Six In The Morning Thursday 5 October 2023

 

Biden approves new section of border wall as Mexico crossings rise

By Kathryn Armstrong
BBC News

US President Joe Biden’s administration is to build a section of border wall in southern Texas in an effort to stop rising levels of immigration.

Around 20 miles (32km) will be built in Starr County along its border with Mexico, where officials report high numbers of crossings.

Building a border wall was a signature policy of Donald Trump as president and fiercely opposed by Democrats.

In 2020, Mr Biden promised he would not build another foot of wall if elected.

His administration passed a proclamation soon after taking office that said building a wall across the southern border “is not a serious policy solution”.

Iran urged to release full CCTV of what led to teenage girl’s coma

Armita Geravand, 16, remains in hospital after alleged encounter with hijab enforcer on Tehran metro

Iranian opposition figures have demanded the release of complete CCTV footage of an incident in which a 16-year-old girl, now in a coma, collapsed after a claimed encounter with hijab police on the Tehran metro.

Armita Geravand remains in hospital after the incident on Sunday. Authorities have released footage that they say substantiates their claim that Armita fainted due to a drop in blood pressure, but witnesses and rights groups abroad allege that she fell during a confrontation with agents because she was not wearing the hijab.

Uganda opposition leader Bobi Wine seized at airport

The former presidential candidate had been returning from South Africa to promote a documentary about himself. The government had banned his supporters from greeting him en masse.

The most prominent opposition figure in Ugandan politics, former popstar Bobi Wine, was grabbed by security agents after he landed at the country’s main airport.

Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, was rushed into a car outside the Entebbe International Airport, close to the capital of Kampala, and taken to his home in the town of Kasangati, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) away.

While security officials denied that the opposition leader had been detained, Wine himself said that he had been placed under de facto house arrest, with armed personnel stationed outside his home.

Armenia, Azerbaijan accuse each other other of cross-border firing

Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of opening cross-border fire Thursday, adding to tensions between the arch-foes after Baku seized control of its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region from Armenian separatists.

 

Azerbaijani troops “discharged fire at a vehicle transporting provisions for personnel stationed at Armenian combat outposts” in the east, Yerevan’s defence ministry said.

Azerbaijan’s defence ministry meanwhile said Armenian forces fired on positions in its Kalbajar district.

Both sides said there were no casualties.

Almost all of Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population fled for Armenia after Baku launched a lightning offensive last month.

Armenian separatists – who had who had controlled the region for three decades – have agreed to reintegrate with Azerbaijan.

Relations between the neighbours are poisoned by ethnic hatred ensuing from two wars over Karabakh in three decades.

Exchanges of fire at the border between the two countries are common.

 

Fukushima nuclear plant starts 2nd release of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea

 

Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant said it began releasing a second batch of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea on Thursday after the first round of discharges ended smoothly.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said workers activated a pump to dilute the treated water with large amounts of seawater, slowly sending the mixture into the ocean through an underground tunnel.

The wastewater discharges, which are expected to continue for decades, have been strongly opposed by fishing groups and neighboring countries including South Korea, where hundreds of people staged protest rallies. China banned all imports of Japanese seafood, badly hurting Japanese seafood producers and exporters.

 

In this city, the right to own a car starts at $76,000. And that doesn’t include the car

Updated 8:01 AM EDT, Thu October 5, 2023

Owning a car in Singapore, one of the world’s most expensive countries, has always been something of a luxury. But costs have now soared to an all time high.
A 10-year Certificate of Entitlement – a license people in the wealthy city state must purchase before they are even allowed to buy a vehicle – now costs a record minimum of $76,000 (104,000 Singapore dollars), more than four times what it did in 2020, according to Land Transport Authority figures.