Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Coronavirus: Lockdown Iran
An intimate portrait of life under lockdown in Iran during the coronavirus outbreak.
When COVID-19 hit Iran earlier his year, filmmaker Jamshid Mojaddadi was working on a project about a zoo - not far from his home and office in Mashhad, a city in the northeast of the country.
Then, suddenly, like so many people in this extraordinary year, his life was turned upside down as emergency government restrictions began to bite, businesses shut down and people retreated behind closed doors.
Cut adrift from his crew and his usual subject matter, he began documenting his own daily life instead.
Covid survivors may face life-long brain injuries
Specialists in brain injury are concerned that Covid-19 is causing strokes and other types of severe neurological damage. Doctors in London say many patients may be left with life-long brain injuries. It’s thought that the disease often causes many small blood clots which can damage the brain and other organs.
Lockdown Lite: Sweden's Model of Coronavirus Control
In Sweden they’re doing a ‘lockdown lite’ in response to COVID-19. The bars and restaurants have never closed, primary schools and child-care centres have stayed open. There’ve been some restrictions: high schools and universities are closed and agedcare facilities have been locked down. But social distancing and working from home are voluntary, recommended by a Government which trusts its citizens to do the right thing.
Trump not confronting Russia on U.S. soldier bounties slammed
Russia offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan, NBC News has confirmed. Political strategist and advisor to the Lincoln Project Steve Schmidt joins Joy Reid to discuss allegations that Donald Trump knew about this, and did nothing, telling AM JOY, ‘What a rancid moment in the life of the American nation.’
China passes controversial Hong Kong security law
China's National People's Congress has passed a controversial security law for Hong Kong that critics fear will give Beijing more control over the semi-autonomous territory. A standing committee of the Congress unanimously approved the bill. Beijing says it aims to tackle sedition, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. It has drawn international criticism for being at odds with the "one country, two systems" policy agreed by China when it took control of the former British colony in 1997.
A timeline of 1,944 Black Americans killed by police
Black Americans are more likely to be killed by police. The police are rarely held accountable.
Six In The Morning Tuesday 30 June 2020
China passes controversial Hong Kong national security law
Critics say the measure, which criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, devastates Hong Kong’s autonomy
Critics say the measure, which criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, devastates Hong Kong’s autonomy
Beijing has passed a sweeping national security law for Hong Kong that critics fear will crush political freedoms and pave the way for China to cement its control over the semi-autonomous territory.
Less than 40 days after Chinese lawmakers first proposed imposing an anti-sedition law on Hong Kong, the standing committee of the National People’s Congress on Tuesday unanimously approved the measure.
According to the official state news agency Xinhua, the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, signed a presidential order enacting the law that criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. The committee also voted to list the law in Hong Kong’s basic law, the city’s mini-constitution. Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, said in a statement that the law would come into effect later on Tuesday.
Germany investigating 30,000 potential suspects in pedophile probe
German officials say they are investigating thousands of leads as part of a widening investigation into a pedophile network. Some 70 suspects have so far been identified across Germany.
The cybercrime unit of the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia is investigating some 30,000 leads in a massive online child abuse probe, officials said on Monday.
The state justice ministry said the extent of abuse taking place and being shared online was "deeply disturbing."
"I hadn't reckoned with the extent of child abuse on the internet," said state Justice Minister Peter Beisenbach.
Iran upholds five-year jail sentence for French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah
Iran’s judiciary said on Tuesday that a five-year jail sentence for French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah had been upheld, semi-official news agency ISNA reported.
Adelkhah’s sentence, passed in May over “security charges including conspiring against national security”, was upheld by the appeals court and “she is going to serve five years” including time served since her arrest, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili told a televised news conference.
A research director at Sciences Po university in Paris, Adelkhah was arrested in June last year and has been in custody ever since.
