Sunday, April 30, 2017
France votes: The media effect
As the French media rally around Macron, how will Marine Le Pen tweak her media strategy? Plus, Podemos' challenge.
France votes: The media effect
The far-right Marine Le Pen is within striking distance of the French presidency. Did the French media help get her this far and how do they cover her now?
Contributors:
Scott Sayare, Paris-based journalist
Nadia Henni-Moulai, journalist and founder of MeltingBook
Wallerand de Saint-Just, member, National Front
Daniel Schneidermann, journalist and media analyst
Scott Sayare, Paris-based journalist
Nadia Henni-Moulai, journalist and founder of MeltingBook
Wallerand de Saint-Just, member, National Front
Daniel Schneidermann, journalist and media analyst
Six In The Morning Sunday April 30
Donald Trump attacks US media at 100-day Pennsylvania rally
US President Donald Trump has launched a scathing attack on the media during a rally marking 100 days in office.
He told supporters in Pennsylvania that he was keeping "one promise after another", dismissing criticism as "fake news" by "out of touch" journalists.
Mr Trump decided to skip the White House Correspondents' Dinner - the first US leader to miss the event since an injured Ronald Reagan in 1981.
Mr Trump's approval ratings hover at around the 40% mark - believed to be lower than any other president at the 100-day marker.
At the rally in Harrisburg, the president said the media should be given "a big, fat, failing grade" over their coverage of his achievements during his first 100 days and told the cheering crowd he was "thrilled to be more than 100 miles from Washington".
'Hundreds of us will die in Raqqa’: the women fighting Isis
Kimberley Taylor from Blackburn is part of the all-female Kurdish force battling to rout Islamic State. Driving them on is the chance to free women enslaved by the extremists: ‘It starts with fighting Daesh, then the mentality of the male’
Sunday 30 April 2017 08.30 BST
She had heard the stories about how Islamic State fighters could glide like ghosts into Kurdish militia bases during the dead of night, but nothing prepared her for the bedlam when it happened. It was 3.40am on 12 February when Isis attackers scrambled over the perimeter defences of the base north of Raqqa. Kimberley Taylor was convinced it would be overrun. Grabbing her Kalashnikov, she began firing at the shapes. Beyond the corner of the nearest building cowered an enemy fighter. Suddenly he rushed towards her. As their eyes met, he yanked the cord on his suicide belt.
Night-time along the shifting frontline of northern Syria is a fraught affair. Absolute silence, punctured by periods of pandemonium. Isis can strike from anywhere, shadows that melt in and out of the darkness. Taylor’s base was six miles behind the front, among the lush floodplains of the Euphrates. Everyone there knew that the Isis fighters’ latest tactic was tiptoeing into the huts of sleeping Kurdish fighters and blowing themselves up. Taylor, who survived the suicide attack, counted herself lucky.
After his first 100 days in office, we should fear Trump more than ever
America's political, economic and ideological power is declining, so it's turning to military power to keep its world status
Politicians and establishment media have greeted what they see as President Trump’s return to the norms of American foreign policy. They welcome the actual or threatened use of military force in Syria, Afghanistan and North Korea, and praise his appointment of a bevvy of generals to senior security posts. A striking feature of Trump’s first 100 days was the way in which the campaign to demonise him and his entourage as creatures of the Kremlin was suddenly switched off like a light as soon as he retreated from his earlier radicalism.
In reality, the Trump administration should be more feared as a danger to world peace at the end of his first 100 days in office than it was at the beginning. This is because Trump in the White House empowers many of those who, so far from being “a safe pair of hands”, have led the US into a series of disastrous wars in the Middle East in the post 9/11 era. There is no reason to think that they have changed their ways or learned from past mistakes.
More sackings in Turkey, dating shows banned
Another 4,000 Turkish public officials have been sacked by President Erdogan's administration. It has also decreed the closing of television dating programs.
Turkey issued a set of decrees Saturday, one announced the firing of 3,974 officials while the second imposed a ban on popular dating programs on Turkish television channels.
