Six In The Morning

 Obama speech on shared values to conclude Kenya visit

 

BBC

US President Barack Obama is to conclude his visit to Kenya with a televised address at a sports stadium in the capital, Nairobi.

The BBC’s Karen Allen in Nairobi says he is expected to underscore the shared values of the two countries but also touch on human rights.

On Saturday, President Obama discussed security issues with his Kenyan counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta.

Later on Sunday, President Obama will fly on to Ethiopia.

The Kasarani stadium, where the US leader will make his speech, was last year used as a controversial detention camp for hundreds of Somalis during an operation against the Islamist group al-Shabab.

  Is the Ugly German Back? Flames of Hate Haunt a Nation

  During the first six months of this year, right-wing extremists in Germany committed attacks against places housing asylum-seekers on an almost daily basis. Many refugees living in the country fear for their lives.

By SPIEGEL Staff

It’s a Monday night in July and Samuel Osei is frightened to death. Two neo-Nazis have entered the concrete bloc apartment building where Osei is staying, on the edge of Greifswald, a city in eastern Germany. The two men are drunk and swearing. Osei, an asylum-seeker from Ghana, steps out on his balcony and tries to placate them. “I’m sorry,” he calls out. But the right-wing extremists only grow more aggressive. They begin shouting. One of the two takes off his shirt and Osei recognizes a swastika on his chest.

The men storm into the building and begin pounding on the door to Osei’s apartment. They then go down to the basement and remove the fuses, cutting off the power. Osei cowers in his room in the dark. He calls a friend who in turn alerts the police. The attackers have already left by the time officers.

  Saudi religious police target ‘gay rainbows’

  24/07/2015

Mohammad Alsaeedi

Saudi Arabian officials are notoriously hardline when dealing with homosexuality, which is illegal in the country. But recently, the country’s religious police have taken it to a whole new level by cracking down on rainbows. They recently imposed a large fine on a school in Riyadh for a colourful mural featuring a rainbow.

The rainbow is a symbol of the LGBT community and social media around the world was flooded with celebratory rainbow symbols after the United States Supreme Court legalised gay marriage on June 26. Many international supporters of the ruling donned rainbow clothes and hung rainbow flags from buildings. This surge of colourful support annoyed Saudi officials… and the Talaee Al-Noor International School in Riyadh paid the price.

This private international school was handed a hefty fine of 100,000 rials (equivalent to about 25,000 euros) for having repainted its façade with rainbow colours. A school official was also thrown in prison for the rainbow decor.

Nuclear deal makes Iranians hungry for McDonald’s

     July 26, 2015 – 2:41PM

Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim

Tehran: For some Iranians, the most important question raised by the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers has nothing to do with uranium enrichment or the prospects for the country’s economic recovery.

They want to know: Is the Big Mac coming back?

Since the July 14 announcement of the deal, the question of McDonald’s return to Iran – a possible byproduct of the anticipated lifting of Western economic sanctions – has stirred a storm on social media and in duelling reformist and hard-line newspapers.

 Fossil fuel companies impose more in climate costs than they make in profits

 

by David Roberts

It is fairly well understood by now that releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere imposes an economic cost, in the form of climate change impacts. In most cases, however, those responsible for carbon emissions are not required to pay that cost. Instead, it’s borne mainly by the world’s poor and low-lying countries, and of course by future generations, as many of the worst impacts of climate change will emerge years after the emissions that drive them.

People sometimes refer to the unpaid cost of carbon pollution as a subsidy, or an “implicit subsidy,” to polluting businesses. The IMF recently issued a report saying that total worldwide subsidies to energy, mainly fossil fuel energy, amounted to $5.2 trillion a year. The reason that number is so high is that the IMF includes implicit subsidies – the social costs imposed by businesses (including climate damages) that they don’t have to pay for.

Preventing long-term mental health issues in Nepal

  Call-in radio programme aims to reduce psychological impact of earthquake.

 Elie Gardner | 26 Jul 2015 05:52 GMT

More than 8,700 people have died since the April 25 earthquake struck Nepal. As the country begins to rebuild, mental health professionals are reaching out to those in need.

“I saw a lot of grief in people,” says counsellor Dristy Gurung.

“If it doesn’t get treated or if you don’t intervene in such grief or trauma, in the long run it might create some mental health issues for people.”

According to the UN Resident Coordinator in Nepal, 2.8 million people are still in need of some form of assistance.