Six In The Morning Tuesday June 23

Pakistan calls for urgent measures as heatwave toll tops 450

• 23 June 2015
 
• From the sectionAsia

Pakistan's prime minister called for emergency measures as the death toll from a heatwave in southern Sindh province topped 450.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said it had received orders from Nawaz Sharif to undertake immediate response measures.

The army has also been deployed to set up heat stroke centres and assist the NDMA, it added.

Many of the victims are elderly people from low income families.

Health officials say many deaths have been in the largest city, Karachi, which has experienced temperatures as high as 45C (113F) in recent days.

Hundreds of patients suffering from the effects of the heatwave are being treated at government hospitals, provincial health secretary Saeed Mangnejo said.

Rwandan spy chief Karenzi Karake arrested in London accused of war crimes

General Karenzi Karake has been accused by a Spanish court for genocide, crimes against humanity and terrorism resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians

ALEXANDRA SIMS

 

 

Tuesday 23 June 2015

Rwanda’s intelligence chief Karenzi Karake, has been arrested in London and is being held in the UK following orders from a Spanish court where he is wanted for war crimes.

Karake who is the director general of Rwanda’s National Intelligence and Security Services was arrested by British police at London Heathrow airport on Saturday.

Scotland Yard confirmed that the 54-year-old appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court after being detained under a European Arrest Warrant.

An police statement said: “Karenzi Karake, 54, a Rwandan national appeared before Westminster Magistrates' Court ... after being arrested on a European Arrest Warrant on behalf of the authorities in Spain, where he is wanted in connection with war crimes against civilians.”

Outrage over Muslim gender ban in French grocery store

Latest update : 2015-06-23

A Muslim-owned grocery store in the southeastern French city of Bordeaux has prompted outrage after putting up a sign imposing male and female-only days for customers.

The shop displayed a sign in the window asking “sisters” to come on Saturdays and Sundays, and “brothers” to visit on weekdays.

The shop owner, Muslim convert Jean-Baptiste Michalon, insisted he had acted in good faith and was not telling customers when they could or couldn’t visit his shop.

“We did this in response to requests from ‘sisters’ who preferred to come when my wife is working,” he told AFP. “We do also sell clothes here.”

“It was a sign meant entirely for clients who understand that mixing of sexes is not permitted in our [Muslim] religion,” Michalon, a recent convert to Islam, said. “It was not meant to be compulsory. I had no idea that it was against the law.”

Japan remembers Battle of Okinawa amid tensions

Japan's prime minister, the US ambassador, and thousands of visitors have marked the 70th anniversary of the bloody World War II battle. Okinawa still houses a huge military US base, stirring anger among the islanders.

Resentful locals heckled Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Tuesday ceremony in Okinawa, expressing their protest at the huge number of American troops still present on the island.

Shouts of "Go home!" could be heard while Abe was starting his speech, marking seven decades since the end of the battle which claimed some 200,000 lives.

Visibly rattled, Abe told the 5,000-strong crowd that Japan had for decades enjoyed the dividend of peace after the horrors of World War II.

"People in Okinawa have long been asked to carry a big burden for our security," he said. "We will continue to do our best to reduce (it)."

Wrenches in hand, Nigerian lady mechanics retool gender roles

Over 700 women have graduated since 2004 from the Lady Mechanic Initiative, a program aimed at creating jobs and empowering women throughout Nigeria – including the restless north. 

By Ryan Lenora Brown, Correspondent

LAGOS, NIGERIA — The road that runs by the Sandex Garage is little more than a giant pothole — an unforgiving groove that turns into a muddy river after it rains. Cars heave and shudder as they roll slowly by, tires straining against the rutted ground.
 
But behind the garage’s concrete walls, no one is complaining.
 
“The roads around here are terrible, absolutely terrible,” says Lancy Nowamagbe. “It’s bad for the cars, but it’s very good for our business.”
 
On a recent rainy morning, Ms. Nowamagbe and some thirty other trainee mechanics gather in a classroom behind the garage, located in Lekki district, on of the city's busiest. Today's lecture is on troubleshooting engine problems. Dressed in heavy black work boots and blue jumpsuits, their hands leathery and calloused, the group looks like any other mechanics’ school in the world, with one exception: all are women.

A new approach needed to end tribal insurgency in north-eastern India

BY KADAYAM SUBRAMANIAN on JUNE 22, 2015 in ASIA TIMES NEWS & FEATURES, SOUTH ASIA

The current approach to end conflicts in north-eastern India is deeply flawed. Instead, there is need for a democratic, decentralised, and transparent approach involving all stakeholders.
Bertil Lintner, a Swedish journalist and author who has widely written on Asian affairs, was probably underlining this when he said in his book Great Game East: India, China and the Struggle for Asia’s Most Volatile Frontier that a “proper understanding of the complex histories of the north-eastern peoples and the evolution of their fractious rebel movements and fragile alliances’ is needed to achieve progress towards peace in the region.
This view will help one while examining the recent attack by militants of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-Khaplang) and others on a leaderless army convoy in a border district of Manipur state killing 18 army men and injuring several others. The attack, one of the biggest such incidents in the history of insurgency in northeastern India, was followed by a massive retaliation on June 9 by the Special Forces of the Indian army who intruded into the neighboring Myanmar to eliminate militant camps, which threatened India’s national security and integrity.