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Geopolitics

Eight Dead in Syrian Prison Mutiny As Violence Intensifies

LE MONDE, AFP (France), AL JAZEERA (Qatar), HRW (USA)

On Tuesday, eight people were killed in a mutiny at a prison in Syria's second city Aleppo, where the conflict has intensified.

The opposition Syrian National Council told AFP that security forces opened fire and used tear gas on prisoners during a peaceful sit-in to protest against inhumane conditions.

Human Rights Watch reported tens of thousands of people have been incarcerated since the beginning of the uprising in March 2011, with detainees often subjected to electric shocks and physical abuse.

A similar prison mutiny took place earlier in the week in Homs, resulting in two deaths.

Clashes between rebel fighters and regime officials continue throughout Syria.

Le Monde reports that Free Syrian Army rebels have created numerous check-points around the city and appear to have gained control for the time being.

Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi on Monday announced the regime would be prepared to use chemical weapons on foreign "aggression", but ruled out using weapons of mass destruction on Syrian citizens, Al Jazeera reported.

"Any stocks of WMD or any unconventional weapons that the Syrian Arab Republic possesses would never, would never be used against civilians or against the Syrian people during this crisis at any circumstances, no matter how the crisis would evolve, no matter how," Makdissi said.

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Society

Why Every New Parent Should Travel Alone — Without Their Children

Argentine journalist Ignacio Pereyra travels to Italy alone to do some paperwork as his family stays behind. While he walks alone around Rome, he experiences mixed feelings: freedom, homesickness and nostalgia, and wonders what leads people to desire larger families.

Photo of a man sitting donw with his luggage at Athens' airport

Alone at Athens' international airport

Ignacio Pereyra

I realize it in the morning before leaving: I feel a certain level of excitement about traveling. It feels like enthusiasm, although it is confusing. I will go from Athens to Naples to see if I can finish the process for my Italian citizenship, which I started five years ago.

I started the process shortly after we left Buenos Aires, when my partner Irene and I had been married for two years and the idea of having children was on the vague but near horizon.

Now there are four of us and we have been living in Greece for more than two years. We arrived here in the middle of the pandemic, which left a mark on our lives, as in the lives of most of the people I know.

But now it is Sunday morning. I tell Lorenzo, my four-year-old son, that I am leaving for a few days: “No, no, Dad. You can’t go. Otherwise I’ll throw you into the sea.”

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