Feb 06 2024

Six In The Morning Tuesday 6 February 2024

Rafah attack to lead to ‘large scale’ casualties

By Linah Alsaafin and Brian Osgood
Published On 6 Feb 2024
  • The UN says “everything possible” must be done to avoid an Israeli attack on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, which it says could lead to a “large scale” loss of life.
  • Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 107 Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks across Gaza in last 24 hours.

Israeli shelling causes multiday fire in Khan Younis residential building

Palestinian journalist Hassan Islah has shared video on his Instagram account showing a residential building in the city’s Al-Amal neighbourhood on fire and still full of people.

Islah said Israeli forces targeted the building, where the families of two of his journalist colleagues live, with several artillery shells on Monday, causing a section to catch on fire. It continues to burn.

ICC ‘turf war’ blocking Ukrainian bid to have top Russians tried, advocate says

Philippe Sands KC backs Ukrainian call for international tribunal to prosecute Kremlin leaders for crime of aggression

The international criminal court is locked in a deplorable turf war that is blocking Ukraine’s efforts to set up a special international tribunal with the authority to try Russia’s leadership for the crime of aggression, Philippe Sands KC claims.

Sands, a leading advocate of an international tribunal, blamed the deadlock on Karim Khan, the ICC prosecutor, and some unnamed judges on the court, an international body based in The Hague that prosecutes people for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. He said they were opposing a special international tribunal not on the basis of principle, but because of a self-interested turf war.

Kenya charges cult leader with 191 child murders

Prosecutors in Kenya are pursuing cult leader Paul Mackenzie Nthenge and more than two dozen associates. He allegedly told followers to starve themselves and their kids, claiming the apocalypse was near.

A Kenyan court on Tuesday said starvation cult leader and self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie Nthenge and 29 of his associates were facing 191 counts of child murder.

Prosecutors claim Nthenge ordered his followers to starve themselves and their children to death, claiming that this would ensure they would go to heaven before the end of the world.

What happened to the cult members?

In April last year, a man contacted the police saying his wife and daughter had gone to join Nthenge’s commune in a remote part of Kenya but that they had not returned.

Pakistan elections: The women who are forbidden from voting

 

Voting is a constitutional right for all adults in Pakistan, which goes to the polls in a general election on February 8. But in some rural areas, still ruled by a patriarchal system of male village elders, women are effectively barred from voting. That is the case in the small northern town of Dhurnal, where a ban has been in place for more than 50 years.

Earthquake left 7 years’ worth of disaster waste across Ishikawa

By YOSHINORI DOI/ Staff Writer

February 6, 2024 at 17:41 JST

The demolition of buildings damaged by the Noto Peninsula earthquake has generated 2.44 million tons of disaster waste, the Ishikawa prefectural government reported on Feb. 6.

The estimated volume is roughly equivalent to seven years of the prefecture’s annual waste generation.

The prefectural government is considering maritime transport to process the waste over a wide area, including outside the prefecture, aiming to complete disposal by the end of fiscal 2025.

Officials calculated the amount of waste based on the estimated 50,644 buildings that were completely or partially destroyed in the prefecture.

Where is Hind? Calls for answers more than a week after rescuers go missing trying to save trapped 6-year-old

By Helen Regan, Kareem Khadder, Abeer Salman, Khadder Zaanoun, Celine Alkhaldi and Jomana Karadsheh, CNN
 5 minute read
Updated 8:55 AM EST, Tue February 6, 2024

Demands for answers are mounting over the fate of 6-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, who became trapped in a car with her dead relatives after it came under Israeli fire in Gaza more than a week ago.

Mystery also surrounds the whereabouts of two ambulance staff from the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), who were dispatched to find her on January 29.

“We need to know what has happened to Hind and the PRCS ambulance team,” the PRCS said in their latest statement on X early Tuesday.

Feb 05 2024

Six In The Morning Monday 5 February 2024

Blinken in Middle East as UK parliament debates Houthi strikes

Summary

  1. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has landed in Saudi Arabia on his fifth trip to the Middle East since 7 October
  2. His visit comes after the US said it

What we learned from UK defence secretary

  • We just heard UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps say the latest joint strikes with the US had achieved a “significant effect on degrading Houthi capabilities” in the Red Sea
  • But he said the group’s abilities had “not been fully diminished”
  • He said the UK would not hesitate to act again – reiterating that the aim was to protect vessels using the critical shipping route that links Europe and Asia
  • Shapps said the Houthis believed themselves to be “the region’s Robin Hood”, though “the only people they are robbing are innocent Yemenis, whose food and aid arrives via the Red Sea”
  • The UK’s main opposition party Labour said it supported the latest military action – as well as the government’s diplomatic efforts to pressurise the Houthis to stop their attacks

Comments on Weibo giraffe post bemoan state of Chinese economy

Social media users get around government crackdown on negativity via US embassy conservation update

A social media post about giraffe conservation has become the latest place for people in China who are unhappy about the economy to vent their frustration, as the Chinese government increasingly cracks down on negative commentary.

On 2 February, the US embassy in China posted an update on its Weibo account about tracking giraffes in Namibia using GPS technology. As of Monday afternoon local time, the post had received approximately 166,000 comments, many of them about China’s economic pains.

