Iraqi National Symphony conductor Karim Wasfi fights ISIS with music
Updated 0643 GMT (1443 HKT) December 28, 2015
A bustling market is in moments a mass grave.
To the inhabitants of east Baghdad, Iraq, this decor of charred vehicles and fallen structures after a bomb blast is an all-too-common sight.
It’s a constant reminder by ISIS that death is imminent.
But then, a burst of an impassioned music wakes the residents from their dreary routine. Passersby who faced a bomb attack hours before turn their heads in confusion to see what is disrupting this mournful time.
Then at once, they’re mystified by the sight of famed Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra conductor Karim Wasfi perched on scorched debris, trembling his mop of jet-black hair with Beethoven-like earnest as he drives his bow across his cello.
Japan to say sorry to South Korea in deal to end dispute over wartime sex slaves
Japanese leader Shinzo Abe offered a ‘heartfelt’ apology for soldiers’ use of so-called ‘comfort women’ and has set up an aid fund for the surviving victims
The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan have reached a deal to resolve a decades-long impasse over Korean women forced into Japanese military-run brothels during the second world war.
The Japanese foreign minister, Fumio Kishida, said in Seoul on Monday that his prime minister, Shinzo Abe, offered a “heartfelt” apology and that Tokyo would finance a £5.5m ($8.3m) aid fund for the elderly victims to be set up by South Korea.
The issue of former Korean sex slaves, euphemistically known as “comfort women”, is the biggest source of friction in ties between Seoul and Tokyo.
The neighbours are thriving democracies and trade partners but they have seen animosity rise since the 2012 inauguration of the hawkish Abe.
Syria and Iraq: Ethnic cleansing by Sunni and Shia jihadis is leading to a partition of the Middle East
Conflicts among communities that once lived together in peace brings the prospect of a refugee crisis that will continue long after the fighting ends
Sectarian and ethnic cleansing by all sides in Syria and Iraq is becoming more intense, ensuring that there are few mixed areas left in the two countries and, even if the war ends, many refugees will find it too dangerous to return to their homes.
Communities which once lived together in peace are today so frightened of each other after years of savage warfare that the more powerful sect or ethnic group is forcing out the weaker one. This pattern is repeating itself everywhere from the Sunni towns captured by Shia militiamen in provinces around Baghdad to Christian enclaves in central Syria under threat from Isis, and in Turkmen villages just south of the Syrian-Turkish border being bombed by Russian aircraft.
The inability of Syrians and Iraqis to return home in safety means that Europe and the Middle East will have to cope for decades to come with an irreversible refugee crisis brought on by the war.
28 December 2015 – 08H45
Myanmar activist jailed for satirical army Facebook post
YANGON (AFP) –
A Myanmar court sentenced a female activist to six months in jail on Monday for a Facebook post satirising the powerful military, the latest crackdown against free speech in the former junta-ruled country.
Freedoms have flourished since the junta ceded full control to a partly civilian government in 2011, culminating in landmark elections last month.
But there have been growing concerns over renewed breaches of civil liberties. Criticism of the still powerful military remains fraught with risk.
Chaw Sandi Tun, 25, was arrested in October after a post on her Facebook page made fun of the army.
“My daughter was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment at Ma U Bin township court this morning under Section 66(d) of the telecoms law. We will appeal as we are not satisfied,” her mother Ei San told AFP.
Epic culture of retribution
The idea of justice and retribution has bitterly divided India yet again. The age-old culture of settling scores with bloodletting as the primary impulse is ingrained in the Indian DNA from the time of the 2,500-year epic Mahabharata. It has once again come to dominate the discourse in the country where the prime minister speaks of making reparation for the injustices of a 1,200-year-old history and old hurts are aired afresh, making the most vulnerable of its citizens the victims of this hardening of the national temper.
The latest to be penalised are children. A few days ago, there were angry demonstrations, fiery and venomous debates on TV and shrill opinion pieces in newspapers in support of a law that would make children as young as 16 liable to be tried as adults for ‘heinous crimes’. (It’s another matter that no court in the country has been able to agree on what constitutes heinous crime). The law was passed after Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India’s parliament which is supposed to be composed of men and women of wisdom, was stampeded into giving its assent to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill .
Filipino protesters land on disputed island in South China Sea
Describing their expedition as a ‘a patriotic voyage,’ the protesters planned to camp on the island for three days in a symbolic act of defiance against China.
MANILA, PHILIPPINES — A group of Filipino protesters has landed on a disputed Philippine-held island in the South China Sea, a local government official said on Sunday, in a risky expedition that may trigger a strong reaction from China.
About 50 protesters, most of them students, reached Pagasa island in the Spratly archipelago on Saturday in a stand against what they say is Beijing’s creeping invasion of the Philippine exclusive economic zone, said Eugenio Bito-onon, the island’s mayor.
“The ‘freedom voyage’ arrived at about 8:30 a.m. on Saturday from Balabac island on a motor launch,” Mr. Bito-onon told Reuters, adding the protesters left southern Palawan on Thursday in fine weather to make the long sea crossing.