Aug 04 2023

Six In The Morning Friday 4 August 2023

 

Russian ship hit in Novorossiysk, Black Sea drone attack, Ukraine sources say

By James Waterhouse in Kyiv & Kathryn Armstrong in London
BBC News

A Russian naval ship has been damaged in a Ukrainian naval drone attack in the Black Sea, Ukrainian sources say.

The assault reportedly occurred near the Russian port of Novorossiysk, which is a major hub for Russian exports.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had repelled a Ukrainian attack on its naval base there which involved two sea drones, but did not admit any damage.

But Ukrainian security service sources say the Olenegorsky Gornyak was hit and suffered a serious breach.

They told the BBC a sea drone was carrying 450kg (992lb) of dynamite when it hit the ship.

Russia made no mention of any damage in its report of the incident.

Sea drones are small, unmanned vessels which operate on or below the water’s surface.

Russian court sentences Alexei Navalny to further 19 years in prison

Opposition critic decries extended jail term as ‘Stalinist’ and calls on Russians to resist Putin regime

A court in Russia has extended Alexei Navalny’s prison sentence by 19 years, the opposition leader’s supporters said, citing the judge at a court hearing.

Navalny, 47, once led street protests against the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, built a nationwide political opposition, and revealed salacious details of Kremlin officials’ corrupt lifestyles.

As revenge, Russia has sentenced him to a cumulative three decades in prison, a term that will keep the Kremlin critic behind bars and out of politics for as long as Putin remains alive.

India court suspends Rahul Gandhi’s defamation conviction

The conviction was over comments deemed insulting to Prime Minister Modi. The court order allows the opposition leader to return to parliament and run in next year’s elections.

India’s Supreme Court suspended on Friday the conviction of the leader of the opposition Congress, Rahul Gandhi, in a defamation case.

The move allows him to return to parliament and compete in the 2024 parliamentary election.

The opposition leader was convicted in March over comments he made in 2019 that were seen as insulting to people surnamed Modi, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The case was brought against him by a Gujarat state lawmaker of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

How did the Congress party react?

Congress party members celebrated the ruling, shouting slogans and distributing sweets at the party headquarters in New Delhi.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the leader of the party in the lower house of parliament, said he would write to the speaker of the legislature to reinstate Gandhi.

Yemen’s street vendors struggle amid deepening economic crisis

 

After eight years of war in Yemen, the poorest country in the Arabian peninsula is experiencing an economic crisis made worse by two competing currencies backed by the conflict’s opposing sides. FRANCE 24’s Edouard Dropsy, Nabeel Alawzari and Matthew Thompson report from Marib, a city whose merchants and street vendors have felt the full weight of the crisis.

British Scouts to pull out of Saemangeum Jamboree campsite amid heat wave

British Scouts participating in the World Scout Jamboree are set to leave the event site amid mounting safety concerns stemming from a sweltering heat wave, Britain’s largest Scouting organization said Friday.

“U.K. Scouts are transferring our young people and adult volunteers from the Jamboree site at Saemangeum to Seoul,” the Scout Association said on its website.

“We will start moving our people to hotel accommodation over the next two days. As we are the largest contingent, our hope is that this helps alleviate the pressure on the site overall,” it added.

Saudi’s MBS wants more than peace at his Ukraine summit

By Nic Robertson, CNN
Published 8:30 AM EDT, Fri August 4, 2023

Saudi Arabia’s ancient Red Sea port city Jeddah, stewing in the steamy heat of the world’s hottest summer on record, is not the obvious pick to cool the world’s fiercest conflict, currently raging in Ukraine.

Yet, the desert kingdom’s king-in-waiting, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – MBS for short – thinks he can help. Last fall he had a role in the release of Western mercenaries captured by Russian forces while fighting in Ukraine. Now he is hosting a summit to discuss peace in the country.

Ukrainian officials say the venue is a boon for them “that completely destroys the narrative of Russia” that Ukraine is only supported by “countries of the collective West.” They expect as many as 40 nations to be represented, including the US and India.