“Who can help me? I’ve been unemployed for a long time,” wrote one commenter. “I’ve seen a few comments about stocks, will they be deleted?” wrote another.

Senegal restricts mobile internet amid opposition protests

The Communication Ministry said it cut internet because of the spread of “hateful and subversive messages.” Meanwhile, protesters gathered outside parliament, where a bill that could extend Macky Sall’s term was debated.

Protesters gathered on Monday outside Senegal’s parliament in Dakar to decry the presidential election’s postponement, after authorities restricted mobile internet access on Sunday evening ahead of the demos.

President Macky Sall announced on Saturday that the vote would be postponed to an unspecified date amid a row over the candidate list, prompting angry protests. The vote had been scheduled for February 25, campaigning was about to begin.

Lawmakers are investigating two judges on the country’s Constitutional Court, whose integrity in the election process has been questioned.

Visit to Iran by US porn star angers exiles

An American porn actor on Monday faced accusations of promoting propaganda for Iran’s government after boasting on social media about a trip to the Islamic republic from where she posted pictures at sites including the shut-down US embassy.

The Iranian authorities have denied being behind the visit by Whitney Wright, saying she was issued a visa like any other foreign citizen and they had not been aware of her “obscene” profession.

The posts by Wright, who is known for her vehement criticism of Iran’s arch-enemy Israel, have particularly angered Iranian exiles as she showed herself carefully observing the strict Islamic dress code for women in the wake of the 2022 nationwide protests against the obligatory hijab.

Those protests erupted after the September 2022 police custody death of Mahsa Amini who was arrested for allegedly flouting the dress rules.

Classified Japanese diplomatic info leaked after Chinese cyberattacks in 2020

Classified Japanese diplomatic information was leaked following Chinese cyberattacks on the Foreign Ministry in 2020, a government source said Monday, exposing the nation’s digital vulnerability.

Japan detected the large-scale attack and release of diplomatic telegrams during a period of government under then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the source said, but the nature of the leaked information is still publically unknown.

Tokyo and Washington discussed countermeasures in the wake of the leak of the diplomatic telegrams, which are highly confidential documents exchanged daily between the ministry and diplomatic missions abroad, the source said.

Israel’s ‘chilling disregard’ for life in occupied West Bank: Amnesty

During its war in Gaza, Israel has unleashed unlawful lethal force against Palestinians in the West Bank, rights group says.

Israel has unleashed unlawful lethal force against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, carrying out unlawful killings and displaying “a chilling disregard for Palestinian lives”, Amnesty International says.

The human rights organisation said in a report released on Monday that Israel’s actions in the territory have intensified during its war on Gaza and its military and other bodies are committing numerous illegal acts of violence that amount to clear violations of international law.

The world’s eyes are mostly on the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since the start of the war on October 7. But Israeli forces are also carrying out unlawful killings in occupied Palestinian territories, Amnesty said in the report.

Feb 04 2024

Six In The Morning Sunday 4 February 2024

US says strikes on Iran-linked targets just ‘the beginning’ of response

In summary: Arab press reacts to US strikes

BBC Monitoring

There’s been extensive focus in the Arabic-language press on the strikes against Iranian-linked sites in Iraq and Syria by the US last Friday.

Here’s some of the reaction.

Many dailies, such as Emirati daily al-Khaleej, show concern about an “increasing level of tensions”.

Egyptian privately-owned daily newspaper Al-Masry al-Youm calls the strikes “US revenge” and highlights internal criticism within the US over their timing.

The chief editor of London-based pan-Arab website Rai al-Youm lambasts Washington for “brutal flagrant aggression” against Iraq and Syria. He adds that US President Joe Biden has committed a “great sin” and accuses Israel of “dragging” the US into war in Iraq.

Saudi journalist Tariq al-Homayed, writing in pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, criticises both the Iran-backed militia for “targeting regional stability” and US strategy, describing the region’s situation as “attrition”.

Syrian journalist Absi Smeisem writes in the Qatar-affiliated pan-Arab Al-Araby al-Jadeed that the US carried out its strikes in a way “closer to a media show”. He also says the strikes “will not change the scope of Iranian presence in Syria”.

‘Everything beautiful has been destroyed’: Palestinians mourn a city in tatters

More than 200 buildings of cultural and historical significance have been reduced to rubble in Gaza, including mosques, cemeteries and museums

Its walls collapsed and its minaret cut short, Gaza’s Omari mosque remains standing but vastly diminished. Around it, the historic old city is also in tatters. The 7th-century mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Gaza, was Gaza’s most famous and its surroundings a focal point of the Palestinian enclave’s history and culture, but the damage done to its heritage over more than 100 days of Israeli bombardment spreads across the city.

For the few Palestinians who remain, and the far greater number displaced and hoping to return, the culture and history has been reduced to memories.

“Reason of State”The True Story Behind Merkel’s Promise to Israel

Israel’s security is an element of Germany’s “reason of state,” Chancellor Angela Merkel famously stated. It is a formulation that has since been adopted by the country’s leading politicians. But what does it mean? And where did it come from?

