Friday, April 4, 2025
How dangerous is space debris?
Six In The Morning Friday 4 April 2025
South Korea's president has been removed from power: What happens now?
South Korea's president has been removed from office after the Constitutional Court voted unanimously to uphold his impeachment.
Yoon Suk Yeol was suspended from duty in December after being impeached by parliament, following his failed attempt to impose martial law.
The ruling on Friday was met with tears of joy and sadness among Yoon's critics and supporters, who had gathered in various parts of Seoul to watch the verdict live.
A snap election to vote for Yoon's replacement must be held by 3 June.
‘Only job I know’: tiny Lesotho’s garment workers reel from Trump’s 50% tariffs
Fri 4 Apr 2025 13.17 BST
The day after Donald Trump announced sweeping global tariffs, Lesotho’s garment workers feared for their jobs.
Last year, Lesotho sent about 20% of its $1.1bn (£845m) of exports to the US, most of it clothing under a continent-wide trade agreement meant to help African countries’ development via tariff-free exports, as well as diamonds.
Now, all that is at risk, after the US president imposed a 50% tariff on the impoverished landlocked country, which he claimed last month “nobody had ever heard of”.
Sexist chants shouted at female referee prompt investigation
The German Football Federation (DFB) has opened an investigation into reports that referee Fabienne Michel was subjected to sexist abuse by fans during a third-division fixture last weekend, according to German public broadcaster Sportschau.
Michel, 30, is currently the only female referee in Germany's top three professional football leagues and took charge of the 3. Liga game between SC Verl and Rot-Weiss Essen last Friday.
In the build-up to Verl's opening goal in the first half, she inadvertently stood in the way of Essen midfielder Klaus Gjasula as he tried to get in position to block the shot.
Returning to Khartoum: In Sudan, civilians try to rebuild their lives after war
Ex-announcer: Sex harassment became ‘normal’ at Fuji Television
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
April 4, 2025 at 17:57 JST
A former TV announcer at Fuji Television Network Inc. said an unwritten requirement of her job was to quickly make jokes after being groped or sexually harassed by a VIP.
“The ability of an announcer was measured in fending off such sexual harassment and turning the act into laughter,” she said.
The woman explained the work conditions at Fuji TV after a third-party investigative committee released a report concerning a suspected sexual assault by Masahiro Nakai, a now-retired entertainer who appeared on Fuji TV programs.
Russia stalls ceasefire talks as it intensifies attacks on Ukraine
Russia has added new conditions for a ceasefire to a litany of existing ones, prompting United States President Donald Trump to threaten new sanctions against Russian oil.
Visiting Russia’s newest nuclear submarine, the Arkhangelsk, on March 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin said a temporary administration should be installed in Ukraine to lead the country to elections.
Thursday, April 3, 2025
Six In The Morning Thursday 3 April 2025
US stock market plunges after Trump unveils worldwide tariffs
Summary
The US stock market drops sharply in early trading after Donald Trump announced a raft of tariffs last night
Big brands - such as Nike, Apple and Amazon - see their shares fall as the White House tells Wall Street to "trust in President Trump"
Trump announced 10% tariffs on most countries - including the UK - from Saturday, with higher duties on some of America's biggest trading partners from 9 April. We cover the basics in five key questions here
In response, the UK has drawn up a 400-page list of US products it could hit with tariffs in what our chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman says is a toughening up of Starmer's stance
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen calls Trump's tariffs a "major blow to the world economy" - while China, which faces a 54% rate, promises countermeasures
Trump tariffs decision brutal and unfounded, Macron says
After a meeting with industry representatives, French President Emmanuel Macron says Trump's tariffs are a "shock for international trade", saying it will have a "massive impact" on the European economy.
"The decision that was announced last night is a brutal and unfounded decision," he says, adding that the US economy and consumers will emerge "poorer and weaker".
‘I heard them take their last breath’: survivor recounts Gaza paramedic killings
Munther Abed, 27, was in the first ambulance on the scene of an airstrike near Rafah when Israeli soldiers opened fire
Asurvivor from a massacre of Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers in Gaza has said he saw Israeli troops open fire on a succession of Red Crescent ambulances and rescue vehicles and then use a bulldozer to bury the wreckage in a pit.
Munther Abed, a 27-year-old Red Crescent volunteer, was in the back of the first ambulance to arrive on the scene of an airstrike in the Hashashin district of Rafah before dawn on 23 March, when it came under intense Israeli fire. His two Red Crescent colleagues sitting in the front were killed but he survived by throwing himself to the floor of the vehicle.
Turkey detains 11 people over shopping boycott
Ramisha Ali with AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters
A daylong shopping boycott was part of protests against the imprisonment of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
Turkish police detained 11 people suspected of spreading calls for a one-day shopping boycott as part of an ongoing protest against the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
The detentions followed a call by main opposition leader Ozgur Ozel for a larger boycott of businesses with perceived ties to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.
Protests have spread throughout Turkey since Imamoglu's arrest in March on corruption charges, which he denies. Many see him as the only politician in Turkey who can compete with Erdogan in a presidential election.
Saved from destruction: Paris show offers glimpse of Gaza’s archaeological treasures
Archaeological treasures across Gaza have been damaged and destroyed in the war that is once more raging in the Palestinian territory. Some that escaped the devastation went on show at the Arab World Institute on Thursday, April 3, shedding light on the extraordinary heritage of a land that has been for centuries a crossroads of civilisations.
Lined up in a vast exhibition hall on the banks of the River Seine, a dozen terracotta amphoras tell a little-known history of the Gaza Strip, one of prosperous trade, refined craftsmanship and intercultural exchange.
The ancient jars, some ominously shaped like artillery shells, were once used to carry wine from Gaza to far-flung destinations across the Mediterranean world and as far as England.
Spanning nine centuries under Persian, Greek and Roman rule, they bear witness to Gaza’s historic role as a hub that connected trade routes from Egypt to the Levant and beyond.
Minke whaling season begins off Hokkaido with first catch
By TOMOYUKI YAMAMOTO/ Staff Writer
April 3, 2025 at 16:07 JST
This year’s commercial whaling of minke whales has begun off the coast of eastern Hokkaido, with the first catch of the season being unloaded here on April 1.
The catch was a female minke whale measuring 8.1 meters in length and weighing 5.2 tons.
It was caught about 15 kilometers off the coast of Nemuro in the Sea of Okhotsk by a whaler from Ayukawa Hogei, a fishing company based in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture.
Jailed Tunisian opposition figure Jaouhar Ben Mbarek goes on hunger strike
Ben Mbarek, along with about 40 other critics of the president, is being tried on state conspiracy charges.
A jailed Tunisian opposition activist facing state conspiracy charges has launched a hunger strike to protest against being barred from appearing in person at his own trial, according to his defence team.
Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, member of the opposition National Salvation Front and Citizens Against the Coup group which oppose President Kais Saied, insists on his right to be present in court to “refute the false charges” against him, lawyer Samir Dilou said in a statement on Facebook on behalf of Ben Mbarek’s defence team.