TIG Post

Author: Abigail Ampofo

  • Iran minister: Saudi Arabia look forward dialogue after Jordan meeting

    A sixth round of direct bilateral discussions that could take place at the level of foreign ministers has been postponed due to a number of factors.The Iranian foreign minister said after meeting his Saudi counterpart in Jordan that Saudi Arabia is open to having more conversations with Iran.Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian claimed in an Arabic tweet posted on Wednesday that he spoke on the sidelines of an Iraq-focused conference in Jordan on Tuesday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud as well as other counterparts from the region and from France.

    “The Saudi minister assured me of his country’s readiness to continue dialogue with Iran,” he wrote.

    Amirabdollahian did not disclose more details, and Saudi officials have yet to comment publicly.

    The two regional rivals cut diplomatic ties in 2016 after a crowd stormed the Sunni-majority kingdom’s embassy in Tehran following the execution of a prominent Shia leader.

    Since April 2021, Iraq has hosted five rounds of direct talks between the two, the latest of which came in April this year. A sixth round has been anticipated for months, with speculation that it could for the first time happen at the level of foreign ministers, but there have been several roadblocks.

    For one, Iraq, which has mediated between the two sides, has been undergoing its own political turmoil, with current Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani coming into power in October following infighting that ultimately saw the Iran-backed Coalition Framework emerge on top.

    On the other hand, Iran has significantly intensified its rhetoric against Saudi Arabia, accusing it of bankrolling media channels that, according to Tehran, have “incited terrorism” during the country’s unrest since nation-wide protests began in mid-September.

    The apparent meeting between the foreign ministers in Jordan is a sign that neither side wants to shut the door to dialogue completely, but should not raise expectations for immediate tangible results either, according to Hamidreza Azizi, a fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

    “The renewed mutual suspicions and increased threat perceptions make a real breakthrough in diplomatic relations very unlikely,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that the empowerment of factions close to Iran in Iraq makes Baghdad’s role as mediator more difficult as well.

    “In such circumstances, the best outcome the two sides may achieve in the short term is to maintain a minimum of their diplomatic communication channels and try to manage the tensions. In that sense, I don’t think we should expect a new round of talks at the level of foreign ministers or any type of rapprochement.”

    In the longer term, Azizi said things would depend on the domestic situation in Iran and Tehran’s relations with the West.

    “At the moment, the Saudis seem to be comfortable with the fact that the Iranian government is under enormous pressure domestically and internationally and is in no rush to give any concessions for resuming normal relations with Tehran.”

    Azizi said a potential direct or indirect military assault by Iran on Saudi assets would signal a “game-changer” for bilateral and regional ties.

    Separately, in a speech on Tuesday, Esmaeil Qaani, the commander of the Quds Force, which is the foreign operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), suggested Saudi Arabia was an extension of US efforts in the region.

    “The main enemies are the criminal US and the Zionist regime [Israel],” he said. “The rest, like the criminal Saudi Arabia, are dregs and are not even worth being considered enemies.”

    Qaani delivered the remarks during an event held to mark the first anniversary of the death of Hassan Irloo, the country’s top envoy to war-torn Yemen, who died after contracting COVID-19. Tehran had accused Saudi authorities of refusing to cooperate in time to secure his air transfer, something which they denied.

    Tehran backs the Houthi rebels in the war in Yemen, while Riyadh backs the Yemeni government.

    Tehran and Baghdad, on the other hand, have also seen increased tensions in bilateral relations as the IRGC has launched multiple rounds of artillery, missile and drone attacks on northern Iraq since September, in an effort to target “secessionist terrorist” Kurdish groups based there.

    Iran accuses them of smuggling weapons into its territory with the aim of using them during the country’s unrest. Iraqi Prime Minister al-Sudani visited Tehran last month and met Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi to discuss the issue.

    Source: Aljazeera.com 

     

  • We have done no such thing: Burkina Faso denies accusations of paying Russia’s Wagner group with mine rights

    The president of Ghana alleged that Burkina Faso had employed Wagner mercenaries from Russia to assist in fighting armed groups.

    The president of Ghana claimed that Burkina Faso’s northern neighbour had paid Russian mercenaries by granting them access to a mine, but the country’s minister of mines has refuted this claim.

    “We have not granted any permit to a Russian company in southern Burkina,” Minister of Mines Simon Pierre Boussim told reporters on Tuesday, after a meeting with civil society groups that were concerned about the allegations.

    Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo caused controversy by stating last week that Burkina Faso had hired mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner group to help it fight armed non-state actors.

    “I believe a mine in southern Burkina has been allocated to them as a form of payment for their services,” Akufo-Addo said, speaking to reporters alongside the United States’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the US-Africa Summit.

    Burkina Faso’s government has not formally confirmed or denied the allegation that it has made an agreement with Wagner, but it summoned the Ghanaian ambassador for a meeting on Friday to explain the president’s remarks.

    “We made a list of all the exploitation or research permits for large industrial mines in the south, so they can see clearly that there is no hidden site,” Boussim said.

    The Burkinabe government did recently award a new exploration permit to Russian firm Nordgold for a gold mine in Yimiougou, in the centre-north region, Boussim said, but the company has been active in Burkina Faso for more than 10 years.

    Burkina Faso’s neighbour Mali hired Wagner last year to help it fight armed groups in the Sahel. The prospect of the group expanding its presence in Africa has troubled Western countries such as France and the United States, who say it exploits mineral resources and commits human rights abuses in countries where it operates.

    Source: Aljazeera.com 

     

     

     

     

  • It’s unlawful: Brexit scheme that makes EU citizens reapply for right to live – UK High Court

    EU citizens with pre-settled status are required by the EU Settlement Scheme to reapply every five years or risk losing their ability to live, work, receive healthcare and education, and apply for housing and benefits.

    The High Court has ruled that the government’s Brexit plan, which requires EU citizens to reapply for the right to live and work in the UK, is illegal.

    All EU citizens who desired to stay in the UK after the Brexit transition period ended on December 31, 2020, had to submit an application for residency by June 2021 under the EU Settlement Scheme, which opened in March 2019.

    If they had lived in the UK for a continuous five-year period at the time, they were given settled status but those who had been in the UK for less time were given pre-settled status.

    EU citizens with pre-settled status have to reapply for settled status on reaching five years’ continuous residence in the UK or risk losing their residence rights, meaning they could not work, receive healthcare and education and apply for housing and benefits.

    The Independent Monitoring Authority (IMA), a body set up to oversee citizens’ rights, took legal action against the Home Office in December as it argued the government is breaching the withdrawal agreement it made with the EU.

    On Wednesday, Lord Justice Lane ruled the scheme is unlawful.

    The Home Office is intending to appeal the decision and said the status of EU citizens remains the same while that is taking place.

    No EU citizen is currently affected as the five years they will have had to be in the UK before having to reapply for settled status does not expire until August 2023.

    Those already with settled status do not have to reapply anyway so are not affected.

    Home Office minister Lord Murray said: “EU citizens are our friends and neighbours, and we take our obligations to securing their rights in the UK very seriously.

    “The EU Settlement Scheme goes above and beyond our obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement, protecting EU citizens’ rights and giving them a route to settlement in the UK.

    “We are disappointed by this judgment, which we intend to appeal.”

    Dr Kathryn Chamberlain, IMA chief executive said: “I am pleased that the judge has recognised the significant impact this issue could have had on the lives and livelihoods of citizens with pre-settled status in the UK.

    “When we brought this judicial review, our intention was to provide clarity for citizens with pre-settled status, of which there were over 2.4 million when we filed this case in December 2021.

    This judgment that the current system is unlawful provides that clarity. We will now liaise with the Home Office on the next steps.”

    Source: SkyNews.com 

     

  • Government debt reaches record levels in November

    As government borrowing increased to £22 billion last month, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt cited the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as causes.

    According to official data, government borrowing reached its highest level for November since records have been kept since 1993.

    According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), net public sector borrowing last month totaled £22 billion, excluding borrowing from public sector banks.

    The amount was £13.9 billion higher than November 2021 and almost £9 billion higher than October’s total.

    The increase occurred as the Energy Bill Support Scheme was expanded and interest payments increased to £7.3 billion.

    The Energy Bills Support Scheme – which is paying out £400 to households over a six-month period – cost the government £1.9bn in November.

    It also confirmed that the Energy Price Guarantee, which has capped energy costs to £2,500 for a typical household, was the main driver of a £4.7bn year-on-year increase in subsidies.

    Interest rate payments rose and were £2.4bn higher than a year ago.

    As inflation drove up prices, it also drove up the cost of government borrowing.

    As the retail price index rose so too did the government bonds linked to inflation, index-linked gilts. Payments on those index-linked gilts accounted for £4.2bn of the total interest rate payments made by the government last month.

    Debt as a whole across the public sector – excluding public sector banks – was £2,477.5bn at the end of last month.

    That is up £125.9bn on the same period last year but is now a lower portion of gross domestic product (GDP) – a measure of economic output. The amount of debt accounts for around 98.7% of GDP.

    Borrowing will only increase, according to economic research group Pantheon Macroeconomics.

    “We continue to expect public borrowing to overshoot the OBR’s (Office of Budget Responsibility’s) forecast in future years,” the group said.

    Chancellor Jeremy Hunt blamed the figures on the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    “Faced with the twin global emergencies of a pandemic and Putin’s war in Ukraine, we have taken significant action to support millions of businesses and families here in the UK,” he said.

    “We have a clear plan to help halve inflation next year, but that requires some tough decisions to put our public finances back on a sustainable footing.”

    Despite the increasing debt, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales said there is cause for relief in the figures.

    “Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will be relieved that the deficit for the year-to-date only exceeded £100bn by £5bn, on track to stay within the Office for Budget Responsibility’s latest forecast of £177bn for the full year,” it said.

    Source: SkyNews.com 

     

     

     

  • Belarus, Russia relations: Alexander Lukashenko ‘unlikely’ to enter war

    Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin spoke yesterday in Minsk, sparking rumours that Putin may be trying to convince Belarus to join the conflict.

    According to experts, Belarus will not directly enter the conflict because Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko “likely deflected” Mr. Putin’s efforts.

    Belarus needs to defend its borders against the West and NATO, according to US-based think tank The Institute for the Study of War, which claimed Mr. Lukashenko was doing this to avoid taking part in the invasion.

    In a joint news conference after the talks, both presidents refrained from discussing the invasion.

     

    The ISW said that if Mr Lukashenko were planning on joining the war, he would likely “adjust his rhetoric to create some plausible explanation to his own people about why he was suddenly turning away from the fictitious NATO invasion threat”.

    This is not to say the Kremlin hadn’t planned to pressure Belarus.

    According to the think tank, Moscow has “attempted to conceal Putin’s likely original intentions to pressure Lukashenko”.

    The ISW pointed out that Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the speculation as “foolish” – and that he had avidly denied Russia’s intention to invade days before the war.

    “But this denial is more likely an attempt to cover up Putin’s desperation to involve Lukashenko in the war and apparent failure – again – to do so,” the ISW said.

     

     

  • You have 72 hours to leave: Mexican ambassador to Peruvian President Pedro Castillo as spat deepens

    Peru has ordered the Mexican ambassador to leave within 72 hours after Mexico granted asylum to the family of ousted Peruvian President Pedro Castillo.

    Castillo attempted to dissolve Congress, which led to his removal from office earlier this month.

    On suspicion of rebellion and conspiracy, he is being looked into in Peru.

    However, Mexico has backed the deposed president and initially indicated that it was thinking about giving him asylum.

    President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador referred to Mr. Castillo’s removal as being undemocratic.

    The government of Mexico, according to Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, is negotiating a safe exit for Mr. Castillo’s family, who are currently lodged in the Mexican embassy in Lima, the capital of Peru.

    Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Tuesday the government was negotiating safe passage for the family of Mr Castillo, who were inside Mexico’s embassy in the Peruvian capital Lima.

    His Peruvian counterpart, Ana Cecilia Gervasi, said safe passage had been granted.

    But Mexico’s decision to grant asylum caused further anger in Peru, and Mexican Ambassador Pablo Monroy has now been declared “persona non grata” by the government.

    Peru’s foreign ministry said in its social media accounts that it was expelling Mr Monroy because “of the repeated statements by that country’s highest authorities about the political situation in Peru”.

    Peruvian opposition legislator Maria del Carmen Alva accused Mexico of “sheltering the corrupt”.

    Mr Castillo, who is in custody in Peru, was removed from office after he tried to dissolve Congress.

    Facing an impeachment vote, Mr Castillo had announced he was dissolving the opposition-controlled legislative body.

    But Congress defied him, voted overwhelmingly to remove him from office, and his bodyguards stopped him from seeking refuge at the Mexican embassy in Lima.

    Just hours later, Congress swore in his vice-president, 60-year-old Dina Boluarte, as the new president.

    She has been pushing for early elections, and they edged closer on Tuesday as lawmakers voted in favour of the proposals.

    This would bring elections forward to April 2024, two years ahead of elections currently scheduled for 2026.

    There have been violent protests in which demonstrators have called for fresh general elections. Supporters of Mr Castillo have also taken to the streets to demand his release.

     

  • Killamarsh deaths: Damien Bendall pleads guilty to murder of woman and three children

    Prior to admitting their manslaughter, Damien Bendall, 32, had previously denied killing Terri Harris, 35, and her 11-year-old daughter her 13-year-old son John Paul Bennett, and Lacey’s 11-year-old friend Connie Gent.

    A man has admitted to killing a woman and three kids who were discovered dead at a home in Derbyshire.

    Prior to admitting to their manslaughter, Damien Bendall, 32, had previously denied killing Terri Harris, 35, her 11-year-old daughter Lacey Bennett, her 13-year-old son John Paul Bennett, and Lacey’s 11-year-old friend Connie Gent.

    Bendall made his latest plea as he appeared at Derby Crown Court on Wednesday.

    He has also admitted raping one of the youngsters.

    Terri Harris died along with her children Lacey and John Paul Bennett
    Image: Terri Harris died along with her children Lacey and John Paul Bennett
    Connie Gent. Pic: Derbyshire Constabulary
    Image: Lacey’s friend Connie Gent was also among the victims. Pic: Derbyshire Constabulary

    Ms Harris and the three children were found dead in Chandos Crescent, Killamarsh, near Sheffield, on 19 September last year.

    Bendall, of Chandos Crescent, is said to have committed the murders at some point between 17 September and the time the four victims’ bodies were discovered.

     

     

  • Toronto teen girls charged with murder after man stabbed to death

    According to police, the teenage girls, most of whom were under the age of 16, met on social media and acted in a “swarming mob mentality” when they allegedly attacked a 59-year-old man.

    After a man was stabbed to death in Toronto, eight teenage girls who apparently met on social media were charged with murder.

    Investigators believe the girls assaulted and stabbed the 59-year-old man in the downtown district of the Canadian city early Sunday morning.

    The man was taken to the hospital by medics, where he died.

