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SummarySummary Companies Ukraine, Russia, Belarus rights campaigners won awardPrize highlight importance of civil society for peaceByalyatski in jail, wife speaks for him at ceremonyOSLO, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Russia wants to turn Ukraine into a "dependent dictatorship" like Belarus, the wife of jailed Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski said on Saturday upon receiving the prize on his behalf, speaking his words. "It highlights the dramatic situation and struggle for human rights in the country," she said, adding she was speaking her husband's words. Pinchuk has met her husband once since he was named a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, in prison, behind a glass wall, she told a news conference on Friday. "I know exactly what kind of Ukraine would suit Russia and Putin — a dependent dictatorship. Belarus and Russia are formally part of a "union state" and are closely allied economically and militarily.

Dec 8 (Reuters) - In a monastery in central Myanmar, a Buddhist monk, Wathawa, rallies his militia with a cry: "What's our spirit like?" shout a group of rifle-bearing men, loyalists of the military junta that seized power last year, now fighting to crush fledgling pro-democracy groups. Myanmar's Buddhist clergy previously sought to topple successive military dictatorships that kept citizens impoverished and isolated. Myanmar monks teach laypeople who in turn provide them with essentials such as food and clothing. State media broadcasts have shown military commanders showering Wathawa and his militia with cash and food donations.

☆ Christmas vacations: 15 of the best places to go
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Cnn Staff | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

The Bath Christmas Market has a multitude of wooden chalets selling distinctively British handmade crafts in a quaint Georgian setting. Bogotá, ColombiaA woman dressed as Santa Claus sits next to a Christmas tree and a Christmas star at Bolivar Square in Bogota. Salzburg and Oberndorf, AustriaThe Christmas Market and associated festivities in Salzburg are really something to sing about. Dating back to 1570, Strasbourg claims to be the oldest Christmas market in France and one of the oldest in Europe. damianalmua/Adobe StockThe traditional Christmas colors of red, green and white take on an entirely new meaning in New Zealand.

Persons: CNN —, Santa Claus, Claus, ”, Allan Baxter, Jesus, Jane Austen, Jane Austen Centre –, Austen, Melchior, Gaspar, Balthazar, Roy Rochlin, Bergdorf Goodman, Wangari Maathai, Fernando Vergara, “ Ruta, John’s, Miguel de Allende, Mary, Joseph, “ posada ”, Mozart, White Organizations: CNN, Bath Abbey, Jane Austen Centre, The, Royal, Catholic, Rockefeller, Getty Images Rockefeller, New York, Radio City, Columbus Circle, Fashion’s, Saks Fifth, Macy’s Herald Square, Kenyan, Park, Nuremberg, Toy Museum, Bolivar, Downtown, Malta Toy Museum, Quebec City, Adobe, Nord Expe, Mexico Piñatas, UNESCO, ”, Santa Locations: England, Philippines, Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland, Santa, Bethlehem , Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, New York City, Bethlehem, Moravian, Bath, “, Fernando , Philippines, Asia, San Fernando, Catholic Philippines, Manila, of Bethlehem, Barcelona, Spain, Santa Eulalia, New York City New York, Central Park, Macy’s, Nairobi, Kenya, Nuremberg, Germany, German, Bogotá, Colombia, Bogota, Christmastime, Malta, Downtown Valletta, Quebec City, Canada, Petit Champlain, Quebec, Old Quebec, Sentier, Nord, Miguel, Mexico, posadas, ponche, Piñatas, Salzburg, Oberndorf, Austria, ” Salzburg, Bavaria, Strasbourg, France, Europe, Queenstown , New Zealand, New Zealand, Queenstown, Wakatipu

☆ Nobel laureate Paul Krugman says the US rental market is cooling off – and official price stats overstate the inflation threat
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Slowing growth in US rents could mean the inflation threat is fading, Paul Krugman said. Krugman noted the slowdown is likely to have a large but delayed impact on inflation. Krugman noted that shelter makes up more than 30% of the Consumer Price Index, and 40% of core CPI, which excludes food and energy. Yet a cooler rental market doesn't necessarily spell the end of America's inflation woes, he noted. Now rental growth appears to be tapering off, Krugman likely feels greater conviction in that view.

