BELGRADE, December 30 -- Serbians protested against President Aleksandar Vucic and his ruling Serbian Progressive Party in downtown Belgrade on Saturday. Thousands of people chanted "Vucic thief" as they marched peacefully through the city centre in the fourth such protest in as many weeks. They demanded media freedoms, an end to attacks on journalists and opposition politicians. Backers of the Alliance for Serbia, an opposition grouping of 30 parties and organisations, say Vucic is an autocrat and his party is corrupt, something its leaders vehemently deny. In an interview with the pro-government Studio B TV during the protest, Vucic said he was ready to discuss the opposition demands. "I am ready to look at what causes dissent of the people," he said, after being jeered by a group of protesters as he entered the television station building. Vucic earlier suggested he was willing to test his party's popularity in a snap vote, although Vuk Jeremic, a former foreign minister and the head of the small People's Party, part of the alliance, said the opposition would boycott any election. "There will be no legitimate elections in Serbia with the participation of the opposition until after normal conditions for elections and living are created," Jeremic said. According to a poll by the Belgrade-based CESID election watchdog in October, Vucic's SNS enjoys the backing of 53.3 percent of electorate while other parties are trailing far behind. If the opposition ran as an alliance, rather than individual parties, they could count on around 15 percent of the vote. Their joint participation in a vote has yet to be agreed and so far they are only united in their animosity to Vucic and his party. The SNS-led ruling coalition has a comfortable majority of 160 deputies in the 250-seat parliament. The next national election is due in 2020. Major opposition protests have been relatively rare in Serbia since the popular unrest that ousted former strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. Most of current opposition leaders served in successive pro-Western coalitions that led Serbia between 2000 and 2012 when SNS forged a coalition with Milosevic's Socialists and came to power. A nationalist firebrand during the violent collapse of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, Vucic later embraced pro-European values and set Serbia's membership in the European Union as the country's strategic goal. He also maintains close ties with Russia and China.
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THE HAGUE, December 30 -- Mayor Pauline Krikke of The Hague has put an end to a protest by about 150 to 200 people wearing Yellow Vests on Saturday in the city. At the order of the mayor, the police called on the protesters to end the demonstration and they obeyed and left. The protest in the center of The Hague was grim, with the demonstrators throwing fireworks and smoke bombs. When they walked towards the town hall, the police intervened. There was a confrontation between police and activists in the shopping area in the city center. The police managed to prevent the demonstrators from entering the shopping area and arrested a total of eight protesters. No one got wounded, according to the police. The demonstrators in Yellow Vests protested, among other things, against the Dutch government. Earlier this month, they also protested in a quiet and minor demonstration in the city, in which three arrests were made. DAMASCUS, December 30 -- The withdrawal of the US army from Syria may shed light on the military crimes committed by the coalition under the "fight" against the terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS, outlawed in Russia), a military-diplomatic source told journalists on Saturday. "The upcoming withdrawal of the American military from Syria may unveil multiple military crimes committed by the international coalition during the so-called fight against the ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a former name of the ISIS)," the source said. It chiefly concerns Raqqa, "which was turned into a ghost city after the carpet bombing carried out by the coalition’s aviation," he said.