    Three 13-year-old girls, three 14-year-old girls, and two 16-year-old girls were arrested near the scene of the attack, according to police.

    Detective Sergeant Terry Browne said investigators think the girls were trying to take a bottle of alcohol from the man.

    He said they were all “equally culpable”.

    “There is no doubt in our minds that they were all working as a singular entity in a swarming mob mentality when they chose to attack this man,” DS Browne added.

    He said a number of weapons were seized, but declined to say what kind. He also said three of the girls had prior encounters with the police.

    The girls met on social media but DS Browne said police “don’t know how or why they met on that evening”.

    “It’s bizarre that they would all have hooked up together and found their way to downtown Toronto. Their primary residences are all over the place,” he said.

    “I’ve been in policing for almost 35 years and you think you’ve seen it all,” DS Browne said.

    “Anyone who isn’t shocked with hearing something like this has clearly just thrown in the towel and just said that anything is possible in this world.

    “Eight young girls and most under the age of 16. If this isn’t alarming and shocking to everyone, then we’re all in trouble quite frankly.”

    DS Browne said police have spoken to the parents of the teens.

    “I can tell you it was a shock to find out that their children were involved in an event like this,” he said.

    The victim was living in a homeless shelter and has not yet been named, DS Browne said.

    He added that they would investigate whether “swarming” had seen a resurgence in popularity on social media.

    The officer said 20 or 30 years ago, young teen boys in Toronto would swarm others and try to steal Dr Martens boots or Air Jordan shoes but that trend faded away.

    Canadian authorities cannot release the girls’ names because they are underage. They have made their first court appearance and remain in custody.

    The girls’ next court appearance is on 29 December.

     

     

  • African, Arab or Amazigh? Morocco’s identity crisis

    It is fair to say that the World Cup in Qatar this year has been defined by controversy like no other tournament before.

    From the controversial decision to grant Qatar the privilege of hosting the event despite its poor human rights record to the very last moment when the Emir of Qatar put an Arab cloak on the shoulders of the Argentinian football legend, Lionel Messi, as he was about to lift the trophy on Sunday.

    But there is one controversy that attracted little or no attention outside North Africa. It started with the simple question: how do you describe the Moroccan team, the Atlas Lions, which stunned the whole world by its sterling performance – defying the odds to beat heavyweights such as Spain and Portugal? The “first Arab” or “African” team to reach the semi-final?

    Culturally many Moroccans see themselves more as Arabs than Africans – and some sub-Saharan Africans in Morocco complain that racist attitudes are never far from the surface.

    But comments by Moroccan winger Sofiane Boufal after their World Cup victory over Spain brought the debate about the country’s continental identity to the fore. He thanked “all Moroccans all over the world for their support, to all Arab people, and to all Muslim people. This win belongs to you.”

    After a social media backlash, he took to Instagram to apologise for not mentioning the African continent’s backing of the team – expressed at one stage by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari when he said Morocco had “made the entire continent proud with their grit and dexterity”.

    Senegalese watch a live broadcast of the Qatar 2022 World Cup Football semi-final match between Morocco and France at Parcelles Assainie in Dakar on 14 December 2022
    IMAGE SOURCE,AFP Image caption, Morocco garnered support from the rest of Africa – including from this crowd in Senegal – as they took on France

    Chastened, Boufal posted: “I also dedicate the victory to you of course. We are proud to represent all our brothers on the continent. TOGETHER.”

    The furore reflects recent efforts by the monarch to encourage closer ties with the rest of the African continent. “Africa is my home, and I am coming back home,” King Mohammed VI said in 2017 as Morocco was re-admitted to the Africa Union after a 30-year absence in a row over the disputed territory of Western Sahara. This rapprochement has allowed business links to flourish, especially with West Africa.

    But Morocco is also a member of the Arab League – so officially belongs to both cultural spheres.

    While the adjective “African” to describe Morocco is a geographical fact, the use of “Arab” has also alienated many Moroccans who do not identify as such.

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    Morocco has a substantial population of Berbers, or Amazigh as they prefer to be called – some estimates put it at nearly 40% of the country’s population of more than 34 million. One major Amazigh language – Tamazight – is now recognised as an official language alongside Arabic.

    But this was a controversy long time in the making. Immediately after Qatar was awarded the right to host the 2022 World Cup, its media framed the event as a “Victory for Islam and pan-Arabism”, as headline put it back in 2010.

    As the tournament got under way, the vocabulary of pan-Arabism and Islamism crept back to the front. In the conflict over the ban on alcohol or the use of the OneLove armband of the LGBTQ, advocates of Islamism and pan-Arabism came to the defence of Qatar, Islam and traditional values against “the imperialist West”.

    Amazighs, in traditional clothes, gather to celebrate the year 2972 to their calendar, Rabat, Morocco - 13 January 2022
    IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, The Amazigh are the indigenous people of North Africa

    But the initial framing of the event by the Qatari media as an “Islamic or Arab Conquest“, which had gone largely unnoticed, provoked an angry reaction when it became part of the language of running commentary on the games.

    So, when the Atlas Lions made history by becoming the first men’s team from Africa and the Middle East to qualify for the World Cup semi-final, it was hailed as a victory for the Muslim and Arab nations.

    After other teams from the region – Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Qatar – were disqualified early in the race, it was only natural that football lovers in neighbouring countries would rally behind Morocco.

    But some vocal groups sought to portray the Moroccan success as something much larger, more ideological and political. Consequently, the Moroccan team was assigned the role of the standard-bearer of Islam and pan-Arabism.

    This argument was strengthened when some of the Moroccan team’s players celebrated their successes by unfurling a Palestinian flag on the pitch.

    This kind of rhetoric outraged many in North Africa, but particularly among Moroccans who do not subscribe to these ideologies and their worldviews.

    ‘Culture war’

    In an hour-long tirade, one dissident Moroccan YouTuber blasted those who sought to politicise the game and turn it into a global culture war.

    Brother Rachid also reminded his 385,000 subscribers that half of the Moroccan team, including their coach, were in fact born and bred in Europe, the children of Moroccan migrants who learned the game and became professional footballers in Europe.

    “If you were to do a DNA analysis of the Moroccan team, you would find that most of them are Amazigh. Most of them don’t speak Arabic. And if they did it will be ‘broken Arabic’ because they grew up in the West,” he said.

    “Morocco is different from the Middle East, because it is fundamentally a Berber society, the Arabs came as outsiders in the 7th Century. Today in Morocco there are Arabs, Berbers, Muslims, Jews, atheists, non-religionists and Baha’is, there are Shias and Sunnis.”

    Considering this Moroccan success “a victory for Arabism and Islam is an attack on the various components of the Moroccan society”, he went on to say.

    In response to the pan-Arabists or Islamists seeking to hijack the Moroccan triumph for their own use, posts on social media proliferated to claim back the team as Morocco’s. Some posted pictures of the team emblazoned with Amazigh symbols.

    A Moroccan football fan draped in a Amazigh flag in Spain - 6 December 2022
    IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Some Moroccan fans draped themselves in the Amazigh flag

    Other critics highlighted the absurdity of turning a game of football into a religious or ethnic war, arguing that it is inconceivable that a win by France, Brazil or Argentina could be considered a triumph of Christianity.

    They pointed out that would be impossible, given the ethnic and religious mix of some of the national football teams in Europe for example.

    The controversy over the true identity of the Moroccan team is the latest manifestation of a “culture war” that has raged for decades across North Africa and the Middle East.

    National identity has been central to the two ideologies – Islamism and pan-Arabism – that shaped political discourse in the region for decades.

    While they made sense during the struggle for national liberation, prioritising social cohesion over individual freedom, they seem to have outlived their usefulness and become irrelevant in an increasingly globalised world – as the row over a football match clearly demonstrates.

    DISCLAIMER: Independentghana.com will not be liable for any inaccuracies contained in this article. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author’s, and do not reflect those of The Independent Ghana

    Source: BCC.com 

     

     

  • California earthquake: 2 dead and tens of thousands without power after 6.4 magnitude quake

    With its epicentre just off the coast and about 10 miles (16 km) deep, the “insane” 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck at 2.34am local time (10.34am UK time), but there was no tsunami threat.

    After a powerful earthquake struck northern California, at least two people have died and tens of thousands of homes and businesses are without electricity.

    The “insane” 6.4 magnitude earthquake, with its epicentre just off the coast and about 10 miles (16 km) deep, struck on Tuesday at 2.34am local time (10.34am UK time), but there was no tsunami threat.

    The shaking reportedly lasted up to 20 seconds, according to the locals.

    In Humboldt County, the earthquake occurred close to the town of Ferndale.

    More than a dozen smaller quakes appeared to hit parts of the region afterwards, the US Geological Survey said.

    Two people, aged 72 and three, died from medical emergencies after the quake, Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal told US media.

    Emergency services had been unable to get them to the appropriate facility in time, he said.

    Several people were also injured.

    The main earthquake caused widespread damage to roads and homes, along with a bridge, while power lines were brought down and there were numerous gas leaks.

    Ferndale is home to about 1,400 people and located 261 miles (420km) north of San Francisco.

    More than 72,000 homes and businesses were without power there and elsewhere in the county, according to tracking website Poweroutageus.com.

    And the California highway patrol was responding to reports of cracks in the Ferndale bridge over the Eel River in and out of Ferndale.

    ‘That was big’

    Caroline Titus, a Ferndale resident, tweeted a video in her darkened home of toppled furniture and smashed dishes.

    “Our home is a 140-year-old Victorian. The north-south shaking is very evident in what fell,” she tweeted.

    “That was a big one,” she said in another message.

    Another Twitter user Jimmy Eller, who said he lived in Humboldt County, wrote: “That earthquake was insane. A good 15-20 seconds of shaking.”

    And the sheriff’s office tweeted: “Due to a large earthquake, widespread damages to roads and homes are reported throughout Humboldt County.

    “Be prepared for aftershocks. Check gas and water lines for damages or leaks. Exercise caution if travelling.”

     

     

     

  • Zelensky in Washington: Ukraine’s leader travels to the US for the first time since their war with Russia

    President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has announced that he will meet with Joe Biden, the president of the United States, on Wednesday in Washington.

    His journey abroad marks his first since Russia’s invasion in February.

    The White House has additionally confirmed the visit and stated that it will give Ukraine a Patriot missile battery, greatly enhancing its air defence capabilities.

    Mr. Zelensky will also meet with various people and address Congress.

    “On my way to the US to strengthen resilience and defense capabilities of Ukraine,” he wrote on Twitter.

    Mr Zelensky regularly hosts foreign leaders in the capital, Kyiv, and has visited troops around Ukraine.

    The Ukrainian president has also spoken frequently to world leaders over the telephone and by video call – often from his office in Kyiv.

    But the surprise visit to a foreign country marks a first since the war began and also signals the importance of Ukraine’s relationship with the US, which has played a leading role in providing military support.

    In its briefing ahead of Mr Zelensky’s visit, the White House confirmed a new package of nearly $2bn (£1.6bn) of security assistance for Ukraine.

    That includes a new Patriot missile system, which will help Ukraine to protect its infrastructure against Russian attacks. Ukrainian officials have long been appealing for more powerful air defence systems from the West.

    Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s energy sector, plunging millions into darkness in winter with temperatures several degrees below freezing.

    The White House said it will train Ukrainian troops on how to use the Patriot system in a “third country” and that this “will take some time”.

    Work is also currently under way in the US to push through a bill that would give Ukraine more than $40bn (£33bn) in extra funding heading into 2023.

    In terms of overall spending on direct military support since the start of the conflict, the US has committed far more than any other country.

    President Zelensky says the monthly cost of defence for Ukraine was about $5bn (£4.1bn).

    His visit to Washington comes a day after he made an unannounced visit to the front-line city of Bakhmut, where Ukrainian and Russian forces have fought a fierce, months-long battle.

    He met troops and handed out awards to soldiers, the presidency said.

    The visit was a significant show of defiance – and a demonstration of support for Ukrainian forces engaged in some of the fiercest battles in recent weeks.

    Soldiers gave Mr Zelensky a Ukrainian flag with their names signed on it and asked him to give it to President Biden and the US Congress, in a moment that was captured on camera.

    On the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded medals inside the Kremlin to figures involved in the Russian invasion.

    Vladimir Putin awards sergeant of the Russian National Guard Troops, Lev Makeyev, with the Order of Courage during a ceremony at the Kremlin
    IMAGE SOURCE,REUTERS Image caption, Vladimir Putin awarded National Guard Sergeant Lev Makeyev the Order of Courage

    Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, the US military estimates that at least 100,000 Russian and 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or injured, along with some 40,000 civilian deaths.

    The UN has recorded 7.8 million people as refugees from Ukraine across Europe, including Russia. However, the figure does not include those who have been forced to flee their homes but remain in Ukraine

     

     

     

  • Scots anticipated to adopt controversial transgender laws

    A medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria will no longer be required in order to obtain a gender recognition certificate under the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill (GRC).

    The applicant’s minimum age would also be lowered to 16 and the applicant’s time living in their acquired gender would be reduced from two years to three months (or six months for those between the ages of 16 and 17), though there would be a three-month reflection period.

    After a lengthy session of parliament yesterday, MSPs will discuss the final of the 153 amendments submitted at stage three of the bill before a final vote this afternoon.

    The sitting was disrupted by protests from the public gallery, with opponents of the bill shouting “shame on all of you” as an amendment that would make it harder for sex offenders to apply for a GRC was voted down.

    The Scottish Tories also appeared to be trying to make the proceedings last as long as possible by tabling four amendments to the agenda, forcing a vote on the timetable for the consideration of amendments, raising a further motion for MSPs to vote on and several points of order – all before the debate on the amendments began.

    The party also opted to push amendments to a vote – even when the proposer of the changes did not.

    It has been one of the most controversial bills in Holyrood since devolution.

    Opponents have raised concerns about its impact on the safety of women and girls, while the Scottish government has insisted it will not impact the Equality Act – which allows for trans people to be excluded from single-sex spaces such as changing rooms and shelters.

    Source: SkyNews.com 

     

     

  • Health bosses are deeply worried about the ambulance strike

    Health officials have cautioned that during today’s ambulance strike in England and Wales, patient safety cannot be guaranteed.

    However, according to NHS England, emergency care will still be offered.

    People are urged to use services “wisely” and to use 111 online as a backup plan before calling 999 unless the situation is truly life-threatening.

    There is a severe strain on A&Es, and ambulance response times are already twice as long as they were two years ago.

    Eight of the top ten ambulance services in England have reported critical incidents, a sign of the extreme pressure they are already facing.

    Ministers have advised the public to exercise extra caution and to stay away from contact sports and pointless car trips.

    Unions say life-threatening callouts will continue to be responded to over the next 24 hours but some urgent calls, for example for late-stage labour or a fall in the home, might not be answered.

    No industrial action is taking place in Northern Ireland and Scotland, and there will be no strikes in the east of England or the Isle of Wight.