The language of Black Lives Matter in Japanese
BY ANGELYN LABADAN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Following the killing of George Floyd in late May, the month of June echoed with marches in support of the ブラック・ライブズ・マター (Burakku Raibuzu Matā, Black Lives Matter) movement here in Japan.
Local media has been following the movement, too. Many use the katakana term ブラック・ライブズ・マター to refer to it, while newspapers have varied in their descriptions: 人種差別抗議デモ (jinshu sabetsu kōgi demo, protests against racial discrimination) was how Tokyo Shimbun put it, while Mainichi Shimbun went with 米黒人差別抗議デモ (bei kokujin sabetsu kōgi demo, protests against discrimination toward Black people in the States).
No matter how you describe it, people here are taking an interest.
Two teenagers shot in Seattle's Chop autonomous zone
A teenager has been killed and another critically wounded in a shooting in Seattle's autonomous zone.
One teenager, 16, was fatally shot and died after being taken to hospital. The other victim, 14, is in intensive care.
The zone, initially known as Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (Chaz) and now called Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (Chop), was set up amid protests over the killing of George Floyd.
As it is part of a protest against police brutality, it is self-policing.
The US has 4% of the world's population but 25% of its coronavirus cases
Updated 1110 GMT (1910 HKT) June 30, 2020
The United States has long prided itself as the world's shining beacon. But its current status is a much darker one: the globe's leader in coronavirus cases.
More than 125,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the US, and more than 2.5 million Americans have been infected.
American life has been irrevocably altered by the worst pandemic in a century. And as the country struggles to reopen, cases of Covid-19 have surged again -- this time in young people and in states that had previously avoided the brunt of the virus.
Monday, June 29, 2020
Selling Out West Papua
In West Papua, Indonesia, we investigate allegations of fraud and human rights abuses in billion-dollar land deals.
West Papua is home to Asia's largest remaining rainforests, Indigenous communities and unique species.
But this exclusive 101 East investigation reveals how Korean-run companies are allegedly engaging in questionable deals as they buy up forests to develop palm oil plantations.
Featuring rare access to a restive Indonesian province usually off-limits to journalists, we meet tribesmen who allege that Posco International and Korindo are plundering their land for a pittance.
UK has worst coronavirus death rate among similar countries
The latest comprehensive analysis of deaths during the pandemic reveals that the UK - and England especially - has suffered more deaths than similar countries in the G7 and Europe. Officially the UK government claims it's too early to make international comparisons. But when adjusted for size of population and the number of deaths expected in a normal year the UK comes out worst on almost every measure, compared with countries which are also past the first peak.
China forces birth control on Muslim women | DW News
An Associated Press investigation found that China's government is forcing birth control onto minority Muslim Uighur women. The news agency says it has evidence that women in Xianjian province have been subjected to forced sterilization and abortion to slash birth rates within the Muslim minority.
Studies indicate how the coronavirus will shape the future of work
Why the US has so many Filipino nurses
The US colonized a country and built a labor supply. Filipino nurses have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus in the US. That’s because they make up an outsized portion of the nursing workforce. About one-third of all foreign-born nurses in the US are Filipino. Since 1960, 150,000 Filipino nurses have come to work in the US. And that’s because over the past century the US built a pipeline that draws nurses from the Philippines every time it faces a shortage. This system began in the early 20th century when the US invaded and colonized the Philippines and lives on through today.
Multiple deaths after terrorist attack on Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi | DW News
Armed men attacked the Pakistan Stock Exchange building in Karachi on Monday, killing at least three people — two guards and one policeman — as well as the four assailants, according to police. Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said the attackers pulled up in a car outside the trading floor and hurled a grenade at the building before opening fire.
Six In The Morning Monday 29 June 2020
As the pandemic rages, Trump indulges his obsessions
Updated 0902 GMT (1702 HKT) June 29, 2020
With the pandemic exploding and setting record infection rates, President Donald Trump spent the weekend on his own often divisive obsessions, piling up new evidence for detractors who say he's not fit for office.