The source pointed out that now the US, the UK and France state the inadmissibility of holding surgical operations against militants from the extremist group Jabhat al-Nusra (outlawed in Russia) in Idlib to avoid the sufferings of the civil population of this governorate. "That said, during the operation to liberate Raqqa, where the ISIL openly used civil residents as a shield, Washington, London and Paris sent their aviation there that just dropped bombs on the city’s residential quarters," he said. The source noted that Raqqa has not been cleared from mines yet and thousands of bodies remain under the city debris. Outbreaks of infectious diseases are being registered in the city, which are killing civilians, including children. Militants became active in the Al-Tanf area, which is controlled by the US: they are trying to penetrate to Damascus and Jordan, the source said. He also informed that the terrorists are burning the bodies of refugees from the Rukban camp who died because they did not receive humanitarian help. "Both the Syrian government and international humanitarian and human rights organizations will have to long and thoroughly deal with all this and other ‘heritage’ left after the illegal American presence in Syria," the source said. The withdrawal of the US forces On December 19, US President Donald Trump declared the decision to start the pullout of the American forces from Syria. He explained it by the defeat of the IS in Syria, which was the only reason why the US forces were there. The withdrawal of the army of more than 2,000 may take 60 to 100 days, according to American officials. “The Iranians are trying to come up with new ways and routes to smuggle weapons from Iran to its allies in the Middle East." TEHRAN, December 3 -- A Fars Air Qeshm 747 that left Tehran Sunday morning has been accused in the past of transporting weapons to Hezbollah. In September, in a report from Fox News based on western intelligence assessments, it made some suspicious flights in July and August to Damascus and Beirut. “The Iranians are trying to come up with new ways and routes to smuggle weapons from Iran to its allies in the Middle East,” a source told Fox News in September. Israel has warned about Hezbollah using areas in Beirut to store weapons. It made another suspicious trip on November 29 to Beirut. On December 25 it flew into Damascus and left by the evening. Airstrikes, which Russia and Syria blamed on Israel, struck west of Damascus soon after.
TOKYO, December 29 -- Japan released video footage on Friday to prove that a South Korean warship allegedly locked its fire-control radar onto a Japanese warplane off the country's northern coast, the latest move in an escalating row between the two Asian neighbours.
The Defense Ministry's just over 13-minute footage, filmed from the P-1 patrol aircraft and published on its website, contained Japanese crewmembers asking the destroyer for clarification but getting no response.
Japan alleged that last Friday a South Korean destroyer repeatedly locked its targeting radar on the Japanese aircraft inside of Japan's exclusive economic waters off the Noto Peninsula. A lock with a fire-control radar is considered a hostile act and only one step away from actual firing. Relations between Japan and South Korea have degraded to their worst in recent years over compensation issues related to Japanese atrocities such as sexual abuse of "comfort women'' and Korean forced labour during Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 through 1945. The radar flap has added to the strain.
"Korea South Naval Ship, Hull Number 971, this is Japan Navy. We observed that your FC antenna is directed to us. What is the purpose of your act, over?'' a crewmember asked the destroyer in English several times using three different frequencies but the destroyer remained silent. The voice grew slightly tense as the crew kept calling. The video starts showing the gray destroyer sailing near a North Korean vessel. About six minutes later, one of the crewmembers can be heard saying: "FC detected'' and that it was coming from the destroyer. Seoul has denied the allegation, saying its warship used an optical camera while rescuing a North Korean fishing boat in distress. Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters earlier Friday that he decided to release the footage and data to let the people in and outside Japan know that the Japanese Self-Defense Force operated appropriately. "It is most important that an incident like this should never be repeated between Japan and South Korea,'' Iwaya said, adding that relations between the two sides are crucial for regional national security. "Even though difficult issues remain between Japan and South Korea,'' he said, "I hope to overcome those problems and push forward our mutual understanding and exchange between our two militaries.'' ROTTERDAM, December 29 -- Four people were arrested in Rotterdam on Saturday under suspicion of planning a terrorist attack. According to the local authorities, the police have collected evidence at the scene where the arrests were made. The police have not yet revealed the details of the planned attack. The arrest was conducted by the joined group of Rotterdam police officers and specialist arrest teams. The prosecutor's office is currently investigating the incident. Earlier this week, Dutch police arrested seven people aged from 21 to 34, who were seeking to acquire guns, grenades and bombs to organize a multiple-site terrorist attack at a major public event in the country. Saturday afternoon the police arrested a fifth person on suspicion of preparing a terrorist crime. In the morning, four arrests had already been made in Rotterdam. Immediately after the arrests, there were five or six homes searched. What this has yielded is still unknown. The seized goods are analyzed. The research will continue in the coming days, with the emphasis on the nature and scope of the terrorist threat. Because of this ongoing investigation, the police do not make any further announcements.
