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BERLIN (AP) — More than 6,000 people have died in eastern Ukraine since the start of the conflict almost a year ago that has led to a "merciless devastation of civilian lives and infrastructure," the U.N. human rights office said Monday.

Hundreds of civilians and military personnel have been killed in recent weeks alone after an upswing in fighting particularly near Donetsk airport and in the Debaltseve area, the Geneva-based body said in a report covering the period from December to February. The strategic railroad town of Debaltseve was captured from Ukrainian government forces last month by pro-Russian separatists. While Russia denies its troops are fighting in Ukraine, the U.N. cited "credible reports (that) indicate a continuing flow of heavy weaponry and foreign fighters" from Russia.

"This has sustained and enhanced the capacity of armed groups of the self-proclaimed 'Donetsk people's republic' and 'Luhansk people's republic' to resist Government armed forces and to launch new offensives in some areas, including around the Donetsk airport, Mariupol and Debaltseve," it said.

U.N. rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein said many civilians stay in embattled areas "because they fear for their lives if they try to move."

"Many others stay to protect children, other family members, or their property," while some are forced to stay or unable to leave, he said.

The report cited "credible allegations of arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearances, committed mostly by the armed groups but in some instances also by the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies." It noted video footage appeared to support allegations of summary executions by the rebels.

The displacement of 1 million people has also increased the risk for women from sex traffickers, the report found.

Zeid called on all sides to comply with a recent accord signed in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, that foresees the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line.

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- For its next technological trick, Google will show you what it's like to zip through trees in the Amazon jungle.

The images released Monday are the latest addition to the diverse collection of photos supplementing Google's widely used digital maps. The maps' "Street View" option mostly provides panoramic views of cities and neighborhoods photographed by car-mounted cameras, but Google also has found creative ways to depict exotic locations where there are no roads.

CLICK HERE TO ZIP-LINE THROUGH THE AMAZON!

In its latest foray into the wilderness, Google teamed up with environmental protection group Amazonas Sustainable Foundation, or FAS, to explore a remote part of an Amazon rainforest. Google Inc. lent FAS its Trekker device, a camera mounted on an apparatus originally designed to be carried like a backpack by hikers walking on trails.

FAS, though, sent the Trekker down a zip line. Google is renowned for going out on a technological limb, but even this project made the company nervous at first, said Karin Tuxen-Bettman, who oversees Google's Street View partnerships.

The setup required FAS workers to tread through the rainforest to find a place where they could string the zip line so the Trekker wouldn't bump into tree trunks and branches as it zoomed through the thick canopy. With the help of some monkeys who joined their scouting expedition, FAS workers found just enough room to erect a zip line for the Trekker's trip.

"One of the things that I love about working at Google is that if a partner comes to us with a crazy idea, we will probably try it," Tuxen-Bettman said.

Since Google developed the Trekker camera in 2012, the device has been dispatched on other unusual journeys. The Trekker went scuba diving in the Galápagos Islands to take underwater photographs of the preserve, and traveled on a dog sled in the Canadian Artic to photograph the tundra.

Google's Street View feature has raised privacy concerns through the years because its photographs have occasionally captured images of unsuspecting bystanders engaged in embarrassing activities or near places where they didn't want to be seen. Cars carrying Street View cameras also secretly vacuumed up emails and other personal information transmitted over unsecure Wi-Fi networks from 2007 to 2010, sparking outrage and legal action around the world.

Privacy issues shouldn't be an issue in any of the photography taken by the zip-lining Trekker. Birds and insects are the only visible forms of life in the pictures it took.

Activity intensified over the past week at the United Nations with respect to the deteriorating situation in Yemen -- amid further evidence of a rift over the country's future between Washington and its traditional Gulf allies.

Jamal Benomar, the United Nations special envoy to Yemen, met with Yemeni president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi at his new headquarters in Aden. He reiterated support for Hadi as the country's legitimately elected leader, told reporters that his "resumption of duties would help to pull the country together," and called for a resolution of the crisis within the framework of the "Gulf Initiative." Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council decided to extend the mandate of the "group of four" experts on Yemen, which was established to oversee sanctions measures employed against individuals and entities designated as threatening "peace, security or stability "in the country. And the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Friday raised alarms about a growing number of "unlawful arrests, arbitrary detention, and the targeting of journalists" in the country.

The seeming consistency of the UN position stood in contrast to conflicting signals from Washington. On the one hand, State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters Monday that her government would like "all parties" to "recommit themselves to the GCC initiative, National Dialogue Conference outcomes, and relevant UN Security Council resolutions." But over a week in which GCC embassies relocated to Aden in solidarity with the Yemeni president, Psaki stated that no one in the Administration had been in touch with Hadi since he arrived in Yemen, and went on to say two days later that she was "unsure about whether there had been any US contact with Hadi since Monday."

A flurry of media reports in the United States have meanwhile appeared suggesting that the United States is growing closer to Iran with respect to its Yemeni policies. Michael Vickers, the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, has confirmed that the United States has an intelligence relationship with the Houthi insurgent group to counter al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Secretary of State John Kerry, for his part, told U.S. lawmakers last week that he "knows" that the Tehran government was "surprised" at the Houthi takeover of the capital Sanaa. The statement appeared to indicate that Kerry has been in talks with the Tehran regime over Yemen, and was persuaded by the Iranian line. Following his March 2 address to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Kerry will again meet with Iranian foreign minister Jawad Zarif as part of negotiations over the Iranian nuclear project -- then visit Riyadh and London to discuss Yemen and other matters with Gulf foreign ministers.

On a related matter, "Stratfor," an American private intelligence company, released a report Thursday alleging that private talks were underway in the Gulf with respect to a possible "two-state solution" for Yemen. Such a settlement would eventually place new pressures on the Houthis in Sanaa: According to Muhammad Lutf al-Uryani, Yemen's former minister of water and the environment, Yemeni has approached a "state of water emergency" - and the capital itself, which stands 3300 meters above sea level with a population of more than 2.5 million, will eventually have to be moved. This costly endeavor will be extremely difficult, particularly if the Houthi rebels do not manage to wrest control over the oil fields of Marib, as they are currently attempting to do in their ongoing military campaign.

This post is a translation from Joseph Braude's weekly column in the Moroccan Arabic-language daily Al-Ahdath al-Maghrebiya,. Follow Joseph Braude on Twitter @josephbraude.