Six In The Morning Tuesday July 29

29 July 2014 Last updated at 07:21

Israel intensifies Gaza attacks after Netanyahu warning

Gaza has seen one of its heaviest nights of bombardment, by air, sea and land, after Israel's prime minister warned of a long conflict ahead.

Israel carried out 60 air strikes, targeting the TV and radio stations and other sites associated with Hamas, the group which controls Gaza.

At least 60 Palestinians were killed, according to local health officials.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue to act until it had achieved its aims.

In a televised address, he stressed the need to destroy tunnels dug under the Gaza-Israel border, to prevent militants infiltrating Israel.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern that Israel was reported to be dropping leaflets warning residents in northern Gaza to leave.

African Pangolins at risk of extinction after becoming east Asian food favourites

More than a million pangolins are believed to have been snatched from the wild over the past decade

TOM BAWDEN 

 

ENVIRONMENT EDITOR

 

Tuesday 29 July 2014

The pangolin, or scaly anteater, has become such a popular dish in affluent Asian circles that it is in danger of becoming extinct, according to a stark warning from a leading conservation organisation.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has just added the four African pangolin species to its list of species threatened with extinction after an escalation of poaching driven by the rapid economic growth across much of the East. This means that all eight pangolin species – the other four from Asia – are now on the list, raising the prospect of the anteater being wiped out altogether.

Pangolins have long been caught and killed for their purported medicinal properties, which include being a treatment for psoriasis and poor circulation.

Greeks allowing the heart to rule were led down path of austerity

Greece Letter: Pasok was culpable for letting the economic situation reach crisis level

Richard Pine

Among the many features common to Greece and Ireland is the growth and decline of a political party which was central to the country’s life for many decades: Pasok and Fianna Fáil.

Almost all of Greece is a closed shop, and politics is no exception. The politikos kosmosis the term for the elite ranks, mostly middle-class professionals (lawyers, economists and professors), at the centre of power. In the 20th century three family dynasties held most of the power.

The most prominent of these are the Papandreous, three generations of whom have held the premiership: George the first (1944-5, 1963 and 1964-5), his son Andreas, the founder of Pasok (1981-9 and 1993-6) and his grandson, George the second (2009-11). Pasok (Pan Hellenic Socialist Movement), founded in 1974, has been in single-party government for 22 of the past 31 years, and a further two years in the current coalition.

Mars' Opportunity travels farther than any rover before it

NASA's Opportunity rover has driven 25 miles on the surface of Mars. In doing so, it has traveled farther on the surface of another planet than any man-made vehicle before it.

A drive of 157 feet (48 meters) pushed Opportunity just over the 25-mile (40-kilometer) mark to make Martian history, NASA said, breaking the previous record held by the Soviet Union's Lunokhod 2 rover.

"This is so remarkable considering Opportunity was intended to drive about one kilometer and was never designed for this distance," said Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager John Callas, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. "But what is really important is not how many miles the rover has racked up, but how much exploration and discovery we have accomplished."

Opportunity first landed on Mars' Meridiani Planum in 2004, shortly after its sister rover Spirit, which ceased operation four years ago. In 2011, it began exploring Endeavour Crater.

Taiwan's nuclear power plants are magnets for protesters – and snorkelers

Construction will halt this month on Taiwan's newest nuclear power plant, in a concession to protesters. While many Taiwanese hold anti-nuclear views, they also enjoy swimming and snorkeling by a nuclear plant outtake pipe.

By Ralph Jennings, Correspondent 

KENTING, TAIWAN — Wang Tzu-kai isn't worried about the domes of a nuclear plant visible over a tiny ridge from his hometown beach. The plant dumps used cooling water into the strait next to a sandy spot where he was lounging on a recent afternoon.

“The plant has been running for so long, yet no problems,” says Mr. Wang. 

The anti-nuclear movement in Taiwan, once a fringe movement, is going mainstream. President Ma Ying-jeou's government promised to freeze construction on the island's fourth nuclear power plant this April, after tens of thousands turned out to protest in Taipei. The temporary freeze takes effect this month. 

France offers asylum to Iraqi Christians

France to welcome Christians fleeing the area controlled by Islamic State, expresses outrage at their persecution. Last updated: 29 Jul 2014 07:00

France has said it is ready to welcome Christians fleeing the area of Iraq controlled by Islamic State group's fighters, saying it is "outraged" by their persecution.

Islamic State fighters seized large swaths of northern Iraq last month, prompting hundreds of Christian families in Mosul to flee a city which has hosted the faith since its earliest years.

"France is outraged by these abuses that it condemns with the utmost firmness," Laurent Fabius, France's foreign minister, and Bernard Cazeneuve, the interior minister, said in a joint statement on Monday.

"The ultimatum given to these communities in Mosul by ISIL is the latest tragic example of the terrible threat that jihadist groups in Iraq, but also in Syria and elsewhere, pose to these populations that are historically an integral part of this region," they added, referring to the Islamic State's former name of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.