position:spokeswoman

’Men Return Completely Changed’: Ukraine Conflict Fueling Surge In Domestic Violence
▻http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-conflict-domestic-violence/26979064.html

A Ukrainian group helping victims of domestic abuse says the conflict in eastern Ukraine has led to a dramatic upsurge in violence against women across the country.

Aliona Zubchenko, the spokeswoman for the Kyiv-based International Women’s Rights Center La Strada, spoke to RFE/RL’s Claire Bigg.

RFE/RL: La Strada says the number of women calling its hotline for victims of domestic violence, human trafficking, and gender discrimination has spiked in recent months. How big is this increase?

Aliona Zubchenko: We took a total of 7,000 calls in 2014, 80 percent of which related to domestic violence. This year, the figure has risen more than twofold. In the first three months of this year, we had more than 2,600 calls.

RFE/RL: Your group blames mounting domestic violence on the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. How are the two connected?

Zubchenko: Women call and tell us that they were married for 15 years, that they had a good family, and that their husbands were never violent, never hit or insulted them. Then they left for the war and returned completely changed. They are violent. They beat the children. They beat their wives and drink. These women don’t know what to do because they don’t recognize the husbands they had before the war in these men.
(…)
We are very worried about the women who call us, but also about those who don’t call us. While the women who call us receive some kind of support, those who either are unable to call us or don’t know where to seek help remain alone with their problems. This is very dangerous.

We can assume that the number of suicides or murders will rise, because what begins as minor violence against women often grows into murder. The war in eastern Ukraine continues. The number of displaced people and soldiers who fought there will continue to grow. The consequences of what is now taking place in our country will be felt for decades.

U.S.: Deal with Iran shouldn’t include clause about recognition of Israel - Diplomacy and Defense - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.650486

http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.493944.1425783696!/image/400276328.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_640/400276328.jpg

The U.S. rejected Saturday Israel’s demand that the final deal between the world powers and Iran regarding its nuclear program would include recognition of “Israel’s right to exist,” Fox News reported.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters that the deal is “an agreement that is only about the nuclear issue,” and that it doesn’t deal with any other issues.

“Nor should it,” she added.

On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that any final agreement with Iran include the aforementioned clause, a day after negotiators in Switzerland announced a framework for a nuclear deal.

“Israel will not accept a deal that will allow a state that calls for its destruction to acquire nuclear weapons,” he said in a statement to the press.

Asked about the demand, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said he had not seen the specific request but was aware of Israel’s ongoing concerns.

“We understand his position,” Schultz told reporters aboard Air Force One, “The president would never sign onto a deal that he felt was a threat to the state of Israel.”

Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rohani, in a televised speech, on Friday hailed the framework as “a first step towards productive interactions with the world.”

Russian energy minister suggests holding Russia-Ukraine-EU meeting on gas in Berlin
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/russian-energy-minister-suggests-holding-russia-ukraine-eu-meeting-on-gas-

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak has said he will visit Berlin on April 13 and suggested that, if EU and Ukrainian officials give their consent, a trilateral meeting on gas could also take place in the German capital on this date.

Si c’est bien à Berlin ( c’est quand même plus pratique…), ce serait un joli symbole.

NATO intercepts Russian fighters over Baltic Sea | Daily Mail Online
▻http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3000812/NATO-intercepts-Russian-fighters-Baltic-Sea.html

A NATO patrol intercepted Russian fighter jets over the Baltic Sea, Lithuanian authorities said on Wednesday, as Moscow marks the anniversary of its takeover of Crimea with one of its largest military drills in years.

The group of eight Su-27 and Su-34 fighter jets and three Russian military transports was intercepted over international waters on Tuesday, a Lithuanian Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said.

“These were first Russian fighters intercepted by NATO’s Baltic air police this year,” Viktorija Cieminyte said, adding that the Russian pilots switched off their transponders to avoid commercial radar and did not talk to air traffic control.

“Civil aviation over the Baltic Sea was endangered because of the secretive way the airplanes flew,” she said.

A year after annexing Crimea from Ukraine, Russia announced the start of military exercises on Monday involving war planes, submarines and more than 45,000 troops and due to range from the Arctic to the Black Sea.

