Sep 28 2023

Six In The Morning Thursday 28 September 2023

 

Nagorno-Karabakh’s breakaway government says it will dissolve itself

President of Armenia’s unrecognised republic signs decree under which it will cease to exist by 1 January 2024

The breakaway government of Nagorno-Karabakh has announced it will dissolve itself and that the unrecognised republic will cease to exist by 2024, formally ending more than 30 years of separatist rule.

The president of Armenia’s self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Samvel Shahramanyan, signed a decree to dissolve all state institutions by 1 January 2024, Karabakh Armenian authorities said in a statement. The republic would cease to exist from that day, the decree said.

Taiwan unveils its first domestically manufactured submarine

The self-governing island says it will bolster its defenses and hopes the sub will serve as a deterrence against the Chinese navy. It is only expected to be fully operational in two years.

Taiwan unveiled its first-ever domestically built submarine on Thursday.

President Tsai Ing-wen said building submarines was a crucial military deterrence.

“Even if there are risks, and no matter how many challenges there are, Taiwan must take this step and allow the self-reliant national defense policy to grow and flourish on our land,” Tsai said.

It must still undergo sea trials and will not enter service for another two years.

Taiwan’s navy has two working submarines bought from the Netherlands in the 1980s. It previously said it had plans to build eight submarines.

‘The only solution was suicide’: Desperation for women seeking abortions in Turkey

Abortions may be legal in Turkey, but they’re increasingly difficult to obtain, and socially frowned upon. Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s last 20 years in power have seriously eroded women’s ability to terminate unwanted pregnancies legally, pushing them to get abortions in underground clinics where their identities will be remain anonymous and their families will be not be notified.

Plaintiffs finally win recognition as Minamata disease victims

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

September 28, 2023 at 15:37 JST

Plaintiffs expressed long-sought-after vindication on Sept. 27 that a district court finally acknowledged that they were also victims of Minamata disease and entitled to relief from the government.

“It took nine years for a ruling in our favor to emerge,” said plaintiff Atsuko Matsuo, 68, who grew up in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, at a news conference in Osaka. “The fair ruling was the result of the plaintiffs working together as one.”

The Osaka District Court ruled that day that the 128 plaintiffs should each receive compensation of 2.75 million yen ($18,400).

Switzerland’s glaciers lose ‘mind-blowing’ volume of ice in just two years

 

Glaciers in Switzerland are shrinking at a “mind-blowing” rate. A total of 10% of their ice volume has disappeared over a period of just two years as a combination of low snowfall and soaring temperatures cause unprecedented melting, according to figures released Thursday.

Evergrande: Why should I care if China property giant collapses?

A crisis at the world’s most indebted company has worsened after its chairman was placed under police surveillance.

It follows earlier reports that other current and former executives at Chinese property giant Evergrande had also been detained.

Evergrande suspended the trading of its shares in Hong Kong on Thursday until further notice.

It marks another low for the firm which was declared to be in default in 2021 after missing a crucial repayment deadline, triggering China’s current real estate market crisis.

Sep 27 2023

Fatboy Slim Weapon Of Choice

Sep 27 2023

Six In The Morning Wednesday 27 September 2023

Former state minister of Nagorno-Karabakh arrested by Azerbaijan

Ruben Vardanyan detained as he tried to cross into Armenia in first high-profile arrest since Azerbaijani offensive

Azerbaijan has detained a former leader of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh government in its first high profile arrest since launching a lightning offensive last week that it said would lead to a “reintegration” of the territory into Azerbaijan.

Ruben Vardanyan, a wealthy businessman who had served as the state minister of the Nagorno-Karabakh republic, was detained as he tried to cross the border into Armenia on Wednesday morning, as one of more than 50,000 Armenians who have fled the region to avoid incoming Azerbaijani control.

Climate change: Young people sue 32 European nations

Six young people from Portugal are taking European governments to court over an alleged failure to act quickly enough on climate change. The plaintiffs say the lack of immediate action is a breach of their human rights.
 

Six young Portuguese people brought a case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Wednesday, alleging that 32 nations have failed to act on global warming.

The six, aged 11 to 24, claim they are suffering from  “having to live with a climate that is getting hotter and hotter.”

