Ethiopia’s rebels announce retreat to Tigray

Tigrayan rebels announced on Monday they had withdrawn from northern Ethiopia’s Amhara and Afar regions and retreated to Tigray, marking a new turning point in the 13-month war which has left thousands of people dead.

“We decided to withdraw from these areas to Tigray. We want to open the door to humanitarian aid,” Getachew Reda, spokesman for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), had disclosed.

The decision was made a few weeks ago, Getachew said, later tweeting: “We have just completed the withdrawal of our forces from both #Amhara&#Afar regions.”

The move marks a major reversal by the rebels, who previously dismissed the government’s insistence on their withdrawal from Afar and Amhara for talks to begin as “an absolute non-starter”.

But Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s spokeswoman Billene Seyoum said Monday’s rebel announcement was a cover-up for military setbacks.

“The TPLF have sustained great losses over the past weeks and hence are claiming ‘strategic retreat’ to make up for defeat,” she revealed.

“There are still pockets in the Amhara region in which they remain as well as other fronts they are attempting to open the conflict.”

The war between pro-Abiy forces and the TPLF has triggered a severe humanitarian crisis and last week the UN’s top rights body ordered an international probe into alleged abuses.

Since late October, the two sides have each declared major territorial advances, with the TPLF at one point claiming to be around 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa by road.

Abiy, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner, headed to the front last month, according to state media, and the government has since claimed to have retaken several key towns.

Communications have been cut in the conflict zone and access for journalists is restricted, making it difficult to verify battlefield claims.

The fighting has sparked alarm among the international community, as diplomatic efforts led by the African Union to broker a ceasefire failed to yield any visible breakthrough.

Getachew said TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael had written to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to inform him about the decision, with the Security Council expected to hold a closed-door meeting about Ethiopia later Monday.

Ireland’s UN envoy Geraldine Byrne Nason, who called the meeting, told reporters the TPLF pullout offered “a welcome opportunity to hopefully create political space for dialogue”.

According to copies of the letter circulating on social media, Debretsion asked the Security Council to ensure the withdrawal of Amhara forces and Eritrean troops from western Tigray.

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Ghana Bans Malta,South Korea, and Israelí travelers

The Ministry of Foreign n Affairs and Regional Integration of the Republic of Ghana has issued new Covid19 travelling restrictions,
affecting three countries worldwide.

The 14 days temporary ban to South Korea,Malta and Isreal were announced in three seperate press releases on Friday the 17th of December, 2021, and took effect from today December 20,2021.
The press statement announcing the ban on Isreal observed that “persons with exceptionals reasons for which they must visit Ghana must obtain permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration”.
Read full release below;

Meanwhile, travellers fromSouth Korea would not be allow entry into the country, as reservations were not made for exceptional travelers.
Read full statement below;

A seperate statement also banned travelers to and from Malta, emphasizing that the Government does not recognize vaccine certificate from the small Island.
Read full statement below.

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Beth Aspey murder: Boyfriend jailed for minimum of 20 years

An abusive boyfriend who used a hammer to murder his partner has been jailed for a minimum of 20 years.

Ben Shand was staying with 34-year-old Beth Aspey at her flat in Reading when he launched the attack on 30 April.

Shand, 45, initially denied being at the scene, but later changed his story and tried to blame her head wounds on his girlfriend being “clumsy”.

However, jurors at Reading Crown Court found him guilty of murder, and he has now been handed a life sentence.

IMAGE SOURCE,GOOGLE

Image caption,

Emergency services were called to Miss Aspey’s flat but she could not be saved

The trial heard he was living at Ms Aspey’s flat in Laud Close while renovation work was being undertaken at his own property.

Ms Aspey told friends she was looking for “an escape route” from his violence in the months before her death, and wanted “this guy out of my flat”, jurors heard.

Shand claimed he found her body in the bathroom the day after the pair had been drinking heavily, and “panicked” because he feared he would be implicated because of an injury to his hand.

He admitted in court that he pretended to be locked out of the flat and sent texts to Ms Aspey to be let in, despite knowing she was already dead.

‘Senseless’

But Shand denied ever striking his girlfriend, and added: “I had no idea what had happened to her but I was aware of how clumsy she was.”

A post-mortem examination found Ms Aspey had been “repeatedly hit on the head with a weapon”, and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said there was no scientific evidence to suggest a different attacker.

Victoria Forbes, of the CPS, said: “Beth Aspey tragically lost her life to a senseless act of violence, while her killer, Ben Shand, made deliberate attempts to cover his tracks.”

She added that she hoped the prison sentence would “bring a sense of justice to Beth’s loved ones, even though it cannot undo the heartbreaking loss they have suffered”.

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Hilda Lockert death: killer sentenced after DNA link found

A “callous” mugger has been jailed for 18 years for killing an elderly woman 20 years ago.

Hilda Lockert died two weeks after being attacked and robbed of her shopping bag and purse in Brixton, south London, in April 2001.