Another decree gazetted also reinstated 236 people to their jobs, according to the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, the Turkish clampdown on Wikipedia access from early Saturday was described by the Turkey's BTK technologies authority as a "protection measure" ordered by an Ankara court to halt "a smear campaign against Turkey."
'Fundamental' right, says Wikipedia's Wales
The online encyclopedia's founder Jimmy Wales tweeted that he would stand by Turks over their "fundamental" right to access.
Indian men speak out against racist skin-lightening creams
Adverts for skin-lightening creams in India are increasingly targeting a male audience, when previously these products were the domain of women. These creams promise to make dark skin lighter – which in India is synonymous with beauty and success. Our Observer is taking a stand against these racist stereotypes.
In Indian supermarket aisles there is an abundance of different skin-lightening products: moisturisers, soaps and cleansers. Now skincare brands are moving away from the saturated market of products aimed at women, and are directly targeting a male customer base. In their adverts, white, or whiter, skin is associated with success – in one's professional as well as romantic life.
There has already been a backlash against these skin-lightening creams that market whiter skin as a standard of beauty. The organisation Women of Worth started the "Dark is beautiful" campaign in 2009, as a way of promoting darker skin.
Japan divided over revising Article 9
Japanese people remain divided over whether to amend the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution, but supporters of a change slightly outnumbered opponents amid concerns over North Korea and China's military buildup, a Kyodo News survey showed Saturday.
According to the mail-in survey conducted ahead of the 70th anniversary of the enforcement of the post-World War II Constitution next Wednesday, 49% of respondents said Article 9 needs to be revised against 47% opposing a change.
While Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been eager to rewrite the supreme law, including Article 9, 51% were against any constitutional amendments under the Abe administration, compared with 45% in favor.
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Is Afghanistan new battlefield for traditional rivals?
Russia denies US accusations of funding and sending weapons to the Taliban.
US President Donald Trump says relations with Russia are at an all-time low.
He campaigned for the White House by dangling the prospect of closer ties with Moscow. But there are apparently profound differences over Syria, Crimea and now Afghanistan.
Six In The Morning Saturday April 29
North Korea crisis: North in another 'failed' missile launch
North Korea has test-fired another ballistic missile, South Korean and US military officials say.
The missile exploded shortly after take-off, they said - the second failed launch in the past fortnight.
US President Donald Trump accused North Korea of showing "disrespect" towards China and its president.
The missile was fired from a site in South Pyeongan province, north of Pyongyang, in the early hours of Saturday local time, South Korea said.
Mr Trump tweeted: "North Korea disrespected the wishes of China & its highly respected President when it launched, though unsuccessfully, a missile today. Bad!"
Brazilians sick of corrupt politicians hit the streets to protest austerity measures
Police clash with striking union workers in streets of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo as protesters in 26 states demonstrate against Michel Temer’s proposed reforms
Brazilian unions have ratcheted up the pressure on president Michel Temer with a nationwide general strike that closed schools, disrupted transport networks and led to clashes with public security in several cities.
Demonstrators in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo blocked key roads with barricades of burning tires on. Riot police used teargas and percussion grenades to try to disperse the crowds and open the routes.
Domestic media said it was the biggest general strike in decades, with protests reported in 26 states and strikes by teachers, bus drivers, healthcare providers, oil industry workers and public servants.American Muslim composer detained for hours at New York airport after trip to UK
Mohammed Fairouz says he was held for 'long enough to have written a short piano etude', had his belongings not been confiscated by border guards
An American Muslim composer has said he was detained for hours at a New York airport when he returned home from a recent trip to London.
Mohammed Fairouz, who has been described as one of the most frequently performed composers of his generation, had travelled from Heathrow to John F Kennedy airport after visiting the UK to record with a British string orchestra.
He says he was pulled aside for “additional screening” by an immigration officer with no explanation except that his name is “super common”.