PARIS, December 29 -- Alexandre Benalla draws flack for traveling with documents he was supposed to hand over when he was fired. Accusations flew in France on Friday between the office of President Emmanuel Macron and his disgraced ex-bodyguard Alexandre Benalla over diplomatic passports he was supposed to hand over when he was sacked. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is set to refer the case to prosecutors after reports that Benalla repeatedly used the passports following his dismissal in August. Any use of these passports after he was sacked “would be against the law,” the foreign ministry warned in a statement. Benalla, in a letter to Macron’s chief of staff Patrick Strzoda, of which AFP has obtained a copy, acknowledged that he had been in contact with Elysee staff since his departure. But he insisted that none of his subsequent activities had had anything to do with the government.
“At all times while carrying out the functions entrusted to me by the Elysee, I never carried out personal and private missions and certainly never received payment as a result, directly or indirectly,” he added. “I have never used any recommendation or support from the presidency in the context of my new activities,” he wrote. To suggest so would be a complete lie and defamatory, he added. Benalla, Macron’s campaign bodyguard who was granted a senior security job following the centrist’s election victory last year, had twice been requested to give the passports back, the foreign ministry statement said. But Benalla’s entourage told AFP the passports were returned to him after he was sacked. He left them in his “office at the Elysee, and then they were given back,” a source close to Benalla said, accusing opponents of seeking to “destroy his reputation.” His entourage refused to comment on how Benalla may have used the passports. On Thursday, investigative website Mediapart reported that Benalla used a diplomatic passport to enter several African countries as well as Israel in recent weeks. ‘President must reveal truth’Benalla was at the center of a major scandal this summer after it emerged in July that he roughed up protesters during a May Day demonstration in Paris while wearing a police helmet. He was not fired until after the media revelations, prompting a wave of accusations from government opponents of a presidential cover-up. Benalla is now generating more unwelcome headlines following reports that he has been meeting with senior African officials, sparking concern among officials that he has been profiting from his former insider status. He met with Chad’s President Idriss Deby earlier this month, and Le Monde newspaper reported that he also met with the Republic of Congo’s President Denis Sassou-Nguesso as well as top officials in Cameroon. Further suggestions that Benalla may have used a diplomatic passport for these African travels have sparked a flurry of criticism among government opponents. “The president must reveal the truth on this affair, it’s very serious,” said Laurence Sailliet, a spokeswoman for the right-wing Republicans party. The scandal is back in the news at an unwelcome time for Macron, who has suffered weeks of violent “yellow vest” anti-government protests. MOSCOW, December 29 -- Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced ban on imports of a number of goods from Ukraine into the country. "Russia introduces ban on imports of a number of Ukrainian goods. This is a retaliatory measure against Ukrainian restrictions. I signed the corresponding decree," Medvedev wrote on Twitter. According to the government press service, the signed decree introduces a ban on imports of goods from Ukraine or transported through Ukraine into Russia, according to the approved list. "The majority of the goods that fall under the imposed ban belongs to the industrial category. The list also includes agricultural products, raw materials and food," the government explained. The government noted that Russia might decide to cancel the introduction of special economic measures, if Ukraine abolishes the restrictive measures introduced earlier in relation to specific Russian goods.
