Burkina Faso hotel siege declared over
- 16 January 2016
- Africa
A siege is over at a Burkina Faso hotel seized by suspected Islamist gunmen, the government says, but reports say a nearby hotel is now under attack.
In all, 126 people were freed at the Splendid Hotel in the West African state's capital, Ouagadougou, the interior minister said.
Three gunmen were killed, he added, amid reports of 20 deaths during the attack, which also targeted a cafe.
Dozens of French forces from neighbouring Mali aided in the rescue.
French President Francois Hollande condemned the "odious" attack.
Game that rewards players for killing Indigenous Australians pulled from app stores
Survival Island 3 – Australia Story 3D removed from Apple and Google app stores after public outcry over gameplay showing an Aboriginal man being beaten to death with a stone axe
A mobile game that purportedly rewarded players for bludgeoning Indigenous Australians to death has been removed from both Apple and Google app stores following public outcry.
Survival Island 3 – Australia Story 3D tasked players with surviving in the outback. A cached snapshot of the game taken by Google as it appeared in Apple’s iTunes store on 12 January shows its description: “Your goal is to survive.”
“Beware of angry animals, especially if you don’t have any weapon. At nights, there is really dangerous, (sic) try to hide somewhere … Hunt animals or grow plants – you have to eat something.”
“You also have to fight with aboriginals [sic] – you invaded their home!”
A screenshot used to promote the game in the Apple iTunes store showed an in-game alert of “Beware of Aborigines!”
And the eyeroll for complete whiteness goes to... the 2016 Oscar Nominee List
The demise of cinema's sense of escapism comes in award shows
The magic of cinema is its escapist power. You can sink into a chair at a movie theater, your own couch, or lean against the window of a plane as a story pulls your mind into a world of drama, tragedy, comedy, romance, or terror. This is why we love movies.
And if that sense of escapism is the power of cinema, the demise of it is the award shows.
For the second year in a row, the entire Oscar nominee list for actors is white, and Twitter is forced to retweet the oldies but goodies from 2015’s popular hashtag #OscarSoWhite which drew attention to the dearth of Hollywood appreciation for non-white talent and accomplishment.
How a French TV channel aired fake footage of a 'massacre in Burundi'
On Wednesday evening, the French TV programme "le Grand Soir 3" included coverage of what it reported was a massacre in Burundi. The show, which airs on TV channel France 3, broadcast extremely violent footage that the channel said had been filmed a few days before in Burundi. But the Observers Team discovered that the video is actually older than that… and it might not have even been filmed in Burundi.
A Belgian lawyer, Bernard Maingain, specialising in Rwanda and Burundi gave the footage to France 3.
The France 3 report, titled "Proof of acts of violence in Burundi”, alleges that the footage was filmed “two days ago”, which would have been January 11, 2016. However, the Observers Team found a longer version of the video, which was posted on YouTube on December 22, 2015. That means the footage is at least three weeks old, not a few days.
Poland's democracy is in total disarray, and Europe is taking an unprecedented look into potential violations
By Allan Smith
People gather during an anti-government demonstration for free media in Warsaw, January 9. A banner shows Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Thousands of protesters gathered in Warsaw, Poland, last weekend, days after the Polish government, controlled by the right-wing Law and Justice Party, moved to take more control of public television and radio.
That came after a similarly controversial decision regarding the appointment of judges to the nation's constitutional court.
The ruling party appointed five judges — directly violating previous court decisions — and made changes to the court's rules that further limit its abilities, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Former enemies share samba in Colombia's 'Dancing with the Stars'
A PATH TO PROGRESS
A policeman once held hostage by FARC rebels and an ex-FARC rebel soldier team up in a TV dance competition. 'If we can do it, so can others.'
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA — Featuring a former child soldier and a policeman held hostage for nine years by rebels, Colombia's version of the hit TV contest "Dancing with the Stars" hopes to show millions of viewers that former battlefield enemies can live side by side.
John Pinchao, a policeman held captive in a jungle camp, often in chains, by rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) until he escaped in 2007, is now sharing the dance floor with ex-FARC child soldier Ana Pacheco, who joined the rebel group aged 14.
The prime-time show comes at a time when the three-year-old peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC are approaching the goal the two sides have set of signing an accord by March 23.
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