    But elsewhere, there is likely to be major disruption as paramedics, call handlers, emergency care assistants and technicians go on strike.

    About 750 armed forces staff are being drafted in to cover the walkouts, however their role will be limited. They will not be sent on call-outs involving critical care, nor will they provide any clinical care.

    What do I do if I’m hurt?

    Patients who are seriously ill or injured, or whose lives are in danger, are being advised by the NHS to call 999.

    For all other healthcare needs, the NHS is advising people to contact NHS 111 online or via the NHS 111 helpline, or to contact their local GP or pharmacy.

    In the run-up to the strike, rhetoric from both sides has intensified.

    Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: “We now know that the NHS contingency plans will not cover all 999 calls. Ambulance unions have made a conscious choice to inflict harm on patients.”

    But union boss Christina McAnea, from Unison, told Talk TV’s First Edition the government’s refusal to open any kind of negotiations with them was irresponsible.

    Asked whose fault it would be if people died, she said: “Absolutely the government’s.”

    In a letter to the prime minister, the NHS Confederation, which represents healthcare systems in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said there was now “deep worry among NHS leaders about the level of harm and risk that could occur to patients”.

    “This is not something NHS leaders would ever say lightly,” the letter stated, “but many now tell us that they cannot guarantee patient safety”.

    The letter has now also been signed by NHS Providers, the body which represents hospital trusts, mental health and ambulance services.

    What’s happening in my area?

    Not all unions are striking for the same hours on Wednesday, and it is difficult to say how many workers at each individual service will strike.

    You can use our interactive tool to find out which unions are on strike at your local ambulance service:

    The industrial action by ambulance workers follows two days of strikes by nurses this month over pay. It has also been some of the busiest months on record for people attending Accident and Emergency departments.

    Long waits for ambulances after an emergency 999 call have become a regular occurrence, as have queues of ambulances outside A&E waiting to offload patients.

    Rachel Harrison, national secretary of the GMB Union, said ambulance staff were tired of spending all day in an ambulance outside a hospital with a patient because of delays in handing over patients to A&E.

    She said they often did not know whether patients would “still be alive” when they reached them after a callout.

    “We’ve been raising these issues for years and [have] been ignored,” she added.

    Ambulance workers are asking for a pay rise above inflation – although not a precise figure – and a plan for recouping lost earnings over many years.

    Mr Barclay met union representatives on Tuesday afternoon but there were no discussions around pay – only what care would still be provided during the strike.

    Onay Kasab, from Unite, said the meeting was “entirely pointless” because the health secretary refused to discuss pay.

    Mr Barclay called the strikes “deeply regrettable” and urged the public to take extra care and check in on vulnerable friends, family and neighbours.

    He said most ambulance staff have received a pay rise of at least 4%, taking average earnings to £47,000. A further pay increase would mean taking money from frontline services, he added.

    Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has insisted he will not back down against striking workers. He has said the best way to help the workforce would be to reduce inflation as quickly as possible.

    Not all Conservatives agree and want to see some flexibility from the government. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, MP for the Cotswolds, said: “These things have got to be solved by negotiation. There are people who are desperately likely to need this service over Christmas.”

    NHS England says it will have more staff answering 999 calls and is helping individual trusts speed up the process of handing over emergency patients and discharging those well enough to go home.

    London Ambulance Service will not dispatch an ambulance to all 999 callouts. Instead, a team of clinicians will call patients back to see if they can be helped in other ways.

    They expect there to be 200 ambulances compared to the normal 400. Most will be staffed by the military, with a clinician alongside that may or may not be a paramedic. Taxis may also be used for some patients.

    If there are not enough ambulances to get to all life-threatening emergencies, staff will leave the picket line to respond, the head of the service, Daniel Elkeles, said.

    On Tuesday, eight ambulance services declared critical incidents, including North East Ambulance Service, South East Coast Ambulance Service, the East of England Ambulance Service, Yorkshire Ambulance Service and South Central Ambulance Service, because of pressure on services.

    A critical incident allows services to prioritise certain patients and cancel non-urgent demands on staff such as training. It can happen because of a very high number of calls, for example.

     

     

  • ITV boss: Clarkson’s Meghan comments ‘awful’ but host will remain

    ITV’s head of media and entertainment has called Jeremy Clarkson‘s remarks about the Duchess of Sussex in a column for the Sun “awful.”

    As the host of the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Kevin Lygo stated that there were “at the moment” no plans to replace him.

    He claimed that Mr. Clarkson’s remarks did not reflect the principles of ITV.

    After writing on Friday that he “hated [Meghan] on a cellular level,” Clarkson received more than 20,000 complaints to the press regulator.

    The column has now been removed from the Sun’s website, at Clarkson’s request, and replaced with a tweet in which he says he is “horrified” after “causing so much hurt”.

    In his message to followers, posted on Monday, he described a reference he made to a scene in Game of Thrones as “clumsy”.

    Speaking at a Broadcasting Press Guild event in London on Tuesday, Mr Lygo said he had “no control” over what Mr Clarkson wrote in his newspaper columns.

    “We hire him as a consummate broadcaster of the most famous quiz on television, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” he said.

    “So it’s not quite in our wheelhouse but I don’t know what he was thinking when he wrote that. It was awful.”

    Calls for apology

    Conservative MP Caroline Nokes has written to Sun editor Victoria Newton calling for action to be taken against Mr Clarkson, and for an “unreserved apology” to be issued to the duchess.

    The letter has been signed by more than 60 MPs.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

    SNP MP John Nicolson, who sits on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, has written to chief executive of ITV Dame Carolyn McCall asking for Mr Clarkson to be removed as a host of the quiz show.

    Mr Nicolson said he had also written to Amazon, which broadcasts Clarkson’s Farm and The Grand Tour, where the presenter appears alongside James May and Richard Hammond.

    In a call to Shelagh Fogarty’s Monday show on LBC, the mother of late television presenter Caroline Flack condemned the comments.

    Responding to Mr Clarkson saying he would like to see the duchess humiliated, Christine Flack said it had “upset her so much that Jeremy Clarkson was not only allowed to think that but to put it in print”.

    Caroline Flack’s death in February 2020 was ruled a suicide by the coroner.

    An inquest in August 2020 heard “her trauma was played out in the national press” and that was “incredibly distressing for her.”

    Writing in his original column, Clarkson said: “At night, I’m unable to sleep as I lie there, grinding my teeth and dreaming of the day when she [Meghan] is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her.

    “Everyone who’s my age thinks the same way,” he added. “But what makes me despair is that younger people, especially girls, think she’s pretty cool. They think she was a prisoner of Buckingham Palace, forced to talk about nothing but embroidery and kittens.”

    His column followed the release of the last three episodes of Netflix’s docuseries Harry & Meghan on Thursday.

     

     

  • China Covid: Country records five deaths under new counting method

    In light of uncertainty regarding the true scope of the disease’s effects, China has described how it counts Covid-19 deaths.

    According to the statement, the number only accounts for fatal respiratory conditions like pneumonia.

    Only five Covid deaths were reported officially on Tuesday, two on Monday, and none in the two weeks prior.

    The method of counting contravenes World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, and as a result, the number of deaths is much lower than in many other nations.

    According to the WHO, countries use various testing and reporting procedures for Covid-19 deaths, making cross-national comparisons challenging.

    It is why many countries record Covid-19 deaths as excess mortality – how many more people died than would normally be expected based on death figures before the pandemic hit.

    These calculations also take into account deaths which were not directly because of Covid but were caused by its knock-on effects – including people being unable to access hospitals for the care they require.

    By contrast, China has strict criteria for confirming Covid-19 cases, which include evidence in patients of lung damage caused by the virus. This must be confirmed in a scan.

    But, the country is currently experiencing a surge in cases since the lifting of its most severe restrictions earlier this month.

    Official figures show a relatively low number of new daily cases and deaths. This has led to fears the numbers are an underestimate due to a recent reduction in Covid testing.

    In a bid to address the concerns the State Council held a news conference on Tuesday.

    Infectious disease expert Prof Wang Gui-qiang clarified that only pneumonia and respiratory failure caused by the coronavirus were counted as Covid deaths.

    Deaths caused by underlying diseases are not included in the official count, state-owned China News Service reported.

    Strict lockdowns are said to account for China’s official death toll staying so low since the start of the pandemic – the official figure is just over 5,200.

    This is equal to only three Covid deaths in every million in China, compared with 3,000 per million in the US and 2,400 per million in the UK.

    China has faced challenges with vaccines being used and particularly getting them to the most vulnerable people.

    Overall, China says more than 90% of its population has been fully vaccinated. However, less than half of people aged 80 and over have received three doses of vaccine. Elderly people are more likely to suffer severe Covid symptoms.

    China has developed and produced its own vaccines, which have been shown to be less effective at protecting people against serious Covid illness and death than the mRNA vaccines used in much of the rest of the world.

    Prof Wang’s comments come as hospitals in the capital Beijing and in other cities struggle to cope with the latest Covid surge.

    The latest wave has also hit postal and catering services hard.

    Meanwhile, China’s largest city, Shanghai, has ordered most of its schools to take classes online as cases soar.

     

     

  • Maiden Pharmaceuticals: Cough syrup deaths blamed on India firm by Gambia panel

    A parliamentary committee in The Gambia has recommended legal action against the Indian company that makes cough syrups, which is thought to be responsible for at least 70 child fatalities there.

    For exporting what it called contaminated medicine, it claimed Maiden Pharmaceuticals should be held accountable.

    In October, the WHO issued a warning urging authorities to halt the sale of the syrups.

    The accusations had been refuted by Maiden Pharmaceuticals.

    Government laboratories in India claimed that the syrups “complying with specifications” after testing them. Last week, an Indian official criticised the WHO for being “presumptuous” in blaming the syrups.

    But the global health body told the BBC it was only following its mandate and “stands by the action taken”.

    After weeks of investigation, the Gambian parliamentary committee has now recommended that authorities should take tough measures, including banning all Maiden Pharmaceuticals products in the country and taking legal action against the firm.

    The committee said it “is convinced that Maiden Pharmaceuticals [is] culpable and should be held accountable for exporting the contaminated medicines”.

    “The findings remain the same with the previous reports which indicates that Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup were contaminated with diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol,” the parliamentary committee said in its report.

    Diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol are toxic to humans and could be fatal if consumed. But the panel added that the exact scientific cause of the children’s deaths was still under investigation.

    The committee also wanted the country’s Medicine Control Agency to ensure all medicines imported into the country are properly registered and background checks conducted on manufacturers – including visiting their facilities.

    The report also revealed inadequacies in the country’s healthcare system urging the government to strengthen it and provide better equipment and medicines to the country’s hospitals.

    What happened?

    In late July, The Gambia detected an increase in cases of acute kidney injury among children under the age of five. The government later said around 69 children had died from these injuries.

    The WHO then identified four of the Maiden Pharmaceuticals’ medicines as potentially linked to the deaths of the Gambian children and issued a global alert.

    After the news broke in October, India said that it was investigating the products and ordered Maiden Pharmaceuticals to stop production at its main factory in the northern state of Haryana.

    On 13 December, Dr VG Somani, India’s drugs controller general, wrote a letter to the WHO saying that the samples it tested at a government laboratory “were found not to have been contaminated” with the compounds.

    “As per the test reports received from [the] government laboratory, all the control samples of the four products have been found to be complying with specifications,” he added.

    The test results are being further examined by a panel of Indian experts.

    A senior adviser to India’s information and broadcasting ministry told the BBC last week that the WHO had been “presumptuous” in blaming the cough syrups for the deaths of the children.

    “Subsequent inspections, tests and studies by Government of India’s notified bodies and technical team have shown that WHO’s presumptuous statement was untrue and incorrect,” said Kanchan Gupta, adding that the health body had “[jumped] the gun without valid scientific reasons”.

    India produces a third of the world’s medicines, mostly in the form of generic drugs.

    Home to some of the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies, the country is known as the “world’s pharmacy” and meets much of the medical needs of African nations.

     

     

     

  • US House panel votes to release Trump’s tax returns

    Six years’ worth of Donald Trump’s tax returns will be made public, according to a committee vote in the US House of Representatives.

    The decision by the US Supreme Court last month ends a nearly four-year legal battle by Democrats to obtain the documents.

    Even though US presidents are not required by law to release their tax returns, they have been doing so voluntarily for decades.

    The former president has made a significant effort to conceal his tax returns.

    The US House Ways and Means Committee voted 24-16 on Tuesday evening to publish the documents, with all Democrats on the panel in favour and all Republicans opposed.

    One of the committee members, Pennsylvania Democrat Brendan Boyle, said afterwards: “This is one of the most important votes I will ever cast as a member of Congress, and I stand by it 100%.”

    But Kevin Brady, the ranking Republican on the committee, said Democrats had just “unleashed a dangerous new political weapon”.

    “Congress’ enemies list is back,” said the Texas congressman. “Every American taxpayer who may get on the wrong side of majority in Congress is now at risk.”

    It is unclear when the public will see the financial documents which stem from 2015-20, when Mr Trump was running for president and serving in the White House.

    Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat on the panel, told CNN the release of the files could take “a few days” in order to redact personal information such as Social Security numbers.

    The returns could offer a first-hand look into Mr Trump’s finances, including his assets, sources of income, charitable contributions and liabilities, including the possibility of loans owed to foreign entities.

    In 2016, Mr Trump became the first major-party presidential nominee since Richard Nixon in 1972 to decline to publicly release his tax returns while campaigning for office. At the time, he said he would do so after an Internal Revenue Service audit had concluded.

    However, on Tuesday Democrats on the panel said that Mr Trump was not actually under an audit in 2016, and that the Internal Revenue Service did not begin their official audit until 2019.

    The House Ways and Means Committee had first sought the returns when Democrats took over the lower chamber of Congress in 2019. The committee, citing a federal law allowing it to request special access to individual tax returns, said the information was necessary as a part of a review of federal tax law.

    Republican critics, however, have countered that such explanations were merely an excuse to access Mr Trump’s financial documents.

    The Trump administration refused to co-operate with the committee’s request, prompting a drawn-out legal battle that ended when the US Supreme Court, in an unsigned opinion, upheld an appellate court ruling that the Democrats were entitled to the returns.

    In 2020, the New York Times obtained leaked copies of 18 years of Mr Trump’s tax returns. In a series of articles on the topic, the newspaper reported that the president paid no federal taxes in 10 of those 18 years and only $750 (£615) in each of his first two years in the White House. It also disclosed that the then-president was in a fight with the Internal Revenue Service over the legitimacy of a $72.9m tax refund he had claimed and owed more than $400m in debt due by 2024.

    A representative of Mr Trump’s business empire denied the accuracy of the report at the time. Official copies of the former president’s tax returns, which are now expected to be released before Republicans take control of Congress on 3 January, should settle the matter.

    The vote comes one day after a Democratic-led congressional panel asked the US justice department prosecute the former president for insurrection and other criminal charges related to last year’s riot by his supporters at the Capitol in Washington DC.