☆ Released Australian adviser supports sanctions against Myanmar officials
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Australia should sanction Myanmar's military government and the regime's bankers, Sean Turnell, the Australian economist and adviser to deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi said in his first interview since being released from a Myanmar jail last week. He and three other foreigners were released as part of a mass amnesty of almost 6,000 prisoners last Thursday. Saying the Myanmar people's dreams have been "completely shattered", Turnell said he supported sanctions against regime officials and Myanmar bankers, without specifying which banks or financiers. Before court appearances Turnell would reunite briefly with fellow co-defendants including Aung San Suu Kyi. The Nobel Peace laureate faced widespread criticism from rights groups for defending Myanmar's generals against charges of genocide in 2019.

☆ Interest rates probably won't stay high, thanks to a shrinking workforce and the tech industry's 'midlife crisis,' top economist Paul Krugman says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Interest rates probably won't stay high, top economist Paul Krugman wrote in an op-ed. For one, higher rates are a lingering effect of the pandemic, when the government flooded the economy with stimulus money, Krugman said. Households are still spending leftover stimulus, which has supported high prices and therefore, higher interest rates this year. But those effects will eventually fade away – and, along with slowing investment demand, that will likely result in interest rates being dragged lower. Lower rates could potentially revive asset bubbles, though risk assets are feeling serious pain from today's high interest rates.

☆ Joy Harjo Found a ‘Portal to Grace’ in Poetry
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Emily Bobrow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Joy Harjo, the first Native Poet Laureate of the U.S., didn’t plan to become a poet. As a Muscogee Creek girl in Tulsa, Okla., she didn’t know anyone who wrote poetry and never imagined it was something she could do. “Poetry wasn’t offered as a vocation.”When Ms. Harjo, 71, began to write poetry, the timing was inconvenient. “Poetry found a most unlikely companion in me,” she writes in her new book “Catching the Light,” a reflection on her 50 years as a poet. “Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light,” a new selection of 50 poems written over the course of her career, is also out this month.

☆ Nobel laureate Paul Krugman calls for a crypto crackdown after the FTX fiasco - and warns regulation could wipe out the industry
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Plunging prices and collapsing companies show crypto needs to be regulated, Paul Krugman says. The Nobel Prize-winning economist warned stricter rules could spell the end of the crypto industry. Krugman suggested traditional banks could dominate the crypto space if regulators crack down. The veteran economist also took aim at crypto exchanges and lenders, which are facing mounting financial and regulatory pressures. He pointed out that both crypto firms and traditional banks rely on people trusting them with their money.

☆ Southeast Asia leaders kick off ASEAN summit in Cambodia
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Sheila Chiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Cambodia, this year's chair for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is hosting the weekend summit in Phnom Penh — the group's first in-person meeting since the Covid pandemic. Leaders from the U.S., China, South Korea and Japan will also be meeting ASEAN leaders in Phnom Penh. "Looking to the future, ASEAN needs to strongly promote the values that have made ASEAN successful over the past five decades. The ASEAN nations want more trading partners, the more, the better," he told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" on Thursday. The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia is a peace treaty among Southeast Asian countries established in 1976.watch now

The United States on Wednesday called for Iran to be expelled from a U.N. commission on women, citing the regime’s “systematic oppression” of women and its violent crackdown on street protests. Iranian women have been at the forefront of protests across the country since a 22-year-old woman from the country’s Kurdish region, Mahsa Amini, died in police custody in September. Human rights groups have made similar allegations and issued detailed accounts of the crackdown. Two rights groups, Norway-based group Iran Human Rights and the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, said last week that more than 250 protesters have been killed since the protests began. “It’s time for us to stop abetting the Islamic Republic of Iran and start supporting the freedom-loving people of Iran,” said Boniadi.

☆ U.S. wants to oust Iran from U.N. women's body
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Iran has been gripped by protests since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in police custody last month. "Iran has demonstrated through its denial of women's rights and brutal crackdown on its own people that it is unfit to serve on this Commission," Harris said. Iran has accused the United States and it allies of abusing their U.N. platform "to further their political agenda" and urged countries not to attend the meeting. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the U.S. bid to oust it from the CSW. Russia and the United States are both ECOSOC members.

☆ Iran letter urges states to skip U.S. meeting on protests at U.N
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The United States and Albania will hold an informal Security Council meeting on Wednesday, that can be attended by all U.N. members. "The U.S. has no true and genuine concern about the human rights situation in Iran or elsewhere," Iran's U.N. He described the protests as an internal issue and wrote that it would be "counterproductive to the promotion of human rights" if the U.N. Security Council discussed the issue. "The United States lacks the political, moral, and legal qualifications to hold such a meeting, distorting the very basic principles of human rights," Iravani wrote. Iran has been gripped by protests since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in police custody last month.