On December 18, the Ukrainian government extended embargo on food imports from Russia until 2020. The blacklist of Russian goods has 30 categories, including bread and bakery, chocolates, meat, fish, coffee, black tea, baby food, filtered cigarettes, beer, vodka and other products. Russia suspended the free trade zone agreement with Ukraine starting from January 1, 2016, after the economic section of Ukraine’s association agreement with the European Union came into force. Besides, Russia’s embargo on European goods, which has been in place since August 2014, was expanded to include Ukraine in early 2016. It prohibits imports of meat, sausages, fish and shellfish, fruit, vegetables and dairy products from Ukraine. Kiev responded with a ban on imports of Russian goods, which came into force on January 10, 2016. RIYADH, December 29 -- The Arabian Peninsula’s largest state, both in land mass and population, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia faces some of the region’s largest challenges in the year ahead. While 2018 started out with a foreign policy success – the US pulling out of the nuclear deal with rival Iran – the months that followed have left the country in a damaged condition going into 2019. A draining conflict in neighboring Yemen, the continuing fallout from the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, the suspected kidnapping of the Lebanese prime minister, a stalemate in the Qatar blockade, and defeat for Saudi-funded opposition factions in Syria all made 2018 a bruising year for the country – and for its 33-year-old crown prince and effective CEO, Mohammed bin Salman (popularly known as MBS). These overseas issues have also left MBS’s domestic reform agenda stalled, with a need to shore up support at home, as he tries to restart a long-overdue restructuring of the highly oil-dependent economy.
Politics After the 2016 launch of an ambitious domestic reform agenda, Vision 2030, MBS imprisoned some of the country’s wealthiest people in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in 2017. This made him some silent enemies amongst the kingdom’s elite. His father, the ailing, 83-year-old King Salman, has played an important role in keeping potential rivals under control, taking his son on a tour of the country to shore up support for his agenda. "How the government uses funding to keep media in line" This article is an analysis of how government uses funding, directly and indirectly, to capture the media. It describes trends in how governments use funding to control media by not financing independent journalism, but choosing to fund instead media outlets that advance the government agenda and the interests of its allies and supporters, either political groups or businesses. In many countries it is said that the media is free to publish anything they like. It's the Freedom of Speech. But more and more, specially in Western countries, government controlled media is getting more grip on the Freedom of Speech.
The Netherlands was the best example of this freedom. But more and more the media there is controlled by the government. How? The government is funding the media, i.e. the NOS as a TV broadcaster. Comparing the news the NOS brings with i.e. RTL (a private owned broadcaster), shows a specific difference in subjects. Also the NOS is bringing FakeNews. I.e. about president Putin. The NOS shows that Putin has no time to answer questions. But other media show that Putin, using his interpretor, is answering these questions. More over, other members in the media like BNNVARA, are supporting left-wing political parties. They are bringing left-wing politicians in daily talk-shows in a non-objective setting. Both NOS and BNNVARA are funded by the government, which is questionable. It's clear: MONEY TALKS DJAKARTA, December 29 -- The Indonesian volcano which caused a tsunami that killed more than 400 people last week lost more than two-thirds of its height following the eruption which triggered the killer waves. A section of Anak Krakatoa's crater collapsed after an eruption and slid into the ocean, generating the tsunami last Saturday night. A visual analysis by the Indonesian volcanology agency found the volcano has lost more than two-thirds of its height, an official said Saturday. Anak Krakatoa which used to stand 338 metres (1,109 feet) high was now just 110 metres tall. The agency estimated the volcano lost between 150 and 180 million cubic metres of material as massive amounts of rock and ash have been slowly sliding into the sea following a series of eruptions. "Anak Krakatoa is now much shorter, usually you can see the peak from the observatory post, now you can't," said Wawan Irawan, a senior official at the agency.
