The Guardian Weekly 14 January 2022
4
Global
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Headlines from the
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DIPLOMACY‘Useful’ US-Russia meeting
opens crucial week of talks
US and Russian diplomats
emerged on Monday from
negotiations in Geneva over
the fate of Ukraine, describing
the talks as “useful” and “very
professional” – but also stressing
they had not made progress
towards resolving fundamental
disagreements.
The two sides largely spent the
eight hours of talks presenting
their points of view on the
situation in Ukraine, currently
hemmed in by some 100,
Russian troops, and on European
security in general.
Wendy Sherman, the deputy US
secretary of state, said the issues
of reciprocal limits on military
exercises and missile deployments
were discussed, but the US ruled
out the idea of a guarantee that
Ukraine would never join Nato,
restating that it was the country’s
sovereign right to decide.
Her Russian counterpart, Sergei
Ryabkov, said the two sides had
continued to clash over the agenda
of future talks. While the US has
sought to focus on technical arms
control issues, Ryabkov described
those as a secondary concern
compared with the demand to
limit Nato’s presence in central
and eastern Europe.
Spotlight Page 17 12 UNITED STATESBlaze at apartment block
in the Bronx leaves 1 7 dead
At least 17 people, including
eight children, were killed in an
apartment blaze in the Bronx
in New York last Sunday, one of
the worst fi re disasters in the
city in 30 years. Sixty people
were hospitalised , 32 with life-
threatening conditions. Authorities
said the fi re was caused by a heater
in a n apartment.
Eric Adams, the mayor of New
York City, said: “The numbers are
horrifi c. This is a horrifi c, painful
moment. The impact of this fi re is
going to really bring a level of pain
and despair in our city.
“This is going to be one of the
worst fi res that we have witnessed
during modern times.”
More than 200 fi refi ghters
tackled the blaze at the 19-storey
building on East 181st Street,
which is known as Twin Parks.4 UNITED STATESPower of the Dog wins at
glitz-free Golden Globes
The Power of the Dog and
Succession were the big winners
at an unusual, stripped-back
Golden Globes. Traditionally, the
ceremony is a glitzy telecast with
A-listers in attendance but after a
year of controversies surrounding
diversity and amoral practices,
the Hollywood Foreign Press
Association lost its footing in the
industry, with publicity fi rms,
studios and celebrities choosing to
distance themselves.
The acclaimed Netfl ix drama
The Power of the Dog was named
best picture – drama, while Jane
Campion became the third woman
to win best director. Kodi Smit-
McPhee also won best supporting
actor for his performance in
the fi lm.
Last Sunday night’s event took
place at the Beverly Hilton hotel
in Los Angeles, with no stars or
audience, and just select members
and grantees. Results were
announced via social media.
Separately, this year’s Grammy
awards, due to be held in Los
Angeles on 31 January, were
postponed due to the Covid-
pandemic. No new date has yet
been announced.3 UNITED STATESTrail-blazing civil rights
activist is pardoned at last
Governor John Bel Edwards of
Louisiana pardoned the late Homer
Plessy, a Creole man who in 1892
was arrested for buying a ticket for
a whites-only train compartment.
Plessy’s case resulted in the
infamous 1896 court decision,
which legalised the “separate but
equal” doctrine and ushered in the
Jim Crow era of racist segregation.
The eff ort to pardon Plessy
was driven by New Orleans’s
recently elected district attorney,
Jason Williams, who said: “I did
not submit this pardon asking
for Homer Plessy to be forgiven.
I s ubmitted it asking for us, the
institution, to be forgiven.”5 EUROPEEuropean parliament
president Sassoli, 65, dies
David Sassoli, the president of
the European parliament, died
on Tuesday at the age of 65. The
Italian had been seriously ill
in hospital for more than two
weeks due to a dysfunction of his
immune system.
After a three-decade career as
a journalist, in newspapers and
television, Florence-born Sassoli
became a member of the European
Parliament in 2009, and speaker
in 2019. He was a member of the
centre-left Progressive Alliance
of Socialists and Democrats, the
second-biggest grouping in the
parliament after the centre-right
European People’s party.