Saturday, June 30, 2018
Child Soldiers Reloaded: The Privatisation of War
How private companies recruit former child soldiers for military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
From opportunistic guns for hire on the fringe of domestic conflicts to a global force operating within a multibillion-dollar industry - the private military sector seems to be flourishing.
As armies and war increasingly become 'outsourced', private military companies have taken on a wider increasing range of responsibilities, from security and intelligence analysis to training and combat roles.
Six In The Morning Saturday June 30
North Korea still secretly enriching uranium, say US officials
Report cites ‘unequivocal evidence they are trying to deceive the US’ in blow to Donald Trump
North Korea has increased its production of enriched uranium for nuclear weapons at secret sites in recent months, contrary to Donald Trump’s claims that it was “no longer a nuclear threat”, according to a new report.
NBC News quoted more than a dozen US officials familiar with the intelligence assessments. Coming soon after satellite images showed rapid improvements being made to a North Korean nuclear research facility at Yongbyon, the developments will make it harder for Trump to claim that his summit with Kim Jong-un in Singapore this month was a success.
Neither of the concessions the US president claimed Kim had delivered – the destruction of a missile engine testing site, and the repatriation of the remains of US soldiers killed in the Korean war – has materialised so far.
Young people being radicalised into violence by music videos and social media, former gang member warns
‘Isis does similar things, in my view I see these guys doing the same thing but with a different narrative’
Young people are being “radicalised” into violence by music videos and social media, a former gang member has warned amid a national rise in stabbings.
Raheel Butt, who now works to turn teenagers away from crime, compared the techniques used by London gangs to Isis and the Taliban.
He put the current increase in violence down to a “combination of radicalisation, extremism, gangs and serious organised crime”.
US considering troop withdrawal from Germany, report says
European officials are reportedly trying to figure out if a US evaluation of the impact of moving troops from Germany is a negotiating ploy ahead of a NATO summit in July. Some 35,000 US troops are stationed in Germany.
The US Department of Defense is examining options for withdrawing US forces stationed in Germany after President Donald Trump expressed interest in such a move, The Washington Post reported on Friday.
The newspaper, citing anonymous sources familiar with the evaluation, said officials were analyzing the cost and consequences of shifting either some or all 35,000 US troops to the US or Poland. Top defense officials, the paper said, have not been involved in the analysis.
7 days in the dark: How the Thailand cave search unfolded
Updated 0846 GMT (1646 HKT) June 30, 2018
Around 1 p.m. last Saturday, the weather was clear when Prajak Sutham, 14, Pipat Bhodi, 15, and some of their soccer teammates chained their bikes to a rail, hooked their backpacks over their shoulders, and hiked into Tham Luang Nang Non cave in the mountains of northern Thailand.
The 12 boys, members of the Wild Boars soccer team, and their 25-year-old coach, had explored inside the cave before.
Popular with tourists, it's a place locals know well. For the first kilometer (0.6 miles) or so inside the cavernous entrance, limestone rock formations hug high ceilings, creating an almost amphitheater-like atmosphere.
Supreme Court: Trump to name nominee on 9 July
US President Donald Trump says he plans to announce his nominee for a new Supreme Court judge on 9 July.
He told reporters on board the presidential aircraft Air Force One he had narrowed the choice down to "about five" candidates, including two women.
The vacancy arose when Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement earlier this week.
It gives President Trump the opportunity to solidify a conservative majority on the top court.
His nominee will need to be confirmed by the Senate where the president's Republican Party holds a narrow majority.
Japanese fishermen fear confrontation with N Korean boats
Today 04:02 pm JST
U.S. President Donald Trump has declared North Korea is no longer a threat, but that doesn't make the Japanese fishermen of Sakata feel any easier as they leave port for the peak fishing season.
Instead, they worry they will have to confront North Korean fishing boats competing for their prized catch of squid in the fertile waters of the Yamato Shallows, 400 kilometers off Japan's northwestern coast and an area Tokyo says is its exclusive economic zone.
