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Contents contributed and discussions participated by B Mannke

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BBC News - Ukraine president warns Kiev protesters amid clashes - 0 views

www.bbc.co.uk/...world-europe-25808295
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  • Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has warned that the country's stability is threatened by continuing clashes between police and anti-government protesters in the capital Kiev.
  • The authorities say police have the right to use firearms in self-defence.
  • Former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, who was injured in clashes earlier this month, is among four representatives of the opposition who will be taking part in the talks with the authorities, according to the website for Ukraine's Fatherland Party.
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  • At least 30 people have been arrested in the clashes, and about 100 injured, including dozens of police officers.
  • "now, when peaceful actions are turning into mass unrest, accompanied by riots and arson attacks, the use of violence, I am convinced that such phenomena are a threat not only to Kiev but to the whole of Ukraine".
  • The police have been firing plastic bullets, tear gas canisters and stun grenades, and even throwing back the cobblestones, he reports. EU foreign ministers also released a statement on Monday expressing "deep concern" about the new legislation, which they said was passed under "doubtful procedural circumstances".
  • A ban on the unauthorised installation of tents, stages or amplifiers in public places Provision to arrest protesters wearing masks or helmets A ban on protests involving more than five vehicles in convoy Hefty fines or jail for breaches of law
  • The group is not thought to support the idea of Ukraine joining the EU, but is against the government and sees the current unrest as an opportunity "to destroy the state skeleton", according to the BBC's Ukrainian Service.
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BBC News - Syria crisis: UN withdraws Iran invitation to Geneva talks - 0 views

www.bbc.co.uk/...world-middle-east-25820373
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  • e Syrian regime, angered the US and the Western-backed Syrian oppositi
  • The invitation to Iran, a key ally of the Syrian regime, angered the US and the Western-backed Syrian opposition.
  • The peace conference, due to begin on Wednesday, is the biggest diplomatic effort to end the three-year conflict. More than 100,000 people have been killed and millions more displaced in the war.
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  • Withdrawing the invitation was "the right thing to do", Monzer Akbik, the National Coalition's chief of staff, told the BBC.
  • Meanwhile, CNN and UK newspaper the Guardian are reporting claims that the Syrian regime tortured and killed thousands of detainees.
  • But Iran issued several statements on Monday rejecting any attempt to place conditions on its attendance at the conference
  • "understood and supported the basis and goal of the conference".
  • It is unclear whether Iran will be able to join the talks two days later, when they move to Geneva.
  • it shows a chilling systematic documentation of the bodies, each of which was photographed several times and given a number.
  • Some 55,000 photographs showing roughly 11,000 dead detainees were smuggled out of Syria by a defector who served as a military police photographer
  • In May last year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry agreed to try to bring both sides together.
  • However, the National Coalition appears resolute that any transitional government will not involve President Bashar al-Assad.
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Taliban Attack Kills G.I. at an Afghan-U.S. Base - NYTimes.com - 0 views

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  • Afghan officials said an American soldier was killed in the attack, which took place a few miles from where the Taliban movement was founded nearly 20 years ago
  • since the insurgents killed 21 civilians, 13 of them foreigners, at a popular Lebanese restaurant here in Kabul on Friday
  • nd American and Afghan soldiers “quickly engaged with the attackers and killed all eight bombers before they could enter the base,” said Mr. Agha, whose compound is near the main entrance of Pasab.
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  • A suicide bomber went in first to clear the way for gunmen.
  • The Taliban took responsibility for the attack, claiming to have inflicted heavy casualties at what Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, an insurgent spokesman, described as a “huge American base.”
  • At the height of the surge, from 2010 to 2012, an entire American brigade of roughly 4,500 soldiers was based at Pasab and at dozens of other small combat outposts in Zhare.
  • Only a few hundred American soldiers are still based in Zhare, and most are focused on advising Afghan forces, not fighting the Taliban.
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China Exports Pollution to U.S., Study Finds - NYTimes.com - 0 views

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  • Filthy emissions from China’s export industries are carried across the Pacific Ocean and contribute to air p
  • Filthy emissions from China’s export industries are carried across the Pacific Ocean and contribute to air pollution in the Western United States,
  • air pollution in the United States is affected by China’s production of goods for export and by global consumer demand for those goods
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  • Black carbon is linked to asthma, cancer, emphysema, and heart and lung disease.
  • The movement of air pollutants associated with the production of goods in China for the American market has resulted in a decline in air quality in the Western United States
  • “Trade changes the location of production and thus affects emissions.”
  • “Dust, ozone and carbon can accumulate in valleys and basins in California and other Western states,” the statement said.
  • “outsourcing production to China does not always relieve consumers in the United States — or for that matter many countries in the Northern Hemisphere — from the environmental impacts of air pollution.”
  • in 2006, sulfate concentrations in the Western United States increased as much as 2 percent, and ozone and carbon monoxide levels also increased slightly because of the transportation of pollutants from emissions that resulted from the manufacture of goods for export to the United States.
  • The amount of air pollution in the Western United States resulting from emissions from China is still very small compared with the amount produced by sources in the United States that include traffic and domestic industries.
  • They estimated that in 2006, China’s exporting of goods to the United States was responsible for 7.4 percent of production-based Chinese emissions for sulfur dioxide, 5.7 percent for nitrogen oxides, 3.6 percent for black carbon and 4.6 percent for carbon monoxide.
  • . Coal-burning factories were the biggest sources of pollutants and greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming.
  • “This is a reminder to us that a significant percentage of China’s emissions of traditional pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions are connected to the products we buy and use every day in the U.S. We should be concerned, not only because this pollution is harming the citizens of China, but because it’s damaging the air quality in parts of the U.S.”
  • So the overall percentages of economic output might not by themselves be fair indicators of the importance of exports to the Chinese economy.
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Temporary Nuclear Deal With Iran Takes Effect - NYTimes.com - 0 views

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  • Iran began suspending most advanced uranium-fuel enrichment and halted other sensitive elements of its nuclear program. In exchange, it received what the United States called “limited, targeted and reversible sanctions relief for a six-month period.”
  • The goal is to resolve peacefully the longstanding dispute over Iran’s contentious nuclear energy program, which Iran has called peaceful and legal but the Western countries and Israel have described as a guise to achieve the ability to produce nuclear weapons.
  • suspending the production of 20 percent-enriched uranium, which is a few technical steps short of weapons-grade, disabling thousands of centrifuges used to make that fuel,
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  • began the staggered release of $4.2 billion in Iranian cash frozen in overseas banks.
  • carrying out of the agreement an important step
  • talks with Iran would begin in the next few weeks.
  • The United States and the Syrian opposition objected to a United Nations invitation for Iran to attend. The United Nations later rescinded the invitation.
  • , “Iran has voluntarily suspended enrichment up to 20 percent.”
  • “We do not completely trust the other side,” he said. “Therefore, activities have been foreseen so that we will not lose time if we have to come back to the previous situation.”
  • The front page of the conservative newspaper Vatan-e Emrooz was published in black and white, as if in mourning, with a headline that declared “nuclear holocaust” had been committed.
  • “As the officials of the Islamic republic, we cannot publicly explain all of these problems because the other party may misuse them,”
  • “But we will share some of these worries with the supreme leader and with the people.”
  • “Iran nuclear train
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Under U.S. Pressure, U.N. Withdraws Iran's Invitation to Syria Talks - NYTimes.com - 0 views

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  • the United Nations on Monday withdrew an invitation to Iran to attend the much-anticipated Syria peace conference, reversing a decision announced a day earlier.
  • Under intense American pressure, the United Nations on Monday withdrew an invitation to Iran to attend the much-anticipated Syria peace conference, reversing a decision announced a day earlier.
  • The United States had said it was surprised by the invitation because Iran had not agreed to conditions for the talks, to be held on Wednesday in Montreux, Switzerland.
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  • “Given that it has chosen to remain outside that basic understanding, he has decided that the one-day Montreux gathering will proceed without Iran’s participation,” Mr. Ban’s spokesman said in the statement.
  • must publicly endorse the mandate of the conference, which is outlined in a communiqué from a 2012 meeting in Geneva. That mandate says that the conference’s purpose is to negotiate the establishment of a transitional administration that would govern Syria by the “mutual consent” of Mr. Assad’s government and the Syrian opposition.
  • all parties can now return to focus on the task at hand, which is bringing an end to the suffering of the Syrian people and beginning a process toward a long overdue political transition.”
  • “Negotiations involve sitting at the table not just with those who you like, but with those whose participation the solution depends on,”
  • The United States and several of its allies have opposed Iran’s presence at the conference in part because Iran has been a strong supporter of the Assad government, sending it arms and paramilitary fighters from its Quds force.
  • “the war against terrorism” in his country. He described the idea of sharing power as “totally unrealistic,” and said there was a “significant” likelihood that he would seek a new term as president in June.
  • “We have always rejected any precondition for attending the Geneva II meeting on Syria.”
  • “The Syrian coalition announces that they will withdraw their attendance in Geneva II unless Ban Ki-moon retracts Iran’s invitation,” a Twitter message said, quoting Louay Safi, a coalition spokesman.
  • that if any breakthroughs are achieved, they will take place in Geneva,
  • the negotiations were not expected to yield major results, except perhaps to open up certain parts of Syria to the delivery of humanitarian aid
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BBC News - Afghan 'suicide vest girl' reveals family ordeal - 0 views

www.bbc.co.uk/...world-middle-east-25708023
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  • 12 January 2014 Last updated at 22:01 ET Share this page Email Print Share this pageShareFacebookTwitter Afghan 'suicide vest girl' reveals family ordeal The girl is thought to be the sister of a prominent Taliban commander Continue reading the main story Taliban Conflict Loya Jirga: Q&A Pakistan's interests Who are the Taliban? Q&A: Foreign forces An Afghan girl has told the BBC that her family forced her to a
  • The girl, known as Spozhmai, said her brother and father had beaten her, ordering her to put on a suicide vest.
  • she has appealed to Afghan President Hamid Karzai to put her in a new home
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  • She told the BBC's Newsday programme that she had been scared to carry out the attack, but that her brother had promised only her targets would die
  • "I said: 'No, I will kill myself rather than go with you'," she said.
  • 'If you don't do it this time, we will make you do it again
  • "I won't go back there. God didn't make me to become a suicide bomber. I ask the president to put me in a good place."
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Clashes Between Militants and Army Spread in Iraq - NYTimes.com - 0 views

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  • A confrontation between Iraqi insurgents and government forces in the western city of Falluja edged closer to the capital on Sunday, after clashes between militants and the army left at least 14 people dead in the Abu Ghraib district in Baghdad Province, according to security officials.
  • killing at least 14 civilians.
  • Instead of using the military, Mr. Maliki appeared to be leaning on Sunni tribal leaders to expel the militants themselves, and has been providing them with weapons and money for that purpose.
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  • We will be in this for the long haul,” Mr. Zebari said. “Probably as long as Syria is going on.”
  • The Obama administration “feels that if this is not contained, it’s moving toward an all-out sectarian confrontation,” he said.
  • Several of the refugees in Karbala said Sunday that they had little hope of returning home soon, and no clear notion of the identities of the gunmen fighting in their city — said to be a mix of tribesmen, Qaeda militants and others.
  • at least four soldiers and 10 civilians were killed, according to security and hospital officials.
  • In a statement, Fadhel al-Barwari, a commander in the Special Operations Forces, pledged to “kill a thousand Al Qaeda members” for each of the soldiers.
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Where Free Speech Collides With Abortion Rights - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ides-with-abortion-rights.html
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  • But she has to watch her step. If she crosses a painted yellow semicircle outside the clinic’s entrance, she commits a crime under a 2007 Massachusetts law.
  • The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday in her challenge to the law.
  • The Supreme Court’s 2000 decision upheld a complicated law that established 100-foot buffer zones outside all health care facilities, not just abortion clinics. Inside those larger zones, the law banned approaching others within eight feet for protest, education or counseling without their consent.
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  • “This law is access balanced with speech balanced with public safety,” Ms. Coakley said. “It has worked extremely well.”
  • “The government does not have the ability to decide,” he said, “that its public sidewalks are open for speakers on one side but not speakers on the other side.”
  • The buffer zone is small, she said. (It is the length of two parking spaces and takes just seconds to traverse.) “The only thing that’s before the court,” she said, “is the last seven seconds of a patient’s or a staff member’s walk to the door.”
  • “When you make people stand behind a line and make them shout,” he said, “that can diminish them in the eyes of the audience.”
  • “The protections of the First Amendment do not evaporate the closer one comes to an abortion clinic,” he wrote in an email. “Access must be protected; so must speech.”
  • “a law which bars a private citizen from passing a message, in a peaceful manner and on a profound moral issue, to a fellow citizen on a public sidewalk.”
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In Blow to Peace Effort, Israel Publishes Plans for New Housing in Settlements - NYTime... - 0 views

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  • he Israeli government on Friday published plans to build 1,400 housing units in Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, a move the chief Palestinian negotiator condemned as a “slap” to Secretary of State John Kerry’s intense push for a Middle East peace deal.
  • The Israeli government on Friday published plans to build 1,400 housing units in Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, a move the chief Palestinian negotiator condemned as a “slap” to Secretary of State John Kerry’s intense push for a Middle East peace deal.
  • struggled to please his politically complex coalition government by both engaging in the talks and continuing to expand settlements, something the Palestinians and many world powers contend undermines the prospects for a two-state solution.
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  • Israel had agreed to release Palestinian prisoners convicted of killing Israelis as part of the peace talks but not to freeze settlement construction.
  • “But the reality is, both sides remain committed to discussing the framework, committed to moving forward, and we’ll keep working with them.”
  • Israel seized East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 war; it later annexed East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians see as the capital of their future state. Most of the world considers these territories to be occupied, and any settlement there illegal.
  • The framework will probably call for a division of the land along the 1967 lines with some swaps to accommodate settlements, Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state with protections for Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinian refugees, and twin capitals in the Jerusalem area.
  • “there are differences between the different plans, but in all of them, the large settlement blocs remain part of the final-status peace. If you’re building in areas that are going to remain part of Israel in any agreement, are we really changing the map of peace?”
  • “I can’t believe how naïve, or disingenuous and complicit, the Americans are.”
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Lone Survivor's Takeaway: Every War Movie Is a Pro-War Movie - Calum Marsh - The Atlantic - 0 views

www.theatlantic.com/...282812
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  • The point of this sequence, it seems, is to show how exceptional the real-life SEALs are before introducing SEALs as characters. With soldiers’ conviction and might thus demonstrated, the film can then whisk a few of them off on a mission that, as the title suggests, does not end particularly well.
  • Many of its more aggressively nationalistic elements are just a matter of following genre protocol.
  • They are, in other words, ordinary guys, totally down-to-earth despite being the best at what they do.
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  • This is cartoon villainy—the realm of the black hat and the twirling moustache. Such gestures serve a straightforward dramatic purpose: They align the audience with the heroes while encouraging them to dislike the bad guys, so that when the battle finally ignites, the viewer’s sympathies have already been sorted out.
  • We need to believe, even subconsciously, that while the Americans are three-dimensional characters to whom we can relate, the seemingly endless droves of attackers who besiege them are not—they’re merely The Enemy, a faceless mass, a manifestation of evil
  • it’s doubtful that even the most outrageously jingoistic war films are actually dangerous in any meaningful sense
  • Not asking is its own kind of answer. It tells us to focus elsewhere: on the heroism of these men, on the bravery of their actions. The moral issues are for another day.
  • But it’s important to remember that despite their moralizing, war films are still essentially action films—blockbuster spectacles embellished by the verve and vigor of cutting-edge special effects. They may not strictly glorify. But they almost never discourage.
  • War isn’t great; war makes you great. What is such a sentiment if not pro-war?
  • He grumbled that it was just “another goddamned recruiting film.” And maybe that’s all they’ll ever be
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How to Solve America's Democracy and Poverty Crisis - Daniel Weeks - The Atlantic - 0 views

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  • Fifty years ago this week, President Lyndon Johnson promised to "strike at the causes, not just the consequence" of persistent poverty in America.
  • "strike away the barriers to full participation in our society."
  • Not only does poverty persist across the United States today, but American democracy itself has become impoverished. The two are more entwined than is commonly thought.
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  • Millions more low-income citizens have a hard time making it to the polls for reasons that are partly within and partly beyond their control.
  • They are far from equal citizens in the public square.
  • Denying approximately 10 million taxpaying U.S. citizens the right to vote or voting representation in Congress, because of a prior conviction or the district or territory in which they live, is morally and constitutionally suspect.
  • In no instance should a former felon be permanently disenfranchised under the Constitution. State legislation or a constitutional challenge or amendment could accomplish this task.
  • Turnout in these states consistently ranks seven to 15 percent higher than other states.
  • Long before citizens go to the polls, candidates are recruited to run for office in a process scholars call the "wealth primary"; long after the polls have closed, candidates continue to raise large sums of money in anticipation of their next campaign.
  • Since electoral competition is also a democratic good, congressional and state districts should be drawn not by partisan state legislatures but by independent commissions charged with balancing representativeness and competitiveness.
  • They are a necessary part of our nation’s response to persistent poverty.
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BBC News - Winter Olympics: Russia arrests five 'terror suspects' - 0 views

www.bbc.co.uk/...world-europe-25701603
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  • Russian authorities say they have detained five members of a "banned international terrorist organisation" in the restive North Caucusus region.
  • Russia earlier announced it was deploying more than 30,000 police and interior ministry troops to the region.
  • The main concern is the threat of attack by Islamist militants. Security fears have been heightened after two suicide bomb attacks killed 34 people in the southern city of Volgograd on 29 and 30 December.
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  • The five suspects were in possession of "grenades, ammunition, and a homemade explosive device packed with shrapnel", the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said.
  • A "controlled zone" near Olympic venues will limit access to people with tickets and proof of identity while another "forbidden zone" will be in place in large areas around Sochi.
  • On Friday, the US issued a travel alert for its citizens planning to attend the Games.
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France Oil Giant Is Expected to Seek Shale Gas in Britain - NYTimes.com - 0 views

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  • Total would commit about $50 million for a roughly 40 percent stake in licenses held by a group of companies in Lincolnshire in the East Midlands
  • Britain, however, is the lone country in Western Europe that has encouraged the exploration of shale gas, which is produced through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which uses a high-pressure mix of water, sand and chemicals.
  • “Total, a French company who can’t frack in their own country because the French government has stopped the French countryside being ripped up, have now turned their sights on the U.K. countryside, where the U.K. government seems happy to allow the industrialization of our green and pleasant land,” the environmental group Greenpeace said in a statement on Saturday.
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  • If 10 percent of that gas could be produced, it would be enough for about 45 years of British gas consumption at current rates.
  • The Gainsborough Trough, the geological formation where Total plans to explore, has not been investigated for shale gas and oil, but Igas Energy, a British company, has conventional oil and gas production in the vicinity
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In Scandal, Turkey's Leaders May Be Losing Their Tight Grip on News Media - NYTimes.com - 0 views

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  • Mr. Erdogan’s lawyers have also filed suit against a newspaper columnist, once a reliable supporter of the prime minister, for his critical Twitter messages.
  • reports on the discovery of $4.5 million in cash stuffed in shoe boxes at the home of a director of a state bank.
  • “We would never have expected anything like this,” said Numar Baki, a waiter at an Istanbul cafe, referring to the public nature of the scandal.
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  • slow erosion of what had been Mr. Erdogan’s iron grip on all levels of power within Turkish society.
  • More journalists are in jail in Turkey than anywhere else in the world, including China and Iran.
  • hen Nazli Ilicak, a longtime journalist here, lost her job recently at the pro-government newspaper Sabah after emerging as a strong voice against the government’s handling of the corruption inquiry, she said she would simply keep up her criticism on Twitter and on independent websites.
  • Followers of the Muslim spiritual leader Fethullah Gulen, who is in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, have over the years secured top positions in the judiciary and the police and are said to be leading the corruption investigation.
  • “Shoulder to shoulder against fascism” and “This is just the beginning. The struggle continues” — slogans like those raised during the antigovernment protests last May and June.
  • I think I should o
  • “I think I should only tweet about penguins from now on,” Mr. Zeynalov wrote on Twitter after the case was filed, referring to some television channels’ practice of broadcasting a documentary about penguins last spring rather than reporting on the antigovernment protests.
  • “My phone is being tapped,” he said, “but I don’t care.”
  • “Erdogan wants to show that this is a conspiracy, that the United States and Israel are behind it,” he said. “Under no circumstances does he want to talk about corruption.
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BBC News - Blaze ravages ancient Tibetan town - 0 views

