Six In The Morning Saturday October 31

Russian airliner crashes in central Sinai - Egyptian PM

A Russian airliner has crashed in central Sinai with more than 200 people on board, the office of Egypt's prime minister has confirmed.

The Airbus A-321 had just taken off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, on its way to the Russian city of St Petersburg.

Egyptian media reports said wreckage of the plane had already been found and at least 20 ambulances sent to the scene.

Most of the passengers are said to be Russian tourists. 

The plane was operated by the small Russian airline Kogalymavia, based in western Siberia. Latest reports say it was carrying 217 passengers and seven crew.

Initially there were conflicting reports about the fate of the plane, some suggesting it had disappeared over Cyprus.

Lying press: Germany's misleading media

In a recent German survey, 44 percent of respondents said they partially, or wholly believe the media regularly lies to the people, as the Pegida movement asserts. Media experts examine whether that's true.

Media outlets in Germany "are controlled from the top," and therefore spread "embellished and inaccurate reporting." Nearly half of the 1,000 German citizens recently polled by the Dortmund-based Forsa Institute agreed with these statements.

Currently, the refugee situation dominates media reports. But Germans are simultaneously experiencing the crisis first-hand in their own towns and cities - and often finding dramatic differences between their perceptions of these events and journalists' representations of them.

This discrepancy has been busying media experts since former Berlin Finance Minister Thilo Sarrazin began describing Germany's integration of immigrants as a failure in his 2010 book "Germany Is Abolishing Itself."

Communist victims exhumed in Bali to stop their spirits disturbing villagers

October 31, 2015 - 4:05PM

Jewel Topsfield and Amilia Rosa

Ubud, Bali: As creeping censorship of politically sensitive issues by Indonesian authorities attracted international opprobrium last week, the bodies of nine victims of the 1965 communist purge were peacefully exhumed in Bali to stop their spirits disturbing the villagers.

The Balinese village of Batuagung has been troubled by a high suicide rate for no apparent reason in recent years and villagers reported paranormal sightings.

"A villager said he was just chatting with another man, but then he noticed the other man's head had fallen off," village head Ida Bagus Komang Widiarta said.


"A few times also, students at an elementary school were possessed."

Is SXSW apology, Harassment Summit enough for jilted panelists?

Organizers of the contentious gaming panel South by Southwest canceled over threats of violence but then reinstated – along with adding an Online Harassment Summit – aren't convinced they'll participate in next year's festival. 

By Malena Carollo, Staff Writer

South by Southwest Interactive announced Friday that the two gaming-related panels it canceled earlier this week will be reinstated as part of a larger Online Harassment Summit at its 2016 festival.

Organizers of the annual event, which attracts tens of thousands of tech, music, and film industry professionals to Austin every year, previously said that threats of violence related to the panels led to canceling talks "focused on the GamerGate controversy."

But SXSW received significant blowback after the cuts were publicized, with many critics complaining the festival caved to intimidation by removing the panels, one of which focused on ideas for how video game developers can use design to combat harassment in gaming. That panel was not intended to focus on GamerGate, the hashtag associated with intense harassment of women in gaming. 

Analysis: China faces mounting pressure over maritime claims

 

By MATTHEW PENNINGTON4 hours ago

 Pressure on China over its claims to most of the strategic South China Sea went up a couple of notches this week. First, the U.S. sent a warship in its most direct challenge yet to Beijing's artificial island building. Then over Chinese objections, an international tribunal ruled it had jurisdiction in a case brought by the Philippines on maritime claims.

Neither action appeared likely to stop China in its tracks, as it seeks to assert its control over resource-rich waters that it considers vital to its security. Beijing is expected to put a higher priority on what it sees as its strategic interests than its international reputation.

But it could damage China's efforts to win more respect on the global stage as it emerges as an economic and military power.

Copenhagen initiative gives bottle collectors 'dignity'

Danish capital introduces garbage bins with shelves to help those who make a living from collecting empties.

31 Oct 2015 07:01 GMT

A new type of garbage bin has been introduced in the Danish capital to make bottle collection easier - a move the city's deputy mayor says will give some marginalised citizens more "dignity".

When buying a beverage in Denmark, customers pay $0.15-$0.44 for the bottle or can - money that is returned in bottle machines in grocery stores.

While not highly profitable, collecting bottles and cans from garbage bins is a source of income for many of Copenhagen's homeless, pensioners, and other marginalised groups.

Over the summer, yellow bins with shelves on the sides were introduced where people could place their empty bottles - saving the collectors the inconvenience of digging through the smelly refuse.