The Bangladeshi military has started erecting fences around camps housing hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees despite complaints from community leaders and rights groups.
An AFP correspondent on Tuesday saw troops in military fatigues erecting pillars for barbed-wire fences around one large camp at Balukhali in the southeastern border district Cox's Bazar.
Bangladesh's refugee commissioner Mahhbub Alam Talukder confirmed to AFP that construction had begun but declined to comment further.
Army chief General Aziz Ahmed said late last month that army engineers had begun erecting the pillars and that the military has "placed orders" for barbed wire.
The camps house nearly a million members of the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority, around 750,000 of whom fled a military offensive in neighbouring Myanmar in August 2017.
Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was due to defend Myanmar at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Tuesday against charges of genocide.
Frustration ..

Bangladesh starts fencing Rohingya camps

PTI Automatic

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed hailed the role played by ex-foe Eritrea in the Nobel Peace Prize he collected on Tuesday for his efforts to resolve the long-running conflict between the two neighbours.
"I accept this award on behalf of Ethiopians and Eritreans, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of peace," Abiy said after he received the prestigious award in a formal ceremony at Oslo's City Hall.
"Likewise, I accept this award on behalf of my partner, and comrade-in-peace, President Isaias Afwerki, whose goodwill, trust and commitment were vital in ending the two-decade deadlock between our countries," he added.

Ethiopia PM hails role of ex-foe Eritrea in Nobel Peace Prize

Britain's main opposition Labour party on Tuesday sought to pile pressure on the ruling Conservatives over state-run healthcare in a bid to exploit a government weakness and divert attention from its message on Brexit.
Opinion polls show Johnson's Conservatives enjoying a comfortable lead before an election that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called the "most important in a generation".
Johnson's minority government hopes to secure a parliamentary majority on Thursday to help him pull Britain out of the European Union by the end of next month.
But a ruling party memo published by the pro-Conservative Daily Telegraph newspaper warned that just 40,000 votes in 12 constituencies could see Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister.
The veteran socialist is trying to stage a late surge by focusing on Tory funding of the taxpayer-funded National Health Service (NHS) since the party came to power nine years ago.
Labour claims nearly 4,700 deaths recorded between October 2018 and .

UK's Labour seizes on healthcare scandal ahead of election

Tales of heroism, devastation and horrifying injuries emerged Tuesday after New Zealand's smouldering White Island volcano exploded, killing an estimated 14 people and turning what should have been an intrepid day trip into a nightmare.
The number of confirmed fatalities rose to six Tuesday night after an injured person died in an Auckland hospital, police said.
Eight more people were presumed dead after Monday's eruption, while dozens of others injured were being treated in hospital burns units across the country.
Among the 47 people caught on the island during the sudden blast were tourists from Australia, the United States, Britain, China, Germany and Malaysia, as well as local tour guides.
As relatives of the missing faced an agonising wait to discover the fate of their loved ones, police said conditions remained too dangerous for recovery teams to set foot on the volcano.
Amid questions about how tourists were allowed on the island, police said they were opening an investigation .

Heroism, devastation after deadly N. Zealand volcano eruption

Four Kazakh activists have been arrested and handed short sentences for violating laws on holding rallies ahead of an opposition demonstration next week, rights groups said Tuesday.
Activist Marat Musabayev was handed a 15-day jail sentence by a court in the capital Nur-Sultan Monday after he attended a small rights rally outside the European Union's office in the Central Asian country last month, the Qaharman rights movement said.
Two more activists, Gulmira Khalikova and Galia Tamabayeva, received 10 days each for the same offence.
Some protesters demonstrating outside the EU's office on November 27 called for Brussels to sanction oil-rich Kazakhstan over rights abuses.
The four activists will be unable to participate in a December 16 rally called by foreign-based regime opponent Mukhtar Ablyazov, whose Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan group was ruled extremist last year.
Another rights group, Atajurt, said that its member Zhumamurat Shamshi had also been held in Nur-Sultan in ...