By Christoph Schult und Klaus Wiegrefe

Chancellor Olaf Scholz was wearing black when he stepped in front of Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, on October 12 of last year. Five days after the massacre perpetrated by Hamas, he said that the hearts of all Germans were “heavy in the face of the suffering, the terror, the hate and the contempt for human lives” that had been visited upon Israel. It was clear, he said, that Germany sided with the victims.

And then he uttered a notable sentence: “Israeli security is Germany’s ‘reason of state.'” In other words, Germany’s very existence was linked to Israel’s security.

How ‘Myanmar Witness’ documented a deadly air strike denied by state-owned media

A number of photos and videos that circulated on social media and were picked up by pro-democracy media outlets show the aftermath of an air strike on the village of Ka Nan, in the west of Myanmar on January 7, 2024. While the state television outlet claimed that reports of the air strike were “fake news”, a visual investigation published by “Myanmar Witness” documented the attack and proved the Myanmar Air Force’s involvement. Seventeen civilians are believed to have been killed.

A civil war between the ruling junta and armed ethnic groups has been raging in Myanmar since the military coup that took place three years ago on February 1, 2021. Human rights organisations have repeatedly denounced the Myanmar Air Force’s bombing of civilian infrastructures like churches and schools – but these air strikes continue.

However, these air strikes are rarely as well documented as the strike that took place on January 7, 2024 in Ka Nan. The Three Brotherhood Alliance, made up of a number of ethnic groups, has, since November 7, controlled this village located in western Myanmar near the Indian border. Since October, the alliance has been carrying out a counter-offensive and taken back several strategic areas from the Myanmar Army.

El Salvador goes to polls with strongman Bukele way ahead

President Nayib Bukele is the favorite to win the elections in El Salvador after clamping down on gang violence. But critics accuse the self-described “world’s coolest dictator” of creeping authoritarianism.

Salvadorans headed to the polls on Sunday in a presidential election expected to deliver an overwhelming victory for the incumbent Nayib Bukele.

Recent polling shows that about eight out of 10 voters support Bukele, who has led a crackdown on gang violence that once plagued the country.

Why is Bukele so popular?

The 42-year-old is credited with slashing the murder rate in a country that was once among the most dangerous in the world to its lowest level in three decades. Currently, the murder rate is well below the world average.

At least 28 killed in strike on Russian-occupied town in eastern Ukraine

By Maria Kostenko and Alex Stambaugh, CNN
 2 minute read
Updated 5:25 AM EST, Sun February 4, 2024

At least 28 have been killed in an attack on a building in the town of Lysychansk in the Russian-occupied region of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, the region’s Moscow-installed head said Sunday.

In a statement on Telegram, the head of self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic Leonid Pasechnik said emergency services had rescued 10 people from under the rubble after what he said was a Ukrainian attack on a building housing a bakery on Saturday.

Pasechnik said Sunday has been declared a day of mourning in the Luhansk People’s Republic for the victims of the attack.

Feb 03 2024

Six In The Morning Saturday 3 January 2024

 Iraq warns of disastrous consequences for region after US strikes

Iran expert says Tehran to ‘cool’ Iraqi militia

As we continue to analyse the US airstrikes against Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria, a professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, tells the BBC that we are now likely to see a “reduction” of Iran’s rhetoric in the coming days.

Even thought “we’ve already seen in the Red Sea that US-UK strikes have not really resulted in a cessation of attacks by the Houthis,” Mehran Kamrava says that “Iraqi proxies are a different story”.

Kamrava suggests that Tehran will now attempt “to cool the Iraqi militia so they don’t engage in these tit-for-tat attacks with the Americans”.

Summary

  1. The US has launched strikes on 85 targets in Syria and Iraq in response to last Sunday’s drone attack on a US military base
  2. The White House had blamed an Iran-backed militia umbrella group for the attack that killed three US soldiers
  3. Iraq says that the US retaliatory strikes will bring disastrous consequences for the region and that civilians were among 16 people killed
  4. The US says its forces conducted airstrikes against Iran-backed militia groups based in Iraq and Syria
  5. “Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” President Biden said in a statement on Friday
  6. Iran has denied involvement in the attack on the US base, calling the accusations “baseless” and saying it was “not involved in the decision-making of resistance groups”

‘A free-for-all’: Japan divided as return of tourists brings Instagrammers and litter

A year after travel restrictions were lifted, authorities are straining to cope with millions of visitors, especially those who don’t respect the environment and local customs

At the height of the Covid pandemic, the restaurateurs and shopkeepers of Tsukiji market in Tokyo must have dreamed of days like these.

Columns of smartphone-wielding visitors shuffle along the narrow streets, pausing to inspect hand-forged kitchen knives and tsukemono pickles, and to sip gratis samples of green tea. Restaurants tempt the lunchtime crowd with sticks of grilled wagyu, boiled crab legs and, for dessert, plump strawberries encased in chewy mochi rice.

But there are indications that Tsukiji’s multinational clientele are not always on their best behaviour. Signs in English implore them not to eat outside storefronts or leave their litter behind. Staff hold aloft signs reminding diners where to queue for their 12-piece, ¥2,700 (£14.40) sushi lunch. Here, as in many other popular destinations around the world, booming tourism is a double-edged sword.