What is behind the claim?

The complaint to the Strasbourg-based court was sparked by wildfires that hit Portugal in 2017, killing more than 100 people and destroying swaths of land.

Some of the plaintiffs say they have suffered allergies and breathing problems since the firesand that the conditions are likely to persist if nothing is done.

“European governments are not managing to protect us,” said 15-year-old Andre Oliveira, one of the six who brought the suit.

Chairman of Chinese developer Evergrande placed under police surveillance, report says

The chairman of China Evergrande Group has been placed under police surveillance, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, raising more doubts about the embattled developer’s future as it grapples with the mounting threat of liquidation.

Citing people with knowledge of the matter, the report said Hui Ka Yan, who founded Evergrande in 1996 in the southern city of Guangzhou, was taken away by police earlier this month and is being monitored at a designated location.

Evergrande is the world’s most indebted developer with more than $300 billion in total liabilities and has been at the centre of an unprecedented liquidity crisis in China’s property sector, which accounts for roughly a quarter of the economy.

It was not clear why Hui was placed under residential surveillance, Bloomberg News said, adding the move was a type of police action that falls short of formal detention or arrest and does not mean Hui will be charged with a crime.

City in Nagasaki Pref decides against applying for gov’t survey on nuclear waste site

 

The mayor of Tsushima in southwestern Japan said Wednesday he has decided against applying to the state for a preliminary survey to gauge the city’s suitability to host an underground disposal site for highly radioactive waste from nuclear power generation.

“There is insufficient consensus among the public,” Mayor Naoki Hitakatsu said at a city assembly session, with some fearing the potential impact on tourism and primary industries such as fisheries.

Tsushima is located on a remote island in Nagasaki Prefecture and is closer to South Korea’s Busan, 50 kilometers away, than major Japanese cities.

 

Ukraine strikes deep inside Crimea, cuts through Surovikin Line

Ukraine dealt a crippling blow to the Black Sea Fleet leadership, reportedly killing many of its officers during a planning meeting in their headquarters.

By John Psaropoulos
Published On 27 Sep 2023
 

Ukraine scored devastating deep strikes against Russian-occupied Crimea in the 83rd week of the war, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy toured Europe and the United States picking up pledges of new long-range weapons and financing.

At the same time, Ukrainian and Western sources confirmed that Ukrainian troops had broken through the first and strongest line of Russian defence on the southern front, known as the Surovikin Line after the general who devised it. That success could accelerate their march towards the cities of Tokmak and Melitopol.

UN criticises France’s ban on its Olympic athletes wearing headscarves

Dress codes should not be imposed on women, spokesperson says, after Paris Games ban affecting French athletes

The UN has weighed in on France’s debate about secularism and women’s clothing, saying women should not be forced to abide by dress codes, after the French government said athletes representing France would be barred from wearing headscarves during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

“No one should impose on a woman what she needs to wear, or not wear,” Marta Hurtado, a spokesperson for the UN’s human rights office, said on Tuesday after she was asked whether the ban met the UN’s criteria on human rights.

Her remarks came after France’s minister for sport, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, highlighted the government’s commitment to secularism and its opposition to the display of religious symbols during sporting events.

Sep 27 2023

Late Night Music:The Same Deep Water as You (2010 Remaster)

Sep 26 2023

Six In The Morning Tuesday 26 September 2023

 

Nagorno-Karabakh: envoys from Azerbaijan, Armenia to meet in Brussels as thousands flee

Meeting will be first such encounter since Baku seized disputed enclave last week

Envoys from Baku and Yerevan were set to meet in Brussels for talks on Tuesday as thousands of refugees fled Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijan’s lightning takeover of the majority ethnic Armenian enclave.

Last week, an offensive by Baku’s forces established Azerbaijani control over the breakaway region, forcing ethnic Armenian fighters to disarm.

Tuesday’s meeting in Brussels will be the first such encounter since the offensive but the leaders of both countries are scheduled to meet next month. Simon Mordue, the chief diplomatic adviser to European Council president Charles Michel, will chair the talks, Michel’s spokesperson said.