In a ceremony marking the start of the fishing season this month, captains of Sakata's fleet prayed for a safe fishing season and plentiful harvest. Children threw colorful ribbons onto ship decks as crewmen waved to their families from departing ships.
Friday, June 29, 2018
Italy: The Mafia and the Migrants
People & Power investigates the Italian mafia's scams to profit from the plight of desperate migrants and refugees.
More than 600,000 migrants have arrived by boat in southern Italy over the past four years - seeking sanctuary from war, persecution and extreme poverty across the Mediterranean.
At first, most Italians were as tolerant and patient with the new arrivals as any other European might have been - or at least gave shrugging acceptance to their country's place in the front line of the refugee crisis.
But frustration at the continuing (if not declining) influx, the heavy burden it's believed to have placed on the country's struggling economy and anger at other European nations for not doing more to help, has seen public attitudes harden significantly.
Six In The Morning Friday June 29
Migrant crisis: EU leaders plan closed migrant centres
Closed migrant centres are to be set up in EU states to process asylum claims under a deal reached after marathon talks at a leaders summit in Brussels.
The centres, hosted on a voluntary basis, would determine who are illegal migrants "who will be returned".
Italy - the entry point for thousands of migrants, mainly from Africa - had threatened to veto the summit's entire agenda if it did not receive help.
Resettlement of genuine refugees would also take place on a voluntary basis.
There were no details on which countries would host the centres or receive refugees.
The numbers illegally entering the EU have dropped 96% since their 2015 peak, the European Council says.
The great firewall of China: Xi Jinping’s internet shutdown
Before Xi Jinping, the internet was becoming a more vibrant political space for Chinese citizens. But today the country has the largest and most sophisticated online censorship operation in the world. By Elizabeth C Economy
Fri 29 Jun 2018 06.00 BST
In December 2015, thousands of tech entrepreneurs and analysts, along with a few international heads of state, gathered in Wuzhen, in southern China, for the country’s second World Internet Conference. At the opening ceremony the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, set out his vision for the future of China’s internet. “We should respect the right of individual countries to independently choose their own path of cyber-development,” said Xi, warning against foreign interference “in other countries’ internal affairs”.
No one was surprised by what they heard. Xi had already established that the Chinese internet would be a world unto itself, with its content closely monitored and managed by the Communist party. In recent years, the Chinese leadership has devoted more and more resources to controlling content online. Government policies have contributed to a dramatic fall in the number of postings on the Chinese blogging platform Sina Weibo (similar to Twitter), and have silenced many of China’s most important voices advocating reform and opening up the internet.
The 'ultimate deal' that Jared Kushner is proposing for Palestine would strip the people of all their dignity
After three Arab-Israeli wars, tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths and millions of refugees, does Kushner really believe that the Palestinians will settle for cash?
Is there no humiliation left for the Palestinians? After Oslo, after the “two state solution”, after the years of Israeli occupation – of “Area A” and “Area C” to define which kind of occupation the Palestinians must live under – after the vast Jewish colonisation of land thieved from its Arab owners, after the mass killings of Gaza, and Trump’s decision that Jerusalem, all of Jerusalem, must be the capital of Israel, are the Palestinians going to be asked to settle for cash and a miserable village? Is there no shame left?
For the Palestinians are soon to be awarded the “ultimate deal” – “ultimate”, as in the last, definitive, terminal, conclusive, no-more-cards-to-play, cash-in-your-chips, go-for-broke, take-it-or-leave-it, to-hell-with-you, cease-and-desist, endgame “deal”. A pitiful village as a capital, no end to colonisation, no security, no army, no independent borders, no unity – in return for a huge amount of money, billions of dollars and euros, millions of pounds, zillions of dinars and shekels and spondulix and filthy lucre, the real “moolah”.
Iraq executes 12 death row jihadists in response to killings
Iraq executed a dozen death row jihadists on the order of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, his office said Friday, in retaliation for the Islamic State group's murder of eight captives.
The executions on Thursday came shortly after Abadi ordered the "immediate" implementation of the death sentences of hundreds of convicted jihadists in response to the killings by IS.