In Tuesday’s sortie, the Russian jets flew unannounced from mainland Russia to the Kaliningrad enclave bordering NATO member states Poland and Lithuania, Cieminyte said.

Sixteen other Russian military planes - intelligence gathering aircraft, mid-air refuellers and transports - have been intercepted by NATO’s Baltic air patrol so far this year, according to weekly reports from the Lithuanian ministry.

(Reporting By Andrius Sytas; editing by John Stonestreet)

Au 1er avril, Jen Psaki quittera la fonction de porte-parole du Département d’état et deviendra DirCom de la Maison Blanche.

Obama picks State’s Psaki to head White House communications
▻http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7bfe304ec88f463c99be262647d08e86/obama-picks-states-psaki-head-white-house-communications

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki will become President Barack Obama’s new communications director, filling a key slot as Obama embarks on the final two years of his presidency, White House officials said Thursday.

She replaces veteran Democratic media strategist Jennifer Palmieri, who is leaving the White House to join Hillary Rodham Clinton’s likely presidential campaign. Psaki will step into her new role April 1.

Les Russes la regrettent déjà

►https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOnwdmpButo

Est-ce que son portrait continuera à faire partie du décor de l’émission Псаки на ночь Psaki at Night ?

http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzAyLzE5L2JkL1BzYWtpQXROaWdoLjAxNDBiLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/7b599a9b/fcc/Psaki-At-Night-Portrait.jpg

ekathimerini.com | US concern at tensions off Cyprus coast
▻http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_01/11/2014_544233

As Turkey fuels fears in the eastern Mediterranean by insisting on maintaining the seismic survey vessel Barbaros off the southern coast of Cyprus, Washington has expressed its concern over renewed tensions in the region and has underlined its support for Nicosia’s sovereignty and right to develop resources in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

In a media briefing in Washington over the weekend, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the US has not changed its position on Cyprus. “We continue to recognize the Republic of Cyprus’s right to develop its resources and its exclusive economic zones,” she said. Asked why Washington does not call on Turkey to stop transgressions off Cyprus, in the same way as it called on China to freeze provocative acts in the South China Sea, Psaki said, “every region and every conflict and every country is different.”
(…)
Nicosia halted the latest UN-buffered peace drive on Cyprus earlier this month in protest at Turkey’s plans to search for oil and gas in waters where the Cypriot government has already licensed companies to drill.

A decision by Turkey’s National Security Council to maintain its presence off the southern coast of Cyprus, despite objections by Greece, Cyprus and Egypt, has heightened fears of tensions climaxing in the region.

In policy shift, U.S. opens direct talks with Syrian Kurds
▻http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/10/16/243690/in-policy-shift-us-opens-direct.html

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration acknowledged Thursday that a U.S. official for the first time met with a representative of a Syrian Kurdish political party that’s closely linked to a group on the U.S. terrorist list.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said a U.S. diplomat met with a counterpart from the main Kurdish political party in Syria – the Democratic Union Party, better known by its Kurdish acronym as the PYD – to discuss the U.S.-led fight against the Islamic State. The PYD’s militia is engaged in fierce battles with the Islamist extremists, especially near the town of Kobani along the border with Turkey.

The direct talks are a sign of the shifting alliances created by the rise of the Islamic State. In Iraq, for example, the U.S. is providing air cover for Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim militias that once targeted American forces. And now in Syria, it appears the United States is willing to work with a group that’s tied to the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, which has waged a guerrilla war for Kurdish rights in Turkey for 30 years and which has been on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations for nearly two decades. Turkey and the European Union also have blacklisted the PKK.

L’armée israélienne accusée d’avoir tué un nouvel adolescent, Bahaa Bader 13 ans, près de Ramallah - NYTimes.com

▻http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/17/world/middleeast/israeli-troops-are-suspected-in-shooting-of-a-teenager-.html?_r=0

The Israeli military said it would immediately investigate reports that soldiers killed a 13-year-old Palestinian on Thursday night during a confrontation in a village near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The boy, Bahaa Sameer Mousa Bader, was shot once in the chest and died 20 minutes after arriving at the hospital, said Dr. Sameer Saliba of the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said the soldiers had entered Beit Liqya, a village of 8,000 near the barrier that separates most of the West Bank from Israel, to stop people from hurling rocks at the barrier. The spokeswoman, speaking on the condition of anonymity under military protocol, said the troops had responded with live ammunition when residents threw firebombs at them as they were leaving the area.