Asbestos: The silent killer in Turkey’s earthquake region

Officials deny it but a DW investigation has found that the rubble from Turkey’s devastating February earthquake contains life-threatening amounts of asbestos.

In Hatay, southern Turkey, crews are still demolishing buildings that were heavily damaged in the earthquake that struck on February 6, 2023, and killed tens of thousands of people. Yellow diggers move piles of leftover rubble, kicking up clouds of dust that shroud the city.

Some children walk through the debris to find a spot to play soccer. As they breathe, they’re potentially inhaling a silent killer: asbestos.

The toxic building material has contaminated plants, soil and rubble in the key agricultural region, pointing to a serious, unfolding public health crisis, according to an exclusive investigation by DW’s Turkish and Environment desks.

Australian PM confident Indigenous people back having their Parliament ‘Voice’

Australia’s prime minister said Tuesday he was confident that Indigenous Australians overwhelmingly support a proposal to create their own representative body to advise Parliament and have it enshrined in the constitution. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s remarks came as Tiwi Islanders cast their votes on making such a constitutional change.

South Korea hosts Japan, China as U.S. allies try to reassure Beijing

By Josh Smith and Hyonhee Shin

South Korea hosted senior diplomats from China and Japan for a rare trilateral meeting on Tuesday seen as aimed at assuaging Beijing’s concerns over the two U.S. allies’ tightening cooperation between themselves and Washington.

The meeting aims in part to set the stage for the resumption of three-way summits among the countries’ leaders, which were last held in 2019. Those talks were suspended amid legal, diplomatic and trade disputes between Seoul and Tokyo over issues dating to Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of Korea.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have since taken steps to mend ties and in August held a historic trilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden, where the three vowed to boost cooperation, including on defense and economic security.

France moves homeless people out of Paris as city prepares for next summer’s Olympics

It’s 6.30 a.m. on a late summer morning in Paris. Amid the rumbling coming from the Stalingrad Métro station, in the northeast of the French capital, hundreds of migrants, mostly men, sleep crammed under an overpass. Some rest on pieces of cardboard and old mattresses behind a urine-doused fence, others lie awake by the side of the street.

 

Word is spreading that government buses are about to come and collect them. Some wait eagerly, hoping they’ll finally be offered housing, most are confused and fearful, concerned they’ll be forced to leave Paris.

Viktor Sokolov: Russian video ‘shows Black Sea fleet commander alive’

By Robert Greenall
BBC News

Russia’s Defence Ministry has released a video showing the Black Sea Fleet’s commander at a conference, despite Ukraine claiming to have killed him.

It’s not clear when the footage, where Viktor Sokolov appears on a video link with the defence minister, was filmed.

The ministry said the meeting with senior officials happened on Tuesday.

Ukraine special forces said on Monday Adm Sokolov and 33 other officers died in a missile strike on the fleet’s HQ in Sevastopol, occupied Crimea.

Sep 26 2023

Catherine Wheel Black Metallic

Sep 25 2023

Six In The Morning Monday 25 September 2023

 

Nagorno-Karabakh: thousands escape to Armenia after Azerbaijani offensive

Armenian prime minister says ethnic Armenians in disputed enclave face ‘danger of ethnic cleansing’

More than 6,000 ethnic Armenians have crossed into Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh after last week’s Azerbaijani military offensive in the disputed region, which left hundreds of people dead, wounded or missing.

The Armenian government said on Monday afternoon at least 6,650 people from Nagorno-Karabakh had crossed into Armenia, up from about 4,850 people five hours earlier. Video showed a heavily congested road to Armenia from the enclave.

Refugees began crossing over from Nagorno-Karabakh on Sunday, becoming the first civilians to reach Armenia in nearly a year and reuniting families after a 10-month blockade by Azerbaijan that has led to desperate shortages of food, fuel and water in the local capital, Stepanakert, and surrounding areas.

Mali junta delays elections again, with no date in sight

Mali’s military leadership has said presidential elections could not be held on schedule due to “technical” reasons. Since taking power in 2020, the junta has promised to hold elections, but has repeatedly issued delays.

Mali’s military junta  on Monday said it would postpone presidential elections planned for February 2024, citing “technical reasons.”

The elections were meant to be held on February 4, 2024, with a second round two weeks later. No new date was provided.

