This week's show features stories from NHK Japan, Radio Deutsche-Welle, and Radio Havana Cuba.

http://www.outfarpress.com/swr220114.mp3

From JAPAN- Covid is spreading rapidly in Japan, while the WHO is warning that more than half the population of Europe, Russia, and Central Asia could be infected within the next 2 months. Following a second missile test by North Korea, the US has frozen the assets of 6 North Koreans and a Russian company. In Myanmar, a court has added to the prison sentence of former leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Troops from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, an eastern bloc version of NATO, are leaving Kazakstan after shutting down protests against rising fuel prices.

From GERMANY-Talks are being held between Russia and NATO over the troop buildup on the border with Ukraine- Russia wants guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO which has set up military bases near the borders with Russia. A German court sentenced a former Syrian military officer to life in prison for crimes against humanity. On the 20th anniversary of the opening of the US detention camp in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, all international broadcasters covered and criticized the history of the infamous jail- most referred to it as an illegal breach of human rights and an ongoing moral failing- 39 detainees remain and 22 have never been charged. After another revelation about UK government members double standards during the Covid crisis and parties at 10 Downing Street, the opposition is calling for Boris Johnson to resign as Prime Minister. Brief Covid updates from Chile, Israel, the winter Olympics, and Ottawa where the unvaccinated will be taxed. In France teachers are on strike over the burden of dealing with Covid in the classroom. The EU Climate Monitoring Agency released a new report on the worsening global weather.

From CUBA- At the inauguration of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua one of the guests was Brian Wilson, a Vietnam veteran who was run over by a train while protesting the Contra wars in 1987. The Supreme Court in El Salvador has reopened an investigation into the 1989 massacre of 6 Jesuit priests and 2 women. The UN has launched an appeal for aid to prevent the starvation of a million children in Afghanistan. A Viewpoint on 500 billionaires who have greatly increased their wealth in 2021 while global poverty rates have soared.