Aug 27 2023

Six In The Morning Sunday 27 August 2023

Wagner boss Prigozhin confirmed dead in plane crash – Moscow

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been confirmed dead after genetic analysis of bodies found in Wednesday’s plane crash, Russian officials say.

The Investigative Committee (SK) said the identities of all 10 victims had been established and corresponded to those on the flight’s passenger list.

Prigozhin’s private jet came down north-west of Moscow on 23 August, killing all those on board.

The Kremlin has denied speculation it was to blame for the crash.

The SK said it was continuing a criminal investigation.

“Molecular-genetic testing has been completed,” it said in a statement.

“According to its results, the identities of all 10 deceased have been established, and they correspond to the list published in the flight manifest.”

The ‘false prophet’ v the pope: Argentina faces clash of ideologies in election

Javier Milei, a culture war populist and sex coach who won country’s open primary, rages at ‘communist’ pontiff as he sets his sights on becoming president

In one corner of the ring stands Javier Milei, 52, self-described former tantric sex coach, outsider anarcho-capitalist and frontrunner in Argentina’s upcoming presidential elections; in the other, his compatriot Pope Francis, 86, world champion of the poor, repeatedly derided by Argentina’s likely next president as “a fucking communist” and “the representative of the evil one on Earth” for promoting the doctrine of “social justice” to aid the underprivileged.

Milei, a political unknown until 2020, has pledged to wage a “cultural battle” to transform Argentina into a libertarian paradise where capitalist efficiency replaces social assistance, taxes are reduced to a minimum and cash-strapped individuals are allowed to sell their body organs on the open market.

Erasing the Existence of 1,500 PeopleBritain’s Ongoing Colonial Crime in the Indian Ocean

More than half a century ago, the British and the Americans established the Diego Garcia military base, breaking international law in the process. The locals were forcibly exiled. But now, after decades of court battles, the people who once called the Chagos Archipelago home are closer to returning than ever before.

By Jörg Schindler in London

She had to leave, the British man told her. Now. The ship was leaving in just a few hours – and she had no choice, he said. It’s a scene she still clearly remembers. How she frantically crammed clothes and a few belongings into a wooden chest, including a tool called a larappe that she had used for years to scrape out thousands of coconuts. And she remembers standing on the deck of the Nordvaer late that afternoon with friends, relatives and neighbors, some holding jars full of white sand in their hands. Then, they set off to the west, towards the setting sun. It was May 25, 1973.

It was the last time she ever laid eyes on her homeland.

Friends at any price: China seeks allies, arms markets in West Africa as French influence wanes

China’s expansion into the West African arms market is a shift in strategy for a country that has typically focussed its weapons sales on other African regions. But Beijing is not just competing for a share of a new market: amid waning French influence in West Africa, China is looking to make new allies and build influence.

China’s largest weapons producer, Norinco – the seventh-largest military equipment supplier globally – has opened a new sales office in Senegal, according to a South China Morning Post report published August 21.The company already has offices in Nigeria, Angola and South Africa.

Beijing also plans to set up offices in Mali and the Ivory Coast – where it already sells arms – with a physical presence for maintenance, repair and overhauls of vehicles and military equipment, specialist news site Military Africa reported on August 1.

The arrival of the weapons giant on Senegalese soil has also been reported in Chinese media, where it has been heralded as an advance for Chinese influence in West Africa and a challenge to the existing influence of Russia and France.

Greece: Evros fire ‘cannot be contained’ — regional official

Hundreds of firefighters are battling the blaze at the edge of Greece’s Dadia national park. The European Commission described it as the largest single fire in the history of the EU.

A wildfire raging near the northeastern Greek region of Evros is unlikely to be brought under control, deputy governor Dimitris Petrovich told national broadcaster ERT on Sunday.

The fire near the city of Alexandroupolis has been raging for nine days.

The European Commission called the blaze, which threatens Greece’s Dadia national park, the largest single fire in the history of the EU.\

Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa wins second term, opposition rejects result

Elections commission says Mnangagwa won 52.6 percent of the vote compared with 44 percent for challenger Nelson Chamisa.

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has won a second and final term in office in an outcome rejected by the opposition and questioned by observers.

Mnangagwa, who took over from longtime leader Robert Mugabe after a 2017 army coup, was widely expected to secure re-election despite the country’s continuing economic crisis, with analysts saying the contest was heavily skewed in favour of the ZANU-PF party, which has ruled the country since independence and the end of white minority rule in 1980.

