Newsdeck
While you were sleeping: 22 December 2016
UN votes to create Syrian war crimes unit, Trump gets fed up with F-35 project, and Petersen banned for two years.
Thursday, 22nd December
“Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home.”
G.K. Chesterton
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
Syrian war crimes unit to be established
The United Nations voted on Wednesday to create a war crimes evidence-building unit specifically focusing on Syria. Opposed by Russia, China and Iran amongst others, the body will gather testimony and other evidence in the civil war that has killed roughly 300,000 civilians.
Trump meets generals over F-35
Donald Trump has met with top military officials to discuss the ballooning costs of the F-35 project. America’s most expensive jet project to date, the costs of the troubled aircraft could reach as high as $1.5 trillion. Combined with Trump’s dislike for the new Air Force One’s costs, and aerospace companies clearly now have no friend in Trump Tower.
Alviro Petersen was banned from cricket for two years by Cricket South Africa. Petersen, a veteran of many test matches and a regular with the Johannesburg Lions, was banned on corruption charges relating to meetings held with match fixers.
British defence dept loses hundreds of laptops
More than 700 laptops and over 300 memory sticks have gone missing in the past year and a half in Britain’s Ministry of Defence. The loss included encrypted laptops from several departments. At the very least one hopes the login passwords were more complicated than the Queen’s birth date.
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