Saturday, March 31, 2018
South Africa Corruption Inc
Investigating a major scandal that exposes the corrupt relationship between business and politics in South Africa.
Last month, South African President Jacob Zuma was forced from office by his own party, the African National Congress, when almost a decade's worth of corruption, bribery and racketeering allegations finally became too great to ignore.
It is possible that within weeks he could appear in court to face charges relating to at least one of the many financial intrigues from his years in power.
His most infamous former associates, the billionaire Gupta brothers, are now fugitives from justice amid claims that during the Zuma years they systemically looted state assets on a truly astonishing scale - principally by using their friendship with the then president to influence political appointments and win lucrative government contracts.
Six In The Morning Saturday March 31
Malala returns to home town in Pakistan for first time since shooting
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai has returned to her home town in Pakistan for the first time since she was shot there by Taliban militants, security officials say.
Ms Yousafzai, 20, was shot in the head by a gunman for campaigning for female education in 2012.
Her family's home region of Swat was once a militant stronghold, and she was attacked on a school bus there at 15.
It had been unclear if she would visit the area because of security concerns.
On Thursday, it was announced that Ms Yousafzai had returned from the UK to Pakistan for the first time since she was attacked.
Gaza clashes: UN secretary general calls for 'transparent' investigation
Security council urges restraint on both sides at emergency meeting
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has called for an independent investigation into deadly clashes in Gaza between Palestinians and Israeli troops, while security council members urged restraint on both sides.
The council did not decide on any action or joint message after an emergency meeting on Friday evening. Kuwait convened it hours after the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 cross-border war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist militant group that rules the coastal strip.
Fifteen people were killed and more than 750 wounded by Israeli fire as thousands of Palestinian protesters marched to Gaza’s border with Israel, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Mauritania jails slave owners for up to 20 years
A court in Mauritania has sentenced two slave owners to between 10 and 20 years in jail. Human rights activists have celebrated the ruling, which they say is the harshest anti-slavery decision in the country's history.
The two cases were brought by former slaves in the northwestern town of Nouadhibou, activists said Friday.
A special court delivered its verdict on Wednesday, jailing a man for 20 years and a woman for 10 years, a judicial source said.
The man was found guilty of enslaving a family, including two children, while the woman was accused of holding three sisters as slaves.
15 cents per km: Indonesian gig-economy drivers fed up with low wages
Protests on the streets of Indonesia's capital are nothing new.
From the downfall of former president Suharto, nigh on 20 years ago, when students took to the streets en masse to the more recent protests against former governor Ahok - a lazy 200,000 converged on central Jakarta for one rally in December 2016 - Indonesians aren't afraid to make themselves heard.
And so, last Tuesday, thousands of ojek (the Bahasa word for motor cycle taxi) drivers swarmed to the Jalan Meda Merdeka Barat, across the road from the Presidential palace, to voice their concern about pay and conditions.
Steam leak prompts power generation to halt at Kyushu nuclear plant
Kyushu Electric Power Co stopped generating and supplying electricity at its nuclear reactor in southwestern Japan on Saturday after detecting a steam leak the previous day.
The utility said there has been no radiation leak and that it will inspect the reactor, which resumed operation only a week ago at the Genkai power plant in Saga Prefecture.
According to Kyushu Electric, staff discovered at around 7 p.m. Friday that steam was leaking from the pipe of a device used for the removal of oxygen and other dissolved gases from the feedwater to steam generators.
IN AN ORLANDO courtroom this morning, a 12-person jury, after three days of deliberation, found Noor Salman, the widow of Pulse attacker Omar Mateen, not guilty on all charges. Salman had been accused of providing material support of terrorism, based on the accusation that she aided her deceased husband in the 2016 Pulse attack, as well as obstruction of justice for allegedly lying to the FBI. She will now be a free woman.