Thai police obtain arrest warrant for Red Bull heir
A Thai court has issued an arrest warrant for an heir to the Red Bull fortune five years after an alleged crime. For the Thai public, the case has come to symbolize the impunity of the rich and powerful.
A Thai court on Friday approved an arrest warrant for an heir to the Red Bull energy drink fortune accused of a deadly hit-and-run incident nearly five years ago, police said hours after they made the application.
The Thai public was watching whether the court would issue an arrest warrant for Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya, whose repeated ability to avoid police summons has come to symbolize the impunity of the rich and connected.
"The prosecutors have decided to no longer allow Vorayuth to seek another delay. This has dragged on for too long and it has affected the attorney general's image," Somnuk Siangkong, spokesman for the office of the attorney general, said earlier in the day.
ANALYSIS
Korean crisis: between lobbing missiles, Kim Jong-un looks to Russia for support
Kim Jong-un knows how to time his missile tests to maximum effect.
Just as signs emerged that cooperation between China and the United States on solving the North Korea problem may be fracturing,
a ballistic missile was fired.
The failed launch, believed to be a medium-range missile that landed 35 kilometres from the launch site at Bukchang, came hours after a special meeting of the United Nations Security Council, where foreign ministers debated how to curb North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
Strong sanctions that could cripple North Korea are on the cards. Multiple world leaders have warned of the risk of war.
NSA BACKS DOWN ON MAJOR SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM THAT CAPTURED AMERICANS’ COMMUNICATIONS WITHOUT A WARRANT
THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY on Friday suddenly announced it is curtailing one of its major surveillance programs.
Under pressure from the secret court that oversees its practices, the NSA said its “upstream” program would no longer grab communications directly from the U.S. internet backbone “about” specific foreign targets — only communication to and from those targets.
This is a major change, essentially abandoning a bulk surveillance program that captured vast amounts of communications of innocent Americans – and turning instead to a still extensive but more targeted approach.
Friday, April 28, 2017
China welcomes US 'path of dialogue' for North Korea
Chinese leaders say they are glad Washington is open to resolving tensions with Pyongyang through talks.
Chinese leaders say dialogue is the only way to resolve the Korean crisis.
The threat of more nuclear tests and missile launches is alarming many.
But there are concerns that a US missile defence shield in South Korea will endanger regional stability.
Beijing fiercely opposes the system, known as THAAD.
A diplomatic solution to the Korean crisis does seems possible and the Trump administration has signalled it is willing to try all non-military options.
Chinese leaders say they are glad that the US is open to resolving the tension through talks.
Six In The Morning Friday April 28
Donald Trump warns of 'major, major conflict' with North Korea
US president says he wants to seek a diplomatic solution to Korean crisis and reveals China is helping to pressure Kim Jong-un
Donald Trump has said that a “major conflict” was possible with North Korea though he would prefer to solve the standoff over the country’s nuclear and missile programme through diplomacy.
Trump’s warning on Thursday came towards the end of a week where the administration has made a concerted effort to restrain Pyongyang from carrying out major new weapons tests.
At the same time, US officials sought to clarify US policy after a variety of mixed signals in the administration’s first 100 days.
Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state, said that the US would be prepared to enter into direct talks with the regime of Kim Jong-un, but that it would have to prepare to negotiate getting rid of all its nuclear weapons.
India bans 22 social media sites in Kashmir over alleged abuse videos
Ruling hits Facebook and Twitter and marks crackdown on viral clips discrediting state forces in disputed territory
Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir have banned 22 social media sites in an effort to calm tensions in the disputed region after videos depicting the alleged abuse of Kashmiris by Indian forces fuelled protests. But the sites remained online Thursday as the local telecom company struggled to block them.
The government said Wednesday that the one-month ban was necessary for public safety because social media were being “misused by anti-national and anti-social elements.”
“It's being felt that continued misuse of social networking sites and instant messaging services is likely to be detrimental to the interests of peace and tranquillity in the state,” the public order said.
