By Anna Nemtsova

Are the wings of change blowing in Belarus, Europe’s last dictatorship? On EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana's recent visit with Belarus President Alexandr Lukashenka, Solana called Belarus "a European country" while Lukashenka spoke of a “thaw in our relations” with the EU.

There are tentative signs of a Minsk Spring – a gradual slackening of Lukashanka’s tight grip. Two of 15 newspapers banned from distribution in 2006, Narodnaya Volia and Nasha Niva, have now been officially allowed. After pressure from the EU, authorities have released the political prisoners Syarhey Parsyukevich, Andrei Kim and Alyaksandr Kazulin. One of the major opposition movements, For Freedom, has been allowed to register; and representatives of civil society and opposition parties were invited for a meeting with Lukashenka (though not all accepted). Why the thaw?

Article 7: Crimes against humanity

For the purpose of this Statute, "crime against humanity" means anyof the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:
(a) Murder;
(b) Extermination;
(c) Enslavement;
(d) Deportation or forcible transfer of population;
(e) Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law;
(f) Torture;
(g) Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;
(h) Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious,gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;
(i) Enforced disappearance of persons;
(j) The crime of apartheid;
(k) Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.

By Joanna Chen

Gaza--Early Saturday morning Israeli Air Force planes sped to Gaza, unleashing a massive military operation designed to quash Hamas security facilities and put an end to the renewed barrage of rocket attacks that have hit towns in southern Israel bordering the Gaza Strip for the past week. Throughout the day, Israel carried out up to fifty air strikes on the Hamas-controlled area, killing more than two hundred Palestinians and injuring an estimated five hundred more.  In response, tens of rockets were launched into Israeli territory, sending thousands of panicked Israeli civilians living within a twenty mile radius of Gaza to the safety of bomb shelters.

It had been only a question of time before the launching of Operation Cast Lead. Israel’s security cabinet had signed off on the attacks earlier in the week, amid growing opposition to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak's apparent policy of restraint.  At a press conference late on Saturday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called for patience from Israeli citizens and also sent a message to the Palestinian people. "You are not our enemies", he said, insisting that Israel would make efforts to facilitate humanitarian aid to the 1.4 million citizens living in the besieged Gaza Strip.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and French President Nicholas Sarkozy were quick to condemn Israel's action, calling for an immediate ceasefire, as did Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.  The White House, however, stressed only that Israel should "avoid civilian casualties" and urged Hamas to give up on terrorist activities.

After a day of heavy losses for the Palestinians and one Israeli fatality, stunned civilians on both sides are wondering what's next. Barak said that "there is a time for calm and a time for fighting, and this is the time for fighting."  A senior military source told NEWSWEEK that "Israel will continue to target Hamas infrastructure relentlessly" until attacks on Israel cease, however long it take. As hundreds of Israeli ground troops began to gather on the southern border with Gaza late into the night, the worst, it seems, is yet to come.

Oscar Niemeyer needs few introductions. For the uninitiated, suffice it to say that Niemeyer is best known as the architect who for decades has jewelled the Brazilian skyline (and a few others as well) with soaring, swooping sculptures of reinforced concrete, which also happen to serve as buildings.

So perhaps it is only fitting that Niemeyer, who recently turned 101, is the theme of the latest collection by world famous jeweler H. Stern. Only thing is, Niemeyer is also an unreconstructed communist, who never misses a chance to pillory plutocrats and capitalist fat cats, whose fairest necks Stern's creations have exquisitely adorned.

Marxism isn't what it used to be, of course. And if there's one thing Niemeyer hates more than capitalism, it's the right angle. So as long as there are swerves, loops, bends and curls to create, comrade Niemeyer is at home. Which is apparently exactly what H. Stern had in mind when it signed on Brazil's master builder for the collection that debuts December 15.

