Thursday, January 13, 2022

Six In The Morning

 

Russia says NATO talks ‘unsuccessful’ as Poland warns of war

Week of diplomacy aimed at easing Russia-Ukraine tensions looks set to fail as fears of escalation rise.

Russia has described its security talks with the United States and NATO this week as “unsuccessful”, saying there is continued disagreement on fundamental issues.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that the two rounds of discussions so far in Geneva and Brussels had produced some “positive nuances” but that Moscow was looking for concrete results.

The talks, which moved to Vienna on Thursday for a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), are centred on Russia’s security demands from the West and its buildup up troops near Ukraine.


German court jails former Syrian intelligence officer for life



Anwar Raslan found to have overseen murder of at least 27 people and torture of at least 4,000 at Damascus prison


 in Berlin


A German court has sentenced a Syrian former intelligence officer to life in prison in a case the UN rights chief said could lead to accountability for other perpetrators of the war’s “unspeakable crimes”.

Anwar Raslan, a former colonel loyal to the regime who later defected and gained asylum in Germany, was deemed by the judge at Koblenz higher regional court to have verifiably overseen the murder of at least 27 and torture of at least 4,000 prisoners at a detention facility in Damascus.

It is the first case to find a senior official in the regime of Bashar al-Assad guilty of crimes against humanity.

The landmark verdict further lists Raslan’s crimes against humanity as entailing 25 cases of dangerous bodily harm, two cases of rape and sexual coercion, two cases of sexual abuse, 14 cases of deprivation of liberty lasting longer than a week, and two cases of kidnapping.



Nobel body criticizes peace prize winner Abiy over Tigray


The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the prestigious Peace Prize, has issued a very rare admonition to the 2019 winner, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, over the war and humanitarian crisis in his country’s Tigray region



The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the prestigious Peace Prize, on Thursday issued a very rare admonition to the 2019 winner, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, over the war and humanitarian crisis in his country’s Tigray region.

“As prime minister and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Abiy Ahmed has a special responsibility to end the conflict and contribute to peace,” the Oslo-based committee said in a statement.

Abiy won the prize, in part, for making peace with neighboring Eritrea after one of Africa’s longest-running conflicts.


CARE's Suffering in Silence report: Forgotten humanitarian crises

Many humanitarian crises get little media attention and unfold unnoticed by most people around the world. The result: Less support for those in need. The aid organization CARE wants to change that.


The Victoria Falls in the very south of Zambia look like a gigantic curtain of water. At more than 1,700 meters (more than one mile), the UNESCO World Heritage Site is the widest waterfall in the world. The spray of water from the Zambezi River, which cascades down a 110-meter-deep gorge, is so enormous that it waters the adjacent rainforest. It is a magnificent natural spectacle, but its abundance of water is in maximum contrast to the rest of Zambia.

Like many other countries in southern Africa, Zambia is plagued by long periods of drought. Crops regularly wither. Malnutrition is widespread among the country's 18.4 million inhabitants.



Kazakhstan: Did 'anti-terrorist' operation hide battle between political clans?







Chinese woman stuck in blind date's house by sudden Covid lockdown


Updated 0806 GMT (1606 HKT) January 13, 2022




It was supposed to be a quick get-to-know-you -- but a snap Covid lockdown forced a Chinese woman to stay with her blind date at his house for days on end.

The 30-year-old woman, identified only by her surname Wang, went to meet her blind date for a home-cooked dinner on January 6 in her hometown of Zhengzhou, a city in central China grappling with a coronavirus outbreak.
"I'm getting old now, my family introduced me to 10 matches," she said in a video on social media. "The fifth date wanted to show off his cooking skills and invited me over to his house for dinner."







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