Ehab Bessaiso, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, condemned the killing “with all means,” saying in an interview that “the accumulation of incidents like this is undermining all efforts towards achieving a political solution, and in fact is contributing to instability in the region.”

The Palestine Liberation Organization said Bahaa was the 53rd Palestinian killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem this year, including several teenagers whose deaths set off protests in the streets and outcries abroad.
Last month, Mohamed Sinokrot, 15, was killed by what a Palestinian doctor determined in an autopsy to have been a sponge-covered police bullet that hit his head during a clash in East Jerusalem. In May, Nadeem Siam Nawara, 17, and Mohammad Mahmoud Odeh Salameh, 16, were shot during a protest on Nakba Day, which commemorates the Palestinian expulsion from the land that became Israel in 1948.

The Israeli military has not released results of a promised investigation into the Nakba Day shootings. A Palestinian doctor said the youths had been killed by live ammunition, though soldiers supposedly did not fire any.

“We have never seen a serious investigation by the Israeli Army into incidents like this,” Mr. Bessaiso said. Of Thursday’s fatal encounter, he added, “There would have been different alternative methods in order to prevent such a tragic incident, but I think that Israeli soldiers, they show carelessness about Palestinian lives.”

The military spokeswoman said events unfolded between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Israel time. (Clocks in the West Bank are currently set an hour behind Israel time.) She would not say how large a crowd the soldiers had faced in Beit Liqya, or how many had thrown stones or firebombs.

Palestinian news and social media sites reported that firebombs had hit an army vehicle and set it aflame.

“There was a violent riot in Beit Liqya,” the military spokeswoman said. “They responded to the threat with live fire.”

Dr. Saliba said Bahaa arrived around 7:25 p.m. Palestinian time in critical condition, a bullet having entered his chest on the left side and exited on the right. “The heart muscle wasn’t operating,” he said. “The bleeding never stopped.”

Israel’s SodaStream in spat over working hours for Bedouin women - Staff are being required to toil 12-hour shifts, which the company says is entirely aboveboard.
By Tali Heruti-Sover | Sep. 12, 2014| Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/business/.premium-1.615366

SodaStream, the Israeli maker of home-carbonation devices, has been accused of overworking Bedouin women employees, but the company that’s famous for spokeswoman Scarlett Johansson says it’s simply adhering to workers’ contracts.

At SodaStream’s new factory in the Negev, female production-line workers, many of them mothers and Bedouin, have been required to work from 7 A.M. to 7 P.M., employees say.

The contract that new workers signed, which has been obtained by TheMarker, stipulates a nine-and-a-half-hour day, including breaks required by law.

But recently, workers were asked to fulfill a stipulation that requires them to work more or fewer hours based on the company’s needs. This can include shifts up to 12-hours long that include additional breaks. There can also be 12-hour evening shifts, and SodaStream can notify employees on short notice.

Around 300 people work in the factory that opened in mid-May. The plant is expected to eventually employ 1,000 people and replace SodaStream’s factory in the Mishor Adumim industrial area in the West Bank.

UNHCR: Iraq’s tragedy is unprecedented

What is happening in Iraq is a tragedy the country has not seen for the past 20 years, spokeswoman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Natalia Prokopchuk said.

In statements to the Anadolu news agency, Prokopchuk said that until recently the bulk of UNHCR’s aid went to Jordan and countries neighbouring Syria, but now the aid goes mostly to Iraqi Kurdistan.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/images/article_images/middle-east/turkish-aid-being-delivered-to-iraqi-refugees-who-escaped-mosul.jpg

#Irak #tragédie #réfugiés #asile #migration

حماس تتهم اسرائيل بخرق التهدئة الانسانية : أسر الضابط وقتل الجنديين قبل سريان التهدئة
▻http://www.alquds.co.uk/?p=200600

حماس تتهم اسرائيل بخرق التهدئة الانسانية: أسر الضابط وقتل الجنديين قبل سريان التهدئة

Annonce - incertaine, comme la première fois - de la capture d’un soldat israélien (un officier). Hamas affirme que c’est plus d’une heure avant la trève, Israël dit le contraire.

