5: 

Cologne protests over sex attacks: ‘I am full of sorrow for Germany’

The tiny, handwritten sign on a pot of primulas left on Cologne Cathedral’s steps after the first protest of the weekend summed up perhaps the only sentiment everyone in the city could agree with on Saturday: “You shouldn’t hit a woman, even with a flower.”

Germany is struggling to respond to a mass assault of women on New Year’s Eve, and news that people suspected of a role in the violence included asylum seekers. Thousands of people took to the streets this weekend for three different protests to call authorities to account.

The first was a “flashmob” gathering of women with tambourines and banners, with slogans ranging from the flat-out furious to angry black humour. “All the pepper spray in Cologne has sold out, so how can we feel safe?” asked one. They wanted more respect for women across German society, not just punishment for the perpetrators of the New Year’s Eve attacks. They are furious with police who did little to stop the attacks and then apparently covered up the scale of the problem, and officials whose initial response was to warn women to stay “an arm’s length” away from men.

The Guardian

4: 

 The Faces and Frozen Landscapes of the ‘Oregon Standoff’

Members of an anti-government militia have now occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in remote eastern Oregon for a week. Saturday marked the seventh day since a handful of armed men showed up at the deserted refuge, closed down for the winter, to make a stand against what they see as an encroaching federal government.

Led by Nevada rancher Ammon Bundy and his brother Ryan, the occupiers started what the media has taken to calling “the Oregon standoff.” But in this cold and desolate landscape of sagebrush and wide-open spaces, the militiamen aren’t really standing off with anybody. There is, quite simply, nobody there but them.

Vice News

3: 

Muslim woman ejected from Donald Trump rally after silent protest

A Muslim woman was escorted from a Donald Trump rally on Friday night, after she stood silently behind the Republican frontrunner wearing a shirt that read: “Salam, I come in peace.”

The Guardian

2: 

Kosovo protesters clash with police over Serbia deal

Ethnic Albanian protesters have clashed with police in Kosovo after its government agreed to an EU-brokered deal that gives ethnic Serbs in the territory greater local powers.

Several thousand demonstrators were involved in the clashes in Pristina on Saturday over the agreement, which many Kosovans fear will see neighbouring Serbia assert more influence over the country.

The deal could also open the way for Serbians living in Kosovo to receive financing from Belgrade.

Al Jazeera’s Stefan Goranovic said tension between the government and those opposed to the deal had been building up for over the past few months.

Aljazeera

1: 

Scores killed in Russian air strikes in Syria’s Idlib

Scores of people have been killed and over 100 others injured in Russian air strikes in Syria’s Idlib province, Al Jazeera has learnt.

The volunteer-run Syria Civil Defence told Al Jazeera that Saturday’s Russian air strikes targeted the town of Maarat al-Numaan, 290km north of the capital, killing at least 43 people and injuring at least 150 others.

“Our volunteers are still in the area that was targeted by the air strikes. They are still trying to help those injured and affected by the attack,” the coordinator for the Idlib Syria Civil Defence told Al Jazeera.

“Many of those injured are in very serious conditions, the death toll is expected to rise,” he added.

In another attack in Idlib province, the Syria Civil Defence said at least three people were killed and four others were injured in air strikes that targeted a school and a fire department in Ariha.

Aljazeera