4 Kazakh activists arrested ahead of opposition demo: rights groups

Boris Johnson on Tuesday faced claims of plagiarism, after copying a spoof version of a scene from the hit Christmas film "Love Actually" as part of his election campaign.
Britain's prime minister is seen in a social media clip taking the part of actor Andrew Lincoln, who turns up to profess his undying love for Keira Knightley by showing her flashcards.
One of the cards Johnson shows a householder in his "Vote Conservative Actually" clip says: "With any luck, by next year we'll have Brexit done (if Parliament doesn't block it again).
"Your vote has never been more important, the other guy could win, so you have a choice to make between a working majority or another gridlocked hung parliament."
The clip has been seen more than one million times since it was posted on Johnson's Twitter account on Monday evening, two days before Britain votes in its third election in four years.
But a main opposition Labour party candidate, Rosena Allin-Khan, had already posted her version of the scene .

Christmas repeats: UK PM copies 'Love Actually' spoof

Catalan separatists from Democratic Tsunami on Tuesday called for a "massive" protest around Camp Nou stadium on December 18 where Barcelona and Real Madrid are set to play their rearranged Clasico.
Spain's most prestigious fixture had been due to take place at the Barcelona stadium on October 26 but was postponed following a wave of violent pro-independence protests in Catalonia.
"In an exceptional situation, we should act in an exceptional way," said a statement from the group, which has called supporters to gather at four points around the stadium from 4:00 pm, just four hours before kickoff.
The rally is the latest in a wave of protests which began two months ago when Spain's top court jailed nine Catalan separatist leaders over their role in a failed 2017 independence bid.
It is not clear who runs the shadowy protest group which emerged in September and on the day of the verdict managed to rally 10,000 demonstrators at Barcelona airport, paralysing all transport links and forcing 

Catalan separatists plan 'mass protest' outside the Clasico

Amazon confirmed Tuesday that they have acquired the rights to broadcast a selection of Champions League games in Germany from the 2021-22 season, as the company continues its offensive into the football TV rights market.
The company has secured a package which includes the top picks of the Tuesday night games in Europe's biggest club competition, German media magazine DWDL.de revealed.
In a statement on Tuesday, Amazon confirmed that they had secured the rights for their streaming platform Prime Video.
"We are excited to bring UEFA Champions League to our customers in Germany," said Alex Green, executive director of Prime Video Sport Europa.
The announcement comes just days after Amazon UK debuted their live coverage of the English Premier League.
The coverage was the first time Premier League games had been broadcast exclusively online in the UK, and was met with mixed reactions from viewers.
German football fans are more accustomed to watching football online, however.
Broadcasting 

Amazon acquire Champions League broadcast rights in Germany

A gunman killed himself Tuesday after shooting dead six patients at a hospital in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava, in what the premier has called "an immense tragedy".
The attacker gunned down people at close range at the trauma ward of the Faculty Hospital in Ostrava, a steel hub located some 300 kilometres (190 miles) east of Prague.
Four men and two women died during the assault, which lasted only a few seconds according to police. Two other people were seriously wounded while a third person sustained light injuries.
Police said they had not yet determined what drove the 42-year-old to launch the attack.
"I was told the dead victims were people sitting in the waiting room of the trauma ward, fortunately there were not as many as usual," Prime Minister Andrej Babis told local media.
"The gunman was allegedly shooting from a close range, aiming at the head and neck." The shooter then fled the scene in a silver Renault Laguna car, sparking a dramatic police hunt with hundreds of ...

