December 6, 2021

*) Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi gets 4 year sentence Myanmar's ousted leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint were each sentenced to four-years each on charges of incitement and violations of a law on natural disasters. The ruling is the first in a series of cases brought against the former leaders since a military coup on February 1. The coup came after the army, whose allied party lost many seats, claimed massive voting fraud, but independent election observers did not detect any major irregularities. *) Anti-Covid restriction protests turn violent in Brussels Tensions flared in Brussels as anti-lockdown protesters clashed with riot police. Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators, who gathered to oppose compulsory health measures against the pandemic. Belgium also imposed the use of Covid-19 passes for people to access bars and restaurants, as the country struggles to stem the rising number of cases. *) Casualties in northern Iraq as Daesh, Peshmerga fight In northern Iraq, Daesh militants killed four Peshmerga soldiers and a civilian, and wounded six others in an attack to take over a village. The group also captured another village a day after attacking it. The two villages are in a remote territory claimed by both Iraq and the govt in Erbil. *) Thousands rally against France’s Eric Zemmour Scuffles broke out between anti-racism activists and supporters of far-right French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour at a rally in Paris. Zemmour, who's been dubbed 'France's Donald Trump', promises a "reconquest" against what he called "decades of decline". The 63-year-old evoked the historic period, when Christian forces drove Muslim rulers from the Iberian peninsula in Spain and Portugal. And finally… *) Pope calls on govts to stop using migrants as pawns Pope Francis is calling on governments to stop using migrants as pawns in international politics. The pontiff is currently on a visit to Lesvos in Greece, where he's meeting with refugees at a migrant camp on the island. The