A stunning Japanese inn so large you get a self-driving cart, a sake brewery that encourages you to drink in a forest, and pork Tonkatsu so delicious it's criminal.
Sunday, February 28, 2021
Australia: The battle to get Big Tech to pay for news
A new Australian law looks to reset Big Tech’s relationship with news media.
What’s happening with China’s Uighurs? | Start Here
Human rights groups say the Chinese are committing horrific crimes against Uighurs.
The United Nations has raised the alarm. The United States and Canada have called it genocide.
But China has repeatedly denied the accusations.
Maid in Lebanon: 'My employer treats me like a slave' - BBC News
Hundreds of foreign domestic maids were dumped outside their embassies last summer in Lebanon after the families they worked for could no longer afford their wages.
The horrific scenes were a symptom of the country’s economic meltdown but also Lebanon’s use of foreign workers – a system which human rights groups say amounts to “modern-day slavery".
Myanmar anti-junta protesters shot dead by police | DW News
Media in Myanmar are reporting that police have shot dead protestors and wounded several others in a crackdown on protests against the military junta. Tear gas, water cannons and stun grenades were fired into crowds in various locations, while scores of demonstrators were hauled away in police trucks.
Six In The Morning Sunday 28 February 2021
The truthtellers
China created a story of the pandemic. These people revealed details Beijing left out
By Julia Hollingsworth and Yong Xiong
One Monday morning, Chen Meiⓘ didn’t log on for work.
It was spring in the Chinese capital Beijing, and the non-profit organization that the 27-year-old worked for was operating remotely as coronavirus continued its spread.
Concerned, Chen Mei’s boss called his brother, Chen Kunⓘ, who hadn’t heard from his sibling. Immediately, Chen Kun had a bad feeling. His brother had been republishing sensitive articles about the early days of the pandemic, some of which were later removed by Chinese censors. When Chen Mei’s workmate reported his disappearance to the police, officers said he had been taken away for investigation.
Hong Kong: 47 key activists charged with subversion and face life if convicted
Pro-democracy group accused of organising unofficial election last July in largest crackdown on campaigners
Helen Davidson in Taipei
Nearly every main voice of dissent in Hong Kong is now in jail or exile, after Hong Kong police charged 47 pro-democracy campaigners and politicians with conspiracy to commit subversion. All face life in prison if convicted.
The group comprises most of the 55 people arrested last month, over primary polls held last year, in a dawn raid that marked the single biggest operation conducted under the controversial and draconian national security law.
On Sunday, the police force said all but eight had been charged with a single count, and would be detained ahead of court mentions on Monday morning.
Germany tightens Covid controls at French border over variants
Germany announced Sunday that travelers from France’s northeastern Moselle region will face additional restrictions due to the high rate of variant coronavirus cases there.
Germany's disease control agency, the Robert Koch Institute, said it would add Moselle to the list of “variant of concern” areas that already includes countries such as the Czech Republic, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
Travelers from those areas must produce a recent negative coronavirus test before entering Germany.
Erdoğans Bad Bank on TrialShedding Light on an Alleged Plot to Evade Iran Sanctions
A trial starting soon in New York is set to throw light on whether a Turkish bank helped Iran circumvent sanctions. And how much President Erdoğan knew about it.
By Sebnem Arsu, Maximilian Popp und Alexander Sarovic
The corner office with a view out over the Bosporus is located in the Istanbul financial quarter of Maslak. It belongs to the man who the United States judiciary accuses of having played a vital role in one of the largest international criminal cases of the last several decades.
Mehmet Hakan Atilla, 50, is wearing a dark suit and narrow tie, his graying beard is neatly trimmed. As he speaks, stock prices flash across the screen on the wall.
What is happening in Haiti, where political crisis persists?
Opposition and civil society leaders say President Jovenel Moise’s term is over. He and his supporters say otherwise.
28 Feb 2021
Haiti is in the throes of a political crisis.
Opposition leaders are disputing the mandate of President Jovenel Moise, whose term most legal experts and civil society groups have said ended on February 7. But the president and his supporters say his five-year term only expires in 2022.
The situation has rapidly devolved since Moise made clear he would not leave the presidency this month, with government officials alleging a failed coup took place. Nearly two dozen people were arrested, including a supreme court judge and a senior police official.
Myanmar coup: Deadliest day of protests as police open fire
Police have fired on protesters in Myanmar killing at least 18, the UN human rights office says, on the deadliest day of anti-coup rallies.
