Six In The Morning Friday 11 February 2022

 

Ukraine tensions: Joe Biden says US citizens should leave Ukraine now

US President Joe Biden has called on all American citizens remaining in Ukraine to leave the country immediately, citing increased threats of Russian military action.

Mr Biden said he would not send troops to rescue Americans if Moscow invades Ukraine.

He warned that "things could go crazy quickly" in the region.

Russia has repeatedly denied any plans to invade Ukraine despite massing more than 100,000 troops near the border.

But it has just begun massive military drills with neighbouring Belarus, and Ukraine has accused Russia of blocking its access to the sea.

Taliban detain British journalist Andrew North in Kabul

Journalist, a second foreigner and Afghan colleagues held while on assignment with UNHCR

Emma Graham-Harrison

Fri 11 Feb 2022 14.41 GMT

The Taliban have detained a British journalist, a second foreigner and some of their Afghan colleagues in Kabul while they were on assignment for the UN refugee agency, their employer and the family of one of those detained have said.

Though the Taliban have detained and beaten Afghan journalists, the arrests earlier this week are the first time Afghanistan’s new rulers are known to have held foreign reporters since they took power last summer.

“Two journalists on assignment with UNHCR and Afghan nationals working with them have been detained in Kabul,” the UN said, without clarifying how many Afghan staff had been held. “We are doing our utmost to resolve the situation, in coordination with others.”

Got beef? China suspends Lithuanian meat, dairy and beer imports amid Taiwan row

Tensions are increasing between Beijing and Vilnius over Lithuania’s ties with Taiwan

Dominique Patton,Andrius Sytas

China suspended imports of beef, dairy and beer from Lithuania this week, according to the Baltic nation’s veterinary control agency, amid a growing trade dispute over its relations with Taiwan.

China’s General Administration of Customs had informed the country it was halting the exports due to “lack of documentation”, the agency said in a statement late on Thursday.

It added that “this is first such notification we ever received, because the importing countries usually start by asking for any missing information”.

Bangladesh: Murder of DW journalist shrouded in mystery 10 years on

Family members and critics are calling for justice, a decade after former DW journalist Sagar Sarowar and his wife, Meherun Runi, were killed in Bangladesh.

Ten years after the gruesome murder of Bangladeshi journalists Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi, police are still looking for the killers. Critics have said the case indicates a lack of willingness on the part of authorities to solve the case.

Sarowar, who was a former DW journalist, was found dead alongside his journalist wife Mehrun Runi, in the bedroom of their apartment in Bangladesh's capital city, Dhaka, on February 11, 2012.

Police said that Sarowar had been tied up, and he and his wife had been stabbed multiple times. Their bodies were discovered early in the morning by their then five-year-old son.

Anger mounts in West Bank at increasingly under-fire Palestinian Authority

On June 24, 2021, Palestinian political activist Nizar Banat died after being violently beaten by Palestinian security forces. Banat was a fierce critic of corruption in the Palestinian Authority. His killing had an immediate effect: Thousands took to the streets in the Palestinian Territories to protest against the ruling Fatah party and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The 86-year-old Abbas is clinging on to his position, having cancelled the first elections in 16 years. Our reporters Gwendoline Debono and Laurent Van der Stockt went to meet Palestinians who are openly denouncing their leadership and who feel abandoned.

‘We are scapegoats’: Arab journalists fired by Deutsche Welle

Contested ‘anti-Semitism’ case highlights Germany’s difficult relationship with Palestinian-Israeli politics.

By Linah Alsaafin

Published On 11 Feb 202211 Feb 2022

The recent firing of Arab employees from Deutsche Welle’s Arabic service on charges of alleged anti-Semitism has highlighted the country’s contentious policy, which some say equates criticism of Israel to prejudice and hatred of Jewish people.

The five employees of the German international broadcaster – all Palestinian or Lebanese – were investigated after an article published by Sudduetche Zeitung last November “exposed” social media posts and articles they had written for outside publications that allegedly expressed anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli views.