Six In The Morning Tuesday 7 December 2021

 

Biden and Putin hold talks amid Russia-Ukraine tensions

US President Joe Biden is holding rare talks by video link with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, amid tensions on Ukraine's eastern frontier.

Few expect a breakthrough, but Moscow says talks are needed as tensions in Europe are "off the scale".

Russia has moved thousands of troops to the border, but insists it has no intention of attacking Ukraine.

It wants guarantees Ukraine will not join Nato, but Western powers say Kyiv's sovereignty should be respected.

One of suspected killers of Jamal Khashoggi held in Paris, say reports

Khalid Aedh al-Otaibi reportedly arrested as he was about to board flight to Riyadh

Kim Willsher in Paris and Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington

Tue 7 Dec 2021 15.55 GMT

French police have reportedly arrested a former member of the Saudi royal guard suspected of involvement in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Khalid Aedh al-Otaibi was said to have been taken into custody at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport as he was about to take a plane to the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Otaibi, 33, has been named as one of the “commando” group in the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul where Khashoggi was killed on 2 October 2018. He was on the Interpol red list after an arrest warrant was issued by Turkey. He was travelling under his real name, according to French radio RTL, which broke the story.

Western leaders urge Russia to cool Ukraine tensions ahead of Biden-Putin call

Biden to warn Putin of toughest sanctions yet if Russia invades Ukraine

Steve Holland

Western leaders have called on Russia to lower tensions with Ukraine ahead of a high-stakes call between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which Washington will warn Moscow about its build-up of troops and against any invasion.

Russian forces have been massing on the border with Ukraine in recent weeks in large numbers, fuelling concerns among some in the West that Putin will soon authorise an invasion and prompting warnings from NATO and several global powers.

Biden spoke to the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Britain on Monday, who underscored their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and called on Russia to de-escalate tensions, according to the White House.

Afghanistan: Former security officials face Taliban vengeance

Human Rights Watch says that more than 100 former Afghan security personnel have disappeared or been killed by the Taliban since they came to power in August. The actual number could be much higher than that.

Following the collapse of the Afghan government, thousands of former security personnel faced imminent danger from the Taliban, which now rules the country.

Rights organizations reported that scores of them have become victims of targeted killings, and that there are many more whose fate is unknown.

Human Rights Watch published a report in late November, documenting the killings and disappearances of former members of the Afghan army, police, intelligence services and pro-government militias, who surrendered to the Taliban between August 15 and October 31.

Touchy issues avoided in panel talks about succession

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

December 7, 2021 at 15:30 JST

An advisory panel to the government on imperial succession came up with two proposals to ensure the institution rooted in mythology will endure, but avoided areas it deemed as too sensitive or likely to trigger a rabid outcry from some quarters.

One idea is to allow female members to retain their royal status even after marriage, while the other would allow males from former branches of the imperial family to regain imperial status through adoption by the imperial family.

Those were the broad outlines agreed to at a meeting held Dec. 6 and which will be submitted to the government as the panel’s final report before year-end.

Egyptian court releases researcher Patrick Zaki

Zaki, who was arrested in Cairo in February 2020, will still have to face trial next year for ‘spreading fake news’.

An Egyptian court ordered the release pending trial of jailed researcher Patrick George Zaki, a move welcomed by human rights defenders and the prime minister of Italy where he had been studying.

The court in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura postponed Zaki’s trial until February 1 to give prosecutors and defence lawyers time to prepare their arguments, said the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), which represents Zaki, on Tuesday.