(Why would or should anyone trust Bone Saw MBS?)

Aug 04 2023

Late Night Music:BABYMETAL – Headbanger!! 『へドバンギャー！！ 』(MOAMETAL ver.) | Moabanger

Aug 03 2023

Six In The Morning Thursday 3 August 2023

Bill Barr says Donald Trump ‘knew well he lost the election’

By Nadine Yousif
BBC News

Former US attorney general Bill Barr has spoken out against Donald Trump ahead of his court appearance for allegedly plotting to overturn his election defeat in 2020.

Mr Barr, who was appointed by the former president, said that Mr Trump “knew well he lost the election”.

Mr Trump is accused by federal prosecutors of lying repeatedly about mass voter fraud and pressing officials to change results to keep him in power.

He will be formally charged later.

The 77-year-old Republican, who is running for election again, is expected to plead not guilty when he appears in court in Washington at 16:00 EDT (20:00 GMT). He has denounced the charges as politically motivated.

Biden calls on Niger’s junta to release Bazoum and restore democracy

Comments come as the coup leader addresses the nation to warn against foreign meddling

Joe Biden has called for the immediate release of Niger’s elected president and for the country’s democracy to be restored, in the highest profile intervention by the US since the coup that removed Mohamed Bazoum from power.

“I call for President Bazoum and his family to be immediately released, and for the preservation of Niger’s hard-earned democracy,” the US president said in a statement on Thursday, the 63rd anniversary of Niger’s independence. “In this critical moment, the United States stands with the people of Niger to honour our decades-long partnership rooted in shared democratic values and support for civilian-led governance,” he said.

Biden’s comments came as the country’s junta appeared on television to warn against foreign military interference in the impoverished country.

14 wounded in stabbing rampage, vehicle attack near Seoul

Fourteen people were wounded Thursday after a man drove a car onto a pedestrian walkway and went on a stabbing rampage at a department store in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, police said.

The police apprehended the 20-something suspect, only known by his surname Choi, just five minutes after receiving a report at around 5:59 p.m. that a man was stabbing people at the department store adjacent to the Seohyeon subway station.

The suspect is employed in the delivery industry, according to sources.

Majority of Germans support move to green economy — study

A new study has shown that Germans still find tackling climate change important, but the data also revealed discrepancies over what people are actually willing to do about it.

The vast majority of people in Germany are in favor of the economy being made more climate-friendly, according to a survey carried out by the German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) published on Thursday.

A total of 91% of respondents said that they were very or generally in favor of making Germany’s economy greener, although they were not asked what specific steps they thought should be taken.

German economy’s ecological transformation

Clear majorities supported companies taking measures to make their operations more climate-friendly as well as supporting workers to make greener life choices — such as providing them with bikes to cycle to work.

But at the same time, 81% said they were worried about rising costs associated with reforming the German economy, such as the cost of electricity, heating and food.

Blinken accuses Russia of ‘assault’ on global food system

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken took aim at Russia at the UN Security Council on Thursday, accusing Moscow of “blackmail” over its recent withdrawal from a key grain initiative.

America’s top diplomat, chairing a meeting about food insecurity at the UN’s headquarters in New York, told the 15-member Council that “hunger must not be weaponized.”

He singled out Russia, saying its invasion of Ukraine last year had sparked an “assault” on the global food system.

Blinken lambasted Moscow for pulling out last month from the so-called Black Sea grain initiative.

The agreement had allowed Ukrainian grain exports via the sea, during the conflict between the two countries.

Moscow refused to extend the deal, leading to a spike in grain prices that hit poorer countries hard.

Deadly communal violence flares in India a month before world leader summit

Analysis by Rhea Mogul and Sania Farooqui, CNN

Separate outbreaks of violence this week, including the alleged shooting of three Muslim men by a police officer on a train, have exposed the deep communal fissures in India weeks before it welcomes Group of 20 (G20) leaders to the capital.

