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MTI: Gyengült pénteken a forint a bankközi devizapiacon. Az eurót este hat órakor 384,30 forinton jegyezték a kora reggeli 382,96 forint után. A dollár jegyzése 356,36 forintra emelkedett 352,03 forintról, a svájci frank jegyzése pedig szinte változatlanul, 410,63 forinton áll 410,62 forint után.

Am Sonntag lässt die Pariser Bürgermeisterin Anne Hidalgo über horrende Parkgebühren für grosse SUVs abstimmen. Die Stimmbevölkerung könnte mit einem Ja den radikalen Anti-Auto-Kurs der sozialistischen Regierung stützen – und Paris Vorbild für andere Städte werden.

Seit längerem steht die Swiss wegen ihrer Kleidervorschriften in der Kritik. Jetzt hat die Fluggesellschaft ihr Reglement angepasst. Neu dürfen beispielsweise auch Männer Make-up tragen.

Cassidy K. schickte minderjährigen Schülern Snapchat-Nachrichten mit explizitem Inhalt. Zudem nahm sie «sexuell orientierte Handlungen» an ihnen vor. Jetzt bekannte sie sich schuldig.

Euronews: Németország éles fordulatot vett a migrációs politikában a Merkel-korszak befogadó intézkedéseihez képest. A Witness riportere, Monica Pinna Berlinben járt, hogy megtudja, mi a helyzet, mi változik, és miért.

Nur zwei Wochen nachdem Hannah Neeleman ihr achtes Baby zur Welt brachte, nimmt die schönste Ehefrau von South Dakota an der Wahl zur Mrs. World teil. Kurz vor dem Auftritt stillt die 33-Jährige das Neugeborene noch hinter der Bühne.

In Corsier-sur-Vevey VD hat sich am Freitagmorgen ein grosser Felssturz ereignet. Es wurden keine Personen verletzt, aber einige Strassen wurden blockiert.

Az egészségügyi minisztérium a közeljövőben nem tervez olyan törvénymódosítást, amely lehetővé tenné, hogy a recept nélkül kapható gyógyszereket a gyógyszertárakon kívül is árusítani lehessen. Tervezi azonban, hogy egyeztetni fog a kérdésről a gazdasági szereplőkkel – tájékoztatta a minisztérium a TASR-t.

Ein Affe, der nach einem Ausbruch aus einem schottischen Tierpark fünf Tage lang durch die Highlands streifte, hat sich nach seiner Rückkehr wieder gut eingelebt. Er verlor kein Gewicht und ass auf seinem Freigang offenbar ziemlich viele Erdnüsse.

Les ambassadeurs des 27 États membres de l’UE ont approuvé à l’unanimité un cadre règlementaire exhaustif sur l’intelligence artificielle, le premier de ce genre au monde, entérinant ainsi l’accord politique conclu en décembre par les co-législateurs au terme des négociations interinstitutionnelles.

In ganz Deutschland bis auf Bayern sind am Freitag Busse und Bahnen wegen eines Streiks im öffentlichen Nahverkehr ausgefallen. Die Gewerkschaft Verdi hatte die insgesamt 90'000 Beschäftigten der kommunalen Verkehrsbetriebe zu Arbeitsniederlegungen aufgerufen.

This is the first time African music will have its own category at the prestigious Grammy awards.

Ismét meghalt egy orosz tábornok. Alekszandr Tatarenko a belbeki légi támaszpont elleni ukrán csapásban vesztette életét. Ő a 13. katonai vezető, akit Putyin elnök elvesztett a 23 hónapja tartó háborúban – írta a Szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu.

562290 Annie Engstroem

Together with the Association of Journalists (AJM) and our other partners, the OSCE Mission to Skopje remains steadfast in its commitment to supporting high-quality journalism. This includes a focus on strengthening independent reporting, advancing investigative journalism, and promoting a diverse media environment in North Macedonia.