     

     

  • Elon Musk to quit as Twitter CEO when a replacement is found

    Elon Musk has stated that he will step down as Twitter’s CEO once he finds someone “foolish enough to take the job.”

    Prior to this, the billionaire made a commitment to follow the outcome of a Twitter poll in which 57.5% of respondents favoured his leaving the position.

    He claims that even after a replacement is found, he will continue to lead the software and servers teams.

    The platform’s modifications since his takeover have drawn a lot of flak.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

    Since Mr Musk bought the social media site in October, he has fired about half of its staff and attempted a rollout of Twitter’s paid-for verification feature before putting it on pause. The feature was relaunched last week.

    Civil liberties groups have also criticised his approach to content moderation, accusing him of taking steps that will increase hate speech and misinformation.

    On Friday, Mr Musk was condemned by the United Nations and European Union over Twitter’s decision to suspend some journalists who cover the social media firm.

    The UN tweeted that media freedom was “not a toy”, while the EU threatened Twitter with sanctions.

    This is the first time the multibillionaire has responded to the poll launched on Sunday asking if he should resign. Finding someone to take over the social media platform may be a challenge, according to Mr Musk. Some people speculate Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey could also come back to run the company. He resigned as chief executive in November 2021.

    “No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive,” he tweeted following the poll.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

    Other names mentioned as possible replacements include Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s former chief operating office, Sriram Krishnan, engineer and close confidante to Mr Musk, and Jared Kushner, US former presidential adviser and son-in-law of Donald Trump.

    In the past Mr Musk has obeyed Twitter polls. He is fond of quoting the Latin phrase vox populi, vox dei which roughly means “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

    In response to a tweet saying Twitter Blue subscribers “should be the only ones that can vote in policy related polls. We actually have skin in the game”, Mr Musk said: “Good point, Twitter will make that change.”

    Twitter’s paid-for verification feature was rolled out for a second time last week after its launch was paused. The service costs $8 per month, or $11 for people using the Twitter app on Apple devices, and gives subscribers a “blue tick”.

    Previously a blue tick was used as a badge of authenticity and was free.

    For weeks, investors have called on Mr Musk to step down from running the social media platform, saying he has been distracted from properly running Tesla.

    Shares in the the electric car company have plummeted more than 65% over the past year.

    Mr Musk sold billions of dollars worth of Tesla shares to help fund his purchase, which helped to push the shares down.

    “Finally a good step in the right direction to end this painful nightmare situation for Tesla investors,” said Dan Ives from investment firm Wedbush Securities after Mr Musk’s tweet on Tuesday.

     

     

     

  • Peru protests :Stranded tourists stuck in Machu Picchu airlifted out

    Authorities in Peru have flown stranded tourists to the city of Cusco from the Inca mountaintop citadel of Machu Picchu.

    As protesters blocked roads and forced airports to close, thousands of tourists and Peruvians were trapped for days in various locations.

    After President Pedro Castillo was removed from office, a wave of protests swept across Peru.

    On whether to move up elections, Congress will vote later today.

    A month-long state of emergency remains in place but Peruvian authorities appear to have made some headway re-stablishing disrupted transport links.

    Officials in the South American country organised helicopters to evacuate tourists considered “vulnerable” from the ancient Inca citadel located at a height of 2,400m in the Andes.

    The ruins of the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu, Peru. September 2000.
    Image caption, Machu Picchu is one of the main draws for tourists visiting Peru

    Hundreds had been stuck there for almost a week after the train line which many tourists take to the 15th Century site was cut by protesters placing boulders on the track. Some tourists had to walk along parts of the track before the boulders could be cleared.

    On Monday, the airport in Peru’s second largest city, Arequipa, reopened. The transport minister said the airports in the cities of Juliaca and Ayacucho would follow suit on Tuesday, while that in Cusco, which is used by many tourists visiting Machu Picchu, had reopened on Friday.

    The airports had closed after supporters of impeached President Castillo stormed them.

    The protesters are demanding that Mr Castillo – who is being held in pre-trial detention as prosecutors investigate him for alleged rebellion – be freed.

    They also want a general election to be held as soon as possible.

    The current political crisis was triggered by Mr Castillo’s attempt on 7 December to dissolve Congress and introduce a state of emergency, before the legislative body could hold an impeachment vote.

    The move was denounced as an “attempted coup” by the head of the constitutional court and Mr Castillo was detained as he tried to make his way to the Mexican embassy in Lima to seek political asylum.

    In the protests which followed more than 20 people have been killed and more than 600 injured, according to Peru’s ombudsman.

    Protesters also blockaded the border with Bolivia.

    Dina Boluarte, Mr Castillo’s former vice-president who was sworn in after he was impeached, wants general elections to be brought forward to December 2023.

    Congress voted against the earlier date just a few days ago but is due to hold a fresh vote later on Tuesday.

     

  • Afghanistan: Taliban bans women from attending universities

    A letter from the higher education minister has noted that , the Taliban have announced that women’s universities in Afghanistan will close.

    The change, according to the minister, is temporary. Immediate implementation is anticipated.

    Given that they are already prohibited from attending secondary school, it further restricts women’s access to formal education.

    Numerous women and girls took entrance exams for universities across Afghanistan three months ago.

    But sweeping restrictions were imposed on the subjects they could study, with veterinary science, engineering, economics and agriculture off limits and journalism severely restricted.

    After the Taliban takeover last year, universities included gender segregated classrooms and entrances.

    Female students could only be taught by women professors or old men.

    In November, the authorities banned women from parks in the capital Kabul, claiming Islamic laws were not being followed there.

    Source: BBC.com 

     

     

     

     

  • California earthquake: Tens of thousands lose power following disaster

    Following the 6.4 magnitude earthquake off northern California, reports of downed power lines, gas leaks, and damaged roads were made.

    Tens of thousands have lost power as a result of an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 that struck off the coast of northern California.

    According to the United States Geological Survey, the earthquake struck Tuesday at 2:34am (10:00 GMT) about 24 miles off the coast of the port city of Eureka (USGS).
    Despite the USGS stating that there was a low likelihood of casualties, two injuries were reported.

    Meanwhile, the National Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami was not expected.

    Still, the earthquake cut power to more than 70,000 people in Humboldt County according to the outage tracker site, poweroutage.us.

    “Power is out across the county. Do not call 911 unless you are experiencing an immediate emergency,” the Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services tweeted.

    Local media reported the earthquake caused numerous gas leaks, downed powerlines and resulted in at least one structure fire in the city of Ferndale.

    Small rockslides were also reported and at least one roadway buckled during the quake, which was followed by dozens of small aftershocks.

    Humboldt County officials warned of reports of “widespread damages to roads and homes”, and urged residents to check gas and water lines for signs of leaks.

    Police in the city of Ferndale also moved to close a bridge that the California Highway Patrol reported had cracks following the quake, KRCR-TV reported.

    Caroline Titus, a resident of Ferndale, tweeted a video in her darkened home of toppled furniture and smashed dishes.

    “Our home is a 140-year-old Victorian. The north/south shaking is very evident in what fell,” she said.

    “That was a big one,” she added in a subsequent tweet.

    The earthquake followed a smaller magnitude 3.6 earthquake that struck about 402km (250 miles) near San Francisco on Saturday.

    California is regularly shaken by tremors and seismologists have warned an earthquake capable of causing widespread destruction is likely to hit the state in the next 30 years.

    A 6.7 magnitude earthquake in 1994 in Northridge, northwest of Los Angeles, left at least 60 people dead and caused an estimated $10bn in damage.

    A 6.9 magnitude quake in San Francisco in 1989 claimed the lives of 67 people.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Pakistan hostages: 33 terrorists slain at a Pakistan police station

    The defence minister  reported that Pakistani security forces killed all 33 hostage-takers as they retook a police station that had been captured.

    On Sunday, Islamist insurgents from the Pakistani Taliban took control of the centre in the isolated Bannu district of the northwest.

    There were several people inside at the time, including security personnel.

    All hostages were released, two special forces were killed, and between ten and fifteen military personnel were hurt, according to Khawaja Muhammad Asif, the defence minister.

    According to a statement quoted by local media, the TTP (also referred to as the Pakistani Taliban) acknowledged responsibility for the assault.

    The group stepped up its attacks after ending a ceasefire with the government last month. The two sides have been locked in conflict for years.

    The group emerged in 2007 and was suppressed by a military operation in 2014, before re-emerging.

    It is separate to the Afghan Taliban, though it has been more active since the Afghans agreed a peace deal with the US in 2020, and took control of the country last year. The two groups share a hard-line Islamist ideology.

    The hostage incident unfolded in a region near the two countries’ shared border.

    Explaining events, Mr Asif told parliament that the 33 militants had links to different groups, and were being held in a counter-terrorism compound.

    He said the hostages were taken after one militant hit a guard on the head with a brick and snatched his weapon.

    The militants are said to have requested a safe exit in return for releasing the hostages. A standoff emerged as negotiation efforts failed.

    Army commandoes are said to have taken the chance to take back the police station at 12:30 local time (07:30 GMT) after the hostage-takers found themselves arguing among themselves.

    Witnesses of the siege reported explosions and heavy gunfire.

    Mr Asif told parliament that “all the terrorists” had been killed, and all the hostages freed – without specifying what the latter number was.

    He blamed a “total collapse” of the provincial Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for the deadly incident.

    Nearby schools, businesses and roads remained closed on Tuesday, with police checkpoints in place.

    The incident came amid a wave of deadly attacks in Pakistan – many of these targeting the security forces.

    Four policemen were killed during a separate attack elsewhere in Bannu on Sunday.

     

     

  • Nigeria: Gay wedding raided by Islamic police in Kano city

    19 Muslims were detained by the Islamic police force in the largest city in northern Nigeria on suspicion of attending a same-sex marriage.

    According to the force’s spokesman Lawal Ibrahim Fagge, a tip-off led to the raid on the wedding in Kano.

    He added that the couple, who had not yet exchanged vows, had managed to escape and that police were looking for them.

    With a predominance of Muslims, Kano has both a secular legal system and an Islamic one.

    In Nigeria as a whole, where residents of the north are predominately Muslims and those of the south are predominately Christians, homosexual acts are prohibited by both legal systems.

    Kano’s Islamic police force is popularly known as the Hisbah and enforces a strict moral code.

    Mr Fagge told the BBC that the police force did not intend to punish the 15 male and four female wedding guests arrested during the raid on Sunday.

    Instead, the group – which he said included gay people and cross-dressers – was undergoing “counselling”, and their parents or guardians had been urged to come forward.

    “We’ll explore the avenue of change before we charge them in court. First we counsel them, and involve the parents and we hope they change their lifestyle,” the Hisbah spokesman said.

    Kano’s Islamic courts have never convicted anyone for being gay.

    Mr Fagge said that 18 people who attended a similar wedding ceremony last year had been released after signing a document that gave an “undertaking that they would change their lifestyle”.

    Rights groups in Nigeria have long campaigned for gay rights to be respected, but there is strong opposition to it in a country where many Muslims and Christians uphold conservative religious values.

     

     

  • Elon Musk: Only blue tick users allowed to vote in policy polls on Twitter

    After a majority of users voted for him to resign, Elon Musk declared that Twitter will only permit accounts with a blue tick to vote on changes to policy.

    In a poll that Mr. Musk posted on Twitter, asking if he should step down as CEO, 57.5% of respondents said “yes.”

    He hasn’t addressed the poll’s outcome directly since that time.

    But he has stated that Twitter will change its rules so that only subscribers will be able to vote on corporate policy.

    One user claimed that so-called bots appeared to have voted heavily in the poll about Mr Musk’s role at the firm. Mr Musk said he found the claim “interesting”.

    The billionaire had said when he ran the poll that he would abide by the result. If he does quit as chief executive, he will remain as Twitter’s owner.

    Bruce Daisley, former vice president of Twitter, compared any potential change to that of a football manager. “The chairman still remains and Elon Musk is going to be that ever-present voice in the back of the room,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.

    Elon Musk replying to Tweet

    In response to a tweet saying Twitter Blue subscribers “should be the only ones that can vote in policy related polls. We actually have skin in the game”, Mr Musk said: “Good point, Twitter will make that change”.

    Twitter’s paid-for verification feature was rolled out for a second time last week after its launch was paused. The service costs $8 per month, or $11 for people using the Twitter app on Apple devices, and gives subscribers a “blue tick”.

    Previously a blue tick was used as verification tool for high-profile accounts as a badge of authenticity and was free.

    On Monday, Mr Musk held a poll on his future as chief executive. More than 17.5 million users voted and the majority backed him stepping down.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

    While the poll was running he replied to one user suggesting there was no replacement chief executive lined up, saying: “No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor.”

    The technology tycoon, who also runs electric car maker Tesla and space rocket firm Space X, has faced much criticism since taking over the site.

    He has obeyed the results of his Twitter polls in the past and quoted the phrase “vox populi, vox dei”, a Latin phrase which roughly means “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.

    Mr Musk bought Twitter for $44bn (£36bn) in October after attempting to back out of the deal.

    Since taking control, he has been criticised for his approach to content moderation, with some civil liberties groups accusing him of taking steps that will increase hate speech and misinformation.

    On Friday, he was condemned by the United Nations and European Union over Twitter’s decision to suspend some journalists who cover the social media firm. He has also fired about half of Twitter’s staff.

    Mr Daisley said through Mr Musk’s activity, you could “get a hint” over what he was thinking through his replies to users.

    “He does seem to be quibbling with the vote,” he added.

    Mr Musk has also been accused of neglecting his electric car company Tesla, which is where most of his wealth is. Tesla shares have lost more than 60% in value this year, with some saying his obsession with Twitter is destroying the brand.

    Last week, Leo KoGuan, the third largest individual shareholder in Tesla, called for Mr Musk to step down as the boss of the electric car maker.

    “Elon abandoned Tesla and Tesla has no working CEO. Tesla needs and deserves to have [a] working full time CEO,” he tweeted.

     

  • Kerala: Indian woman receives $54,000 in donations after asking for $5

    On social media, an Indian woman who needed assistance feeding her kids received millions of rupees in donations from complete strangers.

    After her husband passed away, Subhadra, 46, a resident of the southern state of Kerala, had asked her son’s teacher for 500 rupees ($6; £5) to buy food.

    The teacher launched a crowdfunding campaign on social media after being moved by her condition.

    The family had 5.5 million rupees in donations by Sunday.

    Subhadra, who goes by one name, had been having financial difficulties ever since her husband passed away in August.

    Because the youngest of her three sons has cerebral palsy and needs constant care, she was unable to look for work.

    She couldn’t look for a job as the youngest of her three sons has cerebral palsy and requires constant care.

    On Friday, she reached out to Girija Harikumar, a teacher at the local school where her middle child studies, for help as her children had nothing to eat.

    Ms Harikumar, a Hindi language teacher, told the BBC that she had asked the student, Abhishek, to tell her if his family was facing problems after his father’s death. This was the first time the boy or his mother had asked for help.