Violence erupted in the northern state of Harayana state on Monday after a right-wing Hindu organization led a religious procession in the Muslim dominated region of Nuh.

Clashes spread to several districts of the finance and tech hub, Gurugram, also known as Gurgaon, home to more than 1.5 million people and hundreds of global firms, where violent mobs predominantly targeted Muslim-owned properties, setting buildings ablaze and smashing shops and restaurants.

Aug 03 2023

Late Night Music:Paul Oakenfold @ Home, Space, Ibiza – Essential mix Live [1999-07-25] BBC radio 1

Aug 02 2023

Six In The Morning Wednesday 2 August 2023

 

Trump hits out at ‘corruption and scandal’ after new charges

Trump’s backers flip the script on ‘election interference’

Mike Wendling

US disinformation reporter

With their man accused of election interference, Donald Trump’s supporters are responding by alleging… election interference.

A broad claim is emerging – that the indictment is a naked political play meant to thwart Trump’s latest presidential campaign and thus affect the outcome of the 2024 election.

The sentiment was captured in a post by Marjorie Taylor Greene, the congresswoman who’s one of Trump’s biggest backers.

“The politicized and weaponized DOJ [Department of Justice] is now committing election interference with this outrageous conspiracy theory,” she wrote on social media.

The supporters are taking their cues from the top. The former president has himself shouted about “election interference” several times in different contexts on his Truth Social network.

It’s a tactic that he’s used before to defang his critics.

Remember the phrase “fake news”? That originally referred to a bizarre phenomenon whereby teenagers in the Balkans were pumping out false pro-Trump news stories to make advertising money.

But then, at a press conference shortly before he took office in 2017, Trump railed against the “fake news” media, and journalists scrambled to find other terms for the sea of online rubbish.

Maybe he hopes to similarly muddy the meaning of “election interference”. However, this time the charges will be litigated in a court of law, not just the court of public opinion.

African bloc to meet to discuss Niger coup as evacuations continue

Foreign nationals queue for flights out as regional bloc threatens force to restore democratically elected president

European countries continued with their evacuation of foreign nationals from Niger, as defence chiefs from west Africa’s regional political and security bloc were poised to meet in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, to discuss last week’s coup against Niger’s democratically elected president.

The 15-nation regional bloc, Ecowas, has threatened to use force to put down the coup in Niger after delivering an ultimatum those behind the coup to restore Mohamed Bazoum as president and reinstate the constitution and democratic institutions.

Envoys from Ecowas, led by the former Nigerian president Abdulsalami Abubakar were also due to arrive in Niger’s capital, Niamey, as Nigeria’s chief of staff warned the threat of military intervention was serious.

Germany: Cases of risk to children’s welfare at record high

Ever more children in Germany are at risk of neglect or psychological, physical or sexual violence, new statistics say. Four out of five of the affected children are younger than 14 and around half under 8.

German youth welfare offices last year reported a record number of children whose welfare was at risk, with 62,300 cases registered, according to Germany‘s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

The figure represents an increase of 4%, or 2,300 cases, compared with 2021.

Altogether 203,700 cases of suspected risk to children’s well-being were assessed by youth welfare authorities, a rise of 3% compared with 2021.

The risks include those caused by neglect, psychological mistreatment or physical violence, including sexual violence.

Cleanup operation under way as Beijing reels from ‘heaviest rainfall in 140 years’

Deadly rains that pummelled China’s capital in recent days were the heaviest since records began 140 years ago, Beijing’s weather service said on Wednesday, as a massive cleanup operation began.

Millions of people have been hit by extreme weather events and prolonged heatwaves around the globe in recent weeks, events that scientists say are being exacerbated by climate change.

And the Beijing Meteorological Service said the capital has just experienced the “heaviest rainfall in 140 years”, when city authorities started keeping records.