☆ Gerald Stern, prize-winning and lyrical poet, dies at 97
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Stern, New Jersey’s first poet laureate, died Thursday at Calvary Hospice in New York City, according to his longtime partner, Anne Marie Macari. He regarded “The One Thing in Life,” from the 1977 collection “Lucky Life,” as the poem that best defined him. Stern studied political science at the University of Pittsburgh and received a master’s in comparative literature from Columbia University. They had two children, Rachael Stern Martin and David Stern. Or get laid.”Besides Macari and his children, Stern is survived by grandchildren Dylan and Alana Stern and Rebecca and Julia Martin.

☆ Exclusive: United States to put United Nations focus on Iran protests
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Soodabeh Saeidnia/via REUTERSUNITED NATIONS, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The United States will next week put the United Nations spotlight on protests in Iran sparked by the death of a young woman in police custody and look for ways to promote credible, independent investigations into Iranian human rights abuses. The United States and Albania will hold an informal U.N. Security Council gathering on Wednesday, according to a note outlining the event, seen by Reuters. "It will identify opportunities to promote credible, independent investigations into the Iranian government's human rights violations and abuses." Independent U.N. investigator on human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, is also due to address the meeting, which can be attended by other U.N. member states and rights groups. Iran has been gripped by protests since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in police custody last month.

☆ SE Asian ministers discuss Myanmar crisis, without any Myanmar representative
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

JAKARTA, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian foreign ministers began meeting in Jakarta on Thursday to discuss how to kick-start a stalled peace process in military-ruled Myanmar, where dozens have been killed in recent weeks as violence escalated. The meeting at the secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Indonesian capital will not be attended by any representatives from Myanmar. Myanmar had been invited to send a non-political representative to the meeting in Indonesia, but the junta did not agree, according to the host government. There was also interest among some ASEAN members to seek quiet negotiations with the junta, the source said. Reporting by Poppy McPherson in Bankok and Stanley Widianto in Jakarta Writing by Ed Davies Editing by Simon Cameron-MooreOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/3] Cambodia's Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn speaks during a meeting with Southeast Asian foreign ministers at the secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta, Indonesia, October 27, 2022. Galih Pradipta/Pool via REUTERSJAKARTA, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government warned on Thursday that any pressure from its Southeast Asian neighbours to put a time frame on a peace plan would create "negative implications". No Myanmar representatives were present at the special meeting of the group's foreign ministers to discuss the stalled peace plan. Late on Thursday, Myanmar's military-appointed foreign ministry released a statement blaming armed resistance movements for violence and saying pressure to set a time frame will create more negative implications than positive ones. And Indonesia has mentioned that this request needs to be delivered to Tatmadaw (Myanmar's military) immediately," said Retno.

The stakes are high as it potentially affects the future use and effectiveness of extraordinary monetary policies such as bond-buying 'quantitative easing' (QE) and questions the wider political independence of central bank policymaking. The European Central Bank, Bank of England and U.S. Federal Reserve are all - to differing degrees - now facing a backwash from years of policy-driven but lucrative balance sheet expansion. As they lift interest rates, that balance sheet burns a hole in their pockets - or more particularly the pockets of their governments long used to windfalls coming the other way. That will surely climb as the BoE is expected to at least double its policy rate, the rate paid on bank reserves, by May. G4 central bank balance sheetsThe easy-money era is overReuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsThe opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.

☆ ASEAN chair alarmed over escalating Myanmar violence
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 26 (Reuters) - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is gravely concerned about an escalation of violence in Myanmar and is calling for restraint and an immediate cessation of fighting, the bloc's chair Cambodia said. "We are deeply saddened by the growing casualties, and the immense suffering that ordinary people in Myanmar have endured," said the statement. "We, therefore, strongly urge utmost restraint and immediate cessation to violence," said the statement, which called for all parties to pursue dialogue. ASEAN is leading diplomatic efforts to bring peace to Myanmar but the junta has done little to implement the "consensus", which committed to an immediate halt to violence and the start of dialogue towards a peace agreement. A group of 457 Myanmar civil society organisations have called in an open letter for ASEAN leaders to scrap the peace plan it agreed with the military and instead work with civilian leaders and a shadow government.

