News in Brief
KIEV (Reuters) -- Ukrainian opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili was detained in Kiev on Monday by unidentified people in camouflage, his spokeswoman said, adding that the intention might be to deport him from Ukraine.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the detention, but last week Saakashvili’s lawyer said he could face imminent deportation or extradition after he lost a court appeal.
The former president of Georgia entered Ukraine last September despite being stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship in a protracted standoff with the Kiev authorities, whom he accuses of corruption.
A video posted on Saakashvili’s official Facebook page showed several men in green military uniform approaching a man lying on the floor of a restaurant.
"Unknown people in masks seized Mikheil Saakashvili and took him away ... The kidnappers were in three white minivans,” a Facebook post on the same page read.
His spokeswoman said the border service was likely behind the move. "We regard this as a detention with the aim of then deporting Saakashvili from the country. They could illegally send him to Poland,” she said by telephone.
Ukrainian officials says Saakashvili illegally entered the country from Poland in September after he was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship.
Saakashvili was granted Ukrainian citizenship and invited by President Petro Poroshenko to become governor of the Odessa region after the "Maidan” protests ousted a pro-Russian president in early 2014, but the two later fell out.
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DHAKA (AFP) -- Thousands of Bangladeshi opposition supporters staged rallies across the country on Monday demanding the release of their jailed leader Khaleda Zia and free and fair elections.
Zia, twice prime minister in the Muslim-majority nation of 160 million, was imprisoned for five years last week for embezzlement, sparking riots from supporters who rejected the verdict as politically motivated.
The leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is expected to appeal but the conviction may affect her ability to stand in a general election slated for December.
Thousands of BNP activists in cities across Bangladesh joined hands in a march calling for Zia's immediate release from a prison in Dhaka.
Zia, 72, is expected to be freed on bail once the appeal has been lodged but her supporters fear Bangladesh's ruling party will try and keep her detained on other charges.
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DHAKA (AFP) -- A Myanmar government minister has told Rohingya refugees living in a makeshift camp on the Bangladesh border they should take up a government offer to return, warning they will face "consequences" if they stay where they are.
A video circulated on social media apparently shows Myanmar's Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Aung Soe addressing a group of refugees through a barbed wire fence last Friday.
Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have sought sanctuary in Bangladesh since a military crackdown on the Muslim minority in Myanmar last year forced them from their homes.
Despite the campaign, which the United Nations has said amounts to ethnic cleansing, the two governments agreed late last year to repatriate all the newly-arrived refugees.
But many say they do not want to return until Myanmar agrees to give them citizenship and guarantees their safety.
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LONDON (AFP) -- London City Airport was closed Monday as military experts worked to remove a World War II bomb found in the neighboring dock.
The unexploded ordnance was discovered in King George V Dock, during planned works near the runway of London's most central airport.
The bomb was discovered at around 5:00am Sunday and a 214-meter exclusion zone was imposed "to ensure that the ordnance can be safely dealt with whilst limiting any risk to the public," police said.
Homes within the exclusion zone were evacuated overnight and the local authority was providing residents with temporary accommodation and support.
Police remained at the scene Monday.
"The operation to remove the ordnance is ongoing in partnership with our colleagues in the Royal Navy," London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
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BERLIN (Reuters) -- A German consumer rights group said Monday that a court had found Facebook's use of personal data to be illegal because the U.S. social media platform did not adequately secure the informed consent of its users.
The verdict, from a Berlin regional court, comes as Big Tech faces increasing scrutiny in Germany over its handling of sensitive personal data that enables it to micro-target online advertising.
The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzvb) said that Facebook's default settings and some of its terms of service were in breach of consumer law, and that the court had found parts of the consent to data usage to be invalid.
"Facebook hides default settings that are not privacy-friendly in its privacy center and does not provide sufficient information about it when users register," Heiko Duenkel said, litigation policy officer at the vzvb.
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BRUSSELS (Reuters) -- The United Nations should consider a force of some 20,000 soldiers from non-NATO countries and 4,000 police to help resolve the crisis in Ukraine, according to a new report to be presented to top officials this week.
More than 10,000 people have been killed since April 2014 in a conflict that pits Ukrainian forces against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Intermittent clashes continue despite a notional ceasefire and diplomatic peace efforts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested a limited UN peacekeeping mission to eastern Ukraine, which many in the West see as an opportunity to negotiate a broader UN force to restore order, diplomats say.