Germany: Tens of thousands in Berlin protest far right

A spate of protests against the far right has continued this weekend. The marches have been sparked by reports on an alleged plan by extremists, including AfD politicians, to force millions of immigrants to “remigrate.”

Around 150,000 people have attended a protest rally in the German capital, Berlin, against the far right and its ideology, the latest in a series of such demonstrations across Germany in recent weeks.

The wave of protests follows a recent report by the investigative network Correctiv on a secret meeting, attended by neo-Nazis, businesspeople and members of the political parties AfD and CDU, among others, where a secret plan for the mass deportation of millions of immigrants was discussed.

In Azerbaijan, UK-based gold mine accused of pollution

Six journalists from the independent Azerbaijani investigative website Abzas Media have been under arrest since November 2023. They had previously transmitted elements of their investigations to the Paris-based Forbidden Stories collective, which took over their work in collaboration with 14 European news organisations in the “The Baku Connection” project, including FRANCE 24 and RFI. This article focuses on the tensions surrounding a mine in the west of the country, whose gold ends up in the products of major high-tech brands.

The anger was visible on their faces as they faced off against squadrons of riot police sent to silence them. On June 20, 2023, residents of the village of Söyüdlü, in western Azerbaijan, demonstrated to reject the construction of a new reservoir to store toxic waste from a gold mine that has been operating in the area since 2012. An initial reservoir had been installed by Anglo Asian Mining, the British company that operates the mine, but it was close to capacity. The villagers believe it had led to soil and river water pollution, and that the fumes escaping from it were causing an increase in respiratory illnesses.

The first reservoir, with a capacity of 6 million cubic metres, is located a few hundred meters from Söyüdlü. To separate the gold from the rock, Anglo Asian Mining uses cyanide, and dumps the sludge generated by the process, which contains toxic products including cyanide and arsenic, into the reservoir, known as a tailings pond.  The company says that the quantities of waste do not threaten the environment or the health of local residents.

How Israel’s flooding of Gaza’s tunnels will impact freshwater supply

Pumping of seawater will contaminate underground freshwater and ruin the conditions of life in Gaza, experts say.

By Shola Lawal
Published On 3 Feb 2024

Israel confirmed this week that its troops are pumping seawater into a network of tunnels in Gaza, a method environmentalists say could violate international law and cause dire, long-term consequences in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Media reports have for weeks speculated that the pumping was under way, though Israeli and US officials, including President Joe Biden, did not confirm them when questioned.

In El Salvador, self-styled ‘world’s coolest dictator’ Nayib Bukele heads for re-election amid human rights concerns

By Stefano Pozzebon, CNN
 10 minute read
Updated 9:31 AM EST, Sat February 3, 2024

When Jocelyn Zelaya was caught in a hail of gunfire on the streets of San Salvador in 2017, the young mother was simply “in the wrong place, at the wrong time,” says her aunt Jackelyne.

A group of gunmen armed with automatic weapons had opened fire to assassinate a member of a rival gang on the other side of the road. Zelaya, then 20, was caught in the line of fire. She was hit by eight bullets, her aunt told CNN.

“But she didn’t die then, they took her to hospital,” Jackelyne Zelaya recalls, struggling to contain her tears. “The attack was at about six in the afternoon, and when I got to the hospital at ten, she had just died. Her body was still warm.”

Feb 02 2024

Six In The Morning Friday 2 February 2024

 

Israel plans ground attack on Rafah, ‘last refuge’ for Gaza’s displaced

Israel’s defence minister says army will next target Rafah, the southern area it designated as a ‘safe zone’ for Palestinian civilians.

The Israeli military plans to expand its ground assault into Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where most Palestinians in the besieged enclave have been forced to seek shelter amid heavy bombardment of the rest of the enclave.

This has spread fear among the displaced and concerns from global aid organisations as the last place designated as a “safe zone” by the Israeli army in Gaza comes under threat while Israel continues to hamper the flow of aid.

“The Khan Younis Brigade of the Hamas organisation is disbanded, we will complete the mission there and continue to Rafah,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a post on the social media platform X late on Thursday. “We will continue until the end, there is no other way.”

Indigenous reporter fears more journalists will be targeted after arrest as police cleared Canada camp

Brandi Morin was charged while reporting at encampment authorities arrived at to dismantle and could face two years in jail

A journalist in Canada who was arrested and charged while reporting on a police operation to clear an encampment for unhoused Indigenous people says she fears the charges will chill further reporting of marginalized groups.

Brandi Morin, an Indigenous journalist, was arrested on 10 January while documenting police efforts to dismantle the camp in the city of Edmonton.

Morin, an award-winning journalist who has written for a range of outlets including the Guardian, was interviewing the camp’s leader when police created a perimeter of yellow tape around the camp. As a scuffle broke out, an officer ordered her to join other reporters outside the perimeter.

Ukraine updates: ICJ rules case against Russia can proceed

The United Nations’ top court has ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear a case brought by Ukraine over Russia’s invasion. DW has the latest.