"By order of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, 12 terrorists sentenced to death (whose appeals were exhausted) were executed on Thursday," a statement released by Abadi's office said.
It did not specify how they were executed but death sentences in terrorism-related cases are usually carried out by hanging.
Facing a constant threat of rape and harassment, the women of New Delhi fight back
Updated 0309 GMT (1109 HKT) June 29, 2018
The women, dressed in colorful saris, giggle as they arrange themselves into rows.
It's Friday morning in a small apartment in southern Delhi, where about 45 women ranging in age from 28 to 50 are forming orderly lines.
These women are not waiting in a queue or getting ready for yoga; they are preparing to fight.
Authorities in India's capital are increasingly trying to train women to survive the hostile and dangerous environment they continue to face on its streets after a series of highly publicized rapes rocked the country.
A baby was treated with a nap and a bottle of formula. His parents received an $18,000 bill.
An ER patient can be charged thousands of dollars in “trauma fees” — even if they weren’t treated for trauma.
By
On the first morning of Jang Yeo-im’s vacation to San Francisco in 2016, her eight-month-old son Park Jeong-whan fell off the bed in the family’s hotel room and hit his head.
There was no blood, but the baby was inconsolable. Jang and her husband worried he might have an injury they couldn’t see, so they called 911, and an ambulance took the family — tourists from South Korea — to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.
The doctors at the hospital quickly determined that baby Jeong-whan was fine — just a little bruising on his nose and forehead. He took a short nap in his mother’s arms, drank some infant formula, and was discharged a few hours later with a clean bill of health. The family continued their vacation, and the incident was quickly forgotten.
Thursday, June 28, 2018
CBS News interview with ICE whistleblower interrupted by surprise visit from government agents (video)
In his first television interview, former Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson James Schwab has opened up about why he abruptly resigned in March. But his interview with CBS News' Jamie Yuccas on Wednesday was unexpectedly interrupted by agents identifying themselves as agents from the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General's Office.
"They just said that they wanted to talk to me about the leak with the Oakland mayor," Schwab said of his conversation with the agents.
Before the surprise visit, Schwab told Yuccas that both the Obama and Trump White Houses asked him to "spin" information. But he said he felt compelled to resign after the current administration told him to lie about an incident that pitted the government against Oakland's mayor.
Why are children being used as soldiers in Yemen?
Both pro-government forces and Houthis are accused of enlisting children to fight.
The port city of Hudaida is under attack.
An United Nations report obtained exclusively by Al Jazeera details child victims worldwide. It found that at least 1,300 children were killed and maimed in Yemen last year.
The UN says Saudi-led coalition's air attacks were responsible for more than half of child deaths and injuries.
While Houthi fighters were responsible for the killing of 83 children, the rest of the casualties were blamed on Yemen's pro-government forces and Al-Qaeda.
Both the Houthis and coalition forces are accused of recruiting child soldiers - numbering some 842 with many as young as 11.
Six In The Morning Thursday June 28
China will not give up 'any inch of territory' in the Pacific, Xi tells Mattis
Updated 0625 GMT (1425 HKT) June 28, 2018
China will not give up "any inch of territory" in the Pacific Ocean, President Xi Jinping told US Defense Secretary James Mattis Wednesday during a visit to Beijing.
"Our stance is steadfast and clear-cut when it comes to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Xi said, according to state media, adding that "any inch of territory passed down from ancestors can not be lost while we want nothing from others."
Mattis' meeting with Xi inside the Great Hall of the People comes as relations between Washington and Beijing have been marred recently by rising tensions -- not only by an impending trade war but also by both militaries viewing each other with increasing suspicion and alarm.
How the Red Hen affair broke America's civility wars wide open
A restaurant’s choice to eject Trump’s press secretary stoked debate on how liberals should behave in an era of outrage
Arefugee from what is now South Sudan, David Acuoth remarked to compatriots recently that America increasingly reminds him of home. “Where we have ethnic tribes, here it is ideological tribes,” says the political consultant, based in Washington.
