Giorno: 11 febbraio 2018

Oggi ho visitato la mostra curata dal giornalista Domenico Quirico, giornalista e inviato di guerra de La Stampa, dedicata ad  Aleppo. La cronaca degli avvenimenti la si conosce, ma immergersi in una ricostruzione interattiva di ciò che è accaduto ad Aleppo ci fa sentire più vicini alla tragedia che ha colpito soprattutto i più piccoli, quei bambini strappati barbaramente dai banchi di scuola, privati della loro libertà e delle loro case; stando ai dati di Save the Children due bambini su tre hanno perso un familiare, subito il bombardamento della propria abitazione o sono rimasti feriti. Il 50% dei bambini non può più andare a scuola e un bambino su quattro è a rischio di disturbi mentali che potrebbero avere un impatto devastante per il resto della vita.
La guerra durata cinque anni  ha raso al suolo una città simbolo della Siria, trasformando in un cumulo di macerie il cuore…

Feb /10 /2018, TIMES OF LION

US Vice-President Mike Pence has said his country and South Korea are in complete agreement on the need to maintain pressure on North Korea.

Speaking on his way home from the Winter Olympics in South Korea, Mr Pence said there was “no daylight” between the two allies on the issue.

The games have seen better ties between the two Koreas despite tensions over the North’s nuclear programme.

But US has distanced itself from the North Korean overtures.

On Saturday North Korean leader Kim Jong-un invited the South’s President, Moon Jae-in, to Pyongyang for talks.

It would be the first summit in more than a decade between Korean leaders. Mr Moon said the Koreas should “make it happen” and encouraged the North to return to negotiations with the US.

But Pyongyang’s nuclear programme will hang over any attempts to bring the countries closer together.

The…

Feb /10 /2018, TIMES OF LION

Israel says it has inflicted huge damage on Syrian air defences after one of its fighter jets was brought down during a raid over Syria.

The response was the “most significant attack” of its kind against Syria since the 1982 Lebanon war, said senior Israeli air force general Tomer Bar.

The F-16 jet went down during a mission that followed an Iranian drone launch into Israeli territory, Israel says.

The two pilots parachuted to safety before the crash in northern Israel.

Israel says it responded with a second wave of strikes on both Syrian and Iranian military targets operating inside Syria.

Israeli air strikes in Syria are not unusual, TIMES OF LION Middle East correspondent Tom Bateman says, but the loss of an Israeli fighter jet marks a serious escalation.

• Israel ‘strikes Damascus military complex’
• Why is there a war in Syria?

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Feb /10 /02 /2018, TIMES OF LION

Even on a clear day, history hangs over Warsaw like smog. Flattened during the Nazi German wartime occupation and rebuilt during communist rule, what Poland’s capital may lack in architectural charm it makes up for with a litany of monuments, statues, plaques and shrines dedicated to collective suffering and individual sacrifice.

One lesser-known memorial is a small plaque on the wall of the Warszawa Gdańska railway station, a nondescript socialist-era building on the north side of the city. It was from here that many Poles of Jewish origin departed in the wake of the “anti-Zionist campaign” in March 1968, when cold war politics and a power struggle within the Polish Communist party led to an antisemitic propaganda campaign forcing thousands of Polish Jews to leave the country.

“Loyalty to socialist Poland and imperialistIsraelis not possible simultaneously,” prime minister Józef Cyrankiewicz had…

Feb/11/02/2018, TIMES OF LION

Ireland’s opposition leader has revealed he changed his mind in favour of liberalising the Republic’s strict anti-abortion laws after meeting women forced to travel to Britain to end their pregnancies after learning they had no hope their babies would be born alive.

Micheál Martin has stunned conservative sections of his Fianna Fáil party by backing the repeal of the eighth amendment to the Irish Republic’s constitution, which prohibits abortion, in a nationwide referendum in May.

He told the Guardian in an interview he would “no longer countenance” supporting a situation where women with fatal foetal abnormalities or who had been made pregnant through sexual violence had to leave the country for an abortion.

“There were two things that changed my mind on the issue. The first was hearing evidence before Christmas from women who suffered from fatal foetal abnormalities while pregnant,” he said.

“After hearing their…

Feb /11/02/2018, TIMES OF LION

A tourist helicopter has crashed in the Grand Canyon in the US state of Arizona, killing three people and injuring four.

The aircraft suffered “substantial damage”, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Authority said.

It was in the Grand Canyon West area when it came down at around 17:20 local time (00:20 GMT) on Saturday.

The helicopter was operated by tour company Papillon Airways. It is not clear what caused the crash.

On its website, Papillon calls itself “the world’s largest aerial sightseeing company” and says it flies more than 600,000 people a year.

Police Chief Francis Bradley, of the surrounding Hualapai Indian reservation, earlier told US media that the local terrain had hampered rescue efforts overnight.

“We are having difficulties getting the four people out of the crash site area to the hospital,” CNN quoted him as saying.

“It is too windy and…

Feb /11/02 /2018, TIMES OF LION,

A Russian passenger plane carrying 71 people crashed in the outskirts of Moscow on Sunday after taking off from the capital’s Domodedovo airport, Russian media has reported.

Saratov Airlines flight 6W703, an Antonov An-148 aircraft, was flying to Orsk, a city in the Urals, and crashed in the Ramensky district outside Moscow. Russian news agencies reported 65 passengers and six crew were on board.

News agencies said witnesses in the village of Argunovo saw a burning plane falling from the sky.

A source from Russia’s emergency services told Interfax that the 71 people on board had no chance of survival.

The same news agency reported that the wreckage of the plane was spread over a wide area around the crash site.

Feb/11/02/2018, TIMES OF LION

Mordaunt said the government would cut its funding for the charity unless executives could prove in a meeting with…