Cited reasons for the delay included new rules from the constitution that was approved at a referendum in June and a review of the electoral roll.

Mali is also locked in a dispute with French company Idemia that operates the country’s census database.

“The new dates for the presidential election will be communicated later,” said government spokesperson Abdoulaye Maiga.

Threat-hit Iranian TV channel resumes London broadcasts

 Private network Iran International TV said Monday that it was broadcasting again from London having shut down its studios earlier this year due to threats it blamed on Tehran.

The station had been giving extensive coverage to anti-government demonstrations that erupted in Iran last year, and said two of its senior journalists received death threats in response to their reporting.

Acting upon police advice, it closed its base in the UK capital in February, but said in a statement on Monday that “Iran International TV has begun broadcasting from its new London studios”.

“This resumption marks a return to London for Iran’s most-watched news channel after broadcasting was temporarily moved to the United States earlier this year because of the credible, state-sponsored threats against its staff,” it added.

Petition filed against felling thousands of trees in historic Tokyo park area

By Kyoko HASEGAWA

Campaigners filed a fresh petition with almost 225,000 signatures on Monday against plans to fell potentially thousands of trees and tear down a historic baseball stadium in a rare green area of central Tokyo.

Lush with trees donated to honor Emperor Meiji a century ago, Meiji Jingu Gaien offers respite and shade — Japan saw its hottest recorded summer this year — in one of the world’s biggest urban areas.

The park area is also home to Jingu Stadium where U.S. baseball star Babe Ruth wowed spectators in 1934 and where celebrated Japanese author Haruki Murakami says he was inspired to become a writer.

Also on the site is a stadium dubbed the spiritual home of Japanese rugby.

Russian media rhetoric could be ‘incitement to genocide in Ukraine’: UN

Some rhetoric disseminated by Russian media could amount to incitement to genocide, the Human Rights Council probe says.

UN investigators probing violations in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion have warned that some rhetoric transmitted by Russian media could amount to incitement to genocide.

Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, the head of the investigation team, Erik Mose, voiced concern “about allegations of genocide in Ukraine”.

“For instance, some of the rhetoric transmitted in Russian state and other media may constitute incitement to genocide,” he said, adding that the team was “continuing its investigations on such issues”.

Gymnastics Ireland issues unreserved apology to black girl not given medal at event ceremony

Gymnastics Ireland has issued an unreserved apology to the family of a black girl who was not given a medal at an events ceremony in Ireland.

The incident occurred at a Gymstart event in Dublin in March 2022, when a line of children were awarded medals but a young black girl did not get one.

A video of the incident emerged in recent days and has been watched millions of times on social media.

Gymnastics Ireland apologised “for the upset that has been caused”.

In the statement issued on Monday, the governing body said it was “deeply sorry”, that it knew it needed to do more to ensure “nothing like this will happen again” and it condemned “any form of racism”.

That followed criticism from many people on social media, including US gymnastics legend Simone Biles, who posted that the video “broke her heart”, saying “there is no room for racism in any sport”.

Sep 25 2023

Late Night Music:Paul Oakenfold – Essential Mix [1999-01-17] BBC RADio 1

Sep 24 2023

Six In The Morning Sunday 24 September 2023

Nagorno-Karabakh: Ethnic Armenians leave amid cleansing fear

The first groups of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh have arrived in Armenia, days after the enclave was seized by Azerbaijan.

They entered shortly after local officials announced plans to move those made homeless by the fighting.

Azerbaijan captured the area inhabited by some 120,000 ethnic Armenians early this week and says it wants to re-integrate them as “equal citizens”.

But Armenia has warned they may face ethnic cleansing.

Around 400 people were part of the first groups to leave. Armenia says it will help anyone who does so but has repeatedly said a mass exodus would be the fault of the Azerbaijani authorities.

Chinese authorities reportedly sentence Uyghur professor to life in prison

Human rights group says Rahile Dawut lost appeal after being convicted in 2018 on charges of promoting ‘splittism’

A leading Uyghur professor who disappeared six years ago is reported to have sentenced to life in prison by Chinese authorities for “endangering state security”.

