Six In The Morning Sunday 4 October 2020

 

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: Major cities hit as heavy fighting continues

Azerbaijan's second-largest city, Ganja, has been shelled by Armenian forces, as heavy clashes continue over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

The enclave is officially part of Azerbaijan but run by ethnic Armenians.

The self-proclaimed authorities there said they hit Ganja's military airport after Azerbaijani forces shelled the region's capital, Stepanakert.

Azerbaijan says no Ganja military sites were hit. More than 220 people have died since clashes began a week ago.

Revealed: Trump-linked consultant tied to Facebook pages warning election will cause civil war

Network run by fake news-publishing father and son spreads word to Trump supporters they should prepare for violence in November

Jason Wilson

@jason_a_w

Sun 4 Oct 2020 09.00 BST

A militia-promoting father and son duo of fake news publishers and a Trump-connected social media consultant are linked to pages which promote the idea of an American civil war with material presented in a way that appears to be an effort to sidestep Facebook’s fact-checking system.

Comments on their Facebook pages and other materials obtained by the Guardian show that some rank and file Donald Trump supporters are enthusiastically receiving the message that they should prepare for violence against their perceived political enemies in November.

Belarus police fire water cannon, detain anti-Lukashenko protesters

Belarusian police have used a water cannon mounted on an armoured police vehicle to disperse protesters who took to the streets of the capital Minsk on Sunday, Interfax news agency reported and videos posted in social media showed.

Thousands of people gathered in Minsk on Sunday to call on authorities to free political prisoners.  The opposition movement calling for an end to Lukashenko's rule has kept up a wave of large-scale demonstrations since his controversial election win on August 9, with around 100,000 or more people taking to the streets every Sunday.

Russia has backed longstanding ally Lukashenko, offering financial assistance and promising military support if events turn against him.

Dreams on HoldIndia Staggers Under the Coronavirus Burden

India has set lofty goals for itself, but the coronavirus pandemic has the country reeling. With a recent peak of 90,000 new infections a day and spiking unemployment, the younger generation finds itself facing an uncertain future.

By Laura Höflinger und Sunaina Kumar

It took four months for the virus to arrive at Ajay Kumar Sinha's clinic. Things remained quiet there as the pandemic got underway, he says, but in July, the situation suddenly grew serious. Sinha is 58 years old and works at Nalanda Medical College & Hospital in the city of Patna, located in northeastern India. It is one of four corona facilities serving a city of more than 2 million people.

As they so often do, monsoon rains brought flooding to Patna, with the flood waters even pushing into the hospital. A murky, brackish slop swirled around the beds of the patients.

'Both of your hands can touch both walls': Former prisoner describes the psychological toll of solitary confinement

Adriana Belmonte

·Senior Editor

Johnny Perez, who spent 13 years in prison for first-degree robbery, vividly remembers solitary confinement.

“If you close your eyes for a second and you reach out both hands — imagine that both of your hands can touch both walls of the room,” Perez, who currently works as a criminal justice activist as the director of U.S. prison programs for the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, told Yahoo Finance’s Illegal Tender. “That's how small it is. The cell is a little bit longer than your bed, except that I'm six feet tall. So when I stretch my legs out, I can touch the edge of the bed. So a lot of times I used to sleep with my knees tucked into my chest. 

China's treatment of Uyghur Muslims sparks anger near new embassy site in London

By Angela Dewan, CNN

Updated 2344 GMT (0744 HKT) October 3, 2020

China's decision to move its British embassy from London's upmarket West End to the less glitzy east could have been a heart-warming tale of homecoming. The new mission will be built at the former Royal Mint, just a stone's throw from the city's original 19th century Chinatown.

China plans to refurbish the building and establish its biggest diplomatic mission in the world at the site, set just back from the River Thames on the outskirts of London's financial center. It could be years until the embassy actually moves, but it's already facing opposition from some local councilors and residents.