As The Intercept has been reporting, the prosecution of Salman was bizarre and dubious from the start. Salman has no history of any political or religious radicalism, and was a victim of her husband’s violent abuse, not his partner or collaborator. Worse, Justice Department prosecutors got caught lying to the court, by telling the judge — when successfully demanding that Salman be held for the last year without bail — that she had “cased” the Pulse nightclub with her husband, an assertion the FBI quickly determined was false.
Friday, March 30, 2018
Why the Stormy Daniels and Summer Zervos lawsuits matter
Donald Trump has had many allegations of scandal and sexual misconduct made against him and has made it through them with little consequence. But now, two lawsuits might change that.
Syria: The Last Assignment
Cameraman Yasser al-Jumaili's unseen footage takes us into the lives of Syrian rebels – but he pays the ultimate price.
This film tells us a story we were not supposed to hear. In it, we see images we were not supposed to see.
On November 20, 2013, Iraqi freelance cameraman Yasser Faisal al-Jumaili crossed the Turkish border into Syria with his trusted Syrian fixer Jomah Alqasem.
The Syrian war had been raging for two-and-a-half years and now saw the various rebel groups splitting one from another, mostly around ideological differences.
Six In The Morning Friday March 30
Russia expels US diplomats and shuts consulate in tit-for-tat move
Updated 0526 GMT (1326 HKT) March 30, 2018
Russia will expel 60 US diplomats and close the US Consulate in St. Petersburg, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday, in retaliation for a similar move by Washington.
The 60 diplomats -- 58 from the US mission in Moscow and two from Yekaterinburg -- were declared "persona non grata" for activities "incompatible with diplomatic status," the ministry said, ordering them to leave the country by April 5.
US Ambassador Jon Huntsman had been summoned to the Foreign Ministry to be told of the decision, Lavrov said.
In response, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said that Moscow "should not be acting like a victim."
The long read
Two minutes to midnight: did the US miss its chance to stop North Korea’s nuclear programme?
An unprecedented US mission to Pyongyang in 1999 promised to defuse Kim’s nuclear threat. But it all came to nothing – and then the hawks took power. By Julian BorgerFri 30 Mar 2018 06.00 BST
Pyongyang International is one of the world’s quieter airports. The country’s chronic isolation means that there are not many places to fly, and few foreigners keen on visiting. At least until a new terminal was built in 2012, many of the flights on the departure boards were just for show, giving the appearance of connection with the outside world. They never actually took off.
Against this melancholy backdrop, one day in late May 1999, something quite extraordinary happened. An official plane bearing the blue-and-white livery of the US government and emblazoned with the stars and stripes landed and taxied along the runway. The plane was carrying a former defence secretary, William Perry, who had been brought back from retirement by President Bill Clinton to try to end the frozen conflict between the US and North Korea. With a small group of aides, Perry was embarking on a mission that he hoped would avert a return to the armed stand-off that had brought the two countries to the brink of war five years earlier.
Israel lines up snipers and special forces along border with Gaza Strip as Hamas organises mass protests
Military personnel say they will not allow crowds to breach fence or damage army infrastructure
A Palestinian farmer was killed by an Israeli tank shell in the Gaza Strip early on Friday, hours before Palestinians were to stage mass sit-ins along the border with Israel, a health official and a witness said.
Ahead of the protests, called for by Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers, Israel’s military said it doubled its standard troop level along the border, deploying snipers, special forces and paramilitary border police units, which specialise in riot control.
Hamas has said the activities would be peaceful and the chief Israeli military spokesman, brigadier general Ronen Manelis, said Israel wants to avoid violence.
Can foreign 'Islamic State' fighters' kids return to Europe?
Should the children of foreign IS fighters in Iraq and Syria be allowed to return home? Security agencies are alarmed, but aid workers say they're no danger if they get proper support. Judit Neurink reports from Irbil.
Thousands of children left behind by Western IS fighters are currently stuck in limbo, locked up with their mothers in Iraqi or Syrian prisons, as politicians in their countries of origin debate whether they have an obligation to bring them home.