The President largely ignored the implications of the disastrous US government response to the worst public health crisis in 100 years, even though it emerged late on Friday in CNN reporting that the White House is taking vigorous efforts to protect him from infection at rallies that contravene social distancing and masking guidelines, and that put even his own supporters at risk of getting sick.
'Not fit for a human': Covid-19 in Cox's Bazar refugee camps
Conditions were dire before lockdown, but families living there say they now fear a disaster – our visual guide to life in the camps shows why
Social distancing simply isn’t possible for the 1 million Rohingya refugees who live in Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, in southeastern Bangladesh. Families live in close quarters inside flimsy bamboo shacks, using communal toilets and water facilities. Sometimes the most basic items, such as soap, are lacking.
Most of the Rohingya refugees living in the camp fled there in 2017, following a brutal crackdown by the Myanmar military, which the UN has since said was carried out with “genocidal intent”. On top of psychological trauma, many have underlying health conditions that leave them especially vulnerable to Covid-19.
China forces birth control on Uighurs and other minority Muslims to suppress population
State regularly subjects minority women to pregnancy checks and forces intrauterine devices, sterilisation and even abortion on hundreds of thousandsAssociated Press reporters
The Chinese government is taking Draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population, even as it encourages some of the country’s Han majority to have more children.
While individual women have spoken out before about forced birth control, the practice is far more widespread and systematic than previously known, according to an AP investigation based on government statistics, state documents and interviews with 30 ex-detainees, family members and a former detention camp instructor. The campaign over the past four years in the far west region of Xinjiang is leading to what some experts are calling a form of “demographic genocide”.
Potential COVID-19 vaccine has re-energized anti-vaccination groups, health experts warn
Misinformation out in full force, and health officials must catch up, scientists say
· CBC News ·
As Canadians yearn for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic and a time they can once again hug their elderly loved ones or gather in large groups without fear of infection, many are pinning their hopes on unprecedented global efforts to develop a vaccine against the virus.
But even though most infectious disease experts say the earliest possible timeframe would be at least a year or two away, anti-vaccination groups are already well into online and social media campaigns stoking doubts about the safety — and even questioning the necessity — of a coronavirus vaccine.
"I just am astonished at how early the anti-vaccine narrative has started," Dr. Natasha Crowcroft, a vaccine expert at the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health, said in an interview with CBC's The Dose health podcast.
Israel weighs diplomatic cost of West Bank annexations
If Israel presses ahead with annexations in the occupied West Bank, it risks undermining improved ties with key Arab states and alienating European powers, but the real diplomatic costs remain uncertain, experts said.
The possible scope of international backlash against the Jewish state is unclear, as it is not yet known what action Israel plans to take towards implementing a US-proposed Middle East peace plan in the coming days.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government set July 1 as the date it could initiate action on US President Donald Trump's proposals, which pave the way for annexing West Bank territory, including Jewish settlements considered illegal under international law.
Iran issues arrest warrant for Trump, asks Interpol to help
The US killed General Soleimani and others in a January drone attack near Baghdad International Airport.
Iran has issued an arrest warrant and asked Interpol for help in detaining US President Donald Trump and dozens of others it believes carried out the drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad.
Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr said on Monday that Trump, along with more than 30 others Iran accuses of involvement in the January 3 attack that killed General Qassem Soleimani, face "murder and terrorism charges", the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.
Sunday, June 28, 2020
How teargas became the go-to weapon for US police
The riot control agent, often referred to as 'tear gas', has been used in 100 US cities since late May.
While it was banned from war a century ago, it remains a vital police tool around the world.
Some US law enforcement agencies said they used other gases like pepper spray to disperse protesters.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines tear gas as "chemical compounds that temporarily make people unable to function by causing irritation to the eyes, mouth, throat, lungs, and skin."
Sino-Indian clash: Disputed border, divided media
Chinese and Indian media take opposite approaches to reporting the deadly clash between troops along the border.