What you need to know

The United Nations’ top court said Friday that it has jurisdiction to rule on a case brought by Ukraine over Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

Kyiv accuses Moscow of violating international law by accusing Ukraine of genocide in Luhansk and Donetsk as a pretext for invading.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the European Union’s approval of a major aid deal for Ukraine was a “clear signal” both to Russia and the United States, where an assistance package has been held up in Congress.

Here’s a look at the latest developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine on Friday, February 2:

‘I’d rather die than stay here’: Unfit housing on the rise in Paris suburb hosting Olympic village

With broken windows and walls covered with mould, 49-year-old security guard Belkheir is desperate to move out of the tiny studio apartment he has lived in for the past 17 years. However, he is unable to afford anything more expensive on the private market and his requests for social housing have been repeatedly turned down. His apartment is just one of an estimated 4,500 unfit or substandard homes in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis – home of the Olympic village for the 2024 Paris Games – and the problem is only getting worse.

SOCCER/ Junya Ito leaves Samurai Blue after claims of sex misconduct

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

February 2, 2024 at 19:02 JST

The Japan Football Association said on Feb. 2 that Junya Ito will leave the national team, which is currently competing in the AFC Asian Cup in Qatar, following sexual misconduct allegations that arose from an incident in Osaka in June.


The online news site Daily Shincho reported that Ito, 30, who belongs to French club Stade de Reims, has been accused of sexual misconduct against two women.

The JFA announced on Feb. 1 that Ito would withdraw from the national team, citing, “consideration for his mental and physical conditions.”

Ukraine war: How Russia’s war is changing childhood in Ukraine

By Sarah Rainsford

BBC Eastern Europe correspondent, Kharkiv

Russia’s war has transformed everything in Kharkiv, including childhood.

Missiles are fired on Ukraine’s second city from across the Russian border which is so close by that there are only seconds to stop them.

If they’re aimed at Kharkiv there’s every chance they’ll hit – and little chance of reaching shelter.

School and kindergarten buildings have been closed for almost two years for safety, and playgrounds stand empty.

Now, as the full-scale war heads towards its third year, parts of life in Kharkiv are moving underground.

Deep down in the metro, specially built classrooms run parallel to the platform at five stations.

Feb 01 2024

Six In The Morning Thursday 1 February 2024

US approves plan to strike Iranian targets in Syria and Iraq, officials say

By Bernd Debusmann Jr BBC News, Washington

The US has approved plans for a series of strikes on Iranian targets in Syria and Iraq, officials have told the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

The strikes will take place over a number of days, officials said, and weather conditions will likely dictate when they are launched.

It comes after a drone attack killed three US soldiers in Jordan, close to the Syrian border, on Sunday.

The US blamed an Iranian-backed militia group for that attack.

That group, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, is believed to contain multiple militias that have been armed, funded and trained by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards force. It has said it was responsible for Sunday’s strike.

Dissident rock band Bi-2 leave Thailand after Russia deportation fears

Human rights groups had urged Thai government not to deport Russian-Belarusian band, who are now in Israel

A dissident Russian-Belarusian rock band critical of the war in Ukraine have left Thailand for Israel after fears they would be deported to Russia under suspected pressure from the Kremlin.

Seven members of the Bi-2 group were detained by Thai immigration authorities last Wednesday on the resort island of Phuket for working without a permit. The band were touring in Phuket, a holiday destination popular with Russian tourists.

After paying a fine, the band members were sent to an immigration detention centre in Bangkok.

Armed attacker takes hostages at P&G plant in Turkey

BREAKING

Some staff members at a Procter & Gamble factory in Turkey have been taken hostage, Turkish media have reported.

A man carrying a gun entered the Proctor & Gamble factory in the Gebze industrial zone in Kocaeli province around 3 p.m. local time (1200 GMT) on Thursday, according to media reports.

A police spokesperson was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying that the assailant’s action was apparently in protest of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

A union representing workers at the consumer goods plant said the assailant was holding seven people hostage, adding that the rest of the plant’s workers had been released.

Key French farmers’ unions call for end to blockades but the movement ‘will not stop’

France’s two major farmers unions announced Thursday their decision to suspend protests and lift road blockades across the country, in a dramatic development shortly after the French prime minister unveiled a new set of measures they see as “tangible progress”. However, the president of the larger FNSEA union said that the movement “was not ending”, but is “transforming and will stay active”. Follow our liveblog for all the latest developments.

 Summary:

  • France’s two major farmers unions announced Thursday their decision to suspend protests and lift road blockades across the country.
  • French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal offered a slew of new concessions to farmers on Thursday. Measures included an annual 150 million euros for livestock farmers and a ban on food imports treated with thiacloprid, a neonicotinoid pesticide already banned in France.
  • Police estimated that some 1,000 tractors blocked several major thoroughfares on Thursday in Brussels, where EU leaders are gathered for a summit on providing aid to Ukraine. French farmers protesting over pay, taxes and regulations kept up roadblocks on Thursday as eyes turned to Brussels in hopes of more EU concessions for the agriculture sector.
  • Authorities in France released 79 farmers who were detained Wednesday after an incursion at the Rungis wholesale food market, Europe’s largest, north of Paris.
  • French President Emmanuel Macron was set to meet with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday ahead of the EU summit. Macron’s office said the two would discuss “the future of European farming”.

