15 Around the world
guyanatimesgy.com
monday, dECember 16, 2013
Huge rally in Kiev in support of closer ties with EU S
ome 200,000 people have rallied in the Ukrainian capital Kiev to protest against President Viktor Yanukovych’s refusal to sign a landmark European Union (EU) deal. Yanukovych backed out of signing the association agreement after months of negotiation, apparently under strong pressure from Russia. He is to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday. The EU has put any new talks on the agreement on hold until there is a clear commitment to sign. News agencies’ estimates of the size of the crowd at Independence Square ranged from 150,000 to 300,000. This is the latest in a series of demonstrations over the past few weeks by the opposition who see Ukraine’s future as part of the EU rather than aligned with Russia. The series of protests, the largest since Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution, is de-
The protesters have been holding mass rallies in Kiev every weekend since President Yanukovych pulled out of the EU agreement
signed to push Yanukovych to dismiss his government and call fresh elections, opposition leaders say. Makeshift barriers around the perimeter of the main protest encampment on Independence Square have been strengthened following an attempt by special police to dismantle them
earlier this week. Opposition leaders have urged protesters to remain vigilant, fearing “provocateurs” could trigger clashes between rival demonstrators. Yuri Lutsenko, a former interior minister and opposition politician, told the protesters on Independence Square they were fighting
for independence. “What is happening on the Maidan [square] today?” he said. “It is an anti-colonial revolution. Above all, Ukrainians turned out to say to Moscow: ‘We are no longer under your command, we are an independent country’.” (Excerpt from BBC News)
Syrian helicopter bomb raids kill 36 in Aleppo – monitor
T
hirty-six people, nearly half of them children, were killed on Sunday when Syrian army helicopters dropped improvised “barrel bombs” on the disputed northern city of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Video uploaded by local activists showed a fire in a narrow street covered in debris and dust after one air raid in the Karam el-Beik district. Another showed blackened and twisted wreckage of a vehicle at a busy roundabout. The Britain-based Observatory said at least 15 of the casualties on Sunday were children. Barrel bombs are explosive-filled cylinders or oil barrels, often rolled out of the back of helicopters with little attempt at striking a particular target but capable of causing widespread casualties and significant damage. President Bashar alAssad’s forces, battling re-
bels in a two-and-a-halfyear conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people, frequently deploy air power and artillery against rebel-held districts across the country. They have been unable to recapture eastern and central parts of Aleppo, which rebels stormed in the summer of 2012, but they have driven rebel fighters back from towns to the southeast of the city in recent weeks. Backed by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas and Iraqi Shi’ite fighters, they have also consolidated Assad’s control over the capital Damascus and the main highway north to the central city of Homs, despite counter attacks by the Sunni rebels, who include many foreign jihadi fighters. The observatory also said on Sunday the death toll from a sectarian attack by Islamist rebels on Wednesday in the town of Adra, northeast of Damascus, had risen to 28. (Excerpt from Reuters)
Israeli soldier killed in Lebanese China’s Jade Rabbit Moon rover sends back first photos sniper attack – military
A
n Israeli soldier was killed on Sunday when a Lebanese sniper opened fire in a normally quiet area of the border between the two countries, and a United Nations peacekeeping force said it was working with both sides to keep the incident from escalating. Israel’s military said in a statement that a sniper from the Lebanese Armed Forces had shot at an Israeli vehicle driving near the Rosh Hanikra border crossing. Israel has lodged a com-
plaint with the UN force in southern Lebanon and had heightened its state of preparedness along the border, spokesman Peter Lerner said. “We will not tolerate aggression against the State of Israel, and maintain the right to exercise self-defence against perpetrators of attacks against Israel and its civilians,” he said. Lebanese sources said they had lost contact with the Lebanese soldier after the shooting, which took place at the west-