“The maximum (amount) of rainfall recorded during this storm, which was 744.8 millimetres, occurred at the Wangjiayuan Reservoir in Changping,” the service said, adding the largest volume previously recorded was 609 millimetres in 1891.

At least 11 people have died in the rains in Beijing, state broadcaster CCTV said Tuesday, with more than a dozen missing.

Could Indigenous communities in Brazil hold key to climate justice?

Across the Amazon, Indigenous residents are developing sustainable economies centred on local production.

By Amanda Magnani
Published On 2 Aug 2023

Under the scorching late-morning Amazon sun, dozens of people begin to approach from all corners of the woods, farming gear slung over their shoulders.

As tradition dictates, residents of the Willimon community in the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous territory of Brazil’s Roraima state are coming together to help fellow farmers plough their land.

Despite the blue skies and high temperatures, it is winter, which means rainy season in the Amazon – so it is time for planting. Today, the men and women of this community are helping Telma Macuxi clear her land.

Iran orders two days of public holidays over ‘unprecedented heat’

Story by Reuters
Published 9:35 AM EDT, Wed August 2, 2023

Iran has announced that Wednesday and Thursday will be public holidays because of “unprecedented heat” and told the elderly and people with health conditions to stay indoors, Iranian state media reported.

Many cities in southern Iran have already suffered from days of exceptional heat.

State media reported temperatures had this week exceeded 51 degrees Celsius (123 Fahrenheit) in the southern city of Ahvaz.

Government spokesman Ali Bahadori-Jahromi was quoted by state media as saying Wednesday and Thursday would be holidays, while the health ministry said hospitals would be on high alert.

Aug 02 2023

Late Night Music: ZHU, partywithray – Came For The Low

Aug 01 2023

Donald Trump election investigation: federal grand jury returns an indictment but defendant not identified

Former President Trump January 6th charges: 1. Conspiracy to defraud United States 2. Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding 3. Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct and official proceeding 4. Conspiracy against rights 

A judge agreed to seal the indictment returned by the grand jury hearing evidence in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

There was no information given in court about the number of defendants or the identity of any defendant.

A new sealed criminal case appeared on the DC federal court docket, Reuters’ Brad Heath reports.

  • This could be Trump’s third indictment

Jon Donnison

Reporting from Washington DC

In a post on his Truth social media platform, former President Trump just said he expects to be indicted tonight.

He called it “another fake indictment” and an attempt to interfere in the 2024 presidential election campaign, being led by a “deranged” prosecutor.

There has been much speculation that an indictment over Trump’s alleged interference in the 2020 presidential election and his role in the January 6 riot is imminent.

No other sitting or former US president has ever been indicted on criminal charges. For Donald Trump, this is potentially his third time. He’s already due to stand trial next year in two separate cases.

All the while, according to opinion polls, he remains the outstanding favourite to win the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election and he has repeatedly said he will run for the White House even if convicted and jailed.

Aug 01 2023

Six In The Morning Tuesday 1 August 2023

More drones coming, Ukraine tells Russia after skyscraper hit

  • A skyscraper in Moscow’s business district, home to three Russian government teams, has been hit by a drone attack for the second time in recent days, Moscow’s mayor said
  • The Kremlin said it was clear a threat existed following the incident, which it described as a Ukrainian “terrorist attack”
  • BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said repeated drone strikes in Moscow are a message to Russia’s political elite and a reminder to Russians that the war is coming home
  • Ukraine has said it did not, and will not, attack civilian vessels after Moscow claimed that Ukraine used sea drones to attack civilian transport vessels in the Black Sea
  • Two floors of an empty college dormitory were destroyed in overnight drone strikes in Kharkiv after Ukraine accused Russia of targeting populated areas of the city
  • Ukraine said it thwarted an attempt, by what the interior minister called Russian saboteurs, to cross Ukraine’s northern border overnight after guards opened fire on them

Leak reveals ‘touchy’ issues for UAE’s presidency of UN climate summit

Exclusive: Long list of ‘sensitive’ topics for petrostate include oil and gas production, emissions and Yemen war crimes

A comprehensive list of “touchy and sensitive issues” for the United Arab Emirates, which is running the next UN climate summit, has been revealed in a document leaked to the Guardian.

