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Open qualifiers to be held in Blitz Chess for Olympic Esports Series - Insidethegames.biz

Detective Comics #1070 expands on the mystery of the Orgham family and the ongoing conflict without losing its mystery and pacing. Its an excellent world-building issue that deepens the history of all players involved while bringing in new ones.

This issue opens up to an angry Solomon Grundy taking round after round of gunfire. The undead giant makes his way through masked soldiers only to be pinned down and given Azmer, a known chemical agent that takes control over its subjects. He punches himself to release the chemical. Realizing it is a losing battle, a soldier releases grenades to take down everyone involved as a cat-masked person watches the violence.

In many ways, this scene could be viewed as a representative of how this issue plays out. Solomon Grundy, a staple of Gotham City, is facing violence despite doing nothing to deserve it. The new masked onlooker brings new characters into the saga, which fuels the chaos that lingers forever.

Ram Vs writing and pacing have been top-notch in this series, and issue #1070 keeps up the quality. Multiple threads are being weaved into the conflict, and with this comes a lot of mystery. This lends itself well to the experience of reading an issue of Detective Comics as readers slowly are given pieces and, by the end of the issue, are shown how they all fit together.

This operatic story arc began with Batman feeling slower and more tired. What this issue does well is continuing Batmans internal dialogue about how long he can put on the cape and cowl and whether or not it was a mistake. Its a clever way to throw back to the beginning of this story arc and a lovely subtle payoff.

This series has included several members of Batmans rogues gallery, and in this issue, there are some small insights as to how all of the pieces connect and how they are all headed in the same direction. Its brilliant writing and makes this issue incredibly enjoyable.

The backup story also has a theme of connecting to previous issues. A kidnapped woman having to keep hope to motivate herself to stay alive while being stuck in Mr. Freezes lab has a connection to an earlier backup story.

The art feels a little rougher than in previous issues. However, this is not a bad thing. How the line work is thick, giving the colors by Adriano Lucas a nice layout to enhance the art, is done well. Stefano Raffaele is two issues into this arc and has kept up with the quality expected of a Detective Comic issue while keeping its own identity. With all of the characters within this story, the lettering helps signal where the dialogue comes from. Done by Ariana Maher, it matched well with the entire issue.

Simon Spurrier handles the backup, and the art is by Caspar Wijngaard with letters by Arianna Turturro. The quality from the last issue remains, and the story has kept me engaged and curious about what will happen next.

Before wrapping up this review, it is essential to highlight the fantastic cover art done by Evan Cagle. The continuation of colors reflecting a theme of the issue remains. Oracle is a pivotal part of this issue, and its always great when other members of the Bat-Family are allowed to be recognized.

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Detective Comics #1070: The Chess Pieces Move Closer to Conflict - Comic Watch

GENEVA (AP) U.N.-backed human rights experts said Monday there is evidence that crimes against humanity have been committed against Libyans and migrants in chaos-stricken Libya, including women being forced into sexual slavery.

The investigators commissioned by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council also faulted the European Union for sending support to Libyan forces that they say contributed to crimes against migrants and Libyans, and called on EU authorities to review their policies toward Libya.

The findings come in an extensive new report, based on interviews with hundreds of people, including migrants and witnesses, that wraps up a fact-finding mission created nearly three years ago to investigate rights violations and abuses in the North African country. The mission shared its findings with the International Criminal Court.

Oil-rich but largely lawless Libya has in recent years emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants seeking a better quality of life in Europe. A ctivists have long decried horrible conditions faced by migrants who were trafficked and smuggled across the Mediterranean.

Spokespersons for the government in the capital of Tripoli, which works in western Libya, and the forces of a powerful commander that controls eastern and southern Libya, were not immediately available for comment.

