News | 1 February 2018

Poland’s Senate passes controversial Holocaust law +++ Russian athletes successfully appeal against doping bans

Poland’s Senate passes controversial Holocaust law +++ Russian athletes successfully appeal against doping bans +++ Mass graves discovered in western Myanmar +++ The FBI warns against the release of secret memo +++ Fears mount for Afghan refugees in Pakistan +++ New blood test to gauge Alzheimer’s risk +++ The weather

News | 1 February 2018

John Cummins

Poland’s Senate passes controversial Holocaust law

The Polish Senate has approved controversial legislation, which makes it a crime to imply Polish complicity in the Holocaust. The bill also prohibits the term Polish death camps being used to describe Nazi camps in Poland during World War Two. The move has sparked a strong reaction from Israel, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describing it as an attempt to rewrite history. Poland's Deputy Justice Minister Patryk Jaki says the law will not hinder historical research. “Talking about the past and analysing this past, even the darkest, shameful part of the Polish past, is not threatened in any way.”

Russian athletes successfully appeal against doping bans

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has overturned bans handed down to 28 Russian athletes for doping, saying there was insufficient evidence against them. The athletes will now have their results re-instated from the 2014 Winter Olympics. Doping convictions against 11 other athletes were upheld, but their lifetime bans were reduced to missing this month's Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Mass graves discovered in western Myanmar

The Associated Press is reporting that five mass graves have been discovered in Myanmar's western Rakhine State, which are thought to contain the bodies of up to 400 people. The graves in the village of Gu Dar Pyin, appear to support eyewitness claims of a massacre committed by Myanmar's security forces last August against members of the Muslim Rohingya minority. The UN special envoy on Myanmar Yanghee Lee is demanding a full investigation into violence against the Rohingya saying it bears the hallmarks of genocide. “I think Myanmar needs to get rid of this baggage of did you or did you not and if proven that they did then there has to be responsibility and accountability.”

The FBI warns against the release of secret memo

The FBI says it has grave concerns about plans by the Trump administration to release a secret memo, which alleges the intelligence agency abused its surveillance powers to target the president's 2016 election campaign. In a statement the agency said omissions of fact in the memo fundamentally impact its accuracy. Democrats fear the document may be used to discredit an investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Fears mount for Afghan refugees in Pakistan

Pakistan has announced that it will only extend visas for Afghan refugees for another 60 days, raising fears that it is preparing to send hundreds of thousands of people back to Afghanistan. Pakistan is home to an estimated 2.5 million Afghan refugees. Tensions have increased recently between the two neighbours, with the Afghan Interior Ministry accusing Pakistan of failing to combat Taliban militants.

New blood test to gauge Alzheimer’s risk

Medical researchers in Australia and Japan say they have developed a blood test which could help detect those at risk of Alzheimer’s disease, years before they show symptoms. The test, which looks for a toxic protein, was found to be 90 percent accurate in trials involving 370 people.

The weather

Conditions will become increasingly cloudy this afternoon with the chance of rain and snow showers. Top temperatures will range from 0 to 12 degrees.

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