Sino-Indian clash: Disputed border, divided media
The two most populous countries in the world, China and India, are dealing with the fallout of their first deadly border clash in almost half a century. Twenty Indian soldiers were reportedly killed, some clubbed to death, by Chinese forces.
We know practically nothing else about the story - that is because the confrontation took place in the middle of nowhere at an altitude of 14,000 feet (about 4,300 metres), on a Himalayan mountain that journalists cannot get to, and because the two governments are saying very little. Indian media are speculating, calling for boycotts, and urging their politicians to wage an economic war against China. On the other side, the coverage is almost non-existent.
Anger in India over deaths of father and son in police custody - BBC News
In India there's growing anger over the deaths of a father and son in police custody, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
How Did Ancient Languages Work?
It's no surprise to learn how much languages change over the centuries and millennia, especially considering that most of the world's most widely spoken languages today didn't even exist 2,000 years ago, and many of the ancient world's most prominent language are now completely extinct
Trump Escalates the Crisis on Purpose - Analysis in "Der Stern"
By Ellygator From DailyKos
I regularly read the German magazine “Der Stern” on my phone app, and this morning’s read terrified me enough to share it here. The blog is a mix of direct translation and paraphrase. I’ve written this rather hurriedly and English is not my first language, so please excuse any errors.
You can read the original German article by Dieter Hoss here: www.stern.de/…
“The USA is currently living through one of the greatest crises in its history. However, the president does little to intervene. On the contrary: Donald Trump is fanning the flames. Experts are now debating weather he is escalating the situation on purpose — in order to secure power in November
“The USA is currently living through one of the greatest crises in its history. However, the president does little to intervene. On the contrary: Donald Trump is fanning the flames. Experts are now debating weather he is escalating the situation on purpose — in order to secure power in November.
The USA could not be in much worse shape than they are, a few months away from the next presidential election on November 3rd. The Corona crisis is raging out of control, the economy has hit rock bottom with millions of people out of work, the country is in turmoil with (sometimes violent) demonstrations against racism in the larger cities. The president appears mostly inactive, but more aggressive and divisive than ever. Has he already given up on the November election?
Probably not. Experts in the States as well as abroad are now debating whether the lack of crisis management has a sinister purpose: to throw the country into such a state of chaos that there cannot possibly be a transition of power in the fall.
There are 4 indicators that this may indeed be the case.
1. The Corona virus is given free reign
The first wave of infections has already shown that Trump has failed as a crisis manager. Now he has transitioned to simply denying the pandemic. He maintains on Twitter that the case numbers of new infections would be lower if there simply was less testing. This seems to be a policy of wilful ignorance, but it means the president is fine with the rise in new infections and deaths.
When interviewed during the ZDF Talkshow “Markus Lanz” the German lawyer and financial expert Sandra Navidi, a German citizen living in New York, stated: “He says people should got to election rallies, fill churches, go to sporting events, open the schools — even or especially in disease hot spots.”
He refuses to wear masks and doesn’t want to see anyone around him wear one, to the point where Secret Service members were quarantined as a precaution after the Tulsa rally. If this continues the USA will head for a medical catastrophe.
2. Political opponents are painted as radicals
Since the beginning of his presidency Trump has pushed the envelope of what is acceptable speech in public, but now his rhetoric has become even more extreme, even hysterical. Some pundits see this as a sign that he is panicking, but he may simply be making the point to his followers that it is unthinkable to surrender the country to his political enemies and that it has to be prevented — perhaps at any cost.
Recently he has begun to refer to Democrats with the constant epithet of “radical”. During his Tulsa speech he blamed the demonstrations in Seattle and the declaration of an “autonomous zone” on the opposition party. He also announced that he did not want to deescalate the conflict. He’d rather have things go on for a little longer so everyone could see what radical democrats were prepared to inflict on the country.
