Syria war: Talks in Lausanne amid Aleppo fighting
US and Russia to be joined in Lausanne by UN and Middle East powers on different sides of the five-year conflict.
Fresh diplomatic talks to end the Syrian conflict are due to open in Switzerland, the first since the United States halted bilateral negotiations with Russia on a ceasefire approved earlier this month.
With violence still raging in Aleppo and reports of fresh attacks on hospitals in Syria's second city, John Kerry, the US secretary of state, is due to meet Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, and top diplomats from the United Nations and regional powers in Lausanne on Saturday.
Vitaly Churkin, Russia's UN ambassador, said that a key aim of the Lausanne meeting is to get countries that support "moderate" opposition groups to use their influence to work for a new ceasefire.
Climate change: global deal reached to limit use of hydrofluorocarbons
Global deal on HFCs – greenhouse gases far more powerful than carbon dioxide – seen as ‘largest temperature reduction ever achieved by single agreement’
A worldwide deal has been reached to limit the use of greenhouse gases far more powerful than carbon dioxide in a major effort to fight climate change.
The talks on hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, have been called the first test of global will since the historic Paris Agreement to cut carbon emissions was reached last year. HFCs are described as the world’s fastest-growing climate pollutant and are used in air conditioners and refrigerators.
The agreement announced Saturday morning, after all-night negotiations, caps and reduces the use of HFCs in a gradual process beginning in 2019 with action by developed countries including the US, the world’s second worst polluter. More than 100 developing countries, including China, the world’s top carbon emitter, will start taking action in 2024.
French police accused of ‘stealing phones and shoes of refugees to stop them leaving Calais Jungle’
Exclusive: Outraged MEP describes actions as ‘inhuman’, while refugees say they’ve been threatened with force if they fail to obey orders
French police have been stripping refugees and migrants of their shoes and forcing them to walk in bare feet to deter them from venturing outside the Calais Jungle, The Independent has learned.
Refugees failing to comply with officers’ demands have then felt they were being threatened by police officers with force, it has been alleged.
The claims, which also include allegations that police have been “confiscating” mobile phones, appear to be the latest form of humiliation and intimidation by law enforcement officials in Calais – after previous accusations of brutality.
Soldiers clear mines with their bare hands in Libya's Benghazi
OBSERVERS
When the Islamic State (IS) group left Benghazi, Libya’s second city, they also left behind many improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The demining process is dangerous enough for trained professionals clearing standard mines. However, the task becomes exponentially more dangerous when the soldiers demining haven’t been trained and lack the proper equipment. Furthermore, the mines they are clearing are handmade and vary immensely.
IEDs are often planted in the ground and contain a mechanism that detonates when pressure is put on it. A person – be it a soldier or a civilian – triggers the explosion by stepping on it or driving a vehicle over it. Mines kill indiscriminately.
IEDs are often planted in the ground and contain a mechanism that detonates when pressure is put on it. A person – be it a soldier or a civilian – triggers the explosion by stepping on it or driving a vehicle over it. Mines kill indiscriminately.
Over the past month, Libyans have been sharing several videos on social media that show IEDs being removed by soldiers who are equipped with, at the most, a pair of gloves and pliers. The men who risk their lives to neutralize these handmade mines are soldiers from the Libyan National Army, which is a paramilitary group mostly made up of officers who defected from the army of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The LNA leader is General Haftar, who is heading the fight against islamists in Benghazi.
Why is Israel suspending cooperation with UNESCO?
A new resolution passed by the UN's cultural agency has touched a nerve with Israel and the US.
Israel has suspended cooperation with UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency, accusing it of downplaying Israel’s connection to a Jerusalem hilltop considered sacred in both Islam and Judaism, after one of the agency's committees approved a resolution intended to safeguard “the cultural heritage of Palestine and the distinctive character of East Jerusalem.”
The resolution criticizes Israeli administration of the site, including its restricting of access to Muslim worshippers and of use of force by police and soldiers. It also refers to the hilltop and its religious complexes exclusively by the names used by Muslims – al-Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, and al-Aqsa Mosque – instead of the Temple Mount, as it’s known in Judaism.
In a Facebook post, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a “another delusional decision” by UNESCO, and said the resolution denies Judaism's historic relationship with the site.
ICC prosecutor warns Philippines over drug war killings
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court may have the jurisdiction to prosecute perpetrators of thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings in the Philippines' crackdown on drugs, a prosecutor at the Hague-based tribunal said.
Nearly 2,300 people have died since Duterte started the campaign on June 30, according to police, of which 1,566 were drug suspects killed in police operations.
"I am deeply concerned about these alleged killings and the fact that public statements of high officials of the republic of the Philippines seem to condone such killings," ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement.
The Philippines joined the ICC in November 2011 and extrajudicial killings could be prosecuted by the ICC if they are "committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population," she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment