houseNews1,500 arrests for climate protest: Police open streets with water cannons
Extinction Rebellion blocked a motorway near the seat of parliament and government in The Hague. The police acted strictly during the eviction process.
Police transport Extinction Rebellion activists.Phil Neguise / Dr
The Hague–Dutch police have arrested 1,579 people at a demonstration organized by climate activists in The Hague. For the seventh time, they closed a section of the A12 motorway not far from the seat of parliament and government in the Netherlands.
According to the Extinction Rebellion group, the action was meant to protest government energy policy. According to estimates, more than 3,000 people have followed the call to participate.
– Extinction Rebellion The Hague (@XRTheHague) May 27, 2023
According to the police, hundreds of protesters were removed from the street and transferred to waiting buses. Some had chained themselves. According to the APS, the police used water cannons to prevent protesters from blocking the highway. Officials intervened earlier than in previous disturbances of Extinction Rebellion. The Hague city administration had previously warned protesters not to block the motorway.
China is angry: The US destroyer USS Halsey entered Chinese territorial waters „without permission.” The US Navy waves it off.
BEIJING – Against the backdrop of increasing tensions in the South China Sea China On Friday, the United States responded with sharp words to the passage of a US Navy ship near a group of disputed islands. Military spokesman Tian Junli said on Friday that “the US actions seriously violate China’s sovereignty and security.” Thus, the United States creates “security risks in the South China Sea” and is “the greatest destroyer of peace and stability in the region.”
According to military spokesman Tian, the missile destroyer USS Halsey entered Chinese territorial waters near the Xisha Islands “illegally and without permission from the Chinese authorities.” „Xisha Islands” is the Chinese term for the Paracel Islands. China sent naval and air forces to „track and monitor” the ship „in accordance with laws and regulations” and „issued an alert to redirect it away.”
Tensions in the South China Sea: US confirms passage of USS Halsey
The US Navy confirmed the ship’s passage, saying it „asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands.” “Unlawful and extensive maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to freedom of the seas,” she said.
China has established a number of military bases on the Paracel Islands, although Vietnam and Taiwan also claim sovereignty over the island chain. The United States and its allies frequently send warships to the region to bolster their claim to freedom of passage.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s air force conducted a military exercise in the Penghu Islands, which are located a few kilometers from the Chinese coast and are administered by Taiwan. Several fighter jets fired live ammunition, including missiles and US-made laser-guided bombs, according to video footage distributed by Taiwan’s military news agency. These were „routine training” for fighter pilots in which they practiced their „skills in precision strikes in air combat.”
The exercises come ten days before the inauguration of Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te, who won the elections last January and whom Beijing describes as a „dangerous separatist.”
China increases its pressure on Taiwan
China views Taiwan as a breakaway province that should be reunited with the mainland – by military force if necessary. In recent years, China has increased its pressure on Taiwan, regularly sending fighter jets and warships near the island.
Meanwhile, the Philippines and the United States concluded joint military exercises in areas near disputed maritime areas. Exercises Balikatan („Shoulder to Shoulder” in the language widely spoken in the Philippines, Tagalog) began on 22 April and also involved one hundred Australian soldiers. (AFP)
The United Nations calls for clarification regarding mass graves in Gaza
May 10, 2024 at 11:41 pm
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Graves containing hundreds of bodies were found near Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis and Al-Shifa Hospital in recent weeks. The UN Security Council is now demanding that investigators be given unfettered access to conduct an investigation.
The UN Security Council in New York demands clarifications about the mass graves discovered in the Gaza Strip. The United Nations said, „Members of the Security Council stressed the need for accountability for violations of international law and called for allowing investigators unhindered access to all mass grave sites in Gaza.”
The UN’s most powerful body has been deeply concerned about the discoveries since the end of April. Graves containing several hundred bodies have been found near Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis and Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in recent weeks.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, was horrified at the time and called for an independent investigation into the deaths. Hospitals enjoy very special protection under international humanitarian law. According to Türk’s office, which cited information from Civil Defense, which is controlled by the armed Hamas movement, some of the bodies had their hands bound.
Israel denies these accusations
The European Union also called for an independent investigation. Peter Stano, spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, said: “This is something that prompts us to demand an independent investigation into all suspicions and all circumstances.” The impression was created that “violations of international human rights may have occurred.”
The Israeli side said that the allegations that Israeli forces buried the bodies of Palestinians there were baseless. Israeli soldiers only examined the bodies in the grave, looking for Israeli hostages.
The Bushman government plane returns to the parking lot
May 10, 2024 at 3:44 pm
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German government aircraft are notoriously prone to breakdowns. Now a technical problem spoils the Federal Minister of Justice’s return flight from Venice shortly before the weekend. Its mechanism must return to the parking position. An hour delay is expected.
Federal Minister of Justice Marco Bushmann and his accompanying delegation were initially unable to leave Venice after the conclusion of the G7 Justice Ministers’ meeting. The reason for this was a technical problem with a government plane. The Minister and his accompanying delegation learned that a delay of several hours was expected after the Global 5000 aircraft was forced to return to the parking lot shortly before its scheduled takeoff at noon. The return flight to Germany was scheduled for early evening with a replacement plane that was supposed to come from Cologne. The exact cause of the collapse is not yet known.
At a meeting in Venice, justice ministers from G7 countries discussed how judicial authorities can use artificial intelligence in a legally safe way. According to the participants, the topic of the two-day meeting in Italy was also the question of where the boundaries for the use of machine learning and robotics should be formulated.
Collapses, collapses, collapses…
Malfunctions on government aircraft are not uncommon. Last year, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had to cancel a government trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji over one.
At the end of 2018, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was involved in a serious accident when she was on her way to the G20 summit in Argentina on the Konrad Adenauer government plane. A faulty component – a central switching unit in the plane’s onboard electronics – paralyzed two radio systems that are supposed to replace each other in emergency situations. The plane that took off from Berlin had to turn back.
After a general repair of the government plane for four months, another malfunction occurred on the first official flight in April 2019. After a nine-hour flight from Berlin to New York with Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on board, a tire exploded during landing so that the Airbus A340 was unable to reach Parking on its own. It is now known that the Konrad Adenauer government plane, which has become known as the Breakdown Plane, will be scrapped.
