Sunday, January 27, 2019

Six In The Morning Sunday January 27

Why a military spat between Japan and South Korea could snowball into crisis

Updated 0036 GMT (0836 HKT) January 27, 2019


Japan and South Korea are engaged in a heated military dispute that analysts say could damage the already tenuous geopolitical situation in northeast Asia if the two sides do not reach a resolution.
The spat began December 20 after an encounter between a Japanese plane, which Tokyo said was collecting intelligence, and a South Korean destroyer, which Seoul said was on a humanitarian mission.
Both sides disagree on what happened next -- the Japanese said the South Koreans targeted their aircraft with missile-targeting radar, while the South Koreans said the Japanese plane was flying dangerously low and that the radar "was not intended to trace any Japanese-controlled aircraft."


Can selling its homes for the price of an espresso save this Sicilian town?

Buyers flocked to Sambuca last week when it put empty houses on sale at €1 each in a bid to reverse decline. We joined the queue…

Darkness falls on the small town of Sambuca di Sicilia, where the council offices on Corso Umberto have been closed for more than three hours. And yet the phones keep ringing, hour after hour.
“They’re calling from Sydney, London, New York,” says the exhausted deputy mayor, Giuseppe Cacioppo. A week after the town announced it was putting up abandoned homes for sale at a euro each, he has fielded requests for information from all over the globe. By Wednesday last week the council had received more than 300 calls and 94,000 emails. Many prospective buyers, not wanting to miss out, grabbed the first available flight to Palermo.

Western corporations funding huge expansion of eco-damaging dairy factory farms in Sri Lanka, study finds

Exclusive: Rise of factory farming revealed in country at high risk of effects of climate change

Jane Dalton @JournoJane


Western corporations are pumping huge sums of money into developing industrial farming in Sri Lanka, research has found – despite warnings meat and dairy consumption must halve to avoid climate change
Food and farming giants are investing in a rapid expansion of intensive animal agriculture in the south Asian country, the researchers said.
Yet scientists believe it is one of the top two nations that will suffer most from tropical storms and floods.

Trophy TroubleThe Dark Side of Doing Business in Qatar

When Qatar almost had to open the 2015 World Handball Championship before the trophy had been made, an entrepreneur stepped in to help the emir and the country save face. Rather than getting paid, his life turned into a living hell.
We meet in Frankfurt, and the man is clearly afraid. Amar Rasheed has lost everything -- his company, his money and his trust. At times, he even loses his temper. His voice cracks and his eyes become deep voids. He has a letter in front of him from a lawyer who works for the Embassy of Qatar. Essentially, the letter states, in extremely dry German legalese, that Rasheed should go to hell.

The World Men's Handball Championship is currently underway, with teams competing to win the trophy, a golden hand holding a golden ball. Tournament champions have been raising the trophy since the World Championship in Qatar in 2015. Rasheed made a trophy just like it right before that championship. It was a rush job and everything had to be done very quickly. He had a company in Qatar and he wanted to protect the emir from "great shame." The sheikh, a man of honor who, according to Rasheed, suddenly found himself without a trophy shortly before the tournament because the real one apparently hadn't been delivered on time.

Roger Stone Made His Name as a Dirty Trickster, But the Trump-Russia Coverup May Finally Bring Him Down


January 27 2019, 

THE GOVERNMENT WAS shut down, but Robert Mueller kept working.
That became clear early Friday morning, when FBI agents arrested Roger Stone at his Florida home in connection with Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation. Stone later appeared in federal court to face charges that include witness tampering and making false statements to Congress.
Stone, a longtime ally of Donald Trump and a frenetic character with a reputation as a Republican dirty trickster who has been one of the most colorful figures in the Trump-Russia story, has finally been brought to heel. With this latest indictment, the special counsel is drawing ever closer to Trump’s inner circle.

Trudeau fires Canada's ambassador to China amid Huawei controversy


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has fired Canada's ambassador to China, John McCallum.
It follows controversial comments Mr McCallum made about an extradition case involving a senior executive from the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.
Mr Trudeau said in a statement he had asked John McCallum to step down, but did not offer a reason.
The detention of Meng Wanzhou, at the request of the US, angered China and soured Canada's relations with Beijing.
Ms Meng, Huawei's chief financial officer, is accused by the US of evading sanctions on Iran. Both she and Huawei deny those allegations.



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