The investigators found reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity were committed against Libyans and migrants throughout Libya, said Mohamed Auajjar, the head of the fact-finding mission. Speaking in Arabic through a translator at a news conference in Geneva, he said his team unearthed numerous cases of arbitrary detention, murder, torture, rape, enslavement, sexual enslavement and enforced disappearance.

The Libyan coast guard, which has received training and equipment from the EU, has worked in close coordination with trafficking networks in Libya, the report said. The wide-scale exploitation of vulnerable, irregular migrants churned up significant revenue that spurred continued rights violations, it said.

The support given by the EU to the Libyan coast guard in terms of pull-backs, pushbacks, (and) interceptions led to violations of certain human rights, said investigator Chaloka Beyani. You cant push back people to areas that are unsafe, and the Libyan waters are unsafe for the embarkation of migrants.

He said the European bloc and its member states werent found to be responsible for war crimes, but the support given has aided and abetted the commission of the crimes.

European Commission spokesman Peter Stano told reporters Monday that the EU did not fund the Libyan coast guard nor any other entity in Libya, adding that the EU assistance was meant to improve their performance.

We are providing assistance to help them improve their performance when it comes to search and rescue, be it with vessels, be it with equipment, or previously training with a focus exactly on human rights, he said.

The investigators documented enslavement, rape at times at gunpoint and other sexual abuse against women and men, including by guards working both for state authorities and trafficking groups.

Investigators cited evidence of crimes against humanity in prisons in parts of eastern Libya controlled by forces of commander Khalifa Hifter, as well as in areas controlled by an umbrella group of militias led by Abdel-Ghani al-Kikli, an infamous warlord known as Gheniwa in the capital, Tripoli.

The U.N. migration agency, in its latest report published in mid-March, tallied nearly 700,000 migrants with 42 nationalities in Libya as of the end of last year. The investigators said the situation of human rights has been getting worse.

The missions mandate is ending when the human rights situation in Libya is deteriorating, parallel State authorities are emerging, and the legislative, executive and security sector reforms needed to uphold the rule of law and unify the country are far from being realized, it said.

Libya was plunged into turmoil after a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed, and left the country divided between rival governments on the east and west. The United Nations has been struggling to try to shepherd the country toward new elections.

The International Criminal Court has an ongoing investigation in Libya that was originally called for by the U.N. Security Council during the upheaval that led to Gadhafis ouster. In November, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said his office had joined a coalition of nations investigating human trafficking in the country.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo. Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

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UN-backed probe cites crimes against humanity in Libya - The Associated Press

Fact-finding mission says state security forces and armed militia groups have committed a wide array of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

United Nations investigators say there is evidence that crimes against humanity have been committed against Libyans and migrants stuck in Libya, including women being forced into sexual slavery.

The investigators commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council also faulted the European Union for sending support to Libyan forces that they say contributed to crimes against migrants and Libyans.

Investigators said they are deeply concerned by the deteriorating human rights situation in war-scarred Libya, noting there are grounds to believe a wide array of war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed by state security forces and armed militia groups.

Their findings come in an extensive new report, based on interviews with hundreds of people, including migrants and witnesses, that wraps up a fact-finding mission created nearly three years ago to probe rights violations and abuses in the North African country.

The investigators said they collected at least 2,800 items of information documenting numerous cases of arbitrary detention, murder, torture, rape, enslavement, sexual slavery, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances that confirmed their widespread practice in Libya.

It is clear that there was a pattern of violation of human rights and international humanitarian law. Particularly in places of detention as well as in relation to migrants, investigator Chaloka Beyani told Al Jazeera.

Libya has in recent years emerged as the dominant transit point for refugees and migrants from Africa and the Middle East who are seeking to reach Europe. Human rights groups and activists have long decried the horrible conditions these people are facing.

During the probe into alleged human trafficking and smuggling, the investigators found there are reasonable grounds to believe that migrants across Libya are victims of crimes against humanity and that acts of murder, enforced disappearance, torture, enslavement, sexual violence, rape and other inhumane acts are committed in connection with their arbitrary detention, the report said.

