transplants.Fifty antibiotics are in the pipeline, said WHO’s Senior Adviser on Antimicrobial Resistance, Peter Beyer, but the majority only have limited benefits when compared to existing antibiotics.”We are actually running out of antibiotics that are effective against these resistant bacteria,” he said. “It takes maybe 10 years to develop a new antibiotic, so if you go back to phase one, we know exactly what, at best, what we can get in the next 10 years. And we really see that it is insufficient to counter the current threat.” Scientifically, Beyer said, it is very difficult to come up with truly new innovative antibiotics. In addition, there is little financial incentive for pharmaceutical companies to develop a new drug because it is risky, it takes a lot of time and money, and the monetary returns are likely to be poor, he said.PreventionHowever, he added, he hopes the industry changes its position and develops new antibiotics because drug companies also need these new medications.”For example, if they want to sell products for chemotherapy, they really need effective antibiotics because otherwise you cannot do effective chemotherapy, in particular in countries like India or Bangladesh where infection prevention control is not that good,” Beyer said. “So, I do think that the industry, at one point in time, they will turn around. That is our hope. And, we, of course, try to convince governments to invest as well.”  In the meantime, Beyer said, one of the most cost-effective, life-saving measures is better prevention control in hospitals. Instead of inventing new drugs to treat people who get infected in hospitals, he said, it makes more sense to protect them from getting infected in the first place.  
 
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На українському міжбанківському валютному ринку зранку 17 січня різко зросли котирування долара США. За даними Finance.ua, станом на 12:10 торги відбувалися на рівні 24 гривні 29–33 копійки за одиницю американської валюти, це значно вище за середньозважені показники торгів попередньої сесії.

Національний банк України відбив лише частину цього руху на міжбанку, встановивши опівдні довідкове значення курсу 24 гривні 20 копійок за долар, це на 11 копійок більше за офіційний курс на 17 січня.

«Як і майже весь цей тиждень, основним законодавцем тренду на міжбанку залишиться НБУ… Ми зберігаємо нашу впевненість в тому, що чіткий сигнал регулятора про те, що він не готовий до просідання курсу нижче 24 гривень за долар, почутий усіма гравцями ринку і це їх поки теж влаштовує», – вказували експерти сайту «Мінфін» і прогнозували «коридор по долару в межах 24,00–24,25 гривень». Ці прогнози були сформовані ще до заяви голови уряду Олексія Гончарука про відставку і не враховували її вплив.

Водночас фінансові аналітики, які відстежують котирування українських облігацій на міжнародних ринках, вважають відставку Гончарука малоймовірною.

Національний банк України з 13 грудня 2019 року встановив облікову ставку на рівні 13,5%, знизивши її одразу на 2%. Також регулятор збільшив обсяг щоденного викупу валюти на міжбанку до 50 мільйонів доларів з попереднього рівня 30 мільйонів доларів.

 
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