The latest evidence, Acuoth believes, came last Friday night when the White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, was told to leave a restaurant in Virginia, touching off debate over “civility” and the implications – moral and tactical – of abrasive public shaming. Donald Trump seized on this and other incidents in a characteristic bid to cast himself as a victim and rally sympathy and support.
Germany on track to return more asylum-seekers within EU than 2017
Germany has witnessed an apparent increase in the number of asylum seekers returned to EU member states. Under pressure to find a bloc-wide solution, the German chancellor has found support from some unlikely leaders.
German authorities returned 4,100 asylum-seekers between January and the end of May to the EU country responsible for processing their application, according to information given in response to a parliamentary inquiry from the Left Party also seen by DW.
If the January and May figures remain relatively constant for the rest of the year, then a total of around 10,000 would be sent back, compared to 7,102 asylum-seekers returned in 2017.
'I cried when I saw the pitch,' say Iranian women finally allowed in stadium
Although Iran just missed out on qualifying for the World Cup's final 16, its fans have a lot to be cheerful about. Not only did 'Team Melli', the country's national team, play extremely well, but there was something else that made supporters celebrate. Female supporters were able to enter a stadium to watch a live broadcast of the Iran-Portugal match on Monday, June 25. Women have been banned from entering stadiums ever since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
It happened once before, just five days earlier, when female supporters were authorised to go to Tehran's Azadi stadium to watch the broadcast of Iran's match with Spain on June 20. But the fact that it occurred a second time made it feel like it wasn't a fluke.
It happened once before, just five days earlier, when female supporters were authorised to go to Tehran's Azadi stadium to watch the broadcast of Iran's match with Spain on June 20. But the fact that it occurred a second time made it feel like it wasn't a fluke.
For the first match the Azadi stadium had announced that "families" were allowed to go to the event, without making it clear whether women were included in the term "family". But it turned out that they were - and thousands of women made the most of the opportunity.
Kim Jong-nam murder suspects are trained killers, trial told
By Eileen Ng
Two Southeast Asian women on trial for killing the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader are trained assassins who used "criminal force" to rub the toxic VX nerve agent on Kim Jong-nam's eyes and face, prosecutors say.
The women's claim that they were duped by North Korean agents into thinking they were playing a harmless prank for a hidden camera show was an "ingenious attempt ... to cover up their sinister plot in order to obscure the eyes of the public and the court," prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin told the court in his closing arguments.
A titanic battle over replacing Justice Kennedy looms in the Senate
Keep an eye on the two pro-abortion rights Republican senators.
By
The retirement of the Supreme Court’s swing justice, Anthony Kennedy, sets up an enormously consequential confirmation battle over his replacement in the narrowly divided Senate for later this year.
Kennedy announced he’s stepping down as an active justice on July 31. President Donald Trump has already made clear he’ll choose a replacement relatively quickly. Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Wednesday, “We will vote to confirm Justice Kennedy’s successor this fall.” And after McConnell’s rules change last year, only a simple majority is necessary to get a Supreme Court justice through the Senate.
But while Republicans do currently control a majority in the chamber, it’s quite a narrow one. They have 51 seats, meaning they could theoretically confirm a new justice without any Democratic help. But Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been absent from Washington all year for health reasons. If McCain remains in his seat but unable to show up and vote, the Senate will effectively be composed of 50 Republicans and 49 Democrats — so, if any one Republican defects in a partisan vote, he or she can sink a nomination.
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Right-Wing 'Civility': A Collection (2009-2017)
When Beltway elites chastise people who stand up to the travesties of the Trump-led American right for being impolite and 'uncivil,' remind them of reality with this video.
Syria's chemical attacks: Smoke and mirrors, truth and lies
Insight into the seemingly impossible task of understanding the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian war.
Seen as one of the most contentious aspects of the Syrian war, the alleged use of chemical weapons has alternately shocked and confused media outlets and consumers alike.
Chemical attacks, said to be conducted by the Bashar al-Assad regime against rebel forces since 2012, have elicited the most widely broadcast footage of the war
Six In The Morning Tuesday June 27
Migrant separations: US judge orders family reunifications
A US judge has ordered that migrant children and their parents who were separated when they crossed into the US should be reunited within 30 days.
The judge issued the injunction in a case stemming from the administration's "zero-tolerance" policy.
Meanwhile the policy of breaking up families at the Mexico border is being challenged by 17 US states.
Democratic attorneys general from states including Washington, New York and California launched the lawsuit.
More than 2,300 migrant children have been separated from their parents since early May under the Trump administration's controversial policy, which seeks to criminally prosecute anyone crossing the border illegally.
North Korea making 'rapid' upgrades to nuclear reactor despite summit pledges
Monitoring group says work shows why a denuclearisation deal rather than a ‘statement of lofty goals’ is needed
North Korea has continued to upgrade its only known nuclear reactor used to fuel its weapons program, satellite imagery has shown, despite ongoing negotiations with the US and a pledge to denuclearise.
Infrastructure improvements at the Yongbyon nuclear plant are “continuing at a rapid pace”, according to an analysis by monitoring group 38 North of commercial satellite images taken on 21 June.
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has committed to “complete denuclearisation” in meetings with Donald Trump and South Korean president Moon Jae-in, but the details of how and when that will happen have not yet been decided. Kim announced earlier this year the the North’s nuclear arsenal and weapons capable of striking the US were complete, and the North closed its only known nuclear test site in May.
US ranked in top 10 most dangerous countries for women: poll
Experts in the poll said the Time's Up and #MeToo movements revealed a massive culture of sexual violence and harassment in the US
The United States is the 10th most dangerous country in the world for women, a new survey of experts shows.
Thomson Reuters Foundation surveyed 548 experts to determine which countries are seen as the worst for women.
The results make the US the only Western democracy to land in the top 10 of the list, alongside the likes of India, Afghanistan, and Somalia. The US tied with Syria in terms of he risks women face as far as sexual violence, harassment, sexual coercion, and women’s access to justice in cases of rape, according to the survey.
Israel asks Cyprus to consider port for Gaza
Israel's defense minister has said the proposal aims to "change the reality in the Gaza Strip." For years, the coastal enclave has been under a naval blockade, preventing it from receiving goods by water.
The Cypriot government on Tuesday said Israel has requested it examine the possibility of building a port facility for Gaza-destined goods to pass through.
Such a facility would provide a new way for goods to make it to the Gaza Strip, which is under a blockade by Israel and Egypt.
Streamlining deliveries
Myanmar officials 'played key role' in Rohingya ethnic cleansing
Amnesty International identifies 13 army officials for alleged role in crimes against humanity targeting Rohingya.by Saba Aziz
Amnesty International has accused and identified 13 senior Myanmar military officials for orchestrating crimes against humanity.
The report titled We Will Destroy Everything: Military Responsibility for Crimes against Humanity in Rakhine State, Myanmar, calls for an international investigation into the army's brutal crackdown on the country's ethnic Rohingya minority in northern Rakhine state.
In the report published on Wednesday, Amnesty said that there is overwhelming, credible evidence that Myanmar's military Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and nine of his subordinates in the armed forces, as well as three others in the Border Guard police (BGP), played a key role in ethnic cleansing.
Powerful quakes more likely to hit Hokkaido, Pacific coast
The government released this year's earthquake probability map of Japan on Tuesday, showing an increased likelihood of strong earthquakes occurring within the next 30 years across a wide area of the Pacific coast including parts of Hokkaido.
The map showed that Kushiro in Hokkaido saw a sharp increase in the probability of a powerful earthquake, measuring lower 6 or stronger on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7, in the next 30 years, jumping 22 percentage points to 69 percent.
The sharp rise reflected research suggesting major earthquakes accompanying massive tsunami have repeatedly occurred along Chishima trench off eastern Hokkaido in the past.
Elsewhere in Hokkaido, the likelihood rose 15 percentage points in both Nemuro and Hidaka to 78 percent and 70 percent, respectively.
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