Russia abandons anti-torture convention

 

TT

 

Published 15.52

 

The Kremlin in Moscow. File photo. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT

Russia has formally withdrawn from the European convention against torture, reports The Kyiv Independent.

The decision to abandon the convention was made on October 30 of last year and formally took effect one year later—on Sunday, November 1 of this year. According to the Council of Europe, it has not been possible to carry out inspections of detention facilities within Russia since the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The Council has received reports of “a large number of accounts of alleged torture and ill-treatment in places of deprivation of liberty, carried out by Russian officials” in occupied territories of Ukraine and within Russia, the Council states in a press release.

Russia ratified the anti-torture convention in 1998 and has been bound by its provisions, which allow for independent prison inspections and prohibit torture, as well as inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 

EU and UK seek to strengthen defense cooperation

 

TT

 

Published 14.16

 

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting hold a press briefing in Brussels on Monday. Photo: Virginia Mayo/AP/TT

The EU and the UK are working to strengthen their defense cooperation ahead of a summit in November, says the Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas.

According to Kallas, it is important that the UK becomes more integrated into European defense cooperation.

"I would like to see us strengthen the UK’s opportunities to participate in our civilian and military missions. However, negotiations are ongoing, and there are still two weeks left until the summit," she said at a press briefing in Brussels alongside UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting.

For the UK, it is crucial that NATO remains the primary defense organization, according to Streeting.

The upcoming summit in Brussels follows remarks by UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who suggested that a new referendum on the EU could become a possibility in the future—though not during the current parliamentary term.

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Ebola death toll exceeds 5,000

 

TT-AFP

 

Published 17:31

 

Healthcare workers at a treatment unit for Ebola patients in Beni, northeastern Congo. File photo. Photo: Sebastien Kitsa Musayi/AP/TT

More than 5,300 people have died in the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Central Africa, with the highest number of deaths recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

According to the latest figures compiled by the Africa CDC, the Ebola epidemic has claimed 5,376 lives—the majority of which were recorded in the DRC, with two deaths in neighboring Uganda and two in Kenya.

A total of 10,444 cases of Ebola have been confirmed since the epidemic began in the DRC in mid-May of this year. The mortality rate is just over 50 percent.

The virus crossed national borders several times during October; notably, the first case was recorded in Nigeria.

The current outbreak of the Ebola virus—also known as a hemorrhagic fever—involves the Bundibugyo strain.