Gunman kills himself after deadly Czech hospital rampage

Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi faced calls for Myanmar to "stop the genocide" of Rohingya Muslims as she personally led her country's defence at the UN's top court on Tuesday.
Suu Kyi, whose silence about the plight of the Rohingya has tarnished her reputation as a rights icon, sat through graphic accounts of murder and rape in the wood-panelled courtroom in The Hague.
Rights groups have criticised her decision to represent Myanmar at the International Court of Justice against accusations by the west African state of The Gambia that it has breached the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Around 740,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh after a bloody crackdown by the Myanmar military in 2017 that UN investigators have already described as genocide.
"This is very much a dispute between Gambia and Myanmar," Gambian Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou told the judges of the court, which was set up in 1946 to resolve disputes between UN member states.
"All that The Gambia asks is that 

Myanmar's Suu Kyi told to 'stop the genocide' in UN court showdown

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Tuesday ruled out further concessions to the city's pro-democracy movement ahead of her weekend visit to Beijing, despite a landslide election defeat for the government and a peaceful mass march.
The movement, which marked its six month anniversary on Monday, was initially sparked by a now-abandoned attempt to allow extraditions to mainland China but has since morphed into a popular revolt against Beijing's rule.
In a rare lull in police-protestor clashes, around 800,000 people marched peacefully through the city's streets Sunday, urging the government to respond to their five demands -- which include an independent inquiry into the police, an amnesty for those arrested, and fully free elections.
An end to violence is something the city's pro-Beijing leadership has insisted must be a precursor to meaningful dialogue  -- but in her weekly press conference on Tuesday, Lam refused to accept protesters' demands further to the extradition bill's ...

Hong Kong leader rules out protest concessions ahead of Beijing visit

Former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, a political heavyweight who transformed Russia's capital but was dogged by corruption claims, has died aged 83, the current mayor said Tuesday.
Sergei Sobyanin, who succeeded Luzhkov nine years ago, announced Luzhkov's death on Twitter, calling him a "life-loving person" who "did a lot for the city and for Muscovites."
Luzhkov, who burnished his populist credentials with a trademark flat cap and a passion for bee-keeping, was unceremoniously fired in 2010 after running the city for 18 years.
A major political figure during the 1990s, Luzhkov was a key ally of Russia's first president Boris Yeltsin until 1999 and was one of the founders of Russia's ruling United Russia party.
His long stint as mayor saw the capital swell both in population and economic clout, but he was also associated with corruption owing to the success of his wife, a construction magnate.
Luzhkov shared his hobby energetically, launching ubiquitous honey festivals in Moscow.
He was .

Ex-Moscow mayor Luzhkov, populist heavyweight, dies at 83

Greece on Tuesday urged the United Nations to condemn a disputed maritime jurisdiction deal between Turkey and Libya as "disruptive" to regional peace and stability, a government spokesman said.
Greece "wants the deal to be brought to the attention of the UN Security Council so it can be condemned," Stelios Petsas told a news conference.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month met with the head of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, to sign agreements on security and military cooperation, as well as maritime jurisdictions.
Part of the deal sets a maritime boundary between the two countries, which Greece says fails to take into account the island of Crete.
Petsas said Athens had sent separate letters on the issue to UN chief Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council, arguing that the deal was contracted "in bad faith" and "is null as it was not approved by the Libyan parliament.

Greece asks UN to condemn Turkey-Libya deal

The Gambia asked the UN's top court Tuesday to order Myanmar to "stop this genocide" of the Rohingya Muslim minority, as a hearing attended by Myanmar's former peace icon Aung San Suu Kyi got underway.
"All that The Gambia asks is that you tell Myanmar to stop these senseless killings, to stop these acts of barbarity that continue to shock our collective conscience, to stop this genocide of its own people," Gambian Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou told judges.

Myanmar must 'stop this genocide' of Rohingyas, Gambia tells UN court

The man suspected of killing six people and injuring two in a Czech hospital on Tuesday morning is dead after shooting himself in the head, police said in a tweet.
"We have found the gunman. The 42-year-old man shot himself in the head before the police took action, he's dead," police said.

Suspected gunman kills himself after Czech hospital rampage: police

China defended on Tuesday its year-long detention of two Canadians after Ottawa accused Beijing of "arbitrarily" arresting the men in what was widely seen as retaliation for the arrest of a Huawei executive.
Former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor have been languishing in China's opaque legal system since they were apprehended on December 10, 2018, just nine days after the arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou.
Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said Kovrig and Spavor have not had access to lawyers and have been denied contact with their families since they were "arbitrarily detained".
"These two Canadians are and will remain our absolute priority. We will continue to work tirelessly to secure their immediate release and to stand up for them as a government and as Canadians," Champagne said in a statement Monday.
The Chinese embassy in Ottawa said it had lodged an official protest with Canada and expressed "strong ...