Our continuous partnership with AJM features the annual summer camp designed for young journalists, with a primary emphasis on enhancing investigative journalism skills and fostering proficiency in both digital and physical self-protection. The activity has evolved into a valuable platform for the professional development of emerging journalists and serves as a hub for editorial networking.

The Mission is committed to expanding the reach and impact of our joint efforts, fostering increased cooperation among journalists within the country and the wider region. Building on past achievements, intensified collaborations aim to inform and empower young journalists through regional events and training programs.

Underlining the critical need to support education and encouragement in this area, discussions are underway for the establishment of an Academy for young journalists. The goal is to enhance reporting skills, foster high-quality journalism, and create a robust network that facilitates knowledge exchange and professional growth. Ultimately, the aim is to better equip the next generation of journalists with the tools needed to navigate the evolving media landscape and contribute to an informed and independent press.

In our discussions on future initiatives, emphasis was also given to AJM's proposal for a fund supporting media pluralism. The establishment of this fund seeks to ensure equal access to resources for all media and journalists, contributing to a more balanced and diverse media landscape in the country.

Ensuring journalistic independence and prioritizing public interest in the media space remains a key focus of the Mission. Collaborating with AJM, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and other partners, the Mission consistently works on the protection of journalists, placing special emphasis on the safety of female journalists.

In March, the Mission will support trainings for the youth wings of political parties, also focusing on monitoring and combating hate speech against journalists. This initiative aims to raise awareness of the detrimental effects of such speech, particularly in the context of political activities and electoral campaigns this year.

TASR: Péntek délután véget ért a parlament 9. ülésének harmadik tárgyalási napja, amelyen a Btk. módosításáról tárgyaltak a képviselők, a módosító javaslat második olvasatban van. Főként ellenzéki képviselők szólaltak fel a vitában, akik terjedelmes módosító indítványokat nyújtottak be. A kormány módosító javaslatáról szóló ülés kedden (február 6.) reggel folytatódik.

Sa’ada, Yemen. Aftermath of a Saudi airstrikes. Credit: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad

By Melek Zahine
KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb 2 2024 (IPS)

Two months ago, an opinion piece I wrote, “The Cries of Gaza Reach Afghanistan,” was published with the hope of reminding American and other Western leaders of how quickly wars ON terror descend into wars OF terror because of their disproportionate impact on civilians and the unpredictability once unleashed.

The United States and its Western alliance of ‘forever wars’ since 9/11 were all entered under the pretext of defeating terrorism. Instead, they strengthened the political and military standing of those they aimed to destroy while simultaneously causing unimaginable suffering for millions of civilians, including their own citizens.

According to Brown University’s Cost of War Project and various other independent research groups, a catastrophic 4.5 million direct and indirect deaths are attributed to Western efforts to “defeat terrorism” since 9/11.

If Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and Libya have taught us anything, it should be this. Today, the Taliban once again rules Afghanistan, and Iraq, after years of sectarian violence resulting from the U.S. invasion has moved closer to the political influence of Iran. In Syria, Bashar al-Assad’s autocratic rule remains firmly in place. The U.S./European NATO-led air war to rid Libya of Muammar Qaddafi and usher in democracy in 2011 was so naively executed that no consideration was paid to how such a reckless, violent endeavor would ultimately trigger a civil war, terrorism, and mass migration. In Yemen, U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s war against Houthi rebels has led to the deaths of more than 200,000 Yemenis and strengthened the Houthis to the point where, for the “first time in history, a naval blockade is being successfully enacted” by a non-state actor with “no navy and cheap, low-grade technology.”

The same hubris that has blinded the West’s addiction to answering terrorism with war since 9/11 is the same hubris and hypocrisy that fuels its unconditional support for Israel’s war against Hamas today. To be clear, the attacks of Hamas on October 7, like the attacks of Al Qaeda on 9/11, deserve the harshest global condemnation and a proportional, strategic response that respects international law. It does not justify the unconditional support and shielding of Israel’s punitive war on Gaza’s unarmed civilian population, its civilian infrastructure, and its cultural and religious heritage while further risking the lives of the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Moreover, this war serves no military objective for Israel and offers no strategic benefit for those aiding and abetting Israel’s war from Washington, London, and various EU capitals.

