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43 Sunday, 08 September 2019- edited by
Ilaria
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Russia
and Ukraine have completed a long-awaited exchange
of prisoners. On saturday each country released 35
prisoners in biggest exchange since start of
Crimea conflict.
Those
freed include 24 Ukrainian sailors taken captive
by Russia after their navy vessels tried to
pass through the Kerch Strait, a narrow waterway
between the Russian mainland and Crimea. The
swap is hoped to ease tensions between the two
neighbours.
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Iran
has begun injecting gas into advanced centrifuges
to increase its stockpile of enriched uranium, an
official has announced, warning that time is
running out for other signatories to save a
multilateral 2015 nuclear deal. Behrouz
Kamalvandi, spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy
Organisation, said on Saturday the agency had
started up advanced centrifuges at Iran's
enrichment facility in Natanz as the third step by
Tehran in scaling back its commitments under the
crumbling pact following the United States’
unilateral withdrawal last year."As far as the
other side does not implement their commitments,
they should not expect Iran to fulfil its
commitments," Kamalvandi said, adding that Iran
had the ability to go beyond 20 percent enrichment
of uranium.
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Hong
Kong leader Carrie Lam announced on Wednesday that
her government will formally withdraw the
controversial extradition bill. But many
high-profile protest leaders said the concession
was too little too late, and protests in the
residential and shopping hub of Mong Kok on Friday
night indicated demonstrators aren't backing
down.
On
Saturday, protesters were being encouraged to
gather at the airport from about midday to
demonstrate, resulting in a heavy police presence
at the terminal and its approaching
roads.
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Seven
South American countries have agreed measures to
protect the Amazon river basin, amid global
concern over massive fires in the world's largest
tropical forest.Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia,
Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Suriname signed a pact,
setting up a disaster response network and
satellite monitoring.At a summit in Colombia, they
also agreed to work on reforestation.
"This
meeting will live on as a co-ordination mechanism
for the presidents that share this treasure - the
Amazon," said Colombian President Iván Duque, who
hosted the summit in the city of
Leticia.
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United
Nations Watch, a Swiss non-governmental
organization, said the UN in Geneva
confirmed it is censoring a human
rights complaint on China’s mass
incarceration of Uighurs that was filed by a
cross-regional coalition of more than 100
UN-accredited non-governmental organizations
from numerous countries including
Brazil, Canada, France, India, Indonesia, Germany,
Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa, Switzerland,
Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom and the United
States. United Nations Watch filed the joint
complaint on June 4th to be circulated as an
official UN document, following the standard
protocol outlined by the UN human rights
council’s guidelines on NGO written
submissions.The letter by 135 NGOs urges UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and High
Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet to
condemn China’s escalating abuse of UN rules
to censor, interrupt and block references at
the world body to its detention of an
estimated 1 million Muslim Uighurs.
Yesterday,
in a meeting with the President of the Human
Rights Council in Geneva, his advisor confirmed
that UN Watch’s appeal to UN chief Guterres was
rejected.
“China’s
growing and pernicious influence at the UN is
alarming” said UN Watch director Hillel
Neuer.
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