Loving owner cares for aging Shiba Inu of ‘Doge’ meme

By MAYURI ITO/ Staff Writer

February 1, 2024 at 16:35 JST

Once a shelter dog on the verge of being euthanized, Kabosu’s fate changed dramatically when a photo launched her to internet stardom and made her “the world’s most famous Shiba Inu.”

More valuable than fame, the now elderly Kabosu has a loving home and her steadfast owner by her side.

In November, a bronze statue of Kabosu was unveiled at the Sakura Furusato Square in Sakura, Chiba Prefecture. It was created through donations from hundreds of fans worldwide.

“Ever since Kabosu came into my home, a series of miraculous things have happened, enriching my life and gifting me with a treasure trove of priceless moments,” said Kabosu’s owner, Atsuko Sato, a 62-year-old nursery school teacher.

Russia’s frozen assets are generating billions. The EU is getting ready to send them to Ukraine

By Hanna Ziady, CNN
 3 minute read
Updated 11:12 AM EST, Thu February 1, 2024

Russian assets frozen in European accounts are generating billions of dollars in interest payments that could be diverted to help repair Ukraine’s war-torn economy — and the European Union just took a step closer to doing that.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Western countries froze nearly half of Moscow’s foreign reserves — some €300 billion ($327 billion). Around €200 billion ($218 billion) sits in the European Union — mostly at Euroclear, a financial institution that keeps assets safe for banks, exchanges and investors.

EU leaders agreed a crucial $50 billion funding package for Ukraine on Thursday and came closer to finalizing a plan to use the profits piling up in Euroclear’s accounts.

Jan 31 2024

Six In The Morning Wednesday 31 January 2024

Netanyahu faces pressure from all sides as hostage deal hopes rise

Analysis by Elliott Gotkine, CNN
 2 minute read
Updated 8:08 AM EST, Wed January 31, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas don’t agree on much. But there are two ways in which they do: first, they both reject a two-state solution; and second, when it comes to a deal to bring back the 100-plus hostages Hamas abducted on October 7, both sides want to have their cake and eat it.

Hamas is demanding Israel withdraw all its troops from Gaza and release vast numbers of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. Netanyahu responded on Tuesday: “We will not withdraw the IDF from the Gaza Strip and we will not release thousands of terrorists. None of this will happen. What will happen? Total victory.”

Both are likely to be disappointed. Negotiators have reportedly agreed on a “framework” for a deal. Phase one would see a six-week pause in fighting, during which civilian hostages would be released; three Palestinian prisoners would be freed for each one. A higher ratio would be applied in later phases, when IDF soldiers and bodies of dead hostages would be released, perhaps alongside a longer truce.

Myanmar hands over junta-backed warlords to China in telecoms scam case

Ten people extradited on Tuesday accused of being key figures in fraud involving victims of trafficking

Myanmar has extradited 10 people, including notorious warlords, to China, where they are wanted for their alleged role in running abusive online and telephone fraud centres in which tens of thousands of foreign nationals are trapped and forced to run scams.

The centres – which target people in China as well as in other countries – have flourished since the Covid-19 pandemic and China says about 44,000 people have been involved, including victims of human trafficking.

The Chinese embassy in Myanmar on Tuesday named six of the people who had been handed over to China’s ministry of public security from the Kokang self-administered zone. They included Bai Suocheng, a Chinese warlord who heads one of the four families who have effectively ruled the area in north-east Myanmar for several years.

How does Germany ban foreign far-right extremists?

Germany is considering banning Austrian far-right extremist Martin Sellner from entering the country. Such a move is not unprecedented, but the legal hurdles are high in the EU.

Austrian far-right extremist Martin Sellner spent the day on Monday taunting leading German politicians as he defied a mooted plan to ban him from German soil. Live-streaming his two-hour journey in a rented car to the German border, the leader of Austria’s Identitarian group posted regular videos to social media after vowing to drink a coffee in the Bavarian town of Passau, just across the border.

The stunt, cheered on by a handful of supporters on the roadside, culminated in a brief encounter with the German police, who let him pass into Bavaria. He promptly filmed another video where he sarcastically thanked German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The 35-year-old Sellner recently gained public attention when it emerged that he was a key speaker in a gathering of far-right extremists in Potsdam last November, also attended by members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). At the meeting, he presented a “masterplan” to forcibly “remigrate” foreigners from Germany, including German citizens with an immigrant background.

Farmers arrested as protests blockade key food market, close in on Paris

French police arrested about 20 farmers on Wednesday as convoys of tractors edged closer to Paris, Lyon and other key locations, with many ignoring police warnings over the scope of their action.

France has been at the centre of growing rural discontent across Europe, with protests also held in Germany, Poland, Romania, Belgium and Italy. Spanish farmers have said they will join the movement.

Amid mounting calls for higher incomes, less red tape and protection from foreign competition, “there are huge expectations” among farmers, said Arnaud Rousseau, head of France’s largest agricultural union the FNSEA.

But he added that not all of the demands could be immediately answered “so I’m trying to call for calm and reasonableness”.

Eighteen people trying to blockade the Rungis wholesale food market south of Paris, a key food distribution hub for the capital region’s 12 million people, were arrested for “interfering with traffic”, police said.