It specifically cited the Libyan coastguard, which has been supported by the EU over the years.

The support given by the EU to the Libyan coastguard in terms of pull-backs, pushbacks, (and) interceptions led to violations of certain human rights, said Beyani. You cant push back people to areas that are unsafe, and the Libyan waters are unsafe for the embarkation of migrants.

He said the European bloc and its member states were not found to be responsible for war crimes, but the support given has aided and abetted the commission of the crimes.

The investigators also expressed concern about the deprivation of liberty of Libyans and migrants throughout the country, in what they said could also amount to crimes against humanity.

They found numerous cases of arbitrary detention, murder, torture, rape, enslavement, sexual slavery, extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearance throughout Libya.

People held in detention were regularly subjected to torture, solitary confinement, held incommunicado, and denied adequate access to water, food, toilets, sanitation, light, exercise, medical care, legal counsel, and communication with family members, the investigators said.

But they said nearly all the survivors they interviewed did not lodge official complaints out of fear of reprisals, arrest, extortion and a lack of confidence in the justice system.

The three-member panel said there was a broad effort by the authorities in Libya to repress dissent by civil society.

The investigation found that Libyan authorities, notably the security sectors, were curtailing the rights to assembly, association, expression, and belief in order to ensure obedience, entrench self-serving values and norms, and punish criticism against authorities and their leadership.

Libya was plunged into turmoil after a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi, who was later killed, and left the country divided between rival governments in the east and west.

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UN mission accuses EU of aiding crimes against humanity in Libya - Al Jazeera English

A United Nations-backed inquiry has found war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Libya by security forces and armed militia groups.

The investigators commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council found, "migrants, in particular, have been targeted and there is overwhelming evidence that they have been systematically tortured."

In the report released on Monday, the team of three independent investigators also said they had reasonable grounds to believe that there were incidents of sexual slavery.

"There is an urgent need for accountability to end this pervasive impunity," Mohamed Auajjar, who led the investigation, said.

Investigators said "there are reasonable grounds to believe that migrants across Libya are victims of crimes against humanity and that acts of murder, enforced disappearance, torture, enslavement, sexual violence, rape and other inhumane acts are committed in connection with their arbitrary detention."

It specifically cited the Libyan coast guard, which the European Union has supported over the years, of being responsible for abuses.

"The support given by the EU to the Libyan coast guard in terms of pull-backs, pushbacks, (and) interceptions led to violations of certain human rights," said investigator Chaloka Beyani. "You can't push back people to areas that are unsafe, and the Libyan waters are unsafe for the embarkation of migrants."

The coast guard, has worked "in close coordination" with trafficking networks in Libya, the report said.

The "wide-scale exploitation of vulnerable, irregular migrants" churned up "significant revenue" that spurred continued rights violations, it said.

Beyani added the EU wasn't responsible war crimes, but "the support given has aided and abetted the commission of the crimes."

European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said the EU did not fund the Libyan coast guard "nor any other entity in Libya," adding that the EU assistance was meant to "improve their performance."

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The investigation, officially named the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya, was created nearly three years ago to investigate rights violations and abuses in the North African country.

Its final report are based on interviews with hundreds of people, including migrants and witnesses.

Although migrants bore the brunt of the crimes ordinary Libyans were also targeted as authorities tried to quell dissent by civil society

The report cites cases of "arbitrary detention, murder, torture, rape, enslavement, sexual slavery, extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearance, confirming their widespread practice in Libya".

People detained were regularly subjected to "torture, solitary confinement, held incommunicado, and denied adequate access to water, food, toilets, sanitation, light, exercise, medical care, legal counsel, and communication with family members", the investigators said.

They said evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity would be passed on to the International Criminal Court.

lo/jcg (AP, AFP, Reuters)

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UN-backed probe finds proof of torture, sex slavery in Libya - DW (English)