►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/three-day-ceasefire-begins-gaza

US “gravely concerned” for Palestinian-American teen held in Israeli jail
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/us-gravely-concerned-palestinian-american-teen-held-israeli-jail

The United States on Monday urged #Israel to expedite the case of a 15-year-old American citizen held for three weeks on charges of rock-throwing, amid concerns he has been mistreated in custody. #Mohammed_Abu_Nie — who has dual American and Palestinian citizenship — was arrested in east Jerusalem on July 3, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed. “We are certainly gravely concerned about the detention of an American citizen child,” she told reporters. read more

#Palestine

CNN Removes Reporter Diana Magnay From Israel-Gaza After ’Scum’ Tweet
▻http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/18/cnn-diana-magnay-israel-gaza_n_5598866.html

CNN has removed correspondent Diana Magnay from covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after she tweeted that Israelis who were cheering the bombing of Gaza, and who had allegedly threatened her, were “scum.”

“After being threatened and harassed before and during a liveshot, Diana reacted angrily on Twitter,” a CNN spokeswoman said in a statement to The Huffington Post.

“She deeply regrets the language used, which was aimed directly at those who had been targeting our crew," the spokeswoman continued. "She certainly meant no offense to anyone beyond that group, and she and CNN apologize for any offense that may have been taken.”

The spokeswoman said Magnay has been assigned to Moscow.

Hier: NBC News Pulls Veteran Reporter from Gaza After Witnessing Israeli Attack on Children
►http://seenthis.net/messages/276882

More #Lebanon rockets strike Israeli occupied territories
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/more-lebanon-rockets-strike-israeli-occupied-territories

Rockets were fired at from southern Lebanon towards Israeli occupied territories on Monday, prompting artillery fire from Israeli forces, Lebanese security officials and the Israeli occupation army said, in the third such rocket attack from Lebanon since Friday. An Israeli police spokeswoman said there was no immediate word of damage or casualties from the rocket fire. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The attacks from Lebanon have coincided with a relentless Israeli assault the besieged #Gaza Strip which has killed at least 160 people. read more

#Israel #Palestine

#UN: #Israel's targeting of #Gaza homes “may” constitute war crime
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/un-israels-targeting-gaza-homes-may-constitute-war-crime

Israel could be violating the laws of war by bombing Palestinian homes in Gaza, the UN’s human rights office said Friday, as the death toll from the Israeli strikes rose to 100. “We have received disturbing reports that many of the civilian casualties, including of children, occurred as a result of strikes on homes,” said spokeswoman #Ravina_Shamdasani. “Such reports raise doubts about whether the Israeli air strikes have been in accordance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” she told reporters. read more

#Palestine

John Oliver may have crashed the FCC’s comments system · Newswire · The A.V. Club
▻http://www.avclub.com/article/john-oliver-may-have-crashed-fccs-comments-system-205345

On Sunday night, John Oliver dedicated much of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver to talking about net neutrality, particularly as it relates to some proposed rule changes by the FCC. On Monday morning, the FCC’s comments system went down. Coincidence? Well, the FCC isn’t eager to draw that particular line of cause-and-effect; according to Variety, an FCC spokeswoman would only confirm that the system was down for a few hours on Monday, adding that it was “unclear if the high volume was directly related to the John Oliver segment.”

Oh, sure. But if you watch the segment in question (it’s a long one, but it’s great), at around 11:15, Oliver puts up the FCC comments page URL, does away with fancy graphics, and directly implores Internet commenters to do his bidding:

Good evening, monsters. This may be the moment you’ve spent your whole lives training for. […] Ralph Macchio, you’ve been honing your skills—waxing cars and painting fences. Well guess what? Now it’s time to do some fucking karate. For once in your life, we need you to challenge that anger—that badly spelled bile—that you normally reserve for unforgivable attacks on actresses you seem to think have put on weight. Or politicians you disagree with. Or photos of your ex-girlfriend getting on with her life. Or non-white actors being cast as fictional characters. […] We need you to get out there, and for once in your lives, focus your indiscriminate rage in a useful direction. Seize your moment, my lovely trolls. Turn on caps lock and fly, my pretties, fly!

