The French, German and Russian leaders are set to meet in the German capital to discuss the Syrian crisis, as a brief truce has been introduced by Russia and Syria for the embattled city of Aleppo. French and Russian presidents Francois Hollande and Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet in Berlin on Wednesday, according to Hollande’s office.

An aide to Hollande said the meeting is aimed at “giving the message” to the Russian president that “a durable ceasefire” and humanitarian access is needed for Aleppo. Russia, which has been conducting an aerial military campaign against extremist militants in Syria, has repeatedly voiced its readiness for a ceasefire. Russia has been insisting, however, that any such lull in fighting should be accompanied with a meticulous separation of terrorists from other, less extremist militants fighting against the Syrian government.

Western countries, including the US, have been reluctant to do any such separation. Al-Nusra Front, which has recently renamed itself and claimed to have broken up with al-Qaeda, is one of the handful of terrorist groups that have mingled with almost all the other militant outfits fighting in Syria, including inside Aleppo.

The Syrian and Russian militaries have also set up humanitarian corridors around Aleppo to allow the safe exit of civilians trapped in the city ever since a major offensive began to retake it. Damascus and Moscow say, however, that the militants are preventing the civilians from leaving the city.

Presstv

A group of 70 Nobel Prize winners have thrown their support behind the US Democratic presidential nominee, endorsing Hillary Clinton for presidency in the run-up to the 2016 elections.

In an open letter on Tuesday, the world’s leading experts in science, medicine and economics “strongly and fully” backed the former secretary of state, arguing that her election is crucial for preserving freedom, safeguarding national security and protecting a constitutional government. “It is imperative that Hillary Clinton be elected as the next president of the United States,” they wrote.

“We need a president who will support and advance policies that will enable science and technology to flourish in our country and to provide the basis of important policy decisions,” the laureates added.

The letter made no mention of Clinton’s Republican rival, Donald Trump, but it suggested that policies that show a lack of appreciation for scientific knowledge could harm America’s national security.

The signatories of the letter, among whom were prominent names such as  chemist Peter Agre,  economist Robert J. Shiller and  physicist Robert Woodrow Wilson, also pointed to global issues, including cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and climate change as problems that require innovation and investment.

Along with other GOPers, Trump believes that the climate change issue is just a “hoax.” According to The New York Times, “The fact that the Nobel laureates are backing Mrs. Clinton does not come as a big surprise, as academics overwhelmingly tend to lean Democratic.”

The race between Trump and Clinton represents a battle between two of the least liked major party candidates in US history. A Washington Post/ABC News poll released in August found Clinton and Trump were the most unpopular presidential candidates in decades.

Presstv

The widow of a Nigerian activist is planning to sue Royal Dutch Shell in the Dutch courts alleging the oil company was complicit in the execution of her husband by the Nigerian military in 1995, court documents filed in the United States last week show. Esther Kiobel has filed an application in New York to secure documents from Shell’s US lawyers, which she could use in the Dutch action.

The filings with the US District Court for the Southern District Court of New York said she planned to begin the action before the end of the year. “Ms. Kiobel will demonstrate that Shell encouraged, facilitated, and conspired with the Nigerian government to commit human rights violations against the Ogoni people,” a memorandum in the application filed last week said.

A Shell spokesman said: “Shell remains firmly committed to supporting fundamental human rights in line with the legitimate role of business. We have always denied, in the strongest possible terms, the allegations made by the plaintiffs in this tragic case.”

Kiobel previously took her lawsuit to the United States but the US Supreme Court ruled in 2013 the case could not be heard because the alleged activities took place outside the country. In 2009 prior to that ruling Shell had agreed in the United States to pay $15.5 million to settle lawsuits related to other activists executed at the same time as Barinem Kiobel, including author and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. Kiobel’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

John Donovan, who runs the royaldutchshellplc.com protest website, and who has advised Kiobel on the case said: “She’s going after Shell in their home country, the Netherlands”. The Nigerian military cracked down heavily on local opposition to oil production by a Shell joint venture in the Niger Delta in the early 1990s. Kiobel alleges that Shell provided support to the military in its crackdown. A Dutch court ruled in December that Shell may be sued in the Netherlands for oil spills at its subsidiary in Nigeria, although it did not say Shell was responsible.

Culled from Defenseweb

The Austrian government says the house where Adolf Hitler was born is to be torn down to stop it from becoming a shrine for neo-Nazis. The mansion will be replaced with a new building that has no association with the Nazi dictator and used by either a charity or the local authorities, according to Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka.  The property has been empty since 2011 amid a government order for the compulsory purchase of the building in a town on the border with Germany, and a dispute with its owner.

The government this year launched formal legal procedures to dispossess the home’s owner after she had repeatedly refused to sell the building. Now a committee of experts including historians, officials and the head of Austria’s main Jewish organization has recommended that a “thorough architectural rearrangement” be carried out.

The plan still has to be formalized in legislation and voted on in parliament. Austria, which was annexed by Hitler’s Germany in 1938, has confronted its Nazi past far less directly than its larger neighbour. The controversial building draws Nazi sympathizers from around the world, visiting and posing in front of the house with the Hitler salute.

The street where the house is located also witnesses anti-fascist protests annually where demonstrators organize rallies outside the building. The news prompted some residents to call for a refugee centre to be built in place of the building amid an unprecedented influx of refugees fleeing conflict-ridden zones in Africa and the Middle East.

Presstv