    “I gave her 1,000 rupees and told her I will do something,” Ms Harikumar says.

    She then visited the family and saw that they were living in grinding poverty.

    “There was just a handful of grains in the kitchen and the children had nothing to eat,” Ms Harikumar says.

    “I thought there was no point giving Subhadra small amounts of money now and then as it would be totally inadequate for the family,” she adds.

    On Friday evening, Ms Harikumar wrote a post on Facebook about the family’s plight and asked people to help by sending any money they could afford. She also shared Subhadra’s bank account details in the post, so that the money could be directly transferred to her.

    The post went viral and by Monday, Subhadra has received 5.5m rupees from kind strangers.

    Some of the money will be used to finish a house that Subhadra’s husband began building before he died. The rest will be deposited in the bank for their expenses.

    The fund-raising appeal has now been closed.

     

     

  • King Charles banknotes unveiled in UK

    The Bank of England has unveiled the new design for banknotes that feature the image of King Charles.

    The only change to the current designs of the £5, £10, £20, and £50 notes will be the portrait, which will go into circulation in the middle of 2024.

    The King’s portrait will appear on new notes on the front and in the transparent security window.

    After the new notes start to circulate, old notes will still be accepted in stores.

    Beginning in 1960, Queen Elizabeth was the first and only monarch to be depicted on circulating Bank of England banknotes. The monarch is not shown on the notes that Scottish and Northern Irish banks have issued.

    There are about 4.5 billion individual Bank of England notes worth about £80bn in circulation at present.

    First pictures of King Charles banknotes revealed
    The King’s cypher will also appear on the notes

    The Bank of England said that, following guidance from the Royal household, the new notes would only be printed to replace worn notes or to meet increased demand, in order to minimise the environmental and financial impact of the change.

    Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, said he was “proud” of a “significant moment” with the new design.

    Fifty pence coins bearing the image of King Charles III have already entered circulation via post offices across the country.

    An estimated 4.9 million of the new coins are being distributed to post offices – about half of the total number earmarked for circulation – to be given in change to customers.

    First pictures of King Charles banknotes revealed
    The new King Charles 50p coins have already entered circulation

    Coins carrying the image of the late Queen will still be accepted in shops, in the same way as banknotes.

    For anyone taking part in a family Christmas quiz this year, it is worth remembering that, in ascending order, the reverse side of current polymer Bank of England banknotes feature Sir Winston Churchill, Jane Austen, JMW Turner and Alan Turing.

    Cash use has become far less frequent when compared to debit cards, owing primarily to the use of contactless payments and then accelerated by the Covid pandemic. The buying power of specific coins and banknotes have also been diluted by rising prices.

    However, there is still keen interest from consumers and collectors about the images used on cash.

    Collectors will be particularly excited to get their hands on the lowest serial numbers of the new King Charles banknotes when they appear.

    Source: BBC.com 

     

     

  • Debt exchange programme: Government must be quick about labour strike, expert says

    Labour expert, YB Amponsah says, the government’s prompt action will help prevent the unions from completely shutting down the public service.

    Y B Amponsah, a labour expert, has urged the government to act quickly to allay labour unions’ worries following their reservations about the debt exchange programme.

    In keeping with the government’s efforts to restructure debt and restart the economy, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta introduced the debt exchange programme on Monday, December 5.

    Amponsah said the government’s timely intervention will help avert a total shut down of the public service by the unions.

    At least seven labour unions – Teachers and Education Workers’ Union (TEWU), Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Ghana Chamber of Commerce and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) – have raised red flags over the programme.

    In a media engagement, Amponsah said the government has been too slow in addressing the issue.

    “Is it too difficult for the government to call organised labour for a discussion? You have to engage them because that’s how you handle industrial relations.

    “If this matter was handled early, I’m sure there would’ve been some consensus by now,” he said. “This is a negotiable matter. The government is saying A, you want B so it’s a matter of discussion.”

    “If I was leading the negotiation, I’ll ask them (organised labour) to push their strike further down so you get some room for negotiation,” Amponsah added.

    Strike 

    Organised labour has declared an indefinite strike effective 27 December to force the government to exempt pension funds from the planned debt exchange programme.

    The Secretary General of TUC, Dr Yaw Baah, announced the industrial action at a press conference in Accra.

    “We have decided firmly that because the government has refused to grant us our request that all pension funds must be exempted from the domestic debt exchange programme, all workers of Ghana are going to strike on 27 December 2022. We will be on strike until our demand has been granted,” Baah said.

    “What it means is that all workers of Ghana should stay at home starting from 27 December. We will stay at home until the government acts. That is straight forward and very simple. We won’t sit down for the vulnerable people to suffer because somebody has made mistakes. We are going to be in our red dresses until we hear from the government,” he added.

    Extension of debt exchange programme

    Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance has extended the deadline for the domestic debt exchange programme from 19 to 30 December, an official statement has said.

    A statement issued by the Ministry of Finance on Friday (16 December), said the extension will afford the government the opportunity to consider suggestions made by all stakeholders with the aim of adjusting certain measures acceptable within the constraints of the Debt Sustainability Analysis.

    “Considering these developments, and taking cognisance of the festive season, we have decided to extend the expiration date of the voluntary offer to Friday 30 December 2022, with a contemplated settlement date on Friday 6 January 2023,” the statement said.

    “This extension comes on the heels of the announcement of a Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) with the IMF on 13 December 2022,” the statement added.

     

     

     

  • Save yourself the embarrassment, WhatsApp allows you undo ‘Delete for Me’

    WhatsApp has introduced a feature that allows you to undo the “Delete for Me” action to avoid being embarrassed about accidentally deleting a message that you intended to delete for everyone on the app.

    The new “accidental delete” feature introduces a five-second window that enables users to reverse the action of deleting messages for themselves in an individual or group chat and delete them for everyone.

    When deleting an incorrectly sent message, users may inadvertently tap the “Delete for Me” button rather than the “Delete for Everyone” button.

    WhatsApp lets you undo ‘Delete for Me’ in case you hit that button too quickly

    The new feature aims to help users overcome those situations by getting the small window to reverse their original action.

    WhatsApp said its new offering would be available to all users on Android and iPhone. It was beta tested with some Android and iOS users in August, per a report by WhatsApp features tracker WABetaInfo.

    In 2017, WhatsApp introduced the “Delete for Everyone” option to let users recall a message for all people in a conversation.

    The feature was designed to address the issue of sending messages mistakenly in individual and group chats.

    Although the initial rollout of the option was limited to seven minutes, WhatsApp eventually extended that time limit to up to two days and 12 hours — or 60 hours — in August this year.

    Source: Myjoyonline.com 

     

     

     

  • Ghana Responsible Gold Mining Summit: Manhyia Palace to host in April 2023

    The Summit is scheduled to take place at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region, on Tuesday, April 7, and Wednesday, April 8, 2023.

    His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene, is making efforts to guarantee that gold purchased from Ghana is mined and traded ethically.

    To ensure that gold obtained from Ghana’s small-scale mining sector is responsibly mined and traded in accordance with international standards and best practises, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has committed to establishing the “Ghana Responsible Gold Mining Summit.”

    His Majesty has demonstrated immense commitment to the eradication of illegal mining and promoting responsible mining, and at the Summit, he will work with stakeholders to ensure that interventions to halt environmental degradation are coordinated and fully supported.

    The Summit is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 7 and Wednesday 8 April, 2023 at the Manhyia Palace, Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, to precede the 24th Coronation Anniversary of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

    The Summit will be led by the Africa Responsible Mining in collaboration with E ON 3 Group and Ansong Askew Ltd. The event is supported by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and its agencies, as well as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

    Other stakeholders, including international market makers, will also provide some collaboration.

    Outputs

    Outputs from the Ghana Responsible Gold Mining Summit will focus on aligning Ghana’s small-scale mining sector with the expectations of international markets.

    This will include measures to increase transparency and accountability in the sector in line with international standards of responsible sourcing.

    Otumfuo’s commitment

    Otumfuo Osei Tutu II will work with the government of Ghana, traditional leaders, political leaders, and international stakeholders to ensure that gold sourced from the country is responsibly mined and traded.

    His Majesty is committed to building confidence in the international community about transparency and accountability in Ghana’s small-scale mining sector.

    The Asantehene’s quest for environmental protection and his abhorrence of illegal mining has been phenomenal. At various fora, he had minced no words about the need for Ghana to turn to responsible mining.

    At a Regional Consultative Dialogue on Small Scale Mining, in Kumasi in May 2021, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II threatened to sanction chiefs within his jurisdiction who engage or assist in illegal mining activities.

    Also addressing the Ashanti Regional House of Chiefs in Kumasi on October 14, 2022, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, called out his sub-chiefs for not taking up the fight against illegal mining but rather, accepting monies from illegal miners thereby, making it difficult for their part to make any meaningful contribution to the fight against illegal mining.

    Again, in October 2022, when the US Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia Palmer, called on His Majesty at the Manhyia Palace, he touched on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s promise of putting his presidency on the line during the height of the war against the illegal mining menace and wondered why the President had even put his presidency on the line, and yet illegal mining was going on.

    And at the last meeting of the Ashanti Regional House of Chiefs for the year 2022, held in Kumasi on December 14, His Majesty re-emphasized his quest to root out illegal mining from his domain, and went head to state that, his office will from next year (2023), summon chiefs whose lands have been destroyed by illegal mining, for questioning.

    He warned that any chief who is unable to provide valid reasons would be sanctioned so that they will learn a lesson and protect their lands from illegal mining.

    Source: Asaaseradio.com 

     

     

  • Fortnite resolves allegations of child privacy and trickery

    The developer of the well-known video game Fortnite has agreed to pay $520 million (£427 million) to settle US regulators‘ charges that the game violated user privacy laws and deceived players into making purchases.

    According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the company tricked players with “deceptive interfaces” that could prompt purchases even as the game was loading.

    Furthermore, it was charged with employing “privacy-invasive” default settings.

    Epic Games blamed “past designs”.

    “No developer creates a game with the intention of ending up here,” the company said. “We accepted this agreement because we want Epic to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players.”

    Fortnite, a battle royale game that became a global sensation after its launch in 2017, has more than 400 million players around the world. The game is generally free to download, but makes money from in-game purchases of items such as costumes and dance moves.

    The FTC said that the game, which matches strangers around the world for interactive battles, was aimed at children and teens, but despite that, its developers failed to comply with rules regarding parental consent – even after making changes to address internal and public concerns.

    “As our complaints note, Epic used privacy-invasive default settings and deceptive interfaces that tricked Fortnite users, including teenagers and children,” said FTC chair Lina Khan.

    “Protecting the public, and especially children, from online privacy invasions and dark patterns is a top priority for the commission, and these enforcement actions make clear to businesses that the FTC is cracking down on these unlawful practices.”

    The FTC said Epic would pay $275m – a record penalty for the consumer watchdog – to resolve the claims it collected child and teen data without parental consent, and exposed children and teens to bullying and harassment by turning on voice and text communications by default.

    Epic Games agreed to change its privacy settings for teens and children, and have chat communications turned off by default.

    The company will also pay a record $245m, to be used for refunds to customers, to settle a separate complaint about deceptive billing practices.

    The FTC cited a “counterintuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configuration” that led to hundreds of millions of dollars in unauthorised purchases.

    It said the firm had resisted changing its design to add a separate confirmation step, worried that doing so “would add ‘friction’, ‘result in a decent number of people second guessing their purchase’, and reduce the number of ‘impulse purchases’”, according to the complaint.

    It said the company locked accounts of customers who disputed charges and “purposefully obscured cancel and refund features to make them more difficult to find”.

    Epic said it had been making changes and the practices detailed in the FTC’s complaints were “not how Fortnite operates”.

    “The laws have not changed, but their application has evolved and long-standing industry practices are no longer enough,” the company said, adding that it hoped to offer a model for the rest of the industry.

    The developer of the well-known video game Fortnite has agreed to pay $520 million (£427 million) to settle US regulators’ charges that the game.

    Source: BBC.com 

     

     

     

  • Suspected thief electrocuted to death after escaping from a store’s roof in Fadama

    A man believed to be a thief has reportedly been electrocuted to death in Fadama, a suburb of the Okaikoi South District of the Greater Accra Region.

    A viral video shared by Okay FM showed the lifeless body of a man mysteriously hanging over the roof of a container shop.

    The store the man was hanging over was closed which left many of the onlookers amazed at how he managed to get to the top of the container.

    The man, who appeared to be only in boxer shorts, was having an item in his hand.

    Some of the people around could be heard saying that the man was a thief who was trying to rob the store.

    Others were also heard crying. It is not clear whether they are related to the alleged thief.

    The residents did not go close to the alleged thief, probably waiting on the Ghana Police Service to come for his mortal remains.

    The police have, however, not commented on the incident.

     

  • Stay away from ‘risky activity during ambulance strikes, says minister

    A health minister has advised citizens to stay away from “risky activity” on Wednesday, when ambulance workers are scheduled to go on strike.

    Those in need of immediate assistance should continue to dial 999, but Will Quince warned that there would inevitably be service disruptions.

    To cover the walkouts in England and Wales, about 750 members of the armed forces are being called up.

    Ambulances should still answer the most urgent calls, according to Mr. Quince.

    Speaking on BBC Breakfast, he claimed that ministers wanted cardiac arrests and strokes, among other category 1 and 2 events, to be covered.

    Health Secretary Stephen Barclay will meet unions later to discuss staffing levels during the strikes.

    Mr Quince said the military staff drafted in for Wednesday would provide “support capacity” for individual NHS trusts.

    He added that they would not be able to drive ambulances under blue lights, go through red lights or break the speed limit – but would help ambulance staff to get people to A&E more quickly.

    Health chiefs have warned of “extensive disruption,” and urged hospitals to free up beds by safely discharging patients ahead of industrial action.

    Measures should also be put in place to make sure ambulance patient handovers are kept to no more than 15 minutes, they advise.

    Mr Quince said the government expected category 1 and 2 calls to be responded to. As well as cardiac arrests and strokes, these categories also include heart attacks, serious burns, and compound fractures, he said.

    Taxi bookings

    He added that for less serious categories, NHS trusts would be block-booking taxis to take people to hospital, and “encouraging people wherever possible” to find treatment by making journeys themselves.

    “There will be disruption to service. It is important that where people are planning any risky activity, I would strongly encourage them not to do so,” he added.

    Decisions on staffing are being taken on a local basis, meaning there will be potential variation in service by region.

    Wednesday’s action will involve members of the Unison, GMB and Unite unions. GMB members are also due to on strike again on 28 December.

    Unions representing NHS staff in England and Wales are pus

    hing for higher pay after being offered a below-inflation average 4.7% rises this year.

    Unison has said troops are “no substitute for trained ambulance staff” – and a rethink on NHS wages from the government could have averted action.

    The strike will follow strikes from nurses on Tuesday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, who are taking their second day of action this month over pay.