A good encapsulation of net neutrality might throw some people into a frenzy of action—and the video has gone somewhat viral, with over 700,000 pageviews. But a call to action for the trolls, lurkers, commenters, and overly opinionated writers of the online world? Yeah, we can see how that might bring down a website or two.

Watch the full segment here:

►https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpbOEoRrHyU

#neutralité_du_net #FCC #John_Oliver #trolling #commentaires

Forty hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners hospitalized
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/forty-hunger-striking-palestinian-prisoners-hospitalized

Israel’s Prisons Service has hospitalized 40 Palestinian inmates who have been refusing food for over a month in protest against the terms of their imprisonment, spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said Wednesday. Describing their condition as “reasonable” Weizman told AFP they had been taken to hospital at different stages. But Palestinian officials said that in many cases their lives were in danger, and urged international pressure to find a solution. read more

#administrative_detention #Israel #Palestine

Israeli police attacked by settlers for investigating “price tag” attack
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/israeli-police-attacked-settlers-investigating-price-tag-attack

http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/4cols/leading_images/854279-01-08.jpg

Israeli demonstrators hold national flags during a rally to support an Israeli soldier, who was suspended after being shown in a video clip cocking his gun and aiming at Palestinian teenagers, on May 2, 2014 in front of the Israeli Defense ministry in the Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv. (Photo: AFP - Jack Guez)

Israeli police investigating a recent attack on a mosque were mobbed overnight by around 100 demonstrators at a West Bank settlement, a spokeswoman said Sunday. As concerns grow over the spiraling number of hate crimes by Zionist extremists against Palestinians in the West Bank and Palestinian citizens of #Israel - euphemistically referred to as “price tag” attacks - the Israeli authorities are coming under increasing pressure to tackle the (...)

#Palestine #price_tag #Top_News

La Russie perdante dans le #Grand_Jeu énergétique ?

Putin Is Losing Eastern European Energy Gamble | Daniel J. Graeber
▻http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-j-graeber/putin-is-losing-eastern-e_b_5199805.html

Quelques perles…

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf warned Putin against using energy as a geopolitical tool in a crisis that’s re-opened old Cold War wounds.

“We’ve said very clearly that Russia should not use this as a weapon and that, actually, Russia has a lot to lose if they try to do so,” she said.

Le titre de l’article reprend ces menaces des États-Unis. Sa conclusion est nettement moins affirmée…

With both Russia and the European community interconnected by natural gas, the relationship may remain intact despite the rhetoric from both sides of the lowering Iron Curtain.

*************************

Sinon, à moyen terme, qui sera perdant ?

Ukraine crisis seen speeding Gazprom deal with China | Agricultural Commodities | Reuters
▻http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL6N0NF3DW20140423

• Long-delayed Russia-China gas deal seen in May
• Gazprom has agreed to lower gas price - sources
• Rosneft competition spurs Gazprom to speed up deal
• Russia looks East as relations with West sour over Ukraine

La Russie (RosNeft) baisse ses exigences, et il « reste » à construire un gazoduc sibérien… Mais dans 4-5 ans, avec ce futur gazoduc, les termes de la négociation risquent d’être sensiblement différents.

Le futur (?) ambassadeur iranien à l’ONU aurait fait partie des étudiants preneurs d’otages de l’ambassade des États-Unis à Téhéran en 1979

PressTV - Iran’s appointed UN envoy competent for post : Afkham
▻http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/04/08/357692/irans-appointed-un-envoy-fit-for-post

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham says the country’s appointee for the post of ambassador to the United Nations, Hamid Abutalebi, is qualified for the position.

“In our viewpoint, the ambassador who has been introduced is qualified for the position and has had important diplomatic posts in European countries and Australia and has had a good, effective and positive performance during his past [diplomatic] missions,” Afkham told reporters at her weekly press conference on Tuesday.

She made the remarks in response to a question about whether Iran would propose another person instead of Abutalebi given that the US has voiced concerns about the appointment.

Aboutalebi’s appointment by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has been criticized by the Barack Obama administration, which has described the nomination as “extremely troubling.”