Rahile Dawut, 57, who specialises in the study of Uyghur folklore and traditions and is considered an expert in her field, lost an appeal over her sentence after being convicted in 2018 on charges of promoting “splittism”, according to the US-based Dui Hua Foundation human rights group.

The group has spent years trying to locate Dawut. In a statement, it said it had received the information from a Chinese official and that it was seeking more information about Dawut from the government, including where she was, the state of her health and her right to have contact with family members.

The Iran Protests One Year LaterRoya Piraei’s Photo Made Her an Icon

Hundreds of protesters have likely been killed since the most recent wave of demonstrations began one year ago. The daughter of one victim cut off her hair, and the image went viral. She immediately had to leave Iran and now lives in exile in Britain.

By Susanne Koelbl in London

The seventh night after her mother was killed by Iranian security forces, university student Roya Piraei posted a photo. In it, she is standing at her mother’s grave dressed in black with no headscarf, her hair closely cropped. Staring directly into the camera, she is holding a bushel of hair in her left hand. She looks like a punk.

The photo was taken in fall 2022 and it immediately went viral. Women around the world, inspired by Piraei, then 24, cut off their hair to show solidarity with the protests in Iran – with the country’s Generation Z as it fought desperately for its future only to be continually beat down. It is a photo that continues to inspire artists and authors today. In 2022, the BBC included Piraei on its 100 list of inspiring and influential women.

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Almost one year later, Roya Piraei is sitting in the yard of a London suburban home at a table covered with an Oriental-patterned tablecloth, a whitewashed wall behind her. She is a delicate woman with light-colored, freckled skin, her dark hair – now grown back – falling gently to her chin.

Masked gunmen attack Kosovo police and kill one officer, raising tensions with Serbia

Kosovo’s prime minister on Sunday said one police officer was killed and another wounded in an attack he blamed on support from neighboring Serbia, increasing tensions between the two former war foes at a delicate moment in their European Union-facilitated dialogue to normalize ties.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti said “masked professionals armed with heavy weapons” opened fire on a police patrol in the village of Banjska, in Leposavic municipality, 55 kilometers (35 miles) north of the capital Pristina at 3 a.m. (01:00 GMT).

Kosovo police said two trucks without license plates blocked a bridge at the entrance to the village. Three police units were sent to unblock it but came under fire from different positions with various weapons, including hand grenades and bombs.

Police managed to push back the attack and take two injured police officers to the hospital in southern Mitrovica.

One of them was dead on arrival, doctors said. The condition of the other is not life-threatening.

Mali won’t ‘stand idly by’ if ECOWAS intervenes in Niger

The foreign minister of Mali told the UN General Assembly that any military intervention in Niger would threaten Mali’s security. The juntas in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso signed a mutual defense pact last week.

Mali’s top diplomat has warned that his country “will not stand idly by” if foreign powers intervene in neighboring Niger.

“Mali remains strongly opposed to any military intervention by ECOWAS,” Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said on Saturday while representing Mali’s military junta at the UN General Assembly.

“Any invasion of this country constitutes a direct threat to the peace and security of Mali, but also to the peace and security of the region, and will necessarily have serious consequences.”

What’s the situation in Niger?

The West African regional bloc ECOWAS has threatened to stage a military intervention in Niger after democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown in a coup in July.

Philippines condemns ‘floating barrier’ in South China Sea

Images posted on social media show buoys placed by China that block Philippine fishing boats from entering an area within Manila’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

The Philippines has accused China’s coastguard of installing a “floating barrier” in a disputed area of the South China Sea, which it said prevents Filipinos from fishing within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The coastguard and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources “strongly condemn” China’s installation of the barrier in part of the Scarborough Shoal, “which prevents Filipino fishing boats from entering the shoal and depriving them of their fishing and livelihood activities”, spokesperson Jay Tarriela posted on Sunday on X, formerly Twitter.

Photos showed multiple buoys lined up and guarded by Chinese boats in the area, known in the Philippines as Bajo de Masinloc. The barrier is about 300 metres (985 feet) long and was discovered during a “routine maritime patrol” on Friday, said Tarriela.

Sep 23 2023

Late Night Music:Deep House 🏠 · Relaxing Work Music · 24/7 Live

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