Tag: Six In The Morning

Gaza: Israel hits security HQ and rocket site

 13 July 2014 Last updated at 06:57

 BBC

Israel has carried out overnight air strikes against Gaza’s security headquarters and police stations, in the heaviest bombardment since operations began on 8 July.

It also said its troops had carried out a brief raid against a rocket-launching site in the coastal territory.

Israel added that Palestinian militants fired about 90 rockets from the Gaza Strip into its territory on Saturday.

At least 159 Palestinians have died in the air strikes, Gaza officials say.

They are said to include 17 members of one family who died in an Israeli missile strike on Saturday evening.

Ukraine President Poroshenko hails ‘turning point’

 5 July 2014 Last updated at 23:01

 BBC

Ukraine’s president has hailed the recapture of the rebel stronghold of Sloviansk as the start of a turning point in the three-month conflict.

Petro Poroshenko said it was not a total victory, but rather an event of “huge symbolic importance”.

Government forces have made territorial gains since launching an offensive this week in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, following the breakdown of a ceasefire.

Pro-Russian rebels still hold the two regional capitals and other key areas.

But Sloviansk had been considered a focal point of the rebellion, and was the military centre of the self-declared People’s Republic of Donetsk.

Iraq receives Russian fighter jets to fight rebels

 29 June 2014 Last updated at 07:13

 BBC

Iraq says it has received the first batch of fighter jets it ordered from Russia to help it as it fights an offensive by Sunni rebels.

The defence ministry said five Sukhoi Su-25 attack aircraft would enter service in “three to four days”.

The insurgents control large swathes of the north and west after a string of attacks over the past three weeks.

On Saturday, the government said it had retaken the northern city of Tikrit, but rebels dispute this.

Iraq ‘struggling’ against Isis militants, say diplomats

 22 June 2014 Last updated at 03:50

 BBC

Iraq’s government is struggling in its battle against militants, diplomats and politicians have told the BBC.

Fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) said they seized a border crossing to Syria and two towns in north-west Iraq on Saturday.

Correspondents say Isis appears to be better trained, better equipped and more experienced than the army.

The Sunni extremists attacked the city of Mosul in June and have since seized large swathes of territory across Iraq.

Iraq conflict: Sunni militant push on Baghdad ‘halted’

 15 June 2014 Last updated at 08:02

 BBC

Iraqi government forces, backed by Shia Muslim and Kurdish militias, are reportedly holding back an advance by Sunni militants north of Baghdad.

A number of towns have been retaken from the rebels, but they still control the key cities of Tikrit and Mosul.

In one town that changed hands, Ishaq, security forces said they had found the incinerated bodies of 12 policemen.

A US aircraft carrier has been deployed to the Gulf in response to the escalating violence.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned that American assistance in tackling any Islamist offensive will only succeed if Iraqi leaders are willing to put aside their differences.

Brazil Olympics: Rio bay ‘will not be clean for 2016’

 8 June 2014 Last updated at 01:29

 BBC

Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes has said that the Brazilian city will not be able to clean the polluted bay where Olympic sailing competitions will be held before the 2016 Games.

Brazil had made a commitment to reduce pollution in the Guanabara Bay by 80%.

But Mr Paes admitted that the target would not be met.

He regretted the missed opportunity but told the AP news agency that the pollution didn’t pose a risk to the health of athletes.

Olympic sailors who visited Rio de Janeiro recently described the bay as an open sewer.

Qatar World Cup: ‘£3m payments to officials’ corruption claim

 

 David Bond BBC SPORTS EDITOR



Fifa is facing fresh allegations of corruption over its controversial decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

The Sunday Times  has obtained millions of secret documents – emails, letters and bank transfers – which it alleges are proof that the disgraced Qatari football official Mohamed Bin Hammam made payments totalling US$5m (£3m) to football officials in return for their support for the Qatar bid.

Qatar 2022 and Bin Hammam have always strenuously denied the former Fifa vice-president actively lobbied on their behalf in the run-up to the vote in December 2010.

Ukrainians vote in presidential elections

25 May 2014 Last updated at 05:39

 BBC

Ukrainians are going to the polls to vote in a new president after months of unrest following the ousting of former President Viktor Yanukovych.

Eighteen candidates are competing in the contest, which is widely seen as a crucial moment to unite the country.

But pro-Russian separatists in the east who oppose the election have threatened to disrupt the voting process.

Some 20 people have been killed amid an upsurge of fighting between insurgents and government forces in recent days.

The violence in the east, particularly Donetsk and Luhansk, has seriously disrupted preparations for the polls.

Shortly after voting began, election officials told the BBC no polling stations had opened in the city of Donetsk

Ukraine is approaching point of no return, says UN chief

 18 May 2014 Last updated at 07:20

 The BBC

Ukraine is edging towards “the point of no return”, a senior UN official says, amid rising tensions between security forces and pro-Russia separatists.

UN Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic told the BBC that the crisis had worrying echoes of the 1990s war in his native Croatia.

Reports from eastern Ukraine say clashes between government forces and separatist militants have continued.

The separatists have not taken part in EU-brokered talks to defuse the crisis.

Ukraine rebels hold referendums in Donetsk and Luhansk

 11 May 2014 Last updated at 07:58

The BBC

Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s two eastern regions are holding “self-rule” referendums – a move condemned by the Ukrainian government and the West.

BBC correspondents at polling stations report chaotic scenes, no voting booths and no electoral register.

Self-proclaimed leaders in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are going ahead with the vote despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call to postpone it.

Ukraine says the vote could result in the “self-destruction” of the regions.

Overnight, fighting was reported around the rebel-held city of Sloviansk, which remains sealed off by Ukrainian government troops conducting what they describe as an “anti-terror” operation.