As host nation of the United Nations’ headquarters, the US should admit the chosen representatives of the UN’s members; however, under limited circumstances, it can refuse to grant visas to such representatives.

Afkham said Iran has done the necessary correspondence for Aboutalebi’s visa application through the appropriate channels, and will make further decisions based on formal and diplomatic response regarding the issue.

On Monday, the US Senate passed a measure by a voice vote that would bar Aboutalebi from entering the United States for his involvement in the takeover of the US embassy in Tehran during post-revolution incidents in 1979. However, the Senate “vote is symbolic because the executive branch issues visas to the U.S.,” according to Bloomberg.

UPDATE 3-McDonald’s quits Crimea as fears of trade clash grow | Reuters
▻http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/04/04/ukraine-crisis-mcdonalds-idINL5N0MW18J20140404

“Due to operational reasons beyond our control, McDonald’s has taken the decision to temporarily close our three restaurants in Simferopol, Sevastopol and Yalta,” a spokeswoman said.

The Crimean outlets are not franchises, but owned and operated by McDonald’s itself.

(…)

The company’s decision was welcomed by the deputy speaker of the Russian parliament, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, known for his anti-Western rhetoric, who demanded that McDonald’s pull its business out of Russia entirely.

“It would be good if they closed here too ... if they disappeared for good. Pepsi-Cola would be next,” Russian media quoted Zhirinovsky as saying.

Zhirinovsky, whose nationalist Liberal Democratic party largely backs President Vladimir Putin in parliament, said the party would organise pickets at McDonald’s restaurants across the country.

McDonald’s, which currently operates more than 400 restaurants in Russia, was the first international fast-food chain to tap the Russian market when it opened in Moscow’s Pushkin Square before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FulmXQACshE/TnNHo8e5-_I/AAAAAAAAARg/q74x3b27tkA/s1600/McLenin%2BTee%2BShirt.jpg http://www.tsukanovartcollection.com/pict/Kosolapov-Lenin%20main.jpg

Un joli petit drone nord coréen

Crashed drones reveal state of North’s drone program | NK News - North Korea News

▻http://www.nknews.org/2014/04/crashed-drones-reveal-state-of-norths-drone-program

April 3rd, 2014

▻http://www.nknews.org/wp-content/themes/NKNews/timthumb.php?src=http://www.nknews.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/crashed-drones.jpg&w=657&h=360&q=100

Two North Korean unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) – commonly known as drones – crashed in South Korean territory in late March. Though neither design is very large or advanced, they demonstrate that Pyongyang is developing drone technology capable of conducting reconnaissance against the South.

#drones #corée_du_nord

Jailed Leaders of Egypt’s 2011 Revolt Describe Beatings - NYTimes.com
▻http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/jailed-leaders-of-egypts-2011-revolt-describe-beatings

In a letter smuggled out of Tora Prison over the weekend, Mr. Maher wrote of recently encountering another group of activists who took part in the 2011 uprising and were jailed for protesting on the revolution’s third anniversary in January. Those detainees, Mr. Maher wrote, “exhibited signs of exhaustion and torture.”

According to an English translation of the letter provided to The Lede by Michelle McElroy, an activist in Los Angeles who acts as a United States spokeswoman for the April 6 Youth Movement, Mr. Maher discussed the issue of torture in Egypt’s prisons at length, and concluded with a warning that such violence by the state would lead to only more violence against the state:

Israeli forces kill Palestinian man in #west_bank
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/israeli-forces-kill-palestinian-man-west-bank

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man in the northern West Bank on Wednesday, an Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed on social media. In a misspelled tweet, the social media head of Israeli Occupying Forces Avital Leibovich wrote that Israeli soldiers had “eliminated” a Palestinian man near Ramallah. read more

#Israel #Palestine #Top_News

No jurisdiction to investigate crimes in Egypt : ICC - Ahram Online
▻http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/91808.aspx

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has said it has no jurisdiction to investigate crimes in Egypt. “As Egypt is not a party to the Rome Statute, the ICC has no jurisdiction to open any investigation on the Egyptian soil without the Egyptian authorities’ consent,” an ICC spokeswoman told Ahram Online.

Last month, the Muslim Brotherhood group filed a formal complaint with the ICC, asking for a full investigation into alleged crimes against humanity in Egypt.