A report commissioned by former NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen - now an adviser to Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko - will be presented to officials including the U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, at the Munich Security Conference Saturday.
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It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the detention, but last week Saakashvili’s lawyer said he could face imminent deportation or extradition after he lost a court appeal.
The former president of Georgia entered Ukraine last September despite being stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship in a protracted standoff with the Kiev authorities, whom he accuses of corruption.
A video posted on Saakashvili’s official Facebook page showed several men in green military uniform approaching a man lying on the floor of a restaurant.
"Unknown people in masks seized Mikheil Saakashvili and took him away ... The kidnappers were in three white minivans,” a Facebook post on the same page read.
His spokeswoman said the border service was likely behind the move. "We regard this as a detention with the aim of then deporting Saakashvili from the country. They could illegally send him to Poland,” she said by telephone.
Ukrainian officials says Saakashvili illegally entered the country from Poland in September after he was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship.
Saakashvili was granted Ukrainian citizenship and invited by President Petro Poroshenko to become governor of the Odessa region after the "Maidan” protests ousted a pro-Russian president in early 2014, but the two later fell out.
***
DHAKA (AFP) -- Thousands of Bangladeshi opposition supporters staged rallies across the country on Monday demanding the release of their jailed leader Khaleda Zia and free and fair elections.
Zia, twice prime minister in the Muslim-majority nation of 160 million, was imprisoned for five years last week for embezzlement, sparking riots from supporters who rejected the verdict as politically motivated.
The leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is expected to appeal but the conviction may affect her ability to stand in a general election slated for December.
Thousands of BNP activists in cities across Bangladesh joined hands in a march calling for Zia's immediate release from a prison in Dhaka.
Zia, 72, is expected to be freed on bail once the appeal has been lodged but her supporters fear Bangladesh's ruling party will try and keep her detained on other charges.
***
DHAKA (AFP) -- A Myanmar government minister has told Rohingya refugees living in a makeshift camp on the Bangladesh border they should take up a government offer to return, warning they will face "consequences" if they stay where they are.
A video circulated on social media apparently shows Myanmar's Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Aung Soe addressing a group of refugees through a barbed wire fence last Friday.
Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have sought sanctuary in Bangladesh since a military crackdown on the Muslim minority in Myanmar last year forced them from their homes.
Despite the campaign, which the United Nations has said amounts to ethnic cleansing, the two governments agreed late last year to repatriate all the newly-arrived refugees.
But many say they do not want to return until Myanmar agrees to give them citizenship and guarantees their safety.
****
LONDON (AFP) -- London City Airport was closed Monday as military experts worked to remove a World War II bomb found in the neighboring dock.
The unexploded ordnance was discovered in King George V Dock, during planned works near the runway of London's most central airport.
The bomb was discovered at around 5:00am Sunday and a 214-meter exclusion zone was imposed "to ensure that the ordnance can be safely dealt with whilst limiting any risk to the public," police said.
Homes within the exclusion zone were evacuated overnight and the local authority was providing residents with temporary accommodation and support.
Police remained at the scene Monday.
"The operation to remove the ordnance is ongoing in partnership with our colleagues in the Royal Navy," London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
***
BERLIN (Reuters) -- A German consumer rights group said Monday that a court had found Facebook's use of personal data to be illegal because the U.S. social media platform did not adequately secure the informed consent of its users.
The verdict, from a Berlin regional court, comes as Big Tech faces increasing scrutiny in Germany over its handling of sensitive personal data that enables it to micro-target online advertising.
The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzvb) said that Facebook's default settings and some of its terms of service were in breach of consumer law, and that the court had found parts of the consent to data usage to be invalid.
"Facebook hides default settings that are not privacy-friendly in its privacy center and does not provide sufficient information about it when users register," Heiko Duenkel said, litigation policy officer at the vzvb.
***
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -- The United Nations should consider a force of some 20,000 soldiers from non-NATO countries and 4,000 police to help resolve the crisis in Ukraine, according to a new report to be presented to top officials this week.
More than 10,000 people have been killed since April 2014 in a conflict that pits Ukrainian forces against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Intermittent clashes continue despite a notional ceasefire and diplomatic peace efforts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested a limited UN peacekeeping mission to eastern Ukraine, which many in the West see as an opportunity to negotiate a broader UN force to restore order, diplomats say.
A report commissioned by former NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen - now an adviser to Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko - will be presented to officials including the U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, at the Munich Security Conference Saturday.
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