    Source: BBC.com 

     

  • Russia-Ukraine war: Zelensky visits frontline city of Bakhmut

     President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky ,has paid an unannounced visit to Bakhmut, a city on the front lines where Ukrainian and Russian forces have been engaged in a bloody, months-long battle.

    According to the presidency, he met with soldiers and presented awards to soldiers.

    Bakhmut, which has sustained severe damage, has been a major target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region for months.

    The advance has been halted by Ukrainian forces, though.

    Presidential spokesman Serhiy Nikiforov said Mr Zelensky had already left the city.

    Bakhmut has been a focus of the Russian campaign for months and Moscow has thrown huge resources into capturing it.

    It would open the way to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the most important cities in the Donbas region still under Ukrainian control.

    Hanna Malyar with troops
    IMAGE SOURCE,UKRAINIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY Image caption, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar also visited Bakhmut

    Few civilians are now left in the city, which had a population of 70,000 before the war.

    Today is the 300th day since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar, who also visited Bakhmut, wrote on Facebook: “What are 300 days in our more than 300-year struggle for liberation from Russia!

    “We’re standing. We’re fighting. We’re going to win!”

    Source: BBC.com 

     

  • 44-year-old Dagenham woman accused of murdering two young boys

    Two young boys who were discovered dead at a residence in east London have been charged with murder in relation to a 44-year-old woman.

    The bodies of two and five-year-old boys were discovered at a home in Cornwallis Road, Dagenham, on Friday. Kara Alexander, a resident of Dagenham, is charged with their murders.

    She will make an appearance later at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court.

    The Metropolitan Police stated that formal identification and post-mortem investigations will happen “in due course.”

    Family members have been informed of the deaths and continue to be supported by specialist officers, the force said in a statement.

    A man was also arrested but later released.

    Source: BBC.com 

     

     

     

     

  • Nazi typist: Irmgard Furchner found guilty of complicity in the murder of 10,500 people

    More than 10,505 people were killed, and a former secretary who worked for the head of a Nazi concentration camp has been found guilty of complicity.

    Irmgard Furchner, now 97, worked at Stutthof as a teenage typist from 1943 to 1945.

    Furchner, one of the few women to face Nazi-related charges in decades, received a two-year sentence with a suspended sentence.

    Despite the fact that she was a civilian employee, the judge found that she was fully informed of all activities at the camp.

    According to estimates, 65,000 people—including Jewish prisoners, non-Jewish Poles, and captured Soviet soldiers—died at Stutthof in appalling conditions.

    The court at Itzenhoe in northern Germany heard from survivors of the camp, some of whom have died during the trial.

    When the trial began in September 2021, Irmgard Furchner went on the run from her retirement home and was eventually found by police on a street in Hamburg.

    Stutthof commandant Paul-Werner Hoppe was jailed in 1955 for being an accessory to murder and he was released five years later.

    A series of prosecutions have taken place in Germany since 2011, after the conviction of former Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk set the precedent that being a guard was sufficient evidence to prove complicity.

    That ruling also meant that civilian worker Furchner could stand trial, as she worked directly to the camp commander, dealing with correspondence surrounding Stutthof detainees.

    It took 40 days for her to break her silence in the trial, when she told the court “I’m sorry about everything that happened”.

    As she was under 21 at the time, the trial took place in a special juvenile court. “I regret that I was in Stutthof at the time – that’s all I can say,” she said.

    Her defence lawyers argued she should be acquitted because of doubts surrounding what she knew, as she was one of several typists in Hoppe’s office.

    However, historian Stefan Hördler played a key role in the trial, accompanying two judges on a visit to the site of the camp. It became clear from the visit that Furchner was able to see some of the worst conditions at the camp from the commandant’s office.

    The historian told the trial that 27 transports carrying 48,000 people arrived at Stutthof between June and October 1944, after the Nazis decided to expand the camp and speed up mass murder with the use of Zyklon B gas.

    Mr Hördler described Hoppe’s office as the “nerve centre” for everything that went on at Stutthof.

    Nazi crime cases since 2011

    • John Demjanjuk – jailed in 2011 for five years for his part in the murder of more than 28,000 Jews at the Sobibor death camp but released pending an appeal and died the following year aged 91
    • Oskar Gröning – the “Bookkeeper of Auschwitz”, sentenced in 2015 as an accessory to the murder of 300,000 Jews. He never went to jail, dying in 2018 aged 96 during the appeals process
    • Reinhold Hanning – former SS guard at Auschwitz convicted of helping to commit mass murder in June 2016 but died a year later aged 95 with appeals still pending
    • Friedrich Karl Berger – former guard at the Neuengamme concentration camp, deported to Germany from the US in February 2021 aged 95. German prosecutors dropped charges against him and his current fate is unknown
    • Josef S – jailed for five years in June 2022 for assisting in the murder of more than 3,500 prisoners in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Aged 101, he is the oldest person to be convicted for Nazi-era war crimes in Germany, but because of age and ill health is unlikely to spend any time in prison

    Furchner’s trial could be the last to take place in Germany into Nazi-era crimes, although a few cases are still being investigated.

    Two other cases have gone to court in recent years for Nazi crimes committed at Stutthof.

    Last year a former camp guard was declared unfit for trial even though the court said there was a “high degree of probability” he was guilty of complicity.

    In 2020, another SS camp guard, Bruno Dey, was given a two-year suspected jail term for complicity in the murder of more than 5,000 prisoners.

    Source: BBC.com 

     

  • Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX, agrees to be extradited

    The CEO of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has consented to extradition to the US to face charges, according to information obtained by the BBC.

    The 30-year-old, who resides in the Bahamas, is charged with committing “one of the largest financial frauds in US history,” according to US authorities.

    The BBC was informed by a source close to Mr. Bankman-Fried, who denies the accusations, that he had consented to be extradited.

    Many people are unable to withdraw money because FTX filed for bankruptcy.

    FTX owed its 50 largest creditors nearly $3.1 billion (£2.5 billion), per a court document.

    It is not clear when Mr Bankman-Fried will be extradited to the US, following his arrest on 12 December.

    Among the most serious allegations against him is that he used billions of dollars of customer funds to prop up his investment trading company Alameda.

    Last week, Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Mr Bankman-Fried was accused one of the largest frauds in US history.

    The FTX founder was also accused of using “tens of millions” in ill-gotten gains for illegal campaign contributions to Democrats and Republicans alike, Mr Williams said.

    The Securities and Exchange Commission said the man who was formerly nicknamed the “King Of Crypto” had built a “house of cards on a foundation of deception”.

    However, Mr Bankman-Fried has sought to distance himself from accusations of illegal activity and in a BBC News interview before his arrest said: “I didn’t knowingly commit fraud. I don’t think I committed fraud. I didn’t want any of this to happen. I was certainly not nearly as competent as I thought I was.”

    Mr Bankman-Fried has also denied allegations he must have been aware that Alameda Research was using FTX customer funds.

    The FTX exchange allowed customers to trade normal money for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

    Cryptocurrencies are not traditional currencies, but are stored online and act more like investment vehicles or securities – often with a high degree of volatility.

    FTX had an estimated 1.2 million registered users who were using the exchange, but many have been left wondering if they will ever get back their cash trapped in FTX’s digital wallets.

    Mr Bankman-Fried was once viewed as a young version of legendary US investor Warren Buffett, and as recently as late October had a net worth estimated at more than $15bn.

    Source: BBC.com

     

  • ‘Wrong and dangerous’ : North Korea blasts Japan’s military buildup, says it would take action

    The foreign ministry of North Korea calls Japan’s new $320 billion security strategy “wrong and dangerous” and vows to respond.

    Japan’s planned military buildup has been denounced by North Korea, which also promised to take action against Tokyo for making the “wrong and dangerous choice” to expand its defence industry.

    The statement on Tuesday from North Korea’s foreign ministry comes just days after Japan unveiled a new $320bn security strategy that outlined plans for Japan’s military to mount “counter-strike capabilities”, and to respond to the threats posed by China, Russia and North Korea.

    Japan’s sweeping, five-year military strategy will see the country become the world’s third-largest military spender after the United States and China.

    Japan’s new security strategy effectively formalises a “new aggression policy” and fundamentally changes East Asia’s security environment, a spokesperson for Pyongyang’s foreign ministry said in a report published by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

    In response to Japan’s move to “realise unjust and excessive ambition”, North Korea “will continue to show how concerned and displeased we are with practical action,” the spokesperson said.

    They also blasted the US for “exalting and instigating Japan’s rearmament and re-invasion plan,” adding that Washington had no right to raise issue with Pyongyang’s efforts to bolster its own defences.

    North Korea’s efforts to upgrade military capabilities have included a record number of ballistic missile launches this year, including missiles capable of carrying nuclear payloads and with varying ranges that could reach the US mainland and allies South Korea and Japan.

    On Sunday, North Korea fired two projectiles that it said were were tests of its first military reconnaissance satellite and released low-resolution, black-and-white photos that showed a view from space of the South Korean capital, Seoul, and the nearby city of Incheon.

     

    Some analysts in South Korea said the images were too crude to be satellite photos, while the South Korean military maintained that Sunday’s launches were of two medium-range ballistic missiles.

    North Korea hit back at that criticism on Tuesday, with Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying it was “inappropriate and hasty” to assess her country’s satellite capabilities from those two photos alone.

    Pyongyang’s efforts to develop a spy satellite were a “pressing priority directly linked to our security,” she said in a statement carried by the KCNA, adding that additional sanctions on her country would not stop such technological developments.

    She went on to dismiss the South Korean government’s assessment that North Korea still has key remaining technological hurdles to overcome for functioning intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that can reach the US mainland – such as the ability to protect its warheads from the harsh conditions of atmospheric re-entry.

    She questioned how North Korea could have received data from warheads until they landed at targeted areas in the ocean in previous launches if the country truly lacked re-entry technology.

    “I think it’s better for them to stop talking nonsense, behave carefully and think twice,” she said.

    Kim Yo Jong also suggested North Korea might fire an ICBM at a normal trajectory instead of the lofted and steep angles that it currently uses to avoid neighbouring countries.

    A full range ICBM test could be considered as a much bigger provocation to the US as the weapon would fly toward the Pacific Ocean.

    “I can clear up their doubt about it,” she said.

    “They will immediately recognise it in case we launch an ICBM in the way of real angle firing straight off.”

     

    Source: Aljazeera.com 

     

     

  • Poachers now on a hippos giant teeth hunt in place of ivory

    Wildlife activists are warning that tighter controls on the trade in ivory have increased the demand for hippopotamus teeth, which could have negative consequences for a species that is already considered “vulnerable to extinction.”

    An animal welfare organisation looked into what transpired in three popular online marketplaces after the UK announced a nearly complete ban on the trade in elephant ivory in June of last year.

    “We found the increase in hippo ivory trade in the UK within a month after the near total-ban of elephant ivory was introduced,” says Frankie Osuch, lead author of a report released by Born Free in September.

    This was “deeply concerning evidence of increased demand for ivory from hippos, whose numbers in the wild are under threat” the report said.

    Researchers say this pattern was clear as far back as 1989, when a worldwide ban on trade in ivory was first agreed, and has only intensified as governments have brought in new measures to tighten the ban.

    Like ivory, hippo teeth and tusks are often used for decorative carvings, but they are cheaper and easier to obtain.

    Hippo body parts can still be traded under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), though all international sales require an export permit.

    It’s been calculated that between 1975, when CITES records began, and 2017, 770,000kg of hippo teeth were legally traded. But there is also an illegal trade.

    In 2020 hippo teeth were among the mammal body parts most often seized in the EU, according to a European Commission report.

    “There are increasing cases of sniffer dogs detecting hippo teeth at different airports in Africa these days, and the detection does not mean all of them are caught, perhaps only half of them are,” says Philip Muruthy, vice-president of the Africa Wildlife Foundation.

    A study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2016 estimated that the worldwide population of the common hippo was between 115,000 and 130,000 – a drop of 30% since 1994.

    Ten countries in West and Central Africa say there has continued to be a sharp decline in numbers, due to poaching and land degradation.

    They proposed a complete ban on trade in the run-up to a CITES meeting in Panama last month, but this would only have been possible under CITES rules if there had been more than 50% drop in the population in the last 10 years, and an IUCN analysis did not support this conclusion.

    The 10 West and Central African countries then suggested a move called “annotation” that would have resulted in a zero-quota for wild specimens traded for commercial purposes. But this proposal was not supported by the EU or by East and South African countries, who say hippo populations remain at a healthy level.

    Some of the East and South African countries – Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe – are also the source of three-quarters of the estimated 13,909 hippos whose parts and products were traded between 2009 and 2018.

    An ivory salesman in Goma, D R Congo, with carvings made of elephant and hippo ivory in 2006
    IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Hippo tusks are used like elephant ivory for carved decorations

    Joanna Swabe, senior director of public affairs with Humane Society International, points out that little work has been done since 2016 to establish hippo numbers.

    “There has been very little scientific research on the actual population of hippos in all of these range countries,” she says. “While at the same time, range countries know what is going on with their hippos within their territories, so they should not be ignored.”

    Hippos have a low birth rate, producing only one offspring every other year, so a reduction in population size can have a long-term impact.

    Hippo facts

    • All hippos live in Africa – there are two types, the common hippo (population estimated at 115,000 to 130,000 in 2016) and the pygmy hippo (2,000-3,000)
    • The common hippo was classified as “vulnerable to extinction” on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list in 2016
    • The parts and products of an estimated 13,909 hippos were legally traded between 2009 and 2018 – three-quarters of them originated in Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe
    • 770,000kg of hippo teeth were legally traded between 1975 and 2017 – the size of the illegal trade is unknown

    Wildlife experts also say that the legal and illegal trade in hippo teeth needs to be closely monitored.

    The common hippo is listed in Appendix II of CITES meaning that it could be threatened with extinction unless trade is closely controlled.

    The 10 countries seeking a worldwide ban on trade note argue that there is strong evidence of the “co-mingling of legal and illegal hippo ivory”, suggesting that poached ivory is “laundered into the legal market”.

    Without stronger controls, campaigners warn, hippos may share the fate of elephants, which have become endangered – or critically endangered in the case of the African forest elephant – because so many were killed by poachers for their tusks.

     

     

  • Nigeria election: Campaign chief Doyin Okupe convicted of money laundering

    A prominent presidential candidate named Peter Obi’s campaign manager was found guilty of money laundering by a Nigerian High Court in the nation’s capital, Abuja.

    Doyin Okupe was found guilty of receiving more than $400,000 (£330,000) from a person without following the proper procedures in addition to other charges.

    The presidential campaign of Mr. Obi is likely to suffer a serious setback as a result.

    He has positioned himself as a departure from prior leaders and corrupted parties.

    Just two months remain until the elections. Okupe, a crucial ally and the director-general of Mr. Obi’s campaign organisation.

    Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, had charged Okupe in 2019 for money laundering and diversion of funds.

    This was before he began working for Mr Obi. He was accused of accepting money in 2015 in excess of the amount that is allowed without having to declare it to the authorities.