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  • More than 100 mostly wooden houses were destroyed in the blaze in Dukezong in Shangri-La county, in the province of Yunnan.
  • Casualties have not so far been reported. The blaze was put out by 2,000 firefighters, police and volunteers, according to local media.
  • "The fire was huge. The wind was blowing hard, and the air was dry... it kept burning, and the firefighters were there, but there was little they could do because they could not get the fire engines onto the old town's narrow streets."
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BBC News - Cuba: US 'very open' to new relationship - 0 views

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  • "Despite our historically difficult relationship...we have been able to speak to each other in a respectful and thoughtful manner," he told a news conference in Havana. But he added that the US wanted a "fundamental change" in the Cuban government's attitude towards its own people. "We want to have that opening reflect - from the Cuban side - a respect for Cubans to express themselves freely, to be able to petition their government with grievances without the danger of arrest."
  • discouraging Cubans from risking their lives at sea to reach the US, by ensuring that there were safe and legal alternatives.
  • The US and Cuba cut formal diplomatic ties more than five decades ago
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  • They came after the first handshake between US President Barack Obama and his counterpart, Raul Castro, last month, at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela in South Africa.
  • "innate graciousness"
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BBC News - West Virginia chemical spill creates water warning - 0 views

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  • About 300,000 people in the US state of West Virginia have been warned not to drink tap water after a chemical spill into a river near the state capital.
  • President Barack Obama has accepted West Virginia's request for a disaster declaration, which allows federal aid to be used.
  • Freedom Industries has said the chemical, 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, could be harmful if swallowed and cause skin and eye irritation.
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  • The spill was first found after the state's environmental protection department received a report of a strange odour near the Elk river on Thursday.
  • While the leaking container held at least 40,000 gallons (182,000 litres), state environmental official Tom Aluise said they were "confident" that no more than 5,000 gallons escaped.
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BBC News - Libyan minister Hassan al-Droui 'killed in Sirte' - 0 views

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  • Local media quoted officials as saying unknown gunmen "sprayed bullets" at Hassan al-Droui near a central market. In another development, at least 15 people were killed in clashes between rival tribes in the country's south.
  • "Hassan al-Droui was killed by unknown attackers overnight, during a visit to his native city of Sirte," a security official told the AFP news agency.
  • Libya has been struggling to assert itself over up to 1,700 different armed militias, each with their own goals, following Col Gaddafi's death.
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  • The violence is the worst between the tribes since they struck a ceasefire agreement in March 2012.
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BBC News - Chris Christie 'humiliated' by bridge-gridlock scandal - 0 views

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  • 9 January 2014 Last updated at 14:25 ET Share this page Email Print Share this pageShareFacebookTwitter Chris Christie 'humiliated' by bridge-gridlock scandal Advertisement $render("advert-post-script-load"); New Jersey Governor Chris Christie: "I am responsible for what happened" Continue reading the main story Related Stories Twitter drips with Christie snark Chris Christie's bridge-sized headache Christie: Republicans' best hope New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has fired an aide who allegedly orchestrated traffic mayhem to pursue a petty political vendetta. Mr Christie, seen as a potential Republican White House candidate, apologised for the scandal, which he said "embarrassed and humiliated" him.
  • Mr Christie, seen as a potential Republican White House candidate, apologised for the scandal, which he said "embarrassed and humiliated" him. The gridlock was allegedly engineered to punish a Democratic mayor who did not endorse the governor's re-election. Mr Christie denied any involvement, blaming "deceitful" staff.
  • "I had no knowledge or involvement in this issue, in its planning or execution," he said, "and I am stunned by the abject stupidity that was shown here."
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  • Asked about a 91-year-old woman who reportedly died after ambulance services were caught up in the gridlock, Mr Christie said that was "awful", though he added it was unclear whether the delay had contributed to her death.
  • "An apology today might be a bit premature. "I think this is a story that has not yet experienced its final chapter."
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