While grandparents in the Netherlands and Belgium are demanding the return of the kids as their citizens, governments are dragging their feet. The authorities say they may be dangerous and that allowing the children to reunite with their grandparents might encourage their IS parents to return home.
Sacramento mourns man killed by police, and protests
A standing-room-only crowd packed a church Thursday to celebrate the life of a 22-year-old black man who was killed by Sacramento police, spurring protests in California’s capital and a resolve to change police departments around the country.
The musical and scriptural celebration of Stephon Clark’s life was interrupted by his emotional brother Stevante, who hugged and kissed the casket, led the crowd in chanting his brother’s name, pounded his chest and shouted. Others on the stage attempted to calm him, with limited success.
The Rev. Al Sharpton hugged and consoled him and told the crowd not to judge how families grieve.
Abe to raise North Korean abductions at Trump summit
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday he would explain Japan's stance on the North Korean abduction of Japanese citizens in a meeting with Donald Trump, ahead of the U.S. president's planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Japan's government worries the emotive matter of the abductees, which Abe has made a key issue during his political career, will take a back seat to nuclear and missile issues in the U.S.-North Korean summit.
"I plan to visit the Unites States next month and have a summit meeting with President Trump and discuss the North Korean situation," Abe said.
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Has N Korea won vital China support before the Trump summit?
Kim Jong-un visits China for his first overseas trip as North Korea's leader.
China has reminded the world it has a crucial role in any nuclear bomb and missile talks before Kim Jong-un's planned summits with both the South Korean and US presidents.
The North Korean leader's secretive talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in China's capital, Beijing, which were not confirmed until he returned home, appear aimed at improving the leverage of both countries.
Ties between the longtime allies frayed recently as China supported tougher United Nations sanctions on North Korea and suspended coal and iron ore imports. But over the past couple of days in Beijing, it's all smiles and friendly handshakes.
Six In The Morning Thursday March 29
Malala Yousafzai returns to Pakistan for first time since shooting
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai has returned to Pakistan for the first time since being shot by Taliban militants.
Ms Yousafzai, now aged 20 and a vocal human rights activist, was shot in the head by a gunman for campaigning for female education in 2012.
Soon after arriving she met Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
Details of the trip have been kept secret "in view of the sensitivity", officials say.
Pakistani television broadcast video that appeared to show her with her parents at Islamabad's Benazir Bhutto International Airport under tight security.
Kim Jong-un agrees to meet South Korea president at summit on 27 April
What will be only the third-ever such meeting was announced on Thursday when senior officials from the two Koreas met
The leaders of North and South Korea have agreed to hold a summit at a village on the border between the two countries on 27 April, only the third-ever such meeting and another sign of a thaw in relations.
Senior officials of the two Koreas met on Thursday to prepare for a rare inter-Korean summit, days after the nuclear-armed North’s leader Kim Jong-un made his international debut with a surprise trip to China.
Three journalists killed in 24 hours highlights India press freedom problem, watchdog groups warn
Three Indian journalists have been killed in deliberate hit-and-run accidents and their deaths highlight an issue with freedom of the press in the world's largest democracy, according to watchdog groups.
Sandeep Sharma in Madhya Pradesh state, and Navin Nischal and Vijay Singh in Bihar state were all killed within the span of 24 hours. The incidents appeared to be unrelated though Mr Sharma had been investigating a controversial story at the time of his death and Mr Nischal and Mr Singh had just gotten into an argument with a local politician after filing a story.
Anti-Semitic bullying of Jewish schoolgirl causes outrage in Germany
News that a Jewish girl in Berlin was bullied by Muslim classmates has provoked strong reactions. Germany's Central Council of Jews has demanded countermeasures, saying Muslim associations must assume responsibility.
Josef Schuster has always shown composure. The 64-year-old president of the Central Council Of Jews in Germany often appears calm and collected when dealing with the press. Yet, the case at hand has left even him speechless.