    Delivering the judgement on Monday, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu said that Okupe had violated the Money Laundering Act, and sentenced him to two years in prison – though there is the option to pay a fine.

    Neither Okupe’s lawyers nor the Obi campaign have yet reacted to the judgement.

    Mr Obi is running without the backing of either of Nigeria’s two main political parties but he has cultivated a lot of support among young people.

    Mr Obi is among a field of 18 candidates, including Bola Tinubu of the governing APC and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP – the country’s two main political parties.

    Source: NewsCentral.com 

     

     

  • Christmas in Russia: Ice soldiers mark Russia’s very patriotic Christmas

    On the main square of the Siberian city of Chita, a dozen Russian soldiers armed with Kalashnikovs stand motionless.

    When you factor in the wind chill, it’s -33 degrees Celsius. I’m wrapped in several layers of clothing, but I can feel my face freezing.

    People walking by stop and stare at the servicemen. Some of them take selfies.

    There’s a reason why the soldiers aren’t moving an inch. They’re made of ice.
    Chita is located 3,000 miles (4,830 kilometres) east of Moscow. The local government decided that militarised ice sculptures would be an appropriate decoration for this holiday season, encouraging a patriotic new year.
    The majority of people I talk to on the square agree.

    “We’re fighting a war,” Tatyana says, “so it’s right to have these ice soldiers here. They’re topical.”

    “It’s an unusual way of celebrating the New Year,” Ludmila tells me. “Normally you’d have Santa Claus, bunny rabbits or squirrels. But it’s a sign of the times.”

    Ludmila
    Image caption, Ludmila supports the Russian invasion of Ukraine – though she worries about friends who have been sent to fight

    Ludmila admits she’s worried by what’s happening in Ukraine.

    “We’ve got friends who’ve been mobilised and sent to fight there. We worry about them. We call to see if they’re OK. But whatever we may think of our government, our motherland is our motherland. If we don’t defend it, who will?”

    “Defend it from what? From whom?” I ask Ludmila. After all, on 24 February it was Russia that launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Not the other way around.

    “Defend it from Nazis. There are a lot of them around,” Ludmila replies. “Russia’s being attacked on all fronts, including with LGBT propaganda. They’re trying to force this upon us. We reject these alien ideas. We embrace Russian values. It’s hard for me to explain this in words. I just feel it.”

    Russians never used to say these kinds of things to me on the street. They never talked about feeling threatened by “Nazis” in Ukraine, or about the need to fight for so-called “Russian values”. It’s one of the biggest changes I’ve noticed here this year.

    Having established total control of the media landscape in Russia, Kremlin propaganda has managed to convince many Russians that their country is now in some existential battle with the West. In conversations here now, I often hear people repeat – almost word for word – the anti-Ukrainian and anti-Western rhetoric they hear on Russian TV channels.

    You might think that people in Chita would have more pressing concerns than repelling the onslaught of “Western values”. Despite Siberia enjoying huge gas reserves, the city of Chita has still not been connected to Russia’s domestic gas network. From the hills above the city you can see clouds of smoke rising from coal-fired power stations and from the myriad of wooden houses that are still heated by firewood.

    Ice sculpture of a soldier in Siberia
    Image caption, The ice sculpture soldiers stand throughout the centre of Chita

    This winter, comfort and joy feel in short supply in Chita. But there’s patriotism aplenty. Outside the local concert hall, a stylised metal snowman is holding a Russian tricolour. On Lenin Square, the decorated fir tree shares centre stage with big signs bearing the letter “Z” – the symbol of the Kremlin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. Watch the news on Chita TV, and you’ll see reports about local schoolchildren writing festive letters – not to Father Christmas, but to Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

    But not everyone in Chita shares this particular interpretation of patriotism.

    Across town I meet Ivan Losev. On social media recently, the 26-year-old sauna owner shared a bizarre dream he’d had in which he’d met President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.

    “I dreamt I’d been mobilised and sent to a training camp,” recalls Ivan. “Suddenly the Ukrainian army, led by Zelensky, attacked. Everyone was captured. They were about to shoot us, when Zelensky pointed to me. ‘I’ve seen your Instagram stories. Glory to Ukraine!’ he said. ‘Glory to the Heroes!’ I replied.”

    For posting about his dream – and for other comments he’d made on social media about the “special military operation” – Ivan was taken to court and fined 30,000 roubles (approximately £380) for “discrediting the Russian armed forces.”

    “The closer you get to the downfall of an empire, the more stupid the laws become,” Ivan tells me. “I think this will end with the downfall of Putin’s Russia.

    “Patriotism is loving your country, but criticising it to bring change. Patriotism is wanting to make your city better so that it prospers. So that people want to stay and live there and live well. But Russia’s patriotism is about bombing Ukraine to pieces. Our leaders don’t want our country to be better. They just want people in another country to live worse.”

    Ivan Losev was fined for posting about a dream he’d had about Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky

    Ivan Losev was fined for posting about a dream he’d had about Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky

    As I head back to the city centre, I pass another ice sculpture of a serviceman who has been left to guard a bus stop. By now it’s dark. The new year illuminations have been switched on and are casting a multi-coloured glow over Lenin Square. It’s such a bizarre sight. And rather unnerving. As the fairy lights change colour, so do the ice soldiers with their automatic rifles.

    It may be an attempt to foster a festive feel-good factor. But as this dramatic year nears the end, what exactly do Russians have to celebrate?

    Certainly not peace on Earth.

    “I worry that Russia will suffer from what is happening now,” says Margarita, with whom I get chatting on the square.

    “At the end of the day I would like there to be peace. I would like there to be no wars. We can do without those. But what will be will be.”

     

  • Trees store “twice as much carbon” as previously thought

    Researchers discovered that UK forests store twice as much carbon as previously thought by weighing individual trees using a 3D scanning technique.

    Lasers were used to map nearly 1,000 trees in Oxfordshire’s Wytham Wood.

    “We’ve found significantly more carbon stored here,” said Dr Kim Calders, from Ghent University.

    The research also reveals that mature trees, in particular, play a critical role in fighting climate change.

    Image created from laser scan of a group of trees in Wytham Wood, Oxfordshire
    IMAGE SOURCE,MARKKU AKERBLOM Image caption, Laser scans created a 3D map of each tree

    An accurate calculation of the amount of carbon trapped in UK woodland could help inform decisions about how to manage it – in addition to highlighting the cost to the environment of losing that woodland.

    Before 3D scanning techniques were available, weighing a tree would mean cutting it down.

    The latest research, published in the journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence, produced laser-scanned maps of each tree and converted those into a model.

    That gave a measure of each tree’s volume which the scientists used to calculate the amount of carbon captured in each tree’s trunk and branches. It showed that a patch of UK forest weighs about twice as much as previous calculations suggested.

    “When you know the density of the wood, you can convert volume into mass,” explains Prof Mat Disney, from UCL. “About half of that mass will be carbon, half is water.”

    Wytham Wood, one of the most scientifically studied forests in the world, is typical of UK deciduous woodland, meaning the area weighed by scientists affords an accurate estimate of the carbon value of forests across the UK.

    ‘Incalculable’ value

    As well as being important ecosystems, healthy forests remove planet-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

    Prof Disney says the new findings show that, for every square kilometre of woodland lost, “we potentially lose almost twice the carbon sink capacity we thought”.

    “This has serious implications for our understanding of the benefits of protecting trees in terms of climate change,” he explains.

    He adds that the complex structure of mature trees means they play a role that is very difficult to replace by simply planting more trees.

    “The value you have in large mature trees is almost incalculable, and so you should avoid losing that at any cost – regardless of how many trees you think about planting,” said Prof Disney.

    “Those large trees are incredibly important.”

    Source: BBC.com 

     

     

  • Harvey Weinstein found guilty by Los Angeles court in second sex crimes trial

    A Los Angeles jury has found former Hollywood film mogul Harvey Weinstein guilty of raping a woman.

    During the two-month trial, it was revealed that Weinstein had enticed women into private meetings with him before attacking them.

    When he is sentenced, the 70-year-old Oscar winner could spend up to 24 years behind bars.

    After being found guilty of rape and sexual assault at his first trial in New York two years ago, he has already completed serving 23 years in prison.

    Weinstein was found guilty on Monday of two counts of sexual assault and rape against an accuser who will only be identified as Jane Doe 1.

     

    The jury could not reach verdicts on allegations by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom, and a woman known as Jane Doe 2. A mistrial was declared on those counts.

    He was also acquitted of sexual battery against an accuser known as Jane Doe 3.

    The Shakespeare in Love and Pulp Fiction producer and co-founder of the entertainment company Miramax was wearing a grey suit and looked pale at the court in Los Angeles on Monday.

    He was not using a wheelchair as he had done at previous court appearances.

    When he heard guilty on count one, the former Hollywood producer looked down. Then the court clerk read guilty on count two and he looked at his lawyer. At one point he stared at the jury.

     

    The trial heard from dozens of witnesses in more than four weeks of often emotional testimony.

    But Monday’s verdict focused on allegations by four women stemming from 2005-13.

    The jury of eight men and four women spent nine days deliberating on three charges of rape and four other sexual assault counts.

    The woman whom Weinstein was convicted on Monday of raping, Jane Doe 1, was a Russian-born model.

    The trial’s first witness, she testified that she was in Los Angeles for an Italian film festival in February 2013 when the producer arrived uninvited at her Beverly Hills hotel room and raped her.

    She said after the verdict: “Harvey Weinstein forever destroyed a part of me that night in 2013 and I will never get that back.

    “The criminal trial was brutal and Weinstein’s lawyers put me through hell on the witness stand, but I knew I had to see this through to the end, and I did.

    “I hope Weinstein never sees the outside of a prison cell during his lifetime.”

    Ms Siebel Newsom gave emotional testimony that she was a documentary filmmaker when she was raped by Weinstein in a hotel room in 2005.

    California’s first lady said in a statement on Monday after the verdict: “Throughout the trial, Weinstein’s lawyers used sexism, misogyny, and bullying tactics to intimidate, demean, and ridicule us survivors.

    “The trial was a stark reminder that we as a society have work to do.”

    The only other of the four main accusers to publicly identify herself was Lauren Young.

    She said she was a model and aspiring actress and screenwriter when she met Weinstein about a script in 2013.

    Ms Young said he had trapped her in a hotel bathroom and sexually assaulted her.

    The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the charges involving her.

    A massage therapist, Jane Doe 3, testified that Weinstein had trapped and sexually assaulted her in a hotel bathroom in 2010. He was cleared of that attack.

    His conviction in New York in 2020 was a landmark moment for the #MeToo movement, which had been calling out widespread sexual abuse and harassment in the film industry for several years.

    Weinstein is currently appealing against the New York conviction.

    More than 80 women have come forward with accusations of sexual assault and misconduct against Weinstein spanning several decades.

     

  • S Jaishankar: As tensions rise along the China border, India beefs up its military

    The country has increased troop deployment along a contentious border with China to an unprecedented level, according to India’s foreign minister.

    S. Jaishankar continued by saying that India wouldn’t permit China to “unilaterally change” the current situation at the border.

    Days prior to his remarks, Chinese and Indian forces engaged in combat in a flashpoint region along the border in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

    According to India, Chinese troops’ “encroachment” was the reason why the conflict started.

    China’s foreign ministry has said that according to their knowledge, the situation on the border was “generally stable” and the two sides were maintaining dialogue on the issue.

    India and China share a disputed 3,440km (2,100 mile) long de facto border – called the Line of Actual Control, or LAC – which is poorly demarcated. Soldiers on either side come face to face at many points, and tensions sometimes escalate into skirmishes or clashes.

    Both sides have been trying to de-escalate since a violent brawl in June 2020 in the Galwan Valley in the Ladakh region much further to the west – 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese soldiers died in the battle.

    The latest flare-up – the first in more than a year – occurred on 9 December, and resulted in minor injuries to a few soldiers. Both sides immediately disengaged from the area, the Indian army said.

    Mr Jaishankar was answering questions about the incident while speaking at an event organised by media company India Today on Monday.

    “Today, you have a deployment of the Indian Army on China border that we never had. It is done to counter Chinese aggression. The Indian Army today is deployed to counter any attempt to unilaterally change LAC,” he said.

    China hasn’t responded to the comments yet.

    The latest clash had led to a political uproar in India last week, with opposition parties walking out of parliament after their demand for an immediate discussion of the border situation was denied.

    Rahul Gandhi, leader of India’s main opposition Congress party, has accused the government of ignoring the threat from China, and alleged that the country’s forces were “thrashing” Indian soldiers at the border.

    Speaking in parliament on Monday, Mr Jaishankar said that Mr Gandhi’s words “disrespected” Indian soldiers and denied that the government was indifferent to the situation.

    “If we were indifferent to China, who sent the Indian Army to the border? If we were indifferent to China, why are we pressurising China for de-escalation and disengagement today?” he said.

     

     

  • Trump faces four criminal charges from the Capitol riot committee

    US congressional investigation into the Capitol riot last year has revealed that, former President Donald Trump should be charged with crimes such as insurrection.

    The justice department should bring charges against Mr. Trump, was the unanimous vote of the Democratic-led committee.

    A fresh video of former Trump aide Hope Hicks warning him about his legacy was also shown on the panel.

    On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters stormed Congress and prevented Joe Biden from being sworn in as president.

     

    Trump, who insists he did nothing wrong, attacked the panel in a statement, calling it a “kangaroo court.”

    After spending around 18 months investigating the riot, the House of Representatives select committee recommended at their final meeting on Monday that Mr Trump face four charges:

    The justice department – whose prosecutors are already considering whether to charge Mr Trump – does not have to follow a congressional committee’s referral.

    While the panel’s actions are mostly symbolic, the chairman described the proposed charges as a “roadmap to justice”.

    A justice department spokesman declined to comment on Monday about the referral.

    “An insurrection is a rebellion against the authority of the United States,” said congressman Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat who serves on the committee.

    “It is a grave federal offence, anchored in the Constitution itself.”

    The panel’s seven Democrats and two Republicans released their preliminary 161-page executive summary on Monday.

    It accused Mr Trump of a “multi-part conspiracy” to thwart the will of voters in the run-up to the Capitol riot and during the riot itself.

    The House committee has argued Mr Trump spread claims that he knew were false about the 2020 presidential election being stolen, before pressuring state officials, the justice department and his own vice-president to help overturn his defeat. The panel accuses him of inciting the riot at Congress in a last-ditch bid to block the peaceful transfer of power to Mr Biden.

    The full report, spanning hundreds of pages, is due to be released on Wednesday.

    On Monday, the panel also released a new video from their deposition with longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks, who said she had warned Mr Trump that by continuing to make false claims about the election, he and his team were “damaging his legacy”.

    Mr Trump had shrugged off her concern, she said.

    The then-Republican president, she testified, “said something along the lines of, ‘Nobody will care about my legacy if I lose, so that won’t matter.

    “‘The only thing that matters is winning.’”