He’s declared demonstrators who work for the removal of confederate statues to be terrorists and has imposed heavy sentences on acts of so-called “vandalism”. The real challenge to his followers can be read clearly: “Do you really want to surrender your country to the radical Left and to terrorists?”
3. There is no attempt to deescalate the debate about racism
Trump calls the participants in the anti-racism protests “arsonists, anarchists and looters”. He has shown no willingness to intervene and calm the situation, not even symbolically. When the suggestion came up to rename several military bases he tweeted that he would not even think about rebranding these “sacred places”.
He sees the demonstrators as mere troublemakers and opposes them by invoking “law and order”. This became apparent when he had peaceful demonstrators forcibly removed by police for a photo op in front of a church near the White House, a decision that even some of his followers criticized.
However, he does not seem to be in the mood to follow this hard-line approach consistently. After he declared that he would forego a weekend trip to his golf club in New Jersey to impose law and order in Washington, he still departed for his club in Sterling, VA, on Saturday.
4. Confidence in the election and vote by mail is systematically undermined
USA expert Braml warned in an interview with “Watson” that Trump is lighting a fuse when he discredits vote by mail which is essential during a pandemic. Lawrence Douglas adds that vote by mail would benefit the Democrats and therefore needs to be attacked. Trump and his republican followers paint it as a method for voter fraud, which has no basis in actuality, at least not to the point where it could call the result of an entire election into doubt.
Still, Trump and other republicans have gone to court to prohibit vote by mail and the president even declared that if they didn’t win these lawsuits it would jeopardize the election.
According to Douglas Trump is already laying the foundation to be able to dispute the election results in November, and Navidi even believes that he may try and suspend the election entirely. She thinks that the current rise in Corona infections which would prevent people from voting would provide the perfect excuse to stall the process. Taken together with gerrymandering and the closure of voting locations that are already happening some voters in recent elections had to queue for up to 8 hours and it is becoming ever harder for Black and Latino citizens to cast their votes.
The USA have no process for a non-peaceful transition of power
Braml draws this conclusion from Trump’s unwillingness to help, lead or de-escalate: the more the situation spins out of control the better he can gloss over his botched crisis management and present himself as the commander in chief who imposes law and order. At the same times he keeps conspiracy theories alive that the “deep state” is trying to get rid of him. During the impeachment he already appealed to his most loyal followers to start a civil war, and he would probably do the same if he lost the election.
Lawrence Douglas points out that there is no process in US law that regulates a disputed transition of power. If two candidates declared themselves president it might boil down to the military to decide and declare who they’d accept as commander in chief.
We will see in November if Trump is prepared to plunge the country into an existential crisis in a grab for power.
Experts are also troubled by his statements that he could see people begging him to stay in power even after a second term. A third presidential term is not sanctioned by the US constitution.”
End of Article
This is how people in Germany are viewing the current situation. I had hoped that the current state of leaderless crisis is a testament to Trump’s ineptness and a sign that he is losing control, but after reading this analysis I am truly terrified.
I now believe there is method to this madness and I am not sure how we can stop the orchestrated descent into the perfect storm to sweep away our democracy.
What's behind the dispute over Africa's largest dam project?
Why are sports risking a comeback now?
Sports are making a comeback even though there’s no coronavirus vaccine. Start Here assesses the competition.
Russia's coronavirus lockdown sparks surge in violence against women | Focus on Europe
A hotel in Moscow was turned into a shelter for women subjected to violence by their male partners during the coronavirus lockdown. Many official shelters were full. Women's rights organizations say the situation will remain extremely serious.
Six In The Morning Sunday 28 June 2020
China puts half a million in lockdown after COVID-19 spike
The move comes after a new cluster of coronavirus cases emerge in Beijing and Hebei province.by Ted Regencia & Usaid Siddiqui
- China has imposed a strict lockdown on some 500,000 people near Beijing to contain a new coronavirus outbreak.
- Italy has registered the lowest number of daily deaths since March 1.