Japan earthquake survivors battle unsanitary conditions with no running water

By Sakura Murakami and Tom Bateman

A month on from a huge earthquake that struck Japan’s west coast, survivors are battling freezing and unsanitary conditions while tens of thousands of homes remain without running water.

Some areas in the isolated Noto Peninsula may not have water restored for another two months, the government of Ishikawa Prefecture said, adding to risks for those living in cramped evacuation centers where authorities say respiratory infections and gastroenteritis have been detected.

“There’s no water, so we can’t wash our clothes or bathe,” said Yoshio Binsaki, a 68-year-old resident of the battered coastal town of Suzu, as he prepared to haul a 20-liter water tank to his car to take home.

Kenya declares cult an ‘organised criminal group’ after starvation deaths

The authorities’ declaration comes as cult leader Mackenzie faces charges of murder, child torture and “terrorism”.

Kenyan authorities on Wednesday proscribed the church of a religious leader who ordered his followers to starve themselves and their children to death so that they could go to heaven, as an organised criminal group.

Paul Mackenzie, head of the Good News International Church, is currently facing charges of murder, child torture, and “terrorism” after last April’s discovery of hundreds of bodies of his followers who had starved to death on his instructions.

In an official gazette document published on Wednesday, the Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki declared the church an “organised criminal group”, paving the way for further investigation and possible prosecution of members deemed to have aided Mackenzie.

Jan 30 2024

Six In The Morning Tuesday 30 January 2024

Israeli troops storm Al-Amal Hospital

By Nils Adler, Linah Alsaafin, Tamila Varshalomidze, Brian Osgood and Mersiha Gadzo

  • Israeli troops have stormed Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis and are demanding doctors, displaced Palestinians evacuate, Palestine Red Crescent says.
  • Hamas’s political chief reviews new truce proposal saying “priority is to stop the brutal aggression against Gaza and complete withdrawal of occupation forces”.
  • Israeli commandos disguised as medical staff and civilians gun down three men in Jenin’s Ibn Sina Hospital in the occupied West Bank, alleging they planned to carry out “terrorist” attacks.
  • A large number of Palestinian civilians have been killed in Israeli attacks on residential homes in the Sabra and Tuffah neighbourhoods of Gaza City, Wafa news agency reports.
  • At least 26,751 people have been killed and 65,636 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.

Displaced Palestinians ‘terrified’ as Israeli forces take al-Amal Hospital

Israeli forces have stormed al-Amal Hospital, where thousands of Palestinians are taking refuge.

Israeli forces had destroyed the back wall of the hospital along with setting fire to the majority of makeshift tents that were set in the facility of this medical complex.

The majority of evacuees there are completely terrified as the Israeli forces are recommending them to flee and to get out of the medical complex.

Imran Khan handed 10 years in prison for leaking state secrets

Former Pakistan PM condemned trial as ‘a joke’ amid crackdown on his political party in run-up to election

Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for leaking official secrets, amid a crackdown on his political party before the general election due next week.

The sentence is the harshest yet against Khan, who has been held in jail since August after he began to openly criticise the country’s military.

The case relates to a diplomatic cable that allegedly went missing while in his possession. Khan publicly cited the cable as proof that the US had been part of a conspiracy behind his fall from power in 2022 but he denied taking it from the ministry of foreign affairs.

Mandela auction suspended amid row over heritage

Seventy personal items of the former South African president were set to go under the hammer in New York in February.

A controversial auction of 70 personal items belonging to former South African President Nelson Mandela has been suspended.

“This auction has been suspended,” a note on New York-based Guernsey’s auction house stated on Tuesday.

The auction, which was scheduled to take place in February, would have included some personal belongings of the anti-apartheid hero, including his identity document and hearing aids.

‘French agriculture can’t be bartered away’: Farmers unite against EU rules and globalised markets

French farmers have been putting pressure on the government to respond to their demands for better remuneration to fight rising costs and what they say are stifling EU regulations. As tractors blockaded major highways around Paris for a second day on Tuesday, Damien Brunelle, a farmer from the Rural Coordination union, spoke to FRANCE 24 about the continuing protest and the reasons behind it.

Nationwide protests have been roiling Europe’s largest agricultural producer since mid-January, with French farmers angry, in part, over EU regulations and environmental policies they say are rendering them incapable of competing in an increasingly globalised world market.

Farmers have used tractors, trucks and hay bales to block major highways and obstruct traffic across France. They encircled Paris on Monday, with the intention of blocking several key routes into the capital.

Rural Coordination was established in 1992, in part, to oppose the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and international free-trade agreements. More radical than the nation’s main FNSEA union, Rural Coordination has favoured street protests to negotiations over the past 30 years.

Kabukicho touts tied to Chinese Dragon accused of deception

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

January 30, 2024 at 16:45 JST

Tokyo police said they have arrested a gang of touts who pretended to be working for a well-known “izakaya” pub chain to lure customers to unrelated eateries that charged exorbitant prices.

On the streets of the Kabukicho entertainment district in Shinjuku Ward, the suspects claimed to be connected to an affiliate of the Torikizoku chain of “yakitori” izakaya. But they were actually associated with Chinese Dragon, an organized crime group based in the capital, police sources said.

