Tag Archives: WorldNews

Chinese ‘Ultra Vulgar’ Butcher’ activist jailed for 8 years

8 years of fear of one jokester?

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China has sentenced prominent rights activist Wu Gan to eight years for subversion after online criticism of Beijing’s leaders. His jailing is the harshest punishment in a two-year crackdown on dissent.

A noble act: The female writer who fought Nazis and machismo

On December 10, 1966, the Jewish-German poet Nelly Sachs received the Nobel Prize for Literature in Stockholm, an award she shared with the novelist Shmuel Agnón. In her acceptance speech, she paid tribute to another Nobel laureate for saving her life. “In the summer of 1939, a German friend came to Sweden to visit Selma Lagerlöf and asked if she could find somewhere for my mother and I to take refuge,” she said. “In the spring of 1940, after several tortuous months, we reached Stockholm. Denmark and Norway were already occupied. The great novelist was no longer here.”

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The EU isn’t punishing Poland. It’s protecting its integrity as a bloc | Natalie Nougayrède

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Brexit negotiators should take note: Brussels has acted to put European law first

It’s been fascinating to look at some of the reactions, in Europe and beyond, after the European commission last week took the unprecedented step of triggering a mechanism against Poland, for the first time potentially threatening to strip a member state of its voting rights in the club.

Brussels decided to move against Poland’s democratic backsliding, namely the crushing of its independent judiciary – a process that had recently been accelerated by its populist government, elected in 2015. On social media, the far right raged. Here was the European behemoth lashing out at a country whose sovereign choices were being trampled on, its image unfairly tarnished. Sound familiar?

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US to make at least $285m cut to UN budget after vote on Jerusalem

Cut our influence and risk our national security because… you can #TraitorTrump – #LoserTrump!

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  • US is responsible for 22% of the UN’s annual operating budget
  • Timing sends message after UN rejects Trump’s recognition of Israeli capital

The US government has announced significant cuts in its United Nations budget obligations for 2018-19 in what will be interpreted as a further ratcheting up of pressure from the Trump administration looking to bend decision-making at the international body to its will.

Related: UN votes resoundingly to reject Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as capital

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Rebel groups reject talks on Syrian conflict hosted by Russia

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Rebels refuse to head to Sochi conference, claiming that Moscow has not contributed ‘one step’ to ease the suffering of Syrian civilians

Syrian rebel groups on Monday rejected Russia’s planned Sochi conference on Syria, saying Moscow was seeking to bypass a United Nations-based Geneva peace process and blaming Russia for committing war crimes in the country.

In a statement by around 40 rebel groups who include some of the military factions who participated in earlier rounds of Geneva peace talks, they said Moscow had not put pressure on the Syrian government to reach a political settlement.

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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny barred from running for president

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Alexei Navalny calls for boycott of next year’s vote after election commission’s decision

Russian election officials on Monday formally barred Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny from running for president, prompting calls from him for a boycott of next year’s vote.

The central election commission decided unanimously that the anti-corruption crusader is not eligible to run.

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