Six In The Morning February 25

Amnesty calls on UN powers to lose veto on genocide votes

1 hour ago

Amnesty International has urged the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to give up their power of veto in cases where atrocities are being committed.

In its annual report, the rights group said the global response to an array of catastrophes in 2014 had been shameful.

Richer countries were guilty of taking an "abhorrent" stance by not sheltering more refugees, Amnesty said.

The outlook for 2015 was bleak, the group added.

Saying that 2014 had been a catastrophic year for victims of conflict and violence, Amnesty said world leaders needed to act immediately to confront the changing nature of armed conflict.

France awaits landmark ruling on 'racial profiling' ID checks 

In the wake of last month’s terror attacks, French people of ‘Muslim appearance’ complain of being arbitrarily stopped by police 

Angelique Chrisafis in Paris

Wednesday 25 February 2015 06.00 GMT

The strained relationship between French police and the country’s non-white population is under fresh scrutiny in the wake of last month’s terrorist attacks as a Paris appeals court considers a landmark case brought by black and Arab men who say they were openly stopped by officers for no other reason than their SKIN colour.

Racial profiling – in which French people of black and north African origin are routinely pulled over on the street and asked to show their identity papers with no explanation – has long been a fraught issue in France, contributing to tension and urban rioting on housing estates.

But the current political context, in which France is soul-searching over race relations, discrimination, antisemitism and hate speech in the wake of January’s terrorist attacks, has thrown the spotlight on equality issues more than ever before. Campaign groups say that since the attacks, which began with a deadly assault on the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and ended in a bloody siege at a kosher supermarket, French people of “Muslim appearance” – black and Arab – are complaining of an increase in incidences of arbitrarily being pulled over by police.

China to Spain cargo train: Successful first 16,156-mile round trip on world's longest railway brings promise of increased trade

Before the Yixin'ou line was opened, goods traded between the EU and China depended on inefficient sea or air transport, meaning higher prices in Europe

ALISTAIR DAWBER 

The first train to complete a journey on the world’s longest railway LINE, connecting Spain and China, has returned home. The 16,156-mile round trip on the new Yixin’ou cargo line through China, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Poland, Germany, France and Spain took four months. The train arrived laden with cheap goods and returned to China with expensive olive oil.

The 82-container cargo train began its journey in November in the eastern Chinese city of Yiwu. Packed full of Christmas trinkets and decorations, stationery and craft products, it arrived in Madrid on 14 December, in time for the thousands of small shops and Christmas markets to stock up on the cheap CHINESE GOODS.

Before the Yixin’ou line was opened, goods traded between Europe and China depended on inefficient sea or air transport, meaning higher prices in Europe.

‘Charlie Hebdo’ back six weeks after seven-million selling edition

Satirical weekly richest publication in France since nine staff were murdered

Lara Marlowe

 Charlie Hebdo, the satirical weekly where 12 people were murdered, including a building worker and two policemen, in an attack by jihadists on January 7th, will return to French newsstands today after a six-week absence.

Seven million copies of a “survivors’ issue” were published one week after the attack. Two and a half million copies today’s “renaissance” issue will be printed. Before the attack, the newspaper’s circulation was fewer than 40,000 copies.

The cover of the “renaissance issue” shows a panicked dog running for dear life, with a copy of Charlie Hebdo clenched in its jaw. A pack of dogs follows in hot pursuit, bearing the faces of Front National leader Marine Le Pen, former president of France Nicolas Sarkozy, Pope Francis and a jihadist carrying a Kalashnikov in its teeth.

"Shameful" global response to human rights violations: Amnesty International report

Amnesty International's annual report has condemned the international response to the world's humanitarian disasters. 2014 also saw the highest number of displaced people for 70 years.

Amnesty International released its annual report on Wednesday, highlighting the state of human rights around the world in 2014. Besides detailing the human toll of conflicts from Nigeria to Syria, the rights group denounced the global community for the "shameful and ineffective" responses to world crises.

Cluster bombs in Ukraine

The report was highly critical of both Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian rebels fighting in the east of the country. Both sides are responsible for the high number of civilian casualties, according to the report, because of the indiscriminate firing of unguided mortars and rockets in populated areas.

The organization's senior director for research, Anna Neistat, added that though it has been difficult to determine, "taking into account everything we understand for now" cluster bombs, large explosives which release many other smaller explosives over a wide area, were used by both government troops and separatists.

Taps run dry in Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city

February 25, 2015 - 5:09PM

Simon Romero

Sao Paulo: Endowed with the Amazon and other mighty rivers, an array of huge dams and one-eighth of the world's fresh water, Brazil is sometimes called the "Saudi Arabia of water", so rich in the coveted resource that some liken it to living above a sea of oil.

But in Brazil's largest and wealthiest city, a more dystopian situation is unfolding: The taps are starting to run dry.

As south-east Brazil grapples with its worst drought in nearly a century, a problem worsened by polluted rivers, deforestation and population growth, the largest reservoir system serving Sao Paulo is near depletion. Many residents are already enduring sporadic water cut-offs, some going days without it. Officials say that drastic rationing may be needed, with water service provided only two days a week.