ern tip of the border region across which Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia fought a 34-day war in 2006. The UN force, UNIFIL, said they had been informed about “a serious incident” at the border. “We are now trying to determine the facts of what happened and the situation is ongoing,” spokesman Andrea Tenenti said. “UNIFIL’s force commander is in contact with counterparts in the Lebanese and Israeli army, urging restraint.” (Reuters)
Peter O’Toole, “Lawrence of Arabia” star, dies aged 81
A
ctor Peter O’Toole, who starred in Sir David Lean’s 1962 film classic “Lawrence of Arabia”, died on Saturday aged 81, his agent has said. He was being treated at London’s Wellington hospital after a long illness, his agent added. O’Toole’s daughter Kate said the family was overwhelmed “by the outpouring of real love and affection being expressed towards him, and to us”. He received an honorary Oscar in 2003, having initially turned it down. In a letter, the actor asked the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to delay it until he was 80, saying he was “still in the game and might win the bugger out-
Peter O’Toole
right”. But when he finally clasped his statuette, he said: “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride, my foot.” O’Toole’s agent said he was “one of a kind in the very best sense and a gi-
ant in his field”. Film critic Barry Norman described him as a “true movie star”, who had “tremendous charisma”. Prime Minister David Cameron said: “My thoughts are with Peter O’Toole’s family and friends. His performance in my favourite film, “Lawrence of Arabia”, was stunning.” Irish President Michael D Higgins added: “Ireland, and the world, has lost one of the giants of film and theatre. “I was privileged to know him as a friend since 1969. I spent part of 1979 in Clifden where we met almost daily and all of us who knew him in the West will miss his warm humour and generous friendship.” (Excerpt from BBC News)
T
he first robot to land on the Moon in nearly 40 years, China’s Jade Rabbit rover, has begun sending back photos, with shots of its lunar lander. Jade Rabbit rolled down a ramp lowered by the lander and on to the volcanic plain known as Sinus Iridum at 04:35 Beijing time on Saturday (20:35 GMT). It moved to a spot a few metres away, its historic short journey recorded by the lander. On Sunday evening, the two machines began photographing each other. A Chinese flag is clearly visible on the Jade Rabbit as it stands deployed on the Moon’s surface. Ma Xingrui, chief com-
New images show the probe viewed from the rover
mander of China’s lunar programme, declared the mission a “complete success”. The first soft landing on the Moon since 1976 is the latest step in China’s ambitious space programme, says BBC science reporter Paul Rincon.
The lander will operate there for a year, while the rover is expected to work for some three months. The Chang’e-3 mission landed some 12 days after being launched atop a Chinese-developed Long March 3B rocket from Xichang in the country’s south. The official Xinhua news service reported that the lander began its descent on Saturday just after 1300 GMT, touching down in Sinus Iridum (the Bay of Rainbows) 11 minutes later. Chang’e-3 is the third unmanned rover mission to touch down on the lunar surface, and the first to go there in more than 40 years.
(Excerpt from BBC News)
Central African leader in talks with militias
T
he Central African Republic’s interim leader Michel Djotodia is weighing a possible amnesty for militias involved in Christian-Muslim violence that has killed hundreds of people, most of them civilians, in exchange for their disarmament. The former rebel leader said in a state radio address, late on Saturday, that he had been contacted by a representative of the mainly Christian and animist militias known as anti-balaka, who were demanding inclusion in the transitional government he leads.
“The anti-balaka sent us an emissary and said they want to lay down their weapons and leave the bush, but they fear for their security. They gave preconditions ... They asked for an amnesty and entrance into government,” Djotodia said. “Contacts are already established and we will pursue these exchanges in the interest of peace for all Central Africans,” he added. “We don’t see the harm, because this is the price of peace.” The country has been paralysed by cycles of killing, torture and looting since
Djotodia’s mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the majority Christian nation in March. Djotodia has since lost control of his former fighters whose abuses have led to the emergence of the anti-balaka, meaning anti-machete in the local Sango language, opposing them. More than 1000 extra French troops were deployed this month to try to stop the violence that has displaced over 680,000 people – nearly one-seventh of the country’s inhabitants – according to the United Nations. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)