Sunday, February 16, 2020

Six In The Morning Sunday 16 February 2020

Coronavirus: China announces drop in new cases for third straight day

China has announced a drop in new cases from the coronavirus outbreak for a third consecutive day.
On Sunday, authorities reported 2,009 new cases and 142 more deaths nationwide.
New cases spiked earlier in the week after a change in the way they were counted but have been falling ever since.
In total more than 68,000 people have been infected in China, with the death toll standing at 1,665.
Outside of China there have been more than 500 cases in nearly 30 countries. Four people have died - in France, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Japan.


Iran under growing pressure to hand over Ukraine jet black box

Canada, Ukraine, Britain and others ask for box to be sent to third country for examination

Canada and other countries whose nationals were killed in the Iranian strike on a Ukrainian civilian jet leaving Tehran have stepped up their requests for Iran to hand over the black box to a third party for examination.
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has suggested specialist equipment should be sent to Tehran to help the Iranians decrypt the contents of the black box and has given a commitment the box will not be opened except in the presence of all interested parties. But with an impasse looming, western aviation experts have said it is not possible to send the cumbersome equipment to Tehran.
Victims of the crash on 8 January included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons. Canada, Ukraine, Germany, Britain and Afghanistan have a formed a group to pursue a thorough investigation of the incident.

Pete Buttigieg 'deserving of death' for being gay, says top evangelical Christian website

Former South Bend mayor first openly gay candidate seeking presidential nomination for major party



An influential evangelical Christian magazine has published an article claiming Democratic frontrunner Pete Buttigieg is “deserving of death” because he is openly gay.
In an article published by Charisma News, a website associated with the magazine Charisma, which was founded in1975, writer Bert Farias denounced the way people were celebrating the fact Mr Buttigieg was the first openly gay person seeking the presidential nomination for a major party.
He said, such celebrations marked the “death rattle of a nation”.

The Race to Succeed MerkelGermany's Conservatives Face a Fight for Their Future

Chancellor Angela Merkel's party is looking for a leader. But its current crisis shows that there is far more at stake: The Christian Democratic Union is fighting for its future direction, and perhaps for its very existence. By DER SPIEGEL Staff

On Tuesday evening, Friedrich Merz, 64, strode down a broad, wooden staircase to the ground floor of a villa in Magdeburg. He was there for the annual reception of Christian Democratic Union (CDU) economic advisers in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, but the celebrity reception he enjoyed far outstripped the rather prosaic nature of the event. It was standing-room-only at the back of the hall, with people craning their necks to catch a glimpse of Merz. The first speaker said excitedly: "Villa Toepffer has never experienced anything like this before!”

Victims thought they were paying millions to free hostages. But the 'minister' who asked them was a fraudster in a mask

Updated 0857 GMT (1657 HKT) February 16, 2020


There was a sense of urgency in the voice of the man claiming to be France's defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian.
"We're talking about the lives of French citizens and we would like to free them. If we don't, we expect the worst," the man said in an audio recording of a telephone solicitation obtained by CNN.
"I need to know if you can join us in this mission so we can carry it out and if the answer is 'yes' then I will alert the presidency to say we have someone who can act as a mediator for us."
    On the receiving end of the telephone line was Olivier de Boisset, a Frenchman who heads an IT company in Niger.

    'A mockery of us': Victims' families decry ex-Colombia army chief

    Families of men killed in 'false positives' scandal accuse Mario Montoya of withholding information in JEP hearing.


    Families of young men extrajudicially killed by Colombia's army in what is known as the "false positives" scandal accused former army chief Mario Montoya this week of "making a mockery" of them and of withholding key information behind the widespread execution of civilians that resulted in at least 2,248 dead.

    In a widely anticipated multi-day hearing that started on Wednesday, the retired general was expected to disclose new details about the "false positives" scandal. For decades, the Colombian army killed civilians, dressed them in rebel fatigues, and recorded their deaths as enemy combat kills to inflate body counts and support claims that they were winning the war against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

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