In seeking to wipe out Hamas, all that Israel and its supporters led by the United States are doing is wiping out Gaza. In 100 days, Israel has succeeded in decimating 4 percent of Gaza’s population. Ninety thousand men, women, and children in the Gaza Strip have been killed, seriously injured, or disappeared. 75% of those killed are women and children (Source: Euro-Med Monitor), not Hamas fighters.

If Gaza was called an open-air prison before this war, now it’s an open-air graveyard. A closer look at the 4 percent shows an even bigger tragedy unfolding by the minute. Unchallenged by those who are supplying it with arms and political cover, Israel is targetting Palestinian healthcare workers, humanitarian relief specialists, journalists, artists, poets, civil society activists, and educators, along with their families. As if the killing of Gaza’s children and its brightest wasn’t enough, Israel, through the collaboration of its Western allies, is also obliterating Gaza’s residential and public service infrastructure.

According to a Wall Street Journal satellite imagery survey, “Israel has bombarded and destroyed 70 percent of homes in Gaza.” According to the W.H.O., “none of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are functioning,” and universities, including its primary medical teaching college, have been blown up by the I.D.F. Even places of worship, mosques, and churches, historically places of refuge during times of war, haven’t been spared the wrath of the Israeli-Western assault on Gaza.

Investigations conducted by The Washington Post and Truthout state, “Israel has deployed over 22,000 U.S. produced bombs on Gaza including 2,000-pound ‘bunker bombs’ which experts warn are not meant for densely populated areas as well as white phosphorus produced by munitions manufacturer, the Pine Bluff Arsenal, in the U.S. state of Arkansas (source: Arkansas Times) and supplied to Israel by the U.S. government over the years. Despite massive protests in major U.S. cities calling for a cease-fire, President Biden has bypassed Congress on two occasions to get even more weapons to Israel. The U.K. and Europe, for their part, have also continued to supply key weapons to Israel since the start of the war (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) despite loud calls from their citizens for an immediate cease-fire.

When asked about these atrocities, the only reply from Israeli, American, British, and European officials is, “Do you condemn Hamas?” The answer should always be yes, but Hamas’s crimes against Israeli citizens on October 7 are not a license for Israel and the West to kill, maim, and displace the entire unarmed civilian population of Gaza. Furthermore, Israel’s reasoning that Hamas is using the civilians of Gaza as human shields and, therefore, justified in deploying any form of military action it deems necessary is not war but a crime against humanity. It’s also a disingenuous argument meant to create a fog of war repeated with criminal negligence by countless U.S., U.K., and European leaders and government officials.

It’s hard to imagine today, but the suffering being inflicted upon two million Palestinians and the remaining 132 Israeli hostages in Gaza, fatefully connected by history, geography, and the tragic events of October 7, will eventually come to an end. Perhaps the historic ruling by the International Criminal Court of Justice (I.C.J.) will prevail, but this could take months. In the meantime, the atrocities being committed on Gazans will intensify, and the plight of the Israeli hostages will enter an even darker, more desperate stage.

The recent ruling of the world’s highest court, while legally binding, doesn’t have the power of enforcement. Furthermore, the court’s order to Israel to “take measures which prevent further harm on Palestinians” without actually ordering a cease-fire fails to take into consideration the entrenched and sick appetite for war that exists between the world’s political elites who are not providing their unconditional support for Israel’s war on the civilian population of Gaza, but participating and profiting from it.

According to EuroMed Monitoring, “Since the I.C.J.’s ruling, Israel has maintained its rate of killing in Gaza” with either no or muted reactions from Western leaders. The fury but also the inertia of powerful states, regardless of political governance and persuasion, is virtually impossible to stop once their war machines are set in motion. It’s no different for Israel.

