Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov
By Eliza Mackintosh, Rob Picheta, Nick Thompson and Aditi Sangal, CNN
Media outlet Rappler "honored and astounded" by Nobel Peace Prize award for CEO Maria Ressa
From CNN’s Rob Iddiols
Digital media company Rappler has said it is “honored and astounded” by the awarding of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to CEO Maria Ressa.
Ressa was awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize alongside Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov for efforts to safeguard freedom of expression.
“It could not have come at a better time – a time when journalists and the truth are being attacked and undermined,” the news outlet said in a statement on Friday.
Secret group of US military trainers has been in Taiwan for at least a year
Small contingent of US special forces and marines training local forces in latest sign of rising US-China tensions
Julian Borger in Washington and Helen Davidson in Taipei
The US has been secretly maintaining a small contingent of military trainers in Taiwan for at least a year, according to a new report, the latest sign of the rising stakes in US-China rivalry.
About two dozen US special forces soldiers and an unspecified number of marines are now training Taiwanese forces, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The trainers were first sent to Taiwan by the Trump administration but their presence had not been reported until now.
The report came as President Tsai Ing-wen said on Friday that Taiwan will “do whatever it takes to defend its freedom and democratic way of life”.
EU calls out Poland after controversial court ruling
Poland's ruling against the primacy of EU law has sparked anger among some of the bloc's member states. Poland's prime minister has denied the possibility of a "Polexit."
The European Commission on Friday said it would "use all powers" under its charter to ensure respect of EU law.
On Thursday, Poland's top court said that Polish laws can take precedence over laws coming from Brussels, further deepening a rift with the EU.
"Our utmost priority is to ensure that the rights of Polish citizens are protected and that Polish citizens enjoy the benefits granted by membership of the European Union, just like all citizens of our Union," the Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.
Sierra Leone abolishes 'inhumane' death penalty
Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio on Friday signed a bill abolishing the death penalty, becoming the latest African state to ban capital punishment.
The move comes after lawmakers in the West African country voted to end capital punishment in July, replacing the punishment with life imprisonment or a minimum 30-year jail term.
"As a nation, we have today exorcised horrors of a cruel past," Bio said in a statement, adding that capital punishment is "inhumane".
"We today affirm our belief in the sanctity of life," he added.
Colombia’s avocado boom shows the hidden costs of ‘green gold’
Hass avocados have replaced coffee crops in many rural economies in Colombia, but environmental scientists warn the move has consequences for local wildlife.
Coffee farming was the economic lifeblood of Riobardo Zapata’s family for generations until the industry seemed to dissolve around him. Extreme weather that scientists attribute to climate change – including extended droughts and heavy rains – began to ravage harvests over the past decade, jeopardising the fate of the little bean that helped put Colombia on the map and the livelihoods of the farmers who cultivate it.
Unstable market prices, meanwhile, left 56-year-old Zapata subsisting during the best of crop seasons and sinking into debt during the worst.
Afghanistan: Deadly attack hits Kunduz mosque during Friday prayers
A suicide bomb attack on a mosque in the Afghan city of Kunduz has killed at least 50 people, officials say, in the deadliest assault since US forces left.
Bodies were seen scattered inside the Said Abad mosque, used by the minority Shia Muslim community.
More than 100 people were injured in the blast in the northern city.
No group has said it was behind the attack, but Sunni Muslim extremists, including a local Islamic State group, have targeted the Shia community.
They consider Shia Muslims to be heretics.
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