The document sets out the government-approved “strategic messages” to be used in response to media requests about the issues, which range from the UAE’s increasing production of oil and gas to people trafficking.

The document begins with three pages of “Cop28 UAE key messages” and “narrative points”. These contain no references to fossil fuels, oil or gas but do mention renewable energy and hydrogen.

Australia: Childcare worker charged with 1,623 sex crimes

A childcare worker has been accused of sexually abusing 91 young girls over a 15-year period. Officials say it is one of the worst cases of sex crimes against children in Australia’s history.

A 45-year-old Australian childcare worker has been charged with committing many hundreds of sex crime offenses against 91 prepubescent girls, including some as young as 1 year old, police said on Tuesday.

The man was arrested last August following an almost decadelong hunt after a cache of child sexual abuse material was found on the dark web in 2014.

He faces life in prison if found guilty.

The 1,623 charges include 136 counts of rape, 110 counts of sexual intercourse with a child younger than 10 and 613 counts of producing child sex abuse material.

French journalists end 40-day strike as far-right editor takes helm at Sunday paper

Journalists at France’s sole dedicated Sunday newspaper announced on Tuesday they were halting one of the longest strikes in the recent history of French media, on the day a controversial editor aligned with the far right took up his post as editor in chief.

Journal du Dimanche (JDD) staff said they were throwing in the towel aware that their decision would mean that they would either leave the paper or have to work under its new leadership.

The strike since June 22 over over the appointment of Geoffroy Lejeune, 34, as new editor-in-chief has meant that the influential weekly has now missed six consecutive issues.

The JDD’s SDJ journalists’ association said that agreement had been reached with the paper’s owners, the media arm of French conglomerate Lagardere Group, for the strike to end.

Ex-SDF member collapses as superior tells court he lied

By YURI MURAKAMI/ Staff Writer

August 1, 2023 at 18:17 JS

A former member of the Ground Self-Defense Force collapsed at the trial of three men accused of sexually assaulting her at Fukushima District Court on July 31.

Rina Gonoi, 23, fell to the floor and was hospitalized as her former superior told the court that he lied to protect the suspects and took no disciplinary action because of a locker room atmosphere at the time of the incident.

Gonoi had breathing difficulties but later recovered, her lawyer said.

Gonoi alleges that GSDF members Shutaro Shibuya, 30, Akito Sekine, 29, and Yusuke Kimezawa, 29, pushed her to the floor in a training building in Hokkaido and repeatedly pressed their crotches against her.

European countries to begin evacuation of citizens from coup-hit Niger

The evacuation plans come as military governments of Burkina Faso and Mali warn against any military intervention in neighbouring Niger.

At least four European countries on Tuesday announced that plans to evacuate their citizens are underway in Niger, days after President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown by members of his presidential guard.

“France is preparing the evacuation of its citizens and (other) European citizens who want to leave the country,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that the evacuation would start on Tuesday.

The German foreign ministry said in a statement that the French had “offered, within the limits of available capacity, to take German nationals on board their flights from Niger” and urged its citizens to take the offer.

Aug 01 2023

Late Night Music:The Cure – Lovesong – guitar – cover #ザキュアー

Jul 31 2023

Six In The Morning Monday 31 July 2023

Afghanistan: Taliban burn ‘immoral’ musical instruments

By Kelly Ng
BBC News

The Taliban have burned musical instruments in Afghanistan, claiming music “causes moral corruption”.

Thousands of dollars worth of musical equipment went up in smoke on a bonfire on Saturday in western Herat province.

Since taking power in 2021, the Taliban have imposed numerous restrictions, including on playing music in public.

Ahmad Sarmast, Afghanistan National Institute of Music founder, likened their actions to “cultural genocide and musical vandalism”.

