Six In The Morning 6 July 2019

 

Another, stronger quake in Ridgecrest shakes Southern California, causing more damage

JUL 06, 2019 

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Southern California on Friday night, the second major temblor in less than two days and one that rocked buildings across Southern California, adding more jitters to an already nervous region.

The quake was centered near Ridgecrest, the location of the July Fourth 6.4 magnitude temblor that was the largest in nearly 20 years. It was followed by an aftershock first reported as 5.5 in magnitude. Scientists said the fault causing the quakes appears to be growing.

Friday night’s quake caused some fires and other damage in and around Ridgecrest and Trona, two Mojave Desert towns shaken by both quakes, said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. The quake was felt as far away as Phoenix, Las Vegas, Baja California and Reno, according to crowd-sourced data logged into the U.S. Geological Survey’s Did You Feel It? website.

Rare photos shine light on ‘degrading’ conditions in Iraqi jails

Concerns overcrowding at prisons for Isis suspects could fuel radicalisation
 Middle East correspondent

Photos have surfaced of overcrowded and “degrading” conditions in Iraqi detention centres used to hold thousands of men, women and children with suspected links to Islamic State.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday it had acquired rare photographic evidence of conditions falling short of the most basic international standards at three facilities in Nineveh province. HRW warned the situation could lead to the radicalisation of vulnerable prisoners.

In one photograph, taken at Tal Kayf prison, dozens of women and small children are so tightly packed into a cell that the floor is not visible and clothes and belongings are hung on the wall. In another, of a juvenile cell at Tal Kayf, there is so little room a sea of teenage boys are forced to sleep in the foetal position.

Malta says deal reached with Italy to take migrants from rescue boat

Malta said it will accept migrants from a rescue vessel that had been headed toward Italy. A second boat with rescued migrants is also sailing for Lampedusa, where Italian officials have said it won’t be allowed to dock.

Malta and Italy reportedly reached a deal on Friday to begin to tackle the standoff between charity rescue ships in the Mediterranean Sea and Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.

The two countries are said to have agreed to each take refugees from a sailboat belonging to Italian NGO Mediterranea that rescued 54 people at sea.

Under the arrangement, Malta would send a coast guard vessel to pick up migrants on the Mediterranea and bring them to the country’s capital, Valetta.

In South Sudan, daring to hope for peace

After five years of brutal civil war in South Sudan, a peace deal signed last year by President Salva Kiir and his opponent Riek Machar is providing hope at last. Our reporters went to Bentiu, one of the cities worst affected by the war and home to 100,000 displaced people. Our team also witnessed negotiations between former enemies who are now praying side by side for a shared future.

Nine months after the ratification of a peace deal by South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and SPLM-IO rebel leader Riek Machar, violence in the country is subsiding. Several people have admittedly been killed since then, but far fewer than what the country has seen in five years of civil war.

Since December 15, 2013, the armed conflict between supporters of Salva Kiir and those of Riek Machar has left hundreds of thousands dead and forced four million people to flee their homes.

Losing one island cost Japan a war. That’s a warning for the South China Sea

Updated 0057 GMT (0857 HKT) July 6, 2019

 

In early July 1944, on a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean, the United States clinched a devastating defeat over Japan in one of the bloodiest battles of World War II.

Some 29,000 Japanese troops, almost the entire force Tokyo put on Saipan, in the Northern Marianas, were killed. US losses totaled almost 3,000 dead and more than 10,000 wounded.
It was a pivotal moment in the war.
Soon after the Battle of Saipan, the US took the nearby islands of Tinian and Guam. On all three islands, the US built runways to accommodate heavy B-29 bombers, the biggest bombers in World War II.

Debate on death penalty not very vigorous 1 year after Aum executions

July marks one year since the founder and 12 former senior members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult were executed after being convicted of murders, including the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.

The executions could have sparked a vigorous debate on the death penalty in Japan, but they have not led to any major movement calling for its abolition despite international criticism, and polls suggest many Japanese are supportive of capital punishment.

The unprecedented group execution of Aum founder Shoko Asahara, whose real name was Chizuo Matsumoto, and the former senior members occurred on July 6 and 26, 2018.