With 160 stores in 12 countries, not to mention the fleet of floating shops on ocean liners, H. Stern is one of the major names in the luxury trade. Founded by German emigré Hans Stern, who died last year at age 85, the Rio de Janeiro based business is known for elevating tourmalines, opals, topaz and other onetime "semi precious" colored gemstones from the bauble business to high fashion.

The company is now in the hands of the second generation of the Stern family. It is also one of the leading names in the vanishing elite of family owned jewelry empires--reckoned to rank among the top five brands worldwide--and the only major jeweler committed to working all aspects of the  trade, from the mine shaft to the madam: buying stones, cutting and designing jewels, and retailing. In recent years, the company has invested in niche collections, inspired by the work of top Brazilian sculptors, artists and fashionistas, such as Diane von Furstenberg.

The latest collection takes its cues from Niemeyer's curvaceous and always playful lines, albeit scaled down from the architect's patented epic oeuvre to the jeweler's petite. Highlights includes a bracelet that emulates the Edifício Copan, a serpentine office tower gracing the choc-a-block skyline of São Paulo:  

 And a pair of ear rings that echo the mountainlike facade of the Pampulha, a church and community center encrusted in the hills of Belo Horizonte:

 Who says you can't go well-dressed to the revolution?

By Barrett Sheridan

Last week, the world cheered a little when an Indian warship said it had encountered a Somali pirate “mother ship” in the Gulf of Aden and, after being fired upon, blew it to smithereens. International shippers needed a reason to celebrate. Earlier that week, Somali pirates had captured their biggest prize yet, a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million of crude, and, with nearly a hundred attempted hijackings so far this year, were making waters around the Horn of Africa about as welcoming as a bed of nails.   

Well, put away the champagne glasses. CNN is now reporting that the sunken “mother ship” was actually a Thai fishing trawler and that, while pirates were in the process of commandeering it, the vessel still had 14 innocent fishermen onboard when it was sunk by the Indian navy. One of them, a Cambodian, spent six days adrift before being rescued by a passing ship. (One other is confirmed dead; the rest are still missing.) The sailor is now recovering in a Yemeni hospital, where he had the chance to inform the Indian navy of their mistake.

The event underscores the difficulty of tracking pirates in waters where they easily blend in with fishing trawlers or other private watercraft. “The bulk of Somali coastal dwellers are still fishermen,” says Peter Lehr, a lecturer in terrorism studies at Scotland’s University of St. Andrews. “They are now caught in the fray and being attacked by western warships. How can you divide a real fisherman and a pirate from one another? They use the same vessels.”

That means recent military operations in the region—the European Union and NATO now have forces there—might not be a very adequate defense against the pirates. So what line of defense is left? The ships themselves. Armed guards aren’t an option, because they’re too expensive for ship owners, and firefights are risky onboard ships carrying two million barrels of flammable crude oil. But there are alternatives. Hanging barbed wire around a ship’s perimeter is a simple way to dissuade would-be boarders. Electrified fences also work, but they’re out of the question on ships carrying volatile cargoes. The Long-Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, has become popular after it effectively repelled an attack on a cruise ship in 2005; it blasts a deafening wall of sound at targets up to 300 meters away. Fire hoses also do the trick at shorter ranges. Even simply gunning the engines and picking up speed can deter pirates, who look for easy prey.

It’s worth trying anything to avoid being taken hostage. Although the Somali pirates, which are currently holding 300 hostages, treat their captives fairly well—they are, after all, worth a lot of money to them—negotiations can last weeks or months. The MV Faina, a Ukrainian ship carrying 33 Soviet-made tanks, was captured in late September and is still being held in the port of Eyl, in the Puntland region of Somalia. “These guys are very patient people,” says Stephen Askins, a maritime lawyer at London firm Ince & Co. “One guy may be having a bad day and he’ll say, ‘I want $5 million,’ and the next guy might say, ‘Well, I’m a bit more reasonable than that.’ It’s not like buying a car. It’s a very long, drawn out process.”