It took the United States twenty years to end its war in Afghanistan and almost ten years in Iraq. It still maintains counter-terrorism operations with Saudi Arabia in Yemen despite the deadly impact on Yemeni civilians. Europe continues its unwavering support for continued war in Ukraine for no reason other than political arrogance. Russia, for its part, despite its upper hand in Ukraine, continues to fight with devastating consequences for both Russians and Ukrainians. So, why should Netanyahu and his war cabinet be counted on to rein in their war in Gaza? Like their militarily powerful peers, Israel’s warmongering has no bounds.

The entire population of Northern Gaza is now internally displaced, forced by Israel to move south towards Rafah on the Egyptian border. Despite the I.C.J.’s ruling, Israel has intensified its ground operation towards Rafah, where hundreds of thousands from the North of Gaza are already taking refuge on the outskirts of the city, living for weeks in a harsh desert landscape. If Israel continues its violent push into Rafah as it has warned Egypt it plans to do, the entire population of Gaza will be trapped in a tiny corner of the desert with no protection and no safe passage out.

Those who survive the daily air strikes are now dying of hunger, disease, and injuries left untreated because of the destruction of Gaza’s health care system. Two million people are now also forced to endure the extreme traumas of trying to survive without any viable shelter, food, clean water and sanitation, electricity, and safe passage while surrounded by constant air and ground bombardment, snipers, drone attacks, the cold and rain of winter and perhaps worse of all the inaction of world leaders who have it in their power to end Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza and, now it’s frightening assault on the civilian population of the West Bank, where Hamas isn’t even in power.

Only the United States, specifically President Biden, is uniquely positioned to pressure Israel to respect each of the I.C.J’s rulings. Perhaps, given its reliance on war as an answer to every foreign policy challenge since 9/11, the United States has forgotten it also has something called soft power- something it has sorely neglected the past twenty years.

The easiest way for President Biden to prove that he and the United States are still committed to international law is by announcing his personal support for an immediate cease-fire and showing proof that he’s pressuring Israel to do the same. He will also need to push for a robust and independent humanitarian assistance effort without any interference from Israel at either border crossing into Gaza.

Of course, all of this assumes that President Biden is willing to stop listening to the impenetrable wall of aides and advisors he’s created around himself and start seeing with his own eyes the scale of the suffering and the dire risks of a wider, regional war that is already endangering American lives.

According to a confidential source with extensive U.S. foreign policy experience, the deadly attack on U.S. troops on the border between Jordan and Syria this past week “exhibits how even the projection of U.S. military power serves to fuel conflict rather than mitigate it.” For totally preventable reasons, now the families of these American soldiers can join all the Palestinian and Israeli lives torn apart by the sheer insanity of this preventable war and unfolding humanitarian disaster.

Above all, President Biden needs to start hearing the calls of his fellow citizens, including the many thousands of Jewish Americans, who are demanding that their taxes and their nation not be used to wage yet another senseless war in their names. A failure to do so will have unimaginable consequences not just for Israelis and Palestinians but for the world.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Gunmen stormed the palace of traditional ruler Segun Aremu amid concern about a wave of abductions.

An increase in prize money has contributed to the success of lower-ranked teams at Afcon 2023, claims the head of African football.

Le Chef de l'Etat, Patrice Talon a accordé la ‘'grâce présidentielle'' à 358 personnes « condamnées à des peines criminelles ou correctionnelles par une décision devenue définitive des cours ou tribunaux de la République du Bénin au 31 juillet 2023 ». C'est par décret en présidentiel en date du 6 décembre 2023.

358 condamnés ont été dispensés en 2023 de l'exécution des peines privatives de liberté. Ces personnes ont bénéficié de la ‘'grâce présidentielle'' par décret présidentiel signé le 6 décembre 2023.
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TASR: A jövő hét vége felé kerülhet sor a Martina Šimkovičová (SNS-jelölt) kulturális miniszter leváltásáról szóló rendkívüli ülésre – tájékoztatott pénteken Peter Pellegrini (Hlas) házelnök. A Hlas nem fogja támogatni a leváltását.