The case involves a second-grade girl at a Berlin elementary school who was bullied by Muslim classmates for months about her Jewish heritage. Speaking with DW, Schuster squarely placed blame on the adults with whom the children have daily contact.
No rest for the dead in Abidjan’s chaotic cemeteries
Far from being resting places for the dead, cemeteries in Abidjan, the economic capital of the Ivory Coast, have become waste yards full of garbage, weeds and vandalised tombs, according to locals. Armed with photos of the worsening conditions, one of our Observers is trying to fight against this situation. He blames both the lack of investment by the authorities and the high price of burial plots, which pushes some families to bury their deceased loved ones illegally.
There are five different cemeteries in Abidjan district, located in the municipalities of Koumassi, Port-Bouët, Williamsville, Yopougon and Abidjan proper. The cemeteries are managed by the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development.
However, Abidjan resident Hamadou Sawadogo is one of many who thinks that the authorities aren’t fulfilling their management and upkeep duties. Sawadogo first noticed the sorry state of the city’s cemeteries after his parents died 12 years ago.
Boy in viral hug photo missing after family's car plunges off cliff
Updated 0556 GMT (1356 HKT) March 29, 2018
A Washington family was killed after their SUV plunged 100 feet off a coastal highway in California, landing on its roof in the Pacific Ocean, officials said Wednesday.
The bodies of Jennifer and Sarah Hart and three of their six children were found Monday in and around the vehicle, Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said. Their three other children are missing.
Among the missing children is 15-year-old Devonte, who made national headlines in 2014 when he appeared in a photo taken during a Ferguson-related protest in Portland, Oregon. The photo, which went viral, shows a tearful Devonte hugging a police officer.
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Malala Yousafzai returns to Pakistan for first time since Taliban shooting
Nobel peace prize recipient expected to spend four days in her native country, including a meeting with the prime minister
The Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai has returned to Pakistan, in her first visit to her native country since she was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman for advocating education for girls in 2012.
Precise details of her itinerary have been “kept secret in view of the sensitivity surrounding the visit”, a government official said of the trip, which is expected to last four days and include a meeting with the prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
Accompanied by her parents, the 20-year-old Yousafzai was escorted through Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto international airport under tight security, according to still photographs broadcast on local television.
Malala has become a global symbol for human rights and a vocal campaigner for girls’ education since a gunman boarded her school bus in the Swat valley on 9 October 2012, asked “Who is Malala?” and shot her.
Considering the continued threat she's under for the Taliban it's rather extraordinary that she would return. That said it is home and she has stated she missed the mountains, rivers and valleys of the region where she lived until the age of 14.
Seeking Justice in Mexico, US and Turkey
Mothers march against US police violence; activists lobby for change in Turkey; friends search for Mexico's disappeared.
After her unarmed son, Dontre Hamilton, was shot and killed by a police officer in Milwaukee, US, Maria Hamilton formed Mothers for Justice to bring together women who have lost their children to police or vigilante violence.
After months of organising, the mothers took their demands to Washington, DC.
"I found out that justice wasn't served in any of these [other mothers' cases] and it was overwhelming," says Maria. "We are ordering a national call for the DoJ (Department of Justice) to have special prosecutors, people who do not have any links to the police officers or the DA's (District Attorney) office."
Six In The Morning Wednesday March 28
Kim Jong-un paid 'unofficial' visit to Beijing, Chinese state media confirms
North Korean leader pledges his commitment to denuclearising the Korean peninsula during his first overseas trip since he took power in 2011
China has confirmed that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has visited Beijing, where he met the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and pledged his commitment to denuclearising the Korean peninsula.
Confirming several reports over the last two days, Xinhua state news agency said Kim had been in China on an “unofficial visit” from Sunday to Wednesday.
According to Xinhua, Kim told Xi the situation on the Korean peninsula was “starting to get better”. He said: “It is our consistent stand to be committed to denuclearisation on the peninsula, in accordance with the will of late President Kim Il-sung and late General Secretary Kim Jong-il.”