North Koreans in Japan sense growing hostility
The group that represents Koreans loyal to Pyongyang is accused of abetting the Kim regime by providing funds and banned technology. It is also linked to the abduction of Japanese, organized crime and drug distribution.
As an ethnic North Korean, Kim Myong-chol says he lives in "a hostile environment" in Japan. There have so far been no reports of Japanese targeting North Koreans living here, but as concern over the possibility of a missile or nuclear attack rises, Kim says incidents have happened in the past and are possible to occur again.
"There have been attacks by right-wingers on children from North Korean schools at times of tension in the past, but it has been quiet so far," he told DW. He added that police have had a higher presence close to schools affiliated with Chongryon, the association that represents North Korean residents of Japan, since previous incidents.
When Pyongyang confirmed in September 2002 that its agents had abducted 13 Japanese citizens, there was an upsurge in anger aimed at the North Korean community in Japan. There were demonstrations outside the fortress-like headquarters of Chongryon, which serves as North Korea's embassy in Japan as the two nations have no diplomatic ties, while schools received threatening phone calls and pupils were roughed up on their way to and from schools.
Detainees found in 'secret cell' in Philippines: rights group
A dozen people have been found stuffed inside a closet-sized cell hidden behind a book shelf in a Philippine police station, triggering further alarm about abuse under President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly war on drugs.
Members of the government's human rights commission, accompanied by journalists, found the men and women in a surprise visit to the station in the heart of Manila's slum area on Thursday evening.
Cries of "here we are, here we are" were heard from behind a wall, according to the rights workers and journalists. The rights workers then found a hidden door behind a bookshelf, leading to the cell.
Stunned detainees came stumbling out of the room, some begging for water while others, in tears, pleaded with the rights workers not to abandon them.
The detainees said they had been held for about a week after being arrested on allegations of drug use or trafficking and that police were demanding hefty payments in exchange for their freedom.
FORMERLY IMPRISONED JOURNALIST BARRETT BROWN TAKEN BACK INTO CUSTODY BEFORE PBS INTERVIEW
AWARD-WINNING JOURNALIST Barrett Brown was re-arrested and taken into custody Thursday, the day before he was scheduled to be interviewed for a PBS documentary.
Brown quickly became a symbol of the attack on press freedom after he was arrested in 2012 for reporting he did on the hacked emails of intelligence-contracting firms. Brown wrote about hacked emails that showed the firm Stratfor spying on activists on behalf of corporations. Brown also helped uncover a proposal by intelligence contractors to hack and smear WikiLeaks defenders and progressive activists.
Seoul rejects Trump demand it pays for THAAD missile system
The South Korean government on Friday brushed aside U.S. President Donald Trump's suggestion that it should pay for a $1 billion missile defense system the two allies are installing in South Korea to guard against threats from the North.
The first parts of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system have already been delivered to a former golf course in the South -- infuriating China -- at a time of heightened tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.
Top U.S. officials have said THAAD will be operational "within days".
"I informed South Korea it would be appropriate if they paid. It's a billion-dollar system," Trump was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency. "It's phenomenal, shoots missiles right out of the sky."
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Six In The Morning Thursday April 27
Brexit: Chancellor Merkel warns UK on scope of talks with EU
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says some British people have "illusions" about discussing the UK's future ties with the EU at the same time as nailing down the UK's Brexit terms.
An EU-UK deal can only be discussed once the exit issues - such as UK payments to the EU budget - are resolved, Mrs Merkel told German MPs.
The UK initiated the formal procedure to leave the EU on 29 March.
It sets a two-year deadline for completion of the exit negotiations.
EU leaders are to meet on Saturday to adopt their joint negotiating position on Brexit. They are working on the basis of draft guidelines issued on 31 March.
Official talks will not begin until after the UK general election on 8 June.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May called the early election, saying she needed to strengthen her hand in Brexit negotiations.
