Six In The Morning Thursday January 12

Trump Organization handover plan slammed by ethics chief

The director of the US Office of Government Ethics has sharply criticised Donald Trump's plan to hand his global business empire to his sons before his inauguration on 20 January.

The plan does not match the "standards" of US presidents over the last 40 years, Walter Shaub said.

A Trump lawyer said earlier the new trust would face "severe restrictions" on new deals.

But Mr Shaub said the plan would not remove conflicts of interest.

"Every president in modern times has taken the strong medicine of divestiture," he said, referring to a process whereby Mr Trump would sell off his corporate assets and put the profits into a blind trust run by an independent trustee.

Almost 75% of Japan's biggest coral reef has died from bleaching, says report

Coral in the Sekisei lagoon in Okinawa has turned brown and is covered with algae, according to a government study

Justin McCurry in Tokyo

Thursday 12 January 2017 04.22 GMT

Almost three-quarters of Japan’s biggest coral reef has died, according to a report that blames its demise on rising sea temperatures caused by global warming.

The Japanese environment ministry said that 70% of the Sekisei lagoon in Okinawa had been killed by a phenomenon known as bleaching.

Bleaching occurs when unusually warm water causes coral to expel the algae living in their tissues, causing the coral to turn completely white. Unless water temperatures quickly return to normal, the coral eventually dies from lack of nutrition.

Pesticide ban: New evidence shows 'strong case' for ban on chemicals linked to bird and bee deaths

Exclusive: Scientists say the EU should consider extending a partial ban on the use of neonicotinoids amid evidence they are lethal to partridges and can stop house sparrows from flying

Ian Johnston Environment Correspondent

Evidence that controversial pesticides linked to “large-scale population extinctions” of bees should be banned has got stronger since a moratorium on their use was introduced three years ago, according to a new report.

Scientists at Sussex University carried out a review of the scientific studies since the European Union restricted the use of neonicotinoid pesticides on flowering plants in 2013.

In their report, published by environmental campaign group Greenpeace, they concluded there was greater evidence that wild plants near fields of crops treated with the chemicals were being contaminated.

What it's like to be an atheist in different countries in 2017 (Part One)

Atheists are a global minority. They are often looked down upon, discriminated against or even persecuted, especially in countries where religion carries considerable weight. The Observers Team put together a series of portraits of people who are non-believers, sometimes even perceived as heretical, in majority Muslim, Christian and Jewish countries. We start by meeting atheists from three very different places: Tunisia, Gabon and Israel.

Atheists do not believe in the existence of God or gods. This makes them different from agnostics, who do not think it is possible to know if divine beings exist.

“Convinced” atheists only make up 11% of the world population, according to a 2015 study carried out by the WIN/Gallup International poll. They are an especially tiny minority in Africa and the Middle East. Only in China do they represent a majority of the population (61%).

1,000 days later: Is it possible for Nigeria to free the remaining Chibok girls?

In April 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls. Only a fraction of them have been returned.

Weston Williams

Protesters took to the streets in Nigeria's capital on Sunday, marking 1,000 days since 276 schoolgirls were abducted in Chibok by the militant group Boko Haram. Participants in the rally in Abuja held banners with slogans such as #BringBackOurGirls, part of the social media campaign that brought international attention to the mass kidnapping in April 2014.

Many Nigerians say that the government has contributed too little effort towards returning the "Chibok girls" to their families.

Since the kidnapping more than two and a half years ago, only a fraction of the Chibok girls have been liberated from Boko Haram. Of these, three were found around the forest where Boko Haram was based, and 21 were released after intensive negotiations with the terrorist group, leaving the majority unaccounted for. 

Mother of bullied Fukushima evacuee reveals details of abuse to court

January 12, 2017 (Mainichi Japan)

The mother of a student who evacuated from Fukushima Prefecture to Tokyo in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster disclosed to the Tokyo District Court on Jan. 11 that the student had been bullied from elementary school and was told "you'll probably die from leukemia soon."

The mother was testifying as part of a damages lawsuit filed against Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and the central government by about 50 plaintiffs including victims who voluntarily relocated to Tokyo after the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant disaster.

"My child was bullied for simply being an evacuee, and not being able to publicly say we are evacuees has caused psychological trauma," the mother said.