☆ The bear market blues: a diagnosis for our times
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Alden Bentley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

John Schott MD, a portfolio manager at The Colony Group, retired psychiatrist and a recognized expert on market psychology, coined the term Bear Market Depressive Syndrome (BMDS) in his 1998 book "Mind Over Money." After prolonged bull markets, investors tend to go into denial during bear markets. MARKET RISK FACTORS ALMOST UNPRECEDENTEDThe S&P 500 (.SPX) was down more than 27% year-to-date in mid-October. "That essentially moves the market at a faster pace than you would have seen in previous periods of market weakness." Negative sentiment readings indicate the market is running out of sellers, and are thus considered a bullish signal.

☆ Malaysia's deportation of Myanmar refugees violates international law - UN
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The deportations, which included former navy officers seeking asylum, expose those sent away to danger and are a violation of the international law on non-refoulement, according to UNHCR, referring to a law that protects refugees or asylum seekers from being deported. "In the last two months alone, hundreds of Myanmar nationals are reported to have been sent back against their will by the authorities," UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo told a Geneva press briefing. The latest incident involving an asylum seeker being sent back to conflict-torn Myanmar occurred on Oct. 21, Mantoo added, despite intervention by the UNHCR with authorities. Myanmar's embassy in Malaysia previously said in a post on Facebook that 150 Myanmar nationals were deported by plane on Oct. 6 in cooperation with Malaysian immigration authorities. So far, more than 150,000 refugees and asylum seekers, including many ethnic Rohingya Muslims, have fled to neighbouring Malaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Malaysia deported 150 Myanmar nationals this month, including former navy officers seeking asylum, and plans to send back more despite the risk of arrest they face at home, four sources familiar with the matter said. The two were deported from Malaysia for failing to hold valid documents to reside in the country, the sources said. Myanmar's embassy in Malaysia said in a post on Facebook that 150 Myanmar nationals were deported by plane on Oct. 6 in cooperation with Malaysian immigration authorities. The agency did not comment on dangers faced by Myanmar nationals deported back home. Despite such criticism, Malaysia is planning to deport more Myanmar nationals, according to community leaders who said they were briefed by authorities on planned deportations.

☆ At least 8 dead after explosions, gunfire at Myanmar jail -media, witness
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 19 (Reuters) - At least eight people were killed and 13 others were injured on Wednesday after explosions and gunfire at Myanmar's biggest jail, according to media reports and an account from a witness. It was unclear what caused the explosions and representatives of the prison and the military government could not immediately be reached for comment. Police were at the scene and inspecting the site of the explosions shortly afterwards, media reported. Prison staff and couriers who were seriously injured were evacuated from the prison, while those not seriously injured were treated at nearby shops, according to BBC Burmese. A number of cases scheduled to be heard in the adjacent court, were cancelled after the explosions, according to media reports.

☆ March against inflation turns up the political heat in France
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Macron’s government is also on the defensive in parliament, where it lost its majority in legislative elections in June. People gather Sunday in Paris for a march against the high cost of living and climate inaction. Paris police said they didn’t have an immediate estimate for the size of the dense flag-waving crowd that filled squares and streets. There were a few outbreaks of vandalism on the margins, with garbage bins set on fire and bank machines smashed. Demonstrating at Mélenchon’s side was French author Annie Ernaux, who won the Nobel Prize for literature this year.

☆ The pound rises after UK's new finance minister speeds up announcement of tax and spending plans to Monday
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Huileng Tan | Karen Friar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The UK's finance minister Jeremy Hunt will lay out details of some of the government's tax plans Monday. The policy details come two weeks early, after abrupt tax U-turns and the sacking of Hunt's predecessor. The pound rose Monday, after weeks where the tax plans roiled markets as investors fretted about stability. The turmoil prompted Nobel laureate Paul Krugman to say the UK markets were "behaving like those of a developing country." That and political pressure on Prime Minister Liz Truss has led to a series of U-turns on the tax plans in recent days.

☆ Myanmar court jails Suu Kyi for three years for graft - source
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 12 (Reuters) - A court in military-ruled Myanmar on Wednesday sentenced deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi to three years in prison on charges of accepting a bribe, a source with knowledge of the matter said. Suu Kyi has called the accusations against her absurd and denied any wrongdoing. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe latest charges were related to allegations Suu Kyi accepted bribes from a businessman, said the source, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue. Suu Kyi received three-year jail sentences on two charges, to be served concurrently. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Reuters Staff; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Robert BirselOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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