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Syrians say jails were an extortion machine funding ousted rulers

Saydnaya (Syria) (AFP) – Outside Syria’s notorious Saydnaya prison, relatives leaf desperately through abandoned ledgers looking for news of the missing, clinging to the dream of seeing missing sons, husbands and sisters again. Desperate Syrians say they were systematically shaken down for bribes to receive news of detainees that together amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars. Ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s vast network of prisons was not simply a tool of his brutal crackdown on opposition to his rule, it was a money-making machine for his supporters.

©AFP

Cyclone Chido leaves trail of devastation in Mozambique

Pemba (Mozambique) (AFP) – Cyclone Chido made landfall in Mozambique early Sunday December 15, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the northern city of Pemba, with the UN’s agency Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), warning remnants of the cyclone would bring “significant rainfall” on neighbouring Malawi and that Zimbabwe and Zambia could also expect heavy rains.

©AFP

China calls on US to ‘stop arming Taiwan’ after tank delivery

Beijing (AFP) – China has urged the United States to “stop arming Taiwan… and supporting Taiwan independence forces”. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian made the comments after Taiwan’s defence ministry said it had received dozens of advanced Abrams battle tanks from Washington.

©AFP

Black day? Guinness runs dry in UK pubs amid soaring popularity

London (AFP) – At her London pub, landlady Kate Davidson has taken to issuing Guinness ration cards, due to a shortage of Ireland’s national drink. Bars across Britain, even Irish ones, have reported limited supplies of the black stuff since Guinness owner Diageo announced earlier this month that it was experiencing “exceptional consumer demand”.

©AFP

India’s Gukesh Dommaraju becomes world’s youngest chess champion

(AFP) – 18-year-old Indian prodigy Gukesh Dommaraju has made history by becoming the world’s youngest undisputed world chess champion. Gukesh won the title after beating China’s Ding Liren in the final match of their series in Singapore. “It is one of the proudest moments in my life,” says a supporter.

©AFP

Syria’s rebel victors expose ousted government’s drug trade

The dramatic collapse of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government has thrown light into many of the dark corners of his rule, including the industrial-scale export of the banned drug captagon. Victorious Islamist-led fighters have seized a warehouse on the outskirts of Damascus, said to belong to Maher al-Assad, military commander and the deposed strongman’s brother.

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