Aug 27 2023

Late Night Music:The Same Deep Water as You

Aug 26 2023

Six In The Morning Saturday 26 August 2023

Ukrainian commander hails breakthrough in south

By Dalia Hatuqa and Nils Adler
Published On 26 Aug 2023

Ukrainian forces pushing forward in Zaporizhzhia after taking Robotyne

A Washington-based think tank has said that Ukrainian forces were pushing forward in Zaporizhzhia after taking the village of Robotyne earlier this week.

The Institute for the Study of War in its latest assessment cited pro-Kremlin military bloggers expressing concern over a lack of reinforcements and troop locations in the area, while the Ukrainian General Staff that same day claimed unspecified successes south and southeast of Robotyne.

Two men accused of lighting wildfires in Greece are arrested

One man confessed to having set four other fires on island of Evia as Greek authorities struggle to contain blazes

Fire department officials in Greece have arrested two men for allegedly starting wildfires on purpose, while hundreds of firefighters battled blazes that have killed at least 21 people in the past week.

One man was arrested on the Greek island of Evia for allegedly setting fire to dried grass in the Karystos area. The fire department said the man confessed to having set four other fires in the area in July and August.

A second man arrested in the Larissa area of central Greece was also accused of intentionally setting fire to dried vegetation.

Kenya minister gives rare apology for hourslong blackout

A widespread blackout across the country left passengers at the main airport in Nairobi stranded in darkness after the backup generator failed to turn on.

Kenya’s transport minister apologized to the country on Friday after passengers at the main airport in Nairobi — one of the most important hubs on the continent — were left without power, amid a widespread electricity blackout.

“I’m really sorry for what has happened at the [Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA)] with the blackout,” Transport Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said on X, in a rare public apology by a government official.

“There is no excuse worth reporting and there is no reason why our airport is in darkness.”

Islamic State group nearly doubled its Mali territory in under a year, UN says

Islamic State extremists have almost doubled the territory they control in Mali in less than a year, and their al-Qaida-linked rivals are capitalizing on the deadlock and perceived weakness of armed groups that signed a 2015 peace agreement, United Nations experts said in a new report.

The stalled implementation of the peace deal and sustained attacks on communities have offered the IS group and al-Qaida affiliates a chance “to re-enact the 2012 scenario,” they said.

That’s when a military coup took place in March and rebels in the north formed an Islamic state two months later. The extremist rebels were forced from power in the north with the help of a French-led military operation, but they moved from the arid north to more populated central Mali in 2015 and remain active.

The panel of experts said in the report that the impasse in implementing the agreement — especially the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of combatants into society — is empowering al-Qaida-linked Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin known as JNIM to vie for leadership in northern Mali.

Fukushima residents react cautiously after start of treated water release

By MARI YAMAGUCHI

Fish auction prices at a port south of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant fell Friday amid uncertainty over how seafood consumers will respond to the release of treated and diluted radioactive wastewater into the ocean.

The plant, which was damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, began sending the treated water into the Pacific on Thursday amid protests at home and in nearby countries that are adding political and diplomatic pressures to the economic worries.

Hideaki Igari, a middleman at the Numanouchi fishing port, said prices of flounder, Fukushima’s signature fish known as Joban-mono, was more than 10% lower at the Friday morning auction, the first since the water release began.

FIFA suspends Spain soccer chief Luis Rubiales amid row over kiss with Women’s World Cup winner

By Aimee Lewis, CNN
Updated 10:41 AM EDT, Sat August 26, 2023
 

FIFA has provisionally suspended Luis Rubiales, the president of the Spanish soccer federation, from “all football-related activities” over his kiss with Women’s World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso.

Rubiales has been refusing to stand down over the incident, in which he kissed Hermoso on the lips last Sunday after Spain won the tournament for the first time, despite fierce criticism from Hermoso, her teammates and the Spanish government.

Hermoso said the kiss was unwanted and she and the entire World Cup-winning squad have refused to play while Rubiales remains president.

Rubiales said the kiss was consensual and the federation has been sticking by him, threatening legal action against Hermoso and others.

Aug 25 2023

Late Night Music:Guns N’ Roses : November Rain HD

Aug 25 2023

Six In The Morning Friday 25 August 2023

Kremlin dismisses allegations it killed Prigozhin as ‘complete lie

Summary

  1. The Kremlin says suggestions that it gave an order to kill Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin are a “complete lie”
  2. President Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov says there’s “lots of speculation” amid the “tragic death” of those on the private jet that crashed near Moscow
  3. But he stopped short of confirming whether Prigozhin was on board, reiterating that an investigation was ongoing
  4. Earlier, the UK defence ministry said Prigozhin is “highly likely” to be dead – but there was “not yet definitive proof”
  5. The leader of Belarus – a close ally of Putin – has also commented on the incident, saying he “can’t imagine” the Russian leader was behind the plane crash
  6. One US official has anonymously told the BBC’s US partner CBS that an explosion on the aircraft was the probable cause

Here’s a look at how the day has unfolded – so far.

