Putin Confirms Russia Will Act to Stop Color Revolutions, Calls for CSTO Military/Security Intergration

Putin Confirms Russia Will Act to Stop Color Revolutions, Calls for CSTO Military/Security Integration
News Topic 386

Session of CSTO Collective Security Council

Session of CSTO Collective Security Council

The Republic of Armenia chaired the videoconference meeting, which was devoted to the situation in Kazakhstan and measures to normalise it. Taking part in the meeting were Prime Minister of Armenia , President of Belarus , President of Kazakhstan , Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Akylbek Japarov, President of Tajikistan and Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation Stanislav Zas.

Kazakh crisis may occur in Uzbekistan, if lessons aren’t learned, warns Lukashenko

Kazakh crisis may occur in Uzbekistan, if lessons aren’t learned, warns Lukashenko

MINSK, January 10. /TASS/. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that if lessons are not learned from the events in Kazakhstan, this could happen again, primarily in Uzbekistan. “The lessons that have been talked a lot about here should be learned [by everyone], first of all, Uzbekistan.

Police officer charged with nine new sex crimes

The London cop now faces a total of 29 charges, including 13 counts of rape

London Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick has been charged with nine new offenses, including six counts of rape. Carrick is now facing 29 charges of sexual abuse.

The Crown Prosecution Service on Monday revealed nine new charges against the 47-year-old police officer, comprising six counts of rape, one count of attempted rape, one count of assault by penetration, and one count of coercive and controlling behavior. The charges relate to four women, and allegedly took place between 2009 and 2018.

Carrick was first charged with rape in October, after a woman he met on the Tinder dating app accused him of pressuring her into getting drunk and having sex with her against her will. Carrick denied the accusation, but three more women came forward alleging that he had raped them, and now, with a total of eight women accusing him, the charges against Carrick allege that the London cop raped prolifically.

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In total, Carrick is now charged with 29 offenses against eight women between 2009 and 2020, including 13 counts of rape, five counts of sexual assault, three counts of assault by penetration, and three counts of coercive and controlling behavior.

Carrick is currently suspended from duty and will answer to the latest charges at the Westminster magistrates’ court on Wednesday.

Speaking at the time of his arrest in October, London Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said that she was “deeply concerned” by the allegations against Carrick, but would not speak further while criminal proceedings were underway.

Carrick’s case was one of several scandals to rock the Met last year. In September, police officer Wayne Couzens was handed a whole life sentence for falsely imprisoning, raping and murdering Sarah Everard the previous March. Carrick served in the same unit as Couzens, and his first accuser said that she came forward after hearing about Couzens’ sentencing. 

Some 771 Met Police officers and staff have faced sexual misconduct allegations over the past 11 years, with only 83 individuals being fired from the service, according to data obtained by iNews under a Freedom of Information request. During that time, 163 officers from the Met were arrested for sexual offenses, with 38 of those later convicted.

Prime minister under fire for hiring illegal immigrant

The Swedish politician says anyone can be fooled by ‘dishonest companies’

Recently appointed Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson has become the target of increased scrutiny by the media and political opponents after an illegal migrant cleaner was found working in her home.

According to Expressen newspaper, which was the first to break the news over the weekend, a few days before Christmas at the prime minister’s villa in Nacka, police detained a young woman from Nicaragua who was supposed to be deported as an illegal immigrant and therefore was wanted by the Swedish authorities since autumn 2021.

The discovery was completely unexpected. The cleaners accidentally activated a burglary alarm which prompted police to go and check the house and everyone’s documents.

Approached by the newspaper, Andersson, who became prime minister in November, initially declined to comment, but later confirmed that she had parted ways with the cleaning company, which she said had misled her regarding the employee’s status.

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The Social Democrat prime minister, who had used the services of the company for several years, added that even “those of us who want to do the right thing” can be fooled by “dishonest” companies.

However, her explanation seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Opposition politicians and media were quick to recall Andersson’s inaugural speech, in which she called on people to do whatever it takes to fight crime. The story of the immigrant cleaner went viral on Swedish social media, while newspapers raced to unveil more details about the cleaning company, its management, and the prime minister’s security arrangements.

The Moderate Party’s Tobias Billstrom expressed concern over the state of national security in a country where the prime minister is unaware of the status of her own cleaners. He also made a rather transparent hint, noting that the UK’s former immigration minister, Mark Harper, had to resign in 2014 after finding himself in a situation similar to Andersson’s.

Study reveals real size of medieval English warhorses

Horses used by English knights of the era were ‘not quite’ as large as those portrayed in films and books

Despite popular depictions of English medieval warhorses as giant steeds, new research suggests that most mounts of the era were only as big as modern-day ponies – with movies and books playing up the myth of their stature.

The study, published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, found that chargers used by English knights stood at less than 14.2 hands (about 57 inches) high.

The ancient ‘hand’ unit of measurement, specific to horses, measures equine height from the ground to the top of the shoulder. Only animals taller than that benchmark are classified as ‘horses’ by modern standards.

A team of archaeologists and historians analyzed around 2,000 skeletal remains from 171 different historic sites, including castles and a medieval horse cemetery, across the UK, dating from the fourth to the 17th centuries. The researchers also looked at historical records as well as fictional accounts of the era.

The study found that horses standing at 15 to 16 hands, roughly the size of modern racehorses and showjumpers, were “very rare indeed.” Even in the royal stables of the 13th and 14th centuries, such animals would apparently have been thought of as “very large.” However, fictional depictions of the period typically portray these mounts using animals as high as 18 hands (about 72 inches).

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Among the biggest remains found by the team was a 15-hand-tall horse from the Norman period between the 11th and 12th centuries. Its stature would put the animal at about the size of a small light riding horse today.

“It turns out that things are not quite as they have usually been portrayed. In popular culture, warhorses are often depicted as the size of a shire horse [a large load-pulling breed]. It really wasn’t like that,” Alan Outram, an archaeologist at the University of Exeter, told The Guardian.

The study suggests that warhorses were bred not for “raw size” alone, but for a mix of biological and cultural factors, as well as behavioral characteristics such as “temperament.” While there might have been large specimens, Outram said armies would have also needed smaller horses for long-distance raids and to transport equipment.

The researchers noted that it was not until the post-medieval period that the average height of horses approached something comparable to modern-day draft animals.