Pro-Russian separatists reject Kiev's amnesty |
Armed men occupying buildings in the east refuse to vacate despite assurance they will be free if they surrender arms. |
Pro-Russian separatists, who have besieged a number of government buildings in Ukraine's eastern districts, have turned down an amnesty offer handed by the government, stocking fear that a 48-hour ultimatum may end with violence.
The government said it would not prosecute pro-Russian separatists if they surrender their weapons, but the armed men said they would not leave.
Fortifying barricades around the buildings with barbed wire and sandbags overnight, they said the government will have to first accept holding a referendum on self-rule, before they evacuate the buildings.
The government said it would storm one of the buildings in Luhansk unless protesters leave by the end of the day, Al Jazeera was informed.
Gangnam styled: street traders face eviction in K-pop themed facelift
Mayor of Seoul's Gangnam district made famous by hit song is forcing out street sellers in effort to create 'global luxury district'
It's a district of Seoul made famous by a viral hit that swept the world two years ago. But now Gangnam is at the centre of a row between the officials who want to turn it into something of a theme park and the local traders who fear their businesses will be threatened by a garish facelift.
On a drive to attract more foreign tourists to Gangnam, local mayor Shin Yeon-hee plans to turn it into a K-pop themed "global luxury district", complete with a K-Star Road and guides highlighting sites that have featured in popular music videos and TV shows. She hopes it will compare with Abbey Road and Rome's Piazza di Spagna as an area rich in pop-cultural heritage.
But for vendors like Lee Seon-ja, the plan is disastrous.
Atrocities ignored due to fear of evil, says judge
Seminar to mark anniversary of genocide hears from former ICC judge
Paul Cullen
People’s failure to respond when atrocities occur is rooted in a fear of losing their own humanity when confronting evil, a former judge of the International Criminal Court has suggested.
Judge Maureen Harding Clark said the reason people turned away from appalling attacks such as the Rwandan genocide may lie in a fear of the evil created by the hatred involved, in particular the “chilling ordinariness” of the lives of those carrying out the attacks.
Speaking yesterday at a seminar to mark the 20th anniversary of the genocide, Judge Clark said the international community did rebuilding much better than prevention. People tried to reduce their fear of dealing with atrocities by building “tiny pockets of humanity”.
China's new weapon for expansion: lawfare
April 11, 2014 - 3:06PMJohn Garnaut
Asia Pacific editor for Fairfax Media
The United States and its military partners are reaching for new tools to counter an unconventional ''three warfares'' strategy that China is using to advance aggressive territorial claims, says a Pentagon report.
It says the People’s Liberation Army is using what it calls ''legal warfare'', ''media warfare'' and ''psychological warfare'' to augment its arsenal of military hardware in order to weaken the resolve of the US and its regional partners to defend islands and oceans in the East and South China Seas.
''They have introduced a military technology which has not previously been considered as such in the West,'' says the report, China: The Three Warfares, which was commissioned by the Pentagon’s most senior strategist, Andrew Marshall, and circulated to leaders of the US Pacific Fleet. This technology has ''side-stepped the coda of American military science,'' it says.
Can Venezuela's televised peace talks end the street protests?
President Nicolás Maduro will meet today with opposition leaders in the presence of foreign mediators to seek a political solution to two months of often violent antigovernment protests.
Seeking to defuse the nation's worst political unrest in a decade, Venezuela's warring politicians are set to meet today in a live television broadcast.
The peace talks, brokered in part by regional leaders, are the latest effort to end nearly two months of anti-government protests that have left at least 39 dead and hundreds more injured.
While opposition leaders had previously rejectedPresident Nicolás Maduro's calls for dialogue, he now has the ear of Venezuela's main opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD). Two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles and other coalition leaders agreed to negotiate with the president in the presence of mediators from Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador, and the Vatican.
7 ways air travel changed after disasters
April 11, 2014 -- Updated 0638 GMT (1438 HKT)
One of the key questions asked after any serious airline incident is: how do we stop this happening again?
Malaysia Airlines has already changed its cockpit regulations as a result of Flight 370's disappearance.
Many other incidents in the past have led to safer flying conditions for us today, as a result of improvements and changes to protocol, laws and technology in planes. Below we outline some of the most important ones.
These helped pave the way to making 2013 one of the safest years in aviation history according to the Aviation Safety Network, with only 29 known accidents worldwide, and 265 fatalities (the 10-year average is 720 fatalities per year).
No comments:
Post a Comment