This morning: Russia’s defence ministry said it thwarted an attempt by Ukraine to attack Russia-annexed Crimea. It came after Ukraine landed troops there yesterday, on its second independence day at war.

Soon after: The UK’s defence ministry released a statement saying Prigozhin’s death is “highly likely”, but admitted there is not yet any “definite proof” he was on board the private jet that crashed on Wednesday near Moscow.

This afternoon: During a conference call with journalists, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the BBC that allegations the Kremlin gave an order to kill Prigozhin are a “complete lie”. He insisted people await the results of an ongoing “official investigation”.

Since then: We’ve heard from Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, who revealed that Wagner troops would remain in his country. After Prigozhin’s death, the group currently has no leader.

Rape still a weapon of war in Tigray months after peace deal

Medical records from across the region show sexual violence continues to be used ‘to intimidate and terrorise communities’

Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers continue a widespread and systematic campaign of rape in Tigray despite the peace agreement signed in November last year, a new report reveals.

In the first report to document sexual violence – using hundreds of medical records from the start of the conflict in November 2020 through to June 2023 – healthcare professionals recount cases of gang-rape, sexual slavery and murder, including the killing of children.

The report, by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa, reviewed 304 medical records of conflict-related sexual violence from health facilities across Tigray; 128 showed rape occurring after the agreement to halt all hostilities after two years of civil war.

The long list of Putin critics targeted by the Kremlin

Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin is thought to have died in a plane crash. While the details remain vague, what is clear is that those who dare to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin live dangerously.

September 2022 — Ravil Maganov’s fatal fall from a hospital window

Ravil Maganov, chairman of Russian oil giant Lukoil, died when he fell from the sixth-floor window of a Moscow hospital. Police suspect he committed suicide, saying that he was diagnosed with depression on top of his heart problems. Lukoil was the first major Russian company to call for an end to the war in Ukraine.

August 2020 — Alexei Navalny’s poison-laced underwear

One of Putin’s fiercest critics Alexei Navalny collapsed on a domestic flight from Tomsk to Moscow and fell into a coma. After the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, Siberia, Navalny received immediate medical treatment. He was then transferred to the Charite hospital in the German capital Berlin, which found that he had been poisoned with Novichok, a chemical nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union. After recovering, Navalny released the recording of a phone conversation, in which  a suspected agent from Russia’s domestic intelligence service FSB, admitted to the attack. In the recording, which was uploaded to YouTube, the man said that the poison had been applied to the inside of Navalny’s underwear. Russia dismissed the recorded conversation as fake.

These photos do not show Ukrainian ‘children’ being sent to the front

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, some have claimed that “children” are being recruited into the Ukrainian army. Three viral photos, purporting to show graves of very young soldiers, have been shared since mid-August as evidence of this phenomenon. However, two of these three photos have been manipulated, and actually show the burial sites of adult men.

If you only have a minute

  • Three photos of graves have been used as evidence of the use of child soldiers by the Ukrainian armed forces.
  • We have been able to trace the origin of two of these photos: one is of a 21-year-old man whose face has been digitally replaced by a young boy. The other photo is of a 26-year-old man, whose face, name and date of birth have been digitally altered.
  • We were unable to determine the source of the third photo.

The fact-check, in detail

“The UA are already sending children to slaughter. The third was not even 17…” said this post from July 17 on X (formerly Twitter), seen more than 130,000 times. The account regularly shared pro-Russian misinformation.

The three photos shared show framed pictures of soldiers killed at the front, their faces seemingly juvenile.

China imposes ‘abnormal’ ban after Fukushima water release

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

August 25, 2023 at 16:34 JST

Japanese government officials expected a reaction from China but were caught off-guard by the severity of Beijing’s response to the Aug. 24 discharge of treated radioactive water into the ocean.

China, describing the released water as “polluted,” imposed a full-blown import ban on all products from Japan that may have once lived in the sea.

The measure covers fish, shellfish and seaweed in whatever form they have been processed, be it fresh, refrigerated or frozen.

‘I will not resign,’ says defiant Spanish soccer boss Luis Rubiales following week of fierce criticism for unwanted kiss on star player

By Patrick Sung and Ben Morse, CNN
Updated 11:27 AM EDT, Fri August 25, 2023
 

Spanish soccer chief Luis Rubiales has refused to resign from his position as Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president following a week of fierce criticism after video showed him placing an unwanted kiss on a star player of Spain’s winning Women’s World Cup team.

Rubiales was speaking at the federation’s Extraordinary General Assembly on Friday and said he will “fight to the end.”

In a defiant speech, he described the kiss as “mutual” and spoke of “unjust” campaigns and “fake feminism,” and emphatically said, “I will not resign” several times during the almost 30-minute address.

Aug 25 2023

Late Night Music:A Whiter Shade of Pale (Procol Harum) 1967

Aug 24 2023

Six In The Morning Thursday 24 August 2023

 

Ukraine had nothing to do with Prigozhin plane crash – Zelensky

Recap: Speculation surrounds Russian plane crash

  • Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is presumed to have been killed in a plane crash north of Moscow, alongside his right-hand-man Dmitry Utkin and eight others
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had nothing to do with the crash, but “everyone is aware who is involved”
  • UK defence sources say the Russian intelligence service is most likely to have targeted the plane. But the Kremlin has remained silent on Prigozhin’s death. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who earlier spoke at a trade summit in South Africa, stuck to the script and said nothing about the crash
  • Wagner members and supporters across Russia are paying tributes to Prigozhin, laying flowers at temporary shrines to the Wagner chief
  • Meanwhile, Ukraine has marked its Independence Day today, with sombre celebrations reported under the shadow of Russia’s war
  • And Ukrainian forces conducted a successful operation in Crimea today, according to officials

India’s rover takes walk on the moon after frenzied celebrations

Solar-powered vehicle will spend two weeks roaming lunar surface to help scientists understand geology of moon

India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has rolled its rover on to the moon’s surface after its successful landing at the lunar south pole.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced the rover had “ramped down from the lander and India took a walk on the moon”.

The chair of the ISRO, Sreedhara Panicker Somanath, told the NDTV news channel the lander and rover were functioning well and images of the rover exploring the moon’s surface could be released soon.

Russia extends detention of WSJ reporter Gershkovich

The reporter has been held in pre-trial detention since his arrest in March. Moscow accuses Evan Gershkovich of espionage, which he and the Wall Street Journal deny.

A Russian court on Thursday extended the pre-trial detention of US reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months.

Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, has been detained since March and accused of espionage, which both he and his employer deny. Such charges carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

The United States has repeatedly lobbied for his release, accusing Moscow of “hostage diplomacy.” US President Joe Biden described Gershkovich’s detention as “totally illegal.”

What happened in today’s hearing?

Gershkovich arrived at court on Thursday in handcuffs, wearing jeans, sneakers and a shirt. The 31-year-old US citizen was taken there in a white prison van.

A spokesperson for Moscow’s Lefortovsky District Court said he would remain in detention “until November 30, 2023.”

Warming decimates Antarctica’s emperor penguin chicks

Helpless emperor penguin chicks perished at multiple breeding grounds in West Antarctica late last year, drowning or freezing to death when sea ice eroded by global warming gave way under their tiny feet, scientists said Thursday.

Of five sites monitored in the Bellingshausen Sea region, all but one experienced a 100 percent loss of chicks, they reported in Communications: Earth & Environment, a Nature journal.

They called it a “catastrophic breeding failure”.

“This is the first major breeding failure of emperor penguins across several colonies due to sea ice loss, and is probably a sign of things to come,” lead author Peter Fretwell, a researcher at the British Antarctic Survey, told AFP.

“We have been predicting it for some time, but actually seeing it happening is grim.”

China bans all Japanese seafood imports after Fukushima water release

By Sakura Murakami

China on Thursday announced an immediate blanket ban on all seafood imports from Japan after the Japanese government started releasing treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

China is “highly concerned about the risk of radioactive contamination brought by… Japan’s food and agricultural products exported to China,” a Chinese customs official said in a statement.

Signed off two years ago by the Japanese government and approved by the U.N. nuclear watchdog last month, the discharge is a key step in a dauntingly long and difficult process of decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi plant after it was destroyed by a tsunami.

FIFA opens case against Spanish football official Luis Rubiales

Football’s governing body opens a case against Rubiales, who kissed a player on the lips after Women’s World Cup final win.

FIFA has opened a disciplinary case against a Spanish football official over his conduct while celebrating his country’s victory in the Women’s World Cup final.

Luis Rubiales kissed player Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the trophy and medal ceremony on Sunday after Spain’s 1-0 victory over England in Sydney, Australia.

Minutes earlier, Rubiales had grabbed his crotch in the exclusive section of seats with Queen Letizia of Spain and 16-year-old Princess Sofía standing nearby.

Aug 24 2023

Late Night Music:Thin Lizzy The Boys Are Back In Town

Aug 23 2023

Six In The Morning Wednesday 23 August 2023

India makes history as Chandrayaan-3 lands near Moon’s south pole

New images of Moon’s surface taken by lander

The surface of the Moon
Copyright: Isro

These Images, taken during the Chandrayaan-3 lander’s descent to the Moon, have just been released.

Isro shared the pictures on social media and says they were taken by the lander’s horizontal velocity camera.

The surface of the Moon
Copyright: Isro
Article share tools

Summary

  1. India’s Chandrayaan-3 becomes the first space mission to land near the south pole of the Moon
  2. “India is now on the Moon,” announces PM Narendra Modi immediately after the Vikram lander touches down on the lunar surface
  3. Inside the lander is the six-wheeled Pragyaan rover, which, if all goes to plan, will roam the lunar surface gathering images and data
  4. Scientists believe craters that are permanently in shadow on the dark side of the Moon may hold frozen water
  5. The attempt – India’s third lunar mission – comes days after Russia’s unmanned Luna-25 spacecraft span out of control and crashed into the Moon

Drone strikes Moscow building as region hit by sixth successive night of attacks

Building under construction in capital’s financial district damaged as three people killed in Belgorod region, governor says

A drone hit a building under construction in Moscow’s financial district early on Wednesday in the sixth straight night of aerial attacks on Russia’s capital region.

A loud explosion was heard in Moscow’s business district on Wednesday morning, a short time after flights were suspended at the city’s airports, Russia’s RIA news agency reported. Russian media published videos showing the moment of the explosion that left charred holes in the side of the buildings.

The central district is less than three miles from the Kremlin.

The mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, said the Russian military downed two more drones over the western part of the Moscow region.

Thai king appoints Srettha as new prime minister after vote

Business tycoon Srettha Thavisin has been voted in after a monthslong deadlock since the May election. Srettha’s Pheu Thai party is part of a multi-party coalition, including allies with the military.

Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn appointed Srettha Thavisin as the country’s new prime minister on Wednesday, commanding him to form a new government, during a ceremony that was broadcast live on television.

The Thai parliament voted a day earlier to elect Srettha of the Pheu Thai party as the country’s new prime minister, after a monthslong deadlock since the progressive Move Forward Party (MFP) secured the biggest number of seats in May’s polls.

Srettha needed 375 votes in total from the country’s combined upper and lower houses to secure the prime minister position.

Pheu Thai, which came second in the election, had initially allied itself with the MFP, alongside six other parties. However, it decided earlier in August to seek a new alliance excluding the MFP, whose candidate for prime minister was blocked at least twice.

Japan begins final preparations for Fukushima water release

The final preparations to discharge waste water from the crippled Fukushima power plant in Japan began Wednesday, its operator said, a day before the scheduled release into the Pacific Ocean.

Tokyo had announced on Tuesday that the operation into the Pacific would begin on Thursday, prompting an angry response from China and partial import bans on Japanese seafood by Hong Kong and Macau.

The operator of the plant, TEPCO, said Tuesday that it diluted a cubic metre of the waste water with around 1,200 cubic meters of seawater and allowed it to flow into position in a pipe.

This water will be tested and then from Thursday released into the sea together with more water stored at the site that will be transferred and diluted, TEPCO said in a statement.

Hungary frees more than 1,400 foreign convicts, angering the EU

Those released by Budapest were found guilty of people smuggling.

Hungary has released more than 1,400 foreigners convicted of people smuggling, a move challenged by the European Commission.

“We have released 1,468 detainees of foreign nationality who have been convicted of smuggling of human beings,” the National Command of Penitentiary Services told the Agence France-Presse news agency in an email.

In April, Budapest announced that it would release foreign people smugglers and give them three days to leave the country.

Suspected Chinese dissident rides jet ski hundreds of miles to South Korea

By Yoonjung Seo and Jessie Yeung, CNN
Updated 5:04 AM EDT, Wed August 23, 2023
 

A jet ski rider detained by South Korea for allegedly entering the country illegally is a prominent Chinese dissident who rode hundreds of miles across the sea to escape from China, activists say.

The man, who is in his 30s, was apprehended August 16 near Incheon, on South Korea’s west coast near to the capital Seoul, the Incheon Coast Guard said in a news release Sunday.

He is suspected of traveling from China’s eastern Shandong province, which lies about 400 kilometers (250 miles) across the Yellow Sea from Incheon. Carrying only a helmet, binoculars and a compass, the man had also tied five 25-liter (6.6 gallon) fuel tanks to the jet ski, the release added.

Aug 23 2023

Late Night Music:A Flock Of Seagulls – I Ran (So Far Away)

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