Sunday, November 8, 2020

Six In The Morning Sunday 8 November 2020

 

Kamala Harris: The many identities of the first woman vice-president

By Holly Honderich and Samanthi Dissanayake
BBC News

Kamala Harris savoured the moment she became the first woman, and the first black and Asian American, to be vice-president-elect, with a very hearty laugh.

In a video posted to her social media she shares the news with President-Elect Joe Biden: "We did it, we did it Joe. You're going to be the next president of the United States!"

Her words are about him but the history of the moment is hers.

Just over a year ago, as the senator from California hoping to win the Democratic nomination for presidency, she launched a potent attack on Joe Biden over race during a debate. Many thought it inflicted a serious blow on his ambitions. But by the end of the year her campaign was dead and it was Mr Biden who returned the 56-year-old to the national spotlight by putting her on his ticket.


‘Crush the fascist vermin’: Belarus opposition summons wartime spirit

Partisan tactics once used to fight the Nazis have been turned against Alexander Lukashenko’s brutally repressive regime


In Minsk, what people here call the Great Patriotic War is never far away. Monuments, street names and museums venerate the memory of the awful years from 1941 to 1945, when the Soviet Union was at war with Nazi Germany.

Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, has used the years of partisan resistance against the Nazi occupation of the country, and the eventual victory by the Red Army, as the basis for a neo-Soviet, Belarusian identity.


But in recent months, something strange has happened, as Lukashenko faces angry and sustained protests to his continued rule and has launched a vicious crackdown. The war narrative that his regime has done so much to promote still resonates among the population, but with a twist: now, his authorities have become the Nazis.


A Ripple, Not a WaveJoe Biden's Almost Impossible Task

Even if Joe Biden emerges victorious, the peaceful transfer of power still isn't yet a foregone conclusion. And as president, Biden would face the almost impossible task of reuniting a deeply divided nation.

By Matthias GebauerRoland NellesRené PfisterRalf Neukirch und Alexander Sarovic


He is, on this Thursday, just as he has been so often in his almost four years as president: huffy and cynical. More than anything, though, he is front and center, demanding attention. Donald Trump walks up to the lectern in the press briefing room at the White House and begins spewing invented accusations of voter fraud. "If you count the legal votes, I easily win," he said, "if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us." He claimed to have won the election with "historic numbers."


Ethiopia's Abiy replaces army chief as casualties mount in Tigray conflict

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed replaced his army chief on Sunday, as reports of wounded soldiers continued to rise in a five-day-old conflict in the country's northern Tigray region.

Deputy army chief Berhanu Jula will take over the Ethiopian National Defence Force, a statement from Abiy's office said, without giving a reason or specifying the fate of Berhanu's predecessor, General Adem Mohammed.

The announcement came as a medical official told AFP that nearly 100 government soldiers had been treated for gunshot wounds at a hospital in the northern Amhara region, the latest indication that fighting has been intense. 

Abdul-Jabbar: We may be a divided nation, but we're united in not trusting the news media


Kareem Abdul-Jabbar


Tuesday’s election made clear, once again, how politically divided we are as a nation. But there’s at least one thing Americans agree on across the political gulf: They don’t trust the news media.

A recent Gallup poll in conjunction with the Knight Foundation found that, although 84% of Americans agree the news media are crucial to the survival of democracy, two-thirds worry about it being biased. It’s our job as Americans to be skeptical of information attempting to manipulate us. Yet lately, distrust in the news is more than healthy skepticism: It’s outright hostility.

Some of this lack of trust can be laid at the feet of the Trump administration, which waged a relentless four-year campaign to undermine public confidence in media reports critical of the president. But some of the blame falls on the media, both on the left and right.


Palestinian prisoner ends hunger strike after making deal with Israeli authorities

Updated 1128 GMT (1928 HKT) November 8, 2020




Palestinian detainee held by Israel has ended a hunger strike lasting more than 100 days, after Israeli authorities agreed he would be freed at the end of the month and his administrative detention order would not be renewed, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, a Ramallah-based non-governmental organization that looks after the interests of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Speaking to CNN, Maher Al-Akhras, a 49-year old farmer from Silat Al Dhaher in the north of the West Bank, said he had achieved "a victory for all the Palestinian people, not just for me."
An Israeli security official confirmed to CNN that Al-Akhras had ended his hunger strike and would be released on November 26 but would not comment on whether any particular commitments had been made.





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