Before and after satellite images taken by Japan's space agency showed that a two square kilometre chunk of the volcanic island had collapsed into the water. The volcano, whose name means Child of Krakatoa, was a new island that emerged around 1928 in the crater left by Krakatoa, whose massive 1883 eruption killed at least 36,000 people. The crater's status has been raised to high alert, the second-highest warning on Indonesia four-point danger scale. The exclusion zone has been extended from two to five kilometres (1.2 to three miles). A week after the tsunami, thousands of Indonesian Muslims attended a mass prayer on Saturday to remember the victims and pray for the safety of their tsunami-prone hometown. Residents of Pandeglang regency, which was hit the hardest by the disaster, gathered in the early morning, some in tears as they chanted their prayers. "I prayed for the victims and I also pray for the safety of the people who live in the tsunami affected area," said Dadan Suryana, a tsunami survivor. "My prayer is for the victims to get help and be granted patience and I also pray the government will immediately help us to rebuild, to provide clothes and food, or at least to give us moral support," fellow congregant Dian Rosdiana said. Authorities said at least 426 people were killed and 23 missing in the disaster. Some 7,202 people suffered injuries and nearly 1,300 homes were destroyed after the waves crashed into the coastlines of western Java island and south Sumatra. More than 40,000 people have been evacuated for fear of another tsunami as Anak Krakatoa continues to rumble. Indonesia, a vast Southeast Asian archipelago, is one of the most disaster-hit nations on Earth due to its position straddling the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates collide. BEIJING, December 29 -- China will fight the scourge of doping with prison sentences as of next year, when athletes involved in the use of banned substances will face criminal charges, local media reported. The Ministry of Sports and the High Court in China already put the final touches on a criminal legislation for cases of doping. 'We are close to finishing our study on a judicial interpretation of anti-doping. It will be enacted in 2019, probably at the beginning of the year,' said Gou Zhongwen, director of the General Administration of Sports of China. Gou recalled that recently the use of drugs to improve performance was detected in several students from sports schools in the country. Until now, doping cases were not prosecuted by criminal law, since the anti-doping regulations, approved in 2004, were limited to fines, prohibitions and administrative sanctions. In this regard, the Supreme People's Court of China clarified that the process to apply the criminal law in these cases 'is at its crucial stage'. 'We are developing judicial interpretations of the application of criminal law in cases related to the use, manufacture, sale and smuggling of substances that improve athletic performance,' said Jiang Qibo, a judge from the High Court. As China's most important judicial body, we feel compelled to make our contribution to fight doping, he concluded. ROTTERDAM, December 28 -- A Dutch-flagged ship that rescued 32 migrants from a sinking boat near Libya. It is still looking for a harbor where the migrants may enter and be processed as possible refugees. The Dutch Justice and Security ministry is trying to help find a port for Sea-Watch 3, part of the German organization Sea-Watch. But Sea-Watch claims that the Netherlands was one of the countries refusing to allow the ship to enter. The Netherlands said it is hopeful a country bordering the Mediterranean Sea will provide assistance. "We approached the Coast Guard of those countries and asked whether they could offer a safe haven," a ministry spokesperson told AD. "A number of countries have reacted negatively and we are still waiting for answers from other countries." The 32 passengers includes six minors, one of which is a baby, and two others which are rather young. There are also four women on board and 22 crew members. Aside from the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Malta, and Spain have refused the Sea-Watch 3, according to the group. The aid organization was hopeful the migrants would find a place to stay during the Christmas season, Sea Watch spokesperson Jelle Goezinnen said in a statement sent to NL Times. Sea-Watch 3 has been unable to stop at a port for the past week. KUALA LUMPUR, December 28 -- The president of the United Sabah Islamic Organisation also warned that any Muslim (except for children under the age of 12) “found guilty of taking part in a beauty contest or modelling” is liable to be fined and possibly even incarcerated. Islamic government authorities in the Malaysian state of Sabah took a dim view of the recent proposal to allow Muslim women to participate in the annual Unduk Ngadau beauty pageant, which is held during the Kaamatan harvest festival. Datuk Haji Sairin Karno, chief of the United Sabah Islamic Organisation, warned that allowing Muslim women to take part in the beauty pageant could cause controversy. He also warned that under the existing Malaysian laws, any Muslim (except for children under the age of 12) “found guilty of taking part in a beauty contest or modelling” is liable to be fined up to RM1,000 (about $240) and faces incarceration for up to 3 months, the newspaper points out. Sairin delivered his statement in response to Joanna Datuk Kitingan, chairwoman of the State Level Unduk Ngadau Kaamatan Organising Committee, vowing to continue to help Muslim women to get permission to partake in the pageant. She claimed that it is important to practice inclusivity during the event as it helps "promote Kadazandusun culture."
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