China says detained Canadians treated in 'civilised way'

From squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh, Rohingya who fled a brutal Myanmar military crackdown are calling on Aung San Suu Kyi to acknowledge the mass atrocities as she defends her country against genocide charges at the UN's top court.
The Nobel peace laureate arrived Tuesday at the International Court of Justice in The Hague to lead the defence against claims brought by Gambia that Myanmar's military tried to systematically wipe out the Muslim minority in 2017.
The violence sparked a mass exodus of some 740,000 Rohingya to refugee settlements in Bangladesh border towns, where survivors are still haunted by the rape and murder of loved ones by soldiers and vigilante mobs.
"Suu Kyi cannot deny anything. The international community must listen to our voice because we are the real victims," Sayed Ulla, a Rohingya leader, told AFP at one of the camps.
"I want to see the convicts go to the gallows. They killed us mercilessly. I won't get back my family," added widow Saida Khatun, who ...

Rohingya call for Myanmar's Suu Kyi to acknowledge atrocities

The death toll from New Zealand's White Island volcano eruption rose to six late Tuesday, after an injured person died in an Auckland hospital, police said.
"Police can confirm a further person has died following the eruption on Whakaari/White Island, bringing the official toll to six," a police statement said.
Eight more people who remain missing are presumed dead after the volcano erupted Monday.

Sixth person dies after New Zealand volcano eruption: police

New Zealand police on Tuesday announced a criminal investigation to probe how an eruption at the White Island volcano led to an estimated 13 deaths.
The threat level at the volcano had been raised in the week before Monday's disaster, prompting questions about whether tour groups should have been allowed to visit the popular destination off the North Island coast.
"I can confirm now that we will commence a criminal investigation into the circumstances of the death and injuries on White Island," deputy commissioner John Tims told reporters in Wellington.
Police have confirmed five people were killed and another eight were missing presumed dead after New Zealand's most active volcano exploded while tourists were exploring it on Monday afternoon.
Tims did not specify the subject of the investigation or what charges could be laid, saying only that the terms of reference were still being developed.
He said the investigation would run parallel to a probe conducted by the workplace watchdog .

Police open criminal probe into New Zealand volcano deaths

China has spent billions of dollars to project soft power in Asia but it has struggled to win the hearts and minds of ordinary citizens in parts of the region, a study said Tuesday.
President Xi Jinping doubled China's foreign affairs budget in six years from 30 billion to 60 billion yuan ($8.5 billion) to bolster its global diplomacy, according to the AidData research lab at the College of William & Mary in Virginia.
"Public diplomacy is a critical ingredient in Beijing's toolkit to neutralise potential threats, overcome internal disadvantages, and outmanoeuvre regional competitors," said the report, carried out with the Asia Society Policy Institute and the China Power Project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The "toolkit to influence South and Central Asia" includes huge infrastructure investments, state-backed media operations, twin cities, military diplomacy and Confucius Institutes, which teach students about Chinese language and culture.
The report ...

China's diplomatic push in Asia sees mixed results: study

Nobel literature laureate Peter Handke, who backed Serbia during the wars in ex-Yugoslavia, receives his prize at a gala ceremony Tuesday in Stockholm, where hundreds are expected to protest.
The Swedish Academy's pick for the 2019 prize, announced in October, triggered outrage in the Balkans and beyond because of Handke's support for late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
The 77-year-old Austrian author is to receive his Nobel Prize from the hands of Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf at a formal ceremony with this year's other laureates, followed by a gala banquet attended by more than 1,200 special guests.
The Academy honoured Handke "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience." It called him "one of the most influential writers in Europe after the Second World War."
The choice of Handke came as the Academy struggles to recover from a rape scandal that resulted in the 2018 prize being postponed and ...

AFP

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