These are the faces of those who have been affected by the siege of Eastern Ghouta
Robert Fisk discovers it would take a year, if not a decade, to understand the killing and the cynicism and the innocent suffering behind this epic battleThey were frightened – traumatised might be our medical definition – but the civilians from Douma in Eastern Ghouta were alive. Sat quietly on the government bus that had brought them to the Arbeen crossing were the children with their mothers, the old men, watchful, the younger men – there were not so many of them – looking out of the windows. When we climbed aboard alone with them, notebook in hand and camera moving across the passengers, they sat like extras in a movie, faces from the siege. Were they silent because they were fearful of the future? Or because they were still trying to frame their own suffering of the past?
We were all aware of the usual rumours; that those armed jihadis who had refused the Russian conditions for leaving the besieged villages and fields of Ghouta would shell the refugees to discourage them from crossing. Rubbish. Or that’s what we thought until a mortar swished over the buses and crashed in the powdered rubble 30 metres away. The refugees – for that is what they were now after the tunnels of Ghouta – turned their heads like birds towards the cloud of smoke rising into the sky, and the Syrian soldiers outside ran towards the buses. A general climbed aboard. “Get these buses moving!” he shouted.
Opinion: Vladimir Putin's diplomatic catastrophe
The Kremlin will continue fighting the West without rules, and a diplomatic boycott will not stop it, writes Russian journalist Konstantin Eggert. Retreat would signify defeat, as far as Moscow is concerned.
"I don't believe it!" This was what Konstantin Stanislavsky, the father of modern Russian theater, told actors when he was not satisfied with their performance. The United Kingdom and its two dozen allies around the world spoke on March 26 as a collective Stanislavsky.
"You are lying!" This is the message behind an unprecedented expulsion of Russian diplomats by countries of the European Union, the United States, Canada and Australia. This demarche will now be included in all textbooks on the history of international relations. Even Saddam Hussein and the Kim dynasty in North Korea were spared such public humiliation. This is a serious political and diplomatic victory for British Prime Minister Theresa May.
Poverty drives some Kenyans to rent out their wives
Poverty and unpredictable tourism industry forcing men on the east coast to send spouses into prostitution.by Osman Mohamed Osman
It's a cloudy Sunday morning in Kenya's Kwale county and Sande Ramadan just woke up to get ready for another weekend of work.
Wearing a green vest and khaki shorts, he washes his face and proceeds to the living room where his wife Janet Wambui serves him breakfast.
"Thanks for waking me up, I hate being late for my client," the dreadlocked father of three tells his wife. "She asked me to be with her until next weekend," he adds as he sips black tea.
At Least Twelve States to Sue Trump Administration Over Census Citizenship Question
At least 12 states signaled Tuesday that they would sue to block the Trump administration from adding a question about citizenshipto the 2020 census, arguing that the change would cause fewer Americans to be counted and violate the Constitution.
The New York State attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, said he was leading a multistate lawsuit to stop the move, and officials in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington said they would join the effort. The State of California filed a separate lawsuit late Monday night.
“The census is supposed to count everyone,” said Attorney General Maura Healey of Massachusetts. “This is a blatant and illegal attempt by the Trump administration to undermine that goal, which will result in an undercount of the population and threaten federal funding for our state and cities.”
GSDF sees biggest shake-up amid N Korea, China tensions
Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force underwent its biggest organizational shake-up Tuesday, in the midst of a challenging security environment, with its command streamlined for flexible operations nationwide and the creation of amphibious forces tasked with defending remote islands.
The launch of the Ground Component Command to provide unified command over regional armies and the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, Japan's version of the U.S. Marines, came as Tokyo seeks to beef up its defenses against North Korea's nuclear and missile programs and China's maritime assertiveness.
"We are expecting more situations in which the Ground, Maritime and Air Self-Defense Forces have to work together to rapidly respond at a nationwide level against ballistic missile launches, attacks on islands and major disasters," Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said at a press conference, emphasizing the role of the Ground Component Command on such occasions.
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