DNA samples taken from her shopping bag linked Junior Young to the attack.

Young, now 39, was sentenced at the Old Bailey to 18 years in prison for manslaughter and five years for robbery, to run concurrently.

Junior Young was 18 years old when he and an accomplice attacked Mrs Lockert, snatching the pensioner’s purse containing £15, a shopping bag and a bus pass on 30 April 2001.

The case remained unsolved for nearly 20 years before Young’s DNA was identified on the handle of Mrs Lockert’s bag.

During the violent robbery, one teenager took hold of her mouth while the other grabbed her by the throat, the court was told.

She said at the time that she felt as if she had been lifted and thrown through the air before hitting a wall at the bottom of some stairs, jurors heard.

The pensioner was left “shocked and very distressed” and “black and blue”, the Old Bailey heard.

She was taken to hospital with a lump on her head, broken leg and pain in her hip and died two weeks later on her 86th birthday.

Young was arrested in June 2001, but released without charge.

New DNA technique

However, in 2015 a forensic scientist re-examined samples taken from the handles of the shopping bag, and matched the DNA to Young.

During the trial, the court also heard that Young had two previous convictions for robbery in 1999 and 2001.

Young, now aged 39, who grew up in Brixton, was charged with her robbery and manslaughter, which he denied.

The defendant, who had an “extensive” record of offending including two robberies before and after the 2001 attack, was found guilty of the charges following an Old Bailey trial.

‘Too old to defend herself’

On Monday, Mrs Lockert’s nephew Brian Bullock said in a victim impact statement that his aunt had lived on the same Brixton estate since it was built.

Despite being robbed “several times” she refused to move away from the home she had shared with her husband Ted.

At the time of her death, Mrs Lockert’s husband of 60 years had moved into a care home because he was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

He never got the chance to say goodbye and did not understand where she had gone, Mr Bullock said.

Mr Bullock, who is now in his 80s himself, said: “We were devastated when she was killed. I cannot tell you what it was like walking into that hospital ward seeing what they had done to her.”

He told how difficult it was to explain to his aunt she had been attacked because she was “too old to defend herself”.

Following her death, Hilda Lockert Walk in Lambeth, south London, was named in tribute to the “lively” and independent pensioner.

Judge Nigel Lickley said Mrs Lockert was an independent and active person who was a “popular and respected” member of the community.

He told Young: “She was pulled with force backwards and taken to the ground when you and your accomplice rummaged through her coat.

“Mrs Lockert was just short of 5ft in height, she was vulnerable and you chose to rob her. This was callous and very serious offending.”

The judge noted the defendant had attacked his victim to fund a crack cocaine habit and would resort to “reckless and aggressive behaviour”.

Sentencing Young, he told the defendant his actions had caused “untold upset” to many people.

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WHO urges cancelling some holiday events over Omicron fears

The World Health Organization has urged people to cancel some of their holiday plans to protect public health, as the Omicron variant spreads globally.

“An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled,” said WHO head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that “difficult decisions” must be made.

A number of countries have acted to try to halt the spread of the variant, including imposing travel curbs.

In the US, Omicron is now dominant, accounting for 73% of new infections.

President Joe Biden is expected to address the nation on Tuesday but the White House said he was not planning on “locking the country down”.

The country’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, earlier warned that Christmas travel would increase the spread of Omicron even among the fully vaccinated.

Americans are now advised against travel to more than 80 nations that appear on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Very High list for Covid-19, including almost all of Europe.

France and Germany are among the nations imposing travel curbs to tackle Omicron, while the Netherlands has introduced a strict lockdown over the Christmas period.

In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that the government needed to “reserve the possibility” of bringing in new rules in England as Omicron cases surged, but did not announce further restrictions.

New Year’s Eve celebrations in London’s Trafalgar Square have been cancelled “in the interests of public safety”, Mayor Sadiq Khan said.

And on Tuesday, New Zealand postponed its phased reopening to international travel until the end of February at least.

Omicron – first detected in South Africa in November – has been classed as a “variant of concern” by the WHO.

Speaking at a briefing on Monday, Dr Tedros said there was now evidence that the variant was “spreading significantly faster” than the previous dominant version, Delta.

The WHO has also said it would be “unwise” to conclude from early evidence that Omicron was a milder variant.

Dr Tedros said that “all of us are sick of this pandemic. All of us want to spend time with friends and family. All of us want to get back to normal”.

But he said that everyone, “leaders and individuals”, had to make difficult decisions to protect people, including by cancelling or delaying events.

“It’s better to cancel now and celebrate later than to celebrate now and grieve later,” Dr Tedros said.

He also said that the pandemic could be ended in 2022 – if 70% of the population of every country of the world was vaccinated by the middle of next year.

He also said that China, where the outbreak is believed to have started in 2019, must provide more data on the origins, to help with future policy on tackling pandemics.

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