The Metropolitan Police Department on Jan. 29 arrested Kenji Takahashi, 58, a resident of Tokyo’s Toshima Ward, on suspicion of obstructing business by deception.

Secret calls and code names: The risky business of sending money to N Korea

By Jungmin Choi

BBC Korean

Every year, hundreds of North Korean defectors, who have since settled in the South, send much-needed money back home. But this is getting riskier as both countries are increasingly cracking down on illegal transfers of money.

“It is like a spy movie and people are putting their lives on the line,” says Hwang Ji-sung, who has been a broker in South Korea for more than a decade.

As a defector himself, he knows how complex and difficult the task is – requiring a covert network of brokers and couriers spread across South Korea, China and North Korea.

Secret calls using smuggled Chinese phones are made at remote locations. Code names are used.

Jan 30 2024

Amoeba Assassin – Piledriver (Grayed Out Summer Mix)

Jan 29 2024

Six In The Morning Monday 29 January 2024

‘Little to no warning’ for US troops killed in attack on sleeping quarters

Attacks on US bases in the Middle East

Since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, US bases in Iraq and Syria have been attacked around 150 times, according to US officials.

The map below shows which bases have been more frequent targets since 18 October.

A map of Syria, Iraq and Jordan. Red dots indicate how many attacks have been made on a certain US base by size
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Summary

  1. The US has vowed a “very consequential response” to a drone attack on a base in Jordan that killed three American troops, with President Joe Biden blaming Iran-backed militants
  2. American troops were still in their sleeping quarters when the drone struck with little to no warning, the BBC’s US partner CBS reports
  3. The drone arrived at the same time as a returning US drone – and as a result elements of the defence system were turned off, an official says

Secret EU plan ‘to sabotage Hungarian economy’ revealed as anger mounts at Orbán

Brussels’ fury grows over Budapest’s ‘policy of blackmail’ in continuing to hold up £50bn support package

Officials in Brussels have reportedly drawn up a secret plan to sabotage Hungary’s economy if Viktor Orbán decides this week to again block a €50bn support package for Ukraine.

The plan, reported by the Financial Times, reflects the fury mounting across European capitals at what one diplomat called the “policy of blackmail” being pursued by the Hungarian prime minister, who leads the bloc’s most pro-Russia state.

The FT said the strategy involved targeting Hungary’s economy, weakening its currency and reducing investor confidence.

China’s real estate giant Evergrande ordered to liquidate

A court ordered the liquidation after the company failed to reach a restructuring deal with creditors. Evergrande’s troubles erupted after Chinese regulators clamped down on excessive borrowing in the real estate sector.

China’s real estate giant Evergrande was ordered on Monday to liquidate, after it failed to present creditors a viable restructuring plan for its debts.

Judge Linda Chan at a Hong Kong court said it was appropriate for the court to order the company to wind up its business given a “lack of progress on the part of the company putting forward a viable restructuring proposal” as well as Evergrande’s insolvency.

Fergus Saurin, a lawyer representing an ad hoc group of creditors, said he was not surprised by the ruling.

French farmers block motorways around Paris in stand-off with government

Protesting French farmers began blocking several motorways around Paris on Monday to press their demands for better working conditions, higher pay and less environmental regulation in an intensifying stand-off with the government.

For days, nationwide protests have flared in Europe’s largest agriculture producer, with farmers angered in part by red tape and environmental policies they say are hurting their bottom lines and rendering them unable to compete with less stringent neighbours.

Across France, farmers have used tractors and trucks to block roads and jam traffic. They plan to step up their pressure campaign by establishing eight chokepoints along the major arteries to Paris on Monday afternoon.

“We need answers,” said Karine Duc, a farmer in the southwestern Lot-et-Garonne department as she joined a convoy of tractors heading for Paris.

Hayashi won’t budge on U.S. base relocation in Okinawa visit

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

January 29, 2024 at 18:32 JST

The government will proceed with land reclamation work for a U.S. military base project in Okinawa Prefecture despite the prefectural governor’s demands to suspend it, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said.

In a 15-minute meeting with Hayashi on Jan. 28, Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki reiterated his opposition to U.S. Marine Corp Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, being relocated to Henoko Point in Nago, also in the prefecture.

“We ask the government to seriously take to heart the will of the people of Okinawa who oppose the project, halt the landfill work and open dialogue with Okinawa Prefecture to resolve the issue,” Tamaki told Hayashi at the prefectural government office.

Russia boasts it is beating sanctions, but its longer-term prospects are bleak

Analysis by Tim Lister, CNN
 9 minute read
Updated 5:14 AM EST, Mon January 29, 2024
Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken to gloating about Russia’s resistance to international sanctions and its supposed economic resilience, despite the best efforts of the United States and its G7 partners to choke off Moscow’s oil revenues and starve it of military technology.
 
Scoffing at Europe’s economies, Putin said at a recent event: “We have growth, and they have decline… They all have problems through the roof, not even comparable to our problems.”
It’s true that, as the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches, the Russian state is earning billions from oil and diamond exports, its military factories are working flat out, and many Russian banks can still access the international financial system.
 

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