“The people of Afghanistan have been denied artistic freedom… The burning of musical instruments in Herat is just a small example of the cultural genocide that is taking place in Afghanistan under the leadership of the Taliban,” Dr Sarmast, who is now based in Portugal, told the BBC.

China: 31,000 forced to flee homes in Beijing as Typhoon Doksuri brings heavy rains

Strongest storm to hit country in years has also caused widespread flooding and evacuations in province of Fujian

Two people are reported to have died in severe flooding that has engulfed parts of Beijing, as Typhoon Doksuri passed through China’s capital.

People’s Daily reported on Monday that two people were found unresponsive in a river in Mentougou, a district in west Beijing that has suffered some of the worst flooding. According to state broadcaster CCTV, more than 31,000 people have evacuated their homes in the city.

Heavy rain continued to fall in Beijing as well as in Hebei, Tianjin and eastern Shanxi as Doksuri dissipated over northern China, the China Meteorological Administration said.

Germany wants more women in the military

Women are underrepresented in Germany’s armed forces, the Bundeswehr. A new initiative aims to change that, and it’s part of a broader effort to strengthen Germany’s military in the wake of the Ukraine conflict.

Germany wants you for the armed forces — especially if you’re a woman. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Cabinet adopted a series of measures this week to boost equal opportunity in the military.

The changes aim to align procedures in the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, with a recent strengthening of equal opportunity laws that apply to the government overall. The Bundeswehr needs people to fill its ranks, as part of Germany’s efforts to bolster its military capabilities in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“Women are still underrepresented in the Bundeswehr,” Steffen Hebestreit, the government spokesperson, told reporters on Wednesday.

Migrants between life and death in Tunisia-Libya desert

In the unbearable midday heat, a Libyan patrol near the border with Tunisia comes across a black African man collapsed on the reddish-brown desert sand.

He is barely breathing, and officers try to revive him, gently, with a few drops of water on his lips.

The man is just one among hundreds of migrants arriving daily in Libya after being abandoned in the desert borderland by Tunisian security forces, according to Libyan border guards and the migrants themselves.

By the time they reach Libya, the migrants from sub-Saharan Africa are ready to drop from exhaustion, in temperatures that have exceeded 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

AFP on Sunday witnessed the border guards rescue around 100 men and women from an uninhabited zone near Sebkhat al-Magta, a salt lake along the Libya-Tunisia border.

In the distant shimmering heat haze, six figures emerge, the latest to reach the area. They speak Arabic and say they have come from Tunisia.

Niger coup makers say ousted govt ‘authorised French attack to free Bazoum’

Coup makers have warned against foreign attempts to extract detained President Bazoum, saying it would result in bloodshed and chaos.

The coup leaders who seized power last week in Niger have alleged that the toppled government had authorised France to carry out an attack on the presidential palace to try to free President Mohamed Bazoum.

The claims were made on Monday by Colonel Amadou Abdramane, one of the coup plotters, on state television. He said the authorisation was signed by Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massoudou, acting as prime minister. The claims could not be independently verified.

The whereabouts of Massoudou and Bazoum remain unknown.

Twitter threatens to sue hate-speech watchdog group

by Brian Fung
Updated 11:26 AM EDT, Mon July 31, 2023

Elon Musk has called himself a free-speech absolutist and has praised “even my worst critics.” But now Twitter has threatened to sue a nonprofit known for sharply criticizing the platform for its handling of hate speech and misinformation.

In a July 20 letter shared publicly Monday, Twitter threatened to sue the Center for Countering Digital Hate, accusing the group of a campaign to hurt Twitter by driving away its advertisers. The CCDH has published numerous reports about various social media companies’ approach to everything from vaccine misinformation to online racism and antisemitism.

The letter by Alex Spiro, an outside attorney representing Twitter owner Musk, alleges that CCDH has made “inflammatory, outrageous, and false or misleading assertions about Twitter and its operations” through its reports, which he argued lack scientific rigor.

Load more