One nation, two Trumps: America as divided as ever after first 100 days
We asked two neighboring communities in Ohio what they make of the president’s first 100 days in office. Their answers paint a disparate picture
by Ed Pilkington in Warrensville Heights and Chardon, Ohio
How did Donald Trump do in his first 100 days as US president? The moment you step out into the beating heart of America, you realize that’s the wrong question.
How did the Donald Trumps – plural – do in their first 100 days? That’s the better line of inquiry. And no, it’s not a reference to Donald Jr, busily engorging the family business while his father makes America great again.
The question to ask is: how did the two Donald Trumps do? One man, two entirely contrary public figures. There’s Donald Trump, champion of the white conservative religious masses of rural and small-town America, the man bringing change to Washington, reviving the nation’s pride, teaching a lesson to foreigners with a well-targeted bombing raid or two.
Christians are under attack in the Middle East – and not even a visit from the Pope can convince them to stay
In the British mandate of Palestine, the Christian population was 9.6 per cent of the population. By 1999, it was 2.9 per cent. Meanwhile, 35 per cent of the Christians of the West Bank and Gaza left between 1967 and 1999
Almost exactly a quarter of a century ago, I wrote a story for the front page of what was then The Independent’s Weekend Review. It was headlined: “Exodus: a story of Christians”. It told the tragedy of those people of the faith who were fleeing the lands of the forefathers.
I interviewed the only hermit left in Lebanon, in a cave in the north of the country, and he said to me: “I am the only hermit left in all the Middle East.” His eyes creased in happiness when I acknowledged his unique theological condition. “I will never leave Lebanon,” he said. “No Christian should leave the Holy Land. Those who have left will come back.”
He exuded faith: childlike, passionate, precise, untrammelled by contradiction or facts. And he was wrong.
Iran border guards killed by Sunni militants on Pakistan border
A clash on the Iran-Pakistan border has left 10 Iranian border guards dead. The Army of Justice, which has previously attacked Iranian security forces, has claimed responsibility for the violence.
A Sunni militant group killed 10 Iranian border guards at their post on the country's southeastern border with Pakistan on Wednesday, according to the Tasnim news agency.
The group, known as Jaish al Adl, or the Army of Justice, claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the news agency. The report called the militants involved in the shooting "terrorists."
"Ten border guards of Mirjaveh county in Sistan and Baluchestan Province were martyred in an ambush by the terrorists in the Pakistani border's zero-point," the report said.
Chernobyl disaster anniversary: The Exclusion Zone in pictures
Thirty-one years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, one of our Observers sent us photos from his trip to the desolate Exclusion Zone. In June 2016 he went to the site in the Ukraine where a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, turning the area into one of the most radioactive places in the world.
A routine test on Reactor 4 at the plant on April 26, 1986, ended in disaster when the reactor exploded, shooting radioactive particles into the atmosphere. The explosion released 100 times more radiation than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Radioactive material later drifted on the wind to other countries across Europe.
There is still controversy over how many people actually died as a result of the accident. The World Health Organisation said in a 2006 report that "The actual number of deaths caused by this accident is unlikely ever to be precisely known." One worker was killed in the initial explosion, and acute radiation syndrome killed 28 workers in the weeks following the accident.
India's Maoist rebels: An explainer
Government security crackdown on Maoist rebels has led to an increased casualty figure in the country's tribal areas.
Communist political movement in India started in 1920s as an anti-colonial struggle when the country was still ruled by Britain.
But the seeds of the first radical Marxist movement were sowed in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh shortly after India gained independence in 1947.
The first armed uprising was launched in 1967 in the remote Naxalbari village in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. The uprising, which began after a farmer was stopped from tilling his own land, was put down by force after 72 days.
What would a Le Pen victory mean for France?
Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen advance to run-off vote in May
The two contenders for French president have now emerged and for the first time they will not come from either of the main parties.
Centrist Emmanuel Macron will take on far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the runoff election in two weeks. But this election is about more than just liberal versus conservative.
It is about being for or against the establishment, immigration, the European Union and globalisation.
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