    The committee also criticised the president’s eldest daughter Ivanka Trump, a former White House aide, for not being “forthcoming” with investigators.

    Ms Trump and White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany “displayed a lack of full recollection of certain issues, or were not otherwise as frank or direct” as other aides to Mr Trump, the report said.

    Mr Trump’s presidential campaign, which he launched last month, released a statement accusing the committee of holding “show trials by Never Trump partisans who are a stain on this country’s history”.

    “This Kangaroo court has been nothing more than a vanity project that insults Americans’ intelligence and makes a mockery of our democracy.”

    A Trump bust being held up during the day of the riot at the US Capitol
    IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, A Trump bust being held up during the day of the riot at the US Capitol

    The committee also said it would refer four Republican members of Congress to the House ethics committee, including Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, for failing to comply with the committee.

    “If we are to survive as a nation of laws and democracy, this can never happen again,” said committee chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat.

    “If the faith is broken, so is our democracy. Donald Trump broke that faith,” he added.

    More than 900 people have been charged in relation to the Capitol riot.

    Source: BBC.com 

     

     

  • British Airways: US flights departing grounded over technical issue

    After scheduled flights from the US were delayed for several hours, British Airways issued an apology.

    The airline reported that a technical problem with its third-party flight planning supplier was urgently under investigation.

    BA travellers have mentioned spending hours in lines at airports.

    The airline apologised for any inconvenience caused to its customers’ plans and said it tried to get planes out of the gate as quickly as possible.

    Passengers have taken to Twitter to report waiting at John F. Kennedy International Airport for more than three hours.

    Others said they had been sitting on planes parked on runways for hours, before being moved back to the airport.

    In a statement, British Airways said: “Our flights due to depart the USA tonight are currently delayed due to a technical issue with our third-party flight planning supplier, which we are urgently investigating.

    “We’re sorry for any disruption this will cause to our customers’ plans, our aim is for these flights to depart as quickly as possible.”

    Source: BBC.com 

     

     

     

  • Baby’s life likely saved by stem cells of umbilical

    A heart surgeon claims that by performing a “world-first” procedure using placental stem cells, he “probably saved the life” of a newborn.

    Baby Finley’s heart defect was fixed by Professor Massimo Caputo of the Bristol Heart Institute using cutting-edge stem cell “scaffolding.”

    He wants to advance technology to reduce the number of operations required for congenital cardiac disease patients.

    The two-year-old Finley is “now a happy growing little boy.”

    He underwent his first open-heart surgery at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children when he was only four days old due to the fact that the main arteries in his heart were positioned incorrectly at birth.

    Unfortunately the surgery didn’t solve the problem and his heart function deteriorated significantly, with the left side of the heart suffering from a severe lack of blood flow.

    His mother, Melissa, from Corsham, in Wiltshire, said: “We were prepared from the start that the odds of him surviving were not good.

    “After 12 hours, Finley finally came out of surgery but he needed a heart and lung bypass machine to keep alive, and his heart function had deteriorated significantly.”

    Melissa and Finley
    Image caption, Melissa celebrating Christmas with her two-year old Finley

    After weeks in intensive care it looked like there was no conventional way to treat Finley’s condition and he was reliant on drugs to keep his heart going.

    But a new procedure was tried, involving stem cells from a placenta bank.

    Prof Caputo injected the cells directly into Finley’s heart in the hope they would help damaged blood vessels grow.

    The so-called “allogenic” cells were grown by scientists at the Royal Free Hospital in London, and millions of them were injected into Finley’s heart muscle.

    Allogenic cells have the ability to grow into tissue that is not rejected and in Finley’s case, have regenerated damaged heart muscle.

    “We weaned him from all the drugs he was on, we weaned him from ventilation,” said Prof Caputo.

    “He was discharged from ITU and is now a happy growing little boy.”

    Stem Cell Scaffold
    Image caption, The stem cell scaffold can be bio-printed into any shape

    Using a bio-printer, a stem cell scaffold is made to repair abnormalities to valves in blood vessels, and to mend holes between the two main pumping chambers of the heart.

    Artificial tissue is normally used used on babies for cardiac repairs, but it can fail and it doesn’t grow with the heart, so as the children grow, they require more operations.

    Prof Caputo hopes a clinical trial on the patches will happen in the next two years, after successful laboratory work.

    13-year old Louie from Cardiff
    Image caption, Louie from Cardiff has a number of congenital heart defects

    The trial of the stem cell plasters offers hope for patients like Louie from Wales, who has a number of congenital heart defects.

    The 13-year-old from Cardiff had his first open heart surgery with Prof Caputo at just two weeks’ old and then again aged four to replace the material fixing his heart.

    But because the materials aren’t completely biological, they are unable to grow with him and he needs repeat operations.

    Like Louie, every day in the UK, around 13 babies are diagnosed with a congenital heart defect – a heart condition that develops before the baby is born, according to the British Heart Foundation.

    Because the materials used to fix the heart can be rejected by the patient’s immune system, they can cause scarring in the heart that can lead to other complications, and can gradually break down and fail in just a few months or years.

    A child might therefore have to go through the same heart operation multiple times throughout its childhood- around 200 repeat operations for congenital heart defects are carried out every year in the UK.

    Louie hopes the breakthrough means the number of operations he faces will be significantly reduced thanks to the stem cell technology and tissues able to grow with his body.

    “I don’t like having the procedures,” he said.

    “It’s not good in the long term, knowing every couple of years I need an operation so that would make me a lot more relaxed.”

    Prof Caputo and his team say the stem cell technology could save the NHS an estimated £30,000 for every operation no longer needed, saving millions of pounds each year.

    Dr Stephen Minger, an expert in stem cell biology and director of SLM Blue Skies Innovations Ltd, applauded the research.

    He said: “Most studies that I am aware of in adults with heart dysfunction or failure show only minimal therapeutic benefit with stem cell infusion.

    “I’m happy that the clinical team will go on to do a standard clinical trial which should tell us if this was a ‘one-off’ success and also give us some better understanding of mechanisms behind this.”

     

  • Russia-Belarus alliance: Ukraine to boost Belarus border defences

    Ukraine is beefing up border defences with Belarus amid fears that Russia is planning a new attack, according to a government official.

    According to Deputy Interior Minister Yevhen Yenin, Ukraine will reinforce its border with Belarus with armed forces and ammunition.

    The announcement came as Vladimir Putin was on his way to Minsk to meet Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

    Belarus shares a border with both Russia and Ukraine.

    The Russian president later ordered the strengthening of Russia’s borders and of social control within Russia. He said the security services should quickly thwart any attempt to violate Russia’s borders, combat risks coming from abroad, and identify traitors and saboteurs.

    He also said the special services should ensure the safety of people living in the parts of Ukraine that Moscow claims as its own. In some of these areas, most notably Kherson, Russia recently suffered significant military reverses.

    Russia’s defence ministry announced that its troops stationed in Belarus would conduct joint military exercises with Belarus.

    Reacting to this and the visit Mr Yenin confirmed: “We are building up our defence lines all across the border with Russia and with Belarus.”

    While Belarus has not become involved in the war directly, it did allow Russian troops to use its territory to launch the invasion in February.

    Russia and Belarus holding joint military drills in February 2022
    IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Russia and Belarus held joint military drills near the Ukrainian border in February – just days before Russia’s full-scale invasion

    Minsk is coming under increasing pressure from Moscow to step up its support in the “special military operation”.

    But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the reports “as totally stupid, groundless fabrications”.

    President Putin flew to Minsk for talks with President Lukashenko – the first time in three-and-a-half years the pair have met in Belarus.1px transparent line

    The meeting has been described as a “working visit” and lasted for more than two hours.

    Speaking at a joint press conference President Putin said Russia did not want to “absorb” anyone. He also said that unspecified “enemies” wanted to stop Russia’s integration with Belarus.

    Speaking later on Monday, US state department spokesperson Ned Price said Putin’s statement was the “height of irony” given he was currently seeking to absorb Ukraine.

    Something rare happened today: Vladimir Putin got on a plane and flew to Minsk. Now, President Putin and President Alexander Lukashenko meet a lot – but in Russia.

    For the first time in three-and-a-half years, here was President Putin in Belarus. So why did he go… and why now?

    There were few clues at the joint press conference as the two leaders spoke a lot about economic relations, trade, but also security.

    President Putin indicated that some Belarusian military aircraft have been re-equipped to potentially carry nuclear missiles and that Russia is helping to train their crews.

    In return, President Lukashenko thanked him for providing Belarus with an S-400 air defence system and Iskander ballistic missile system.

    The word “Ukraine” was hardly mentioned – in public.

    But the visit has fuelled speculation that the Kremlin leader may be trying to pressure the leader of Belarus into joining a possible new ground offensive in Ukraine.

    This may indeed be just a rumour. Or a ploy by Moscow to make Ukraine expect a Belarusian offensive and so tie up Ukrainian soldiers in the north.

    But, there are reportedly several thousand Russian soldiers already in Belarus and there have been joint exercises.

    Until now Alexander Lukashenko has been reluctant to commit his own troops to fighting in Ukraine.

    All eyes are on Minsk to see if that remains the case.

     

     

  • Parliament votes in favor of PM Anwar Ibrahim’s motion of confidence

    After an unprecedented hung parliament resulted from the election last month, the victory is crucial support for Anwar’s premiership.

    Following last month’s election, which resulted in an unprecedented hung parliament, the Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s motion of confidence was approved by parliament, giving him crucial support for continuing as leader.

    After his rival and former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin questioned his support, Anwar called a special session of parliament on Monday to demonstrate his majority.

    After the opposition argued against it because Anwar had already been formally sworn in as prime minister by the monarch, the confidence motion was approved by a simple voice vote with legislators supporting it.

    “The ayes have it … We have a sufficient majority, and it is two-thirds,” communications and digital minister Fahmi Fadzil said.

    “The unity government in Malaysia stands strong with solid support, and we will focus on the people’s welfare,” he added.

    The opposition bloc continued to question the number of legislators in the 222-seat parliament who supported Anwar and said they were ready to take over as ruling government “when the time comes”.

    “It can be any time; tomorrow, next week or next election,” said opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin.

    Anwar, 75, who is also finance minister, took steps to cement his support last week by signing a cooperation pact with smaller political parties.

    The parties agreed to ensure political stability after years of turmoil, spur the economy, foster good governance, and uphold the rights of the country’s majority Malay community and maintain Islam as its official religion.

    Anwar – who has spent more than two decades as an opposition figure – had previously been denied the premiership despite getting within striking distance of it.

    In between, he spent nearly a decade in jail for sodomy and corruption in what he says were politically motivated charges.

    In the closely contested polls last month, Anwar’s bloc did not win a simple majority. But he was appointed by Malaysia’s king and proceeded to form a coalition government with the help of other political blocs.

    His new government includes the previous ruling coalition Barisan Nasional, which he spent much of his political career seeking to overthrow.

    Source: Aljazeera.com 

     

     

     

     

  • Lionel Messi’s Argentina jerseys all sold out globally

    Following the soccer star’s first-ever FIFA World Cup victory, fans hoping to purchase his official Argentina jersey may be out of luck.

    Adidas announced in a statement to CNN that it has been “working to meet the extraordinary demand for jerseys” and that “more stock will be available soon” after selling out of Messi and Argentina team uniforms globally.

    On Sunday, in one of the most exciting finals in tournament history, Argentina defeated France to win the 2022 World Cup in Qatar on penalties. Messi, who was competing in his fifth World Cup, scored twice to solidify his status as a football legend.

    Messi’s Adidas jerseys had been sold out even before the game, according to multiple reports. A search on Adidas’ website shows that generic Argentina jerseys are sold out, but there some other team items still available, including a basketball top and T-shirts.

    Argentina's Lionel Messi
    Argentina’s Lionel Messi

    Searches for Messi Argentina jerseys on Amazon also show them sold out. StockX, a popular reseller website, has a few jerseys selling for as much as $500. Messi jerseys from Paris Saint-Germain, his European club, are wildly available online, however.

    Don’t fret though, Adidas (ADDDF) said it will soon unveil new merchandise.

    “Since their history-making win we have produced a range of immediately available celebratory apparel and we will also create a brand new version of their iconic jersey, featuring three stars to mark their third World Championship, for fans around the globe as soon as possible,” the company said.

    The World Cup has been a boon for Adidas’ bottom line. Adidas has sold around $424 million (€400 million) in “event-related sales” in the fourth quarter, with its soccer merchandise growing by 30% in the first nine months in 2022 compared to the year prior. Adidas said it’s also “seeing stronger demand” during this edition of the World Cup compared to the previous tournament.

    Source: CNN

     

     

     

     

  • US says it ‘looks forward’ to working with new Peru president

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Peruvian political figures to lower tensions and seek “reconciliation.”

    After top US diplomat Antony Blinken spoke on the phone with the troubled South American leader, Washington said it “looked forward to working closely” on shared goals with the newly appointed Peruvian President Dina Boluarte.

    In light of the ongoing unrest in Peru following the ouster of President Pedro Castillo earlier this month, the US Department of State confirmed the talks between Blinken and Boluarte on Sunday. Two days earlier, the call had been made.

    “Secretary Blinken encouraged Peru’s institutions and civil authorities to redouble their efforts to make needed reforms and safeguard democratic stability,” the State Department said in a statement.

    Boluarte was sworn in by Peru’s Congress to replace Castillo on December 7 after lawmakers ousted the former president, who had announced plans to “temporarily” dissolve Congress and rule by decree in what he said was an effort to “re-establish the rule of law and democracy”.

    Boluarte previously served as vice president to Castillo, who has been arrested on charges of rebellion and conspiracy after his removal. On Thursday, a Peruvian court extended the left-wing leader’s pre-trial detention to 18 months.

    Castillo had faced multiple crises during his short tenure as president. Sworn in July 2021, the teacher and union leader from rural Peru faced corruption allegations, a grim approval rating, and a stillborn legislative agenda thwarted by an opposition-dominated Congress.

    Now Boluarte is facing a crisis of her own as demonstrators demand her resignation.

    Blinken’s call with Boluarte came amid political chaos and ongoing anti-government protests calling for early elections and Castillo’s release.

    “The United States looks forward to working closely with President Boluarte on shared goals and values related to democracy, human rights, security, anti-corruption, and economic prosperity,” the State Department said.

    “Secretary Blinken stressed the need for all Peruvian actors to engage in constructive dialogue to ease political divisions and focus on reconciliation.”

    In a national address on Saturday, Boluarte called on Congress to authorise early elections “in line” with the demands of the people of Peru.

    Boluarte’s administration had declared a nationwide state of emergency on Wednesday, suspending freedom of movement and assembly in a bid to quell the unrest, which has left several people dead.

    Earlier this week, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador slammed the measure, calling for respect for human rights and civil liberties in Peru.

    “Force must not be used, the people must not be repressed and freedoms must be guaranteed,” Lopez Obrador said during a news conference.

    Source: Aljazeera.com