- Global coronavirus cases exceeded 10 million on Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The respiratory disease has killed almost half a million people in seven months. More than five million have recovered.
Israel's cabinet meets to finalise annexation plans
Calls for sanctions are intensifying as the cabinet meets and Netanyahu awaits US approvalThe Israeli cabinet will meet on Sunday to finalise plans to annex parts of the West Bank amid growing international opposition and calls for sanctions to be imposed if the proposal is implemented.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will “apply sovereignty” to up to 30% of the West Bank, covering Israeli settlements and the rich agricultural lands of the Jordan Valley, from 1 July.
On Friday, two rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israel a day after the Palestinian group Hamas warned that annexation amounted to a “declaration of war”. In response, Israeli air force jets struck two military facilities in the southern Gaza Strip, the army said.
Egyptian belly-dancer sentenced to three years in prison for stirring up ‘immorality’
Sama el-Masry arrested during investigation into content on TikTok and other social mediaMaya OppenheimWomen's Correspondent
A prominent Egyptian belly-dancer has been handed a three-year jail sentence and hit with a £15,000 fine for feeding “immorality”.
The sentencing of Sama el-Masry, who was ordered to pay 300,000 Egyptian pounds on Saturday, is part of a wider clampdown on content shared on social media.
The 42-year-old, who has said she will appeal, was arrested in April during an investigation into videos and photos on social media, including the popular video-sharing platform TikTok, that the public prosecution deemed to be sexually suggestive.
Corona in the SlaughterhouseThe High Price of Cheap Meat
German slaughterhouses have been hit recently with horrifying coronavirus outbreaks, with over 1,000 cases in one facility. The industry, and its biggest players, share the blame. Change could be coming.
By Markus Becker, Jürgen Dahlkamp, Markus Dettmer, Jörg Diehl, Lukas Eberle, Michael Fröhlingsdorf, Kristina Gnirke, Florian Gontek, Hubert Gude, Claus Hecking, Julia Amalia Heyer, Nils Klawitter, Gunther Latsch, Catalin Prisacariu, Gerald Traufetter and Markus Verbeet
The white-plastered house near Münster in the far west of Germany isn't really a home at all. It's more of a dormitory, like so many others in this area. It offers a place to sleep until the next shift begins.
In recent days, however, it has been transformed into a prison.
Special forces chief acknowledges war crimes, blames 'poor moral leadership'
By Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters
The senior army officer in charge of Australia’s special forces has admitted some elite soldiers committed war crimes in Afghanistan and blamed the atrocities on “poor moral leadership” in an extraordinary confidential briefing to dozens of troops at SAS headquarters.
In a private briefing delivered in late March, Major-General Adam Findlay also made the stunning admission that war crimes may have been covered up and that Australia’s special forces will take a decade to recover from the long running investigation overseen by senior NSW judge Paul Brereton.
Multiple sources with knowledge of the meeting revealed General Findlay, the Australian Special Operations Commander, briefed dozens of Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) soldiers at Perth’s Campbell Barracks, telling them, “Brereton knows more about this command than anybody.” General Findlay said Justice Brereton had interviewed hundreds of SAS personnel under oath and he had a “very strong evidential basis of what is fact”.
Shooting of Zimbabwe workers by Chinese mine owner shows 'systemic' abuse, watchdog says
Updated 0940 GMT (1740 HKT) June 28, 2020
The shooting of two Zimbabwean workers by a Chinese boss shows the "systematic and widespread" abuse that locals face in Chinese mining operations, says the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Society (ZELA).
In a court affidavit, police said Zhang Xuen shot an employee five times and wounded another at the mine he runs in Gweru province, in central Zimbabwe, during a row with workers over outstanding pay.
Zhang has been charged with attempted murder, said Zimbabwe police spokesman Paul Nyathi.
According to local media reports, Zhang did not enter a plea because there was no approved interpreter in court. He will remain in custody until at least July 7, the report said.
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