Truce 'holding' despite isolated clashes in Idlib, Hama
Monitor says calm prevails as ceasefire brokered by Turkey and Russia gets under way but reports isolated clashes.
A nationwide ceasefire in Syria brokered by Russia and Turkey was in effect early on Friday, a potentially major breakthrough in the nearly six-year conflict, despite reports of isolated clashes.
While the truce was standing in most parts of the country, some fighting broke out near a Christian town in central Hama province between rebels and Syrian government, according to a monitoring group.
Nobel laureates warn Aung San Suu Kyi over 'ethnic cleansing' of Rohingya
Letter says Myanmar’s leader and peace prize winner has failed to act as ‘grossly disproportionate’ crackdown on minority Muslim group kills hundredsMore than a dozen fellow Nobel laureates have criticised Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader, for a bloody military crackdown on minority Rohingya people, warning of a tragedy “amounting to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity”.
The open letter to the UN security council from a group of 23 activists, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Malala Yousafzai, warned that the army offensive had killed of hundreds of people, including children, and left women raped, houses burned and many civilians arbitrarily arrested.
It was delivered as Bangladesh announced around 50,000 RohingyaMuslims have fled the violence across its border.
Serbia: The land of guns
Serbia's citizens are stockpiling more guns than in any other European country. Most come from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s and are still used to commit crimes today.
"What do you mean, 'Where did I get the gun?'" Mladen can't really understand why I would ask that question. He is almost 30 and the pistol has been among the household effects of his Belgrade apartment since he can remember. It is an old Yugoslavian version of the famous Soviet Tokarev TT-33, with a communist star engraved in the grip. "The pistol is from the front. My old man was in the army and got it as a present. He didn't have a gun permit, but who had something like that in the 1990s? Those were hard times, you always had to carry something for protection," explains Mladen, who doesn't want to read his real name in the news.
Jeddah party-goers arrested by Saudi police
The video shows young people dancing, laughing and drinking alcohol on top of a building. Young women in Western-styled clothing laugh as dance music plays in the background. What’s surprising about this video, which was posted on YouTube on December 20, is that this raucous party took place in Jeddah, a city in the ultra-conservative country Saudi Arabia. And when the video started circulating online, the Saudi religious police were not amused.
Both alcohol and mixed parties (with both men and women in attendance) are banned in Saudi Arabia, which is a country governed by strict morality laws. The video was quickly discovered by the police, and soon after, the host’s home was identified because of a well-known tower that can be seen in the video. The Jordanian man who hosted the party was arrested when he tried to flee the country. A Lebanese woman and her friends who were guests at the party were also arrested. The muttawa, the Saudi religious police, said they were searching for the other guests.
Killer with a conscience: Could this former death squad member bring down Duterte?
Updated 0830 GMT (1630 HKT) December 30, 2016
Edgar Matobato's days are spent -- for now, at least -- in a verdant, bucolic compound some way outside Manila.
Chickens, ubiquitous in the rural Philippines, scratch in the dirt and there is a sizable supply of food stacked up on the porch of one of the small structures that make up the compound.
It's a far cry from his nightmarish former life as a self-described death squad lieutenant in the southern city of Davao.
Regina Ip: The 'Iron Lady' who wants to lead Hong Kong
Regina Ip wants to become Hong Kong's most powerful politician - and she's not shy about it. The BBC's Helier Cheung profiles the straight-talking "Iron Lady" as part of a series on the Asian women likely to make the news in 2017.
Her uncompromising stance and her former role as Hong Kong's first female secretary for security is what prompted the media to nickname 66-year-old Regina Ip the "Iron Lady".
While many of her likely competitors have been coy about their aspirations, Ms Ip has been openly ambitious for years. But then, she's always been more colourful - and confrontational - than many politicians.
No comments:
Post a Comment