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A precarious metal boat carrying 40-50 migrants across the Mediterranean from Africa.

Reuters

Europe plays the blame game over asylum-seekers

“There had been landings but never a tragedy like this,” the mayor of Cutro, a southern Italian town, said after a boat carrying an estimated 200 migrants splintered into pieces on Sunday after hitting rocky terrain.

At least 63 people, including children and at least one newborn, were found dead, while 80 migrants, all adults, survived. Dozens remain missing. Most of the migrants came from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran, having crossed the tumultuous sea from Turkey.

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Palestinians clash with Israeli forces during a raid in Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, February 22, 2023.

REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta

Hard Numbers: Deadly raid in Nablus, EU asylum applications soar, North Koreans go hungry, old phone = nouveau riche

11: At least 11 people died and scores were injured on Wednesday after Israeli security forces conducted a rare daytime raid in the West Bank city of Nablus. Israel was targeting members of a Palestinian militant group known as the Lion’s Den, which Israel blames for a string of shootings against troops and Israeli settlements amid recent rising tensions in the region. On Thursday, Palestinian militants retaliated by firing rockets at southern Israel, and the Israeli military launched air strikes in the Gaza Strip in response.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky is greeted by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as he arrives Britain.

Ukraine Presidential Press Office handout via EYEPRESS via Reuters Connect

What We’re Watching: Zelensky and the jets, Pakistan targets TTP militants

Zelensky to British lawmakers: “Give us wings”

President Volodymyr Zelensky embarked on a whirlwind tour on Wednesday, leaving Ukraine for just the second time since Russia’s war began almost a year ago. Making a surprise stop in the UK, Zelensky met with PM Rishi Sunak and King Charles III and charmed British lawmakers at an address in the House of Commons. While the build-up to the trip was shrouded in secrecy, Zelensky was upfront about why he was there, imploring parliament to send Ukraine fighter jets: “We have freedom. Give us wings to protect it,” he said. Some analysts have suggested that Zelensky is moving too fast and isn’t reading the room properly: After all, it was just a few weeks ago that western countries finally agreed to send him battle tanks, and that came only after months of handwringing and negotiations. Sunak, for his part, said he is still considering the request but confirmed that the UK will help train Ukrainian pilots to use NATO-standard jets. Zelensky then headed to Paris, where he made a similar plea to President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, followed by a stop in Brussels where he addressed the European Parliament. Crucially, the US has not committed to sending fighter jets, and given that Washington and Brussels have been in lockstep on supporting Ukraine, this might determine how the Europeans respond for now. Indeed, Poland, one of Ukraine's strongest allies, said it would only move on the request "within the entire formation of NATO."

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Ukrainians & Russians Should Abide by Human Rights Law | Volker Türk | Global Stage | GZERO Media

Fighting crimes against humanity in a world of crisis

Volker Türk, the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is surprisingly candid about one of his organization's most famous shortcomings.

The Security Council, which includes Russia as a permanent member, is "dysfunctional" on Ukraine. On the other hand, he adds, the General Assembly has seen a sort of revival in how much it's been able to help the country.

In a Global Stage delegate interview on the ground in Davos, Türk tells Ian Bremmer that believes it is critical that the Ukrainians, just as much as the Russians, abide by international human rights law. And he's been in close contact with the Ukrainian prosecutor general, who assures him he is investigating potential war crimes within his country's military.

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Russia's Tragic Brutality & The Humbling of The West | GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

Russia's tragic brutality and the humbling of the West

After two years, we returned to Davos, braving the Swiss mountain cold for the World Economic Forum's annual meeting.

The 2023 WEF is all about "polycrisis," which in WEF-speak means many crises all at once, which compound each other, like tangled knots. But how do you untangle those knots?

That's a question that the world's business and political elite is struggling with at a time when the globalization they adore is being questioned by the developing world.

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Podcast: Davos, meet humility: grappling with Russia & egregious violations of international law

Listen: For the 53rd time, a tiny town called Davos in the Swiss Alps became the epicenter for discussion and debate about some of the biggest issues the world is facing. In total, 2700 leaders from 130 countries attended the 2023 World Economic Forum, including 52 heads of state. The big theme of the event this year: cooperation in a fragmented world. Is it possible?

On the ground at Davos, Ian Bremmer interviews two prominent participants on the GZERO World podcast. Former Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb analyzes Crimea's crucial importance for Ukraine in the war against Russia, and explains how Finland views its aggressive eastern neighbor. Ian also speaks to Volker Türk, the newly-appointed UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who shares very candid views about the Security Council's track record so far on Ukraine, and discusses the need for a UN unified stance on the treatment of women to ensure basic their human rights around the world, especially in countries like Afghanistan.


Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.

No Place Worse for Women Than Taliban-Run Afghanistan, Says UN Human Rights Chief | GZERO World

No place worse for women than Taliban's Afghanistan, says UN human rights chief

When the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, there was some hope that they would reformed. Now it's clear they have not changed a bit.

And nowhere is that more obvious than in the Taliban's abominable treatment of women.

“There is no country in the world that treats women in the way that Afghanistan does and the Taliban do,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk tells Ian Bremmer on GZERO World, on the ground in Davos.

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Soldiers drive toward North Waziristan during a 2014 military offensive against the Pakistani Taliban.

REUTERS/Ihsan Khattak

As Pakistan confronts the Taliban, Washington backs Islamabad — kind of

Afghanistan and Pakistan are on the brink of direct conflict.

Terror attacks from the Pakistani Taliban — aka the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or the TTP, who are ideologically affiliated with and politically backed by the Afghan Taliban — are increasing across Pakistan. In the last two weeks, Pakistani intelligence operatives have been gunned down in the country’s biggest province, and a detention facility has been overtaken and officials held hostage.

To defend itself, Islamabad has hinted that it might attack TTP hideouts in Afghanistan … with Washington’s blessing.

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