Deaths were reported in several cities including Yangon, Dawei and Mandalay as police used live rounds and tear gas.
Security forces began the violent crackdown on Saturday, after weeks of largely peaceful protests against the 1 February military takeover.
Saturday, February 27, 2021
How is extreme poverty being measured in China?
President Xi Jinping declares victory over destitution, but critics question the poverty bar and project sustainability.
Is Facebook too powerful? - BBC News
Amid growing calls to break up the social media giant Facebook, Ros Atkins looks at its power.
He considers its roles in Myanmar, the storming of the Capitol building in Washington, and the company’s decision to block news in Australia.
NASA to Name Headquarters After Mary Jackson
‘Hidden figure’ no longer: NASA is naming its headquarters after Mary Jackson
An exploration of Black German identity | DW News
What does it mean to be Black in Germany? DW explores the identity and achievements of Black Germans.
Six In The Morning Saturday 27 February 2021
Massacre in
the mountains
They thought they'd be safe at a church.
Then the soldiers arrived
By Barbara Arvanitidis, Nima Elbagir, Bethlehem Feleke, Eliza Mackintosh, Gianluca Mezzofiore and Katie Polglase
Updated 1300 GMT (2100 HKT) February 27, 2021
Abraham began burying the bodies in the morning and didn't stop until nightfall.
The corpses, some dressed in white church robes drenched in blood, were scattered in arid fields, scrubby farmlands and a dry riverbed. Others had been shot on their doorsteps with their hands bound with belts. Among the dead were priests, old men, women, entire families and a group of more than 20 Sunday school children, some as young as 14, according to eyewitnesses, parents and their teacher.
Woman reportedly shot dead as Myanmar police escalate crackdown
Officers intensify use of force, firing teargas and rubber bullets at people protesting against coup
A reporter in Yangon and Rebecca Ratcliffe
A woman has reportedly been shot and killed as police in Myanmar escalated a violent crackdown on anti-coup protesters, firing teargas and rubber bullets and detaining dozens of people.
Police intensified their use of force just hours after the country’s ambassador to the United Nations gave an emotional address calling for international action to restore democracy and protect the people.
Protesters who attempted to gather for peaceful rallies on Saturday were met with an aggressive response by security forces in the two biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay, and in the central town of Monywa, where a woman was shot dead, according to local media reports.
BTS: K-pop boy band racism storm hits German radio station
A Bavarian radio station is at the center of an internet storm after a presenter upset fans of K-pop band BTS. The host has been accused of racism after comparing the South Korean boy band to the coronavirus.
Bavarian radio station Bayern 3 found its name trending worldwide after a radio host took a dislike to the latest release by K-pop boy band BTS.
The group's army of loyal fans took to social media accuse the station's Matthias Matuschik of racism after he blasted the band's cover of Coldplay's "Fix You."
Inuit voices grow louder in fight over Nunavut mine expansion
Inuit communities in northern Canada say they fear mine expansion will harm wildlife and cultural practices.
27 Feb 2021
As the mayor of Clyde River, a small Inuit hamlet in the territory of Nunavut in northern Canada, Jerry Natanine had seen local opposition to an iron ore mining project building for years.
So, when a group of Inuit hunters this month set up a protest blockade at the Mary River mine on Baffin Island, in the Arctic Archipelago, he was not surprised. “They’re not here to listen to us at all,” Natanine told Al Jazeera in a phone interview, referring to Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation, which runs the site.
Mayday: How the White Helmets and James Le Mesurier got pulled into a deadly battle for truth
By Chloe Hadjimatheou
BBC News
BBC News
The British man behind the Syrian civil defence group, the White Helmets, found himself at the centre of a battle to control the narrative of the Syrian war. Russian and Syrian propagandists accused his teams of faking evidence of atrocities - and convinced some in the West. The battle for truth formed a backdrop to James Le Mesurier's sudden death in Istanbul in November 2019.
With the setting sun reflecting in the water and the lights of Istanbul twinkling on the horizon, the wedding guests sat around lantern-lit tables: diplomats from several countries, military officers, journalists and activists who had flown in from around the world to see James Le Mesurier get married.
Survey shows many seniors undecided about vaccination
About 40 percent of a group of elderly Japanese people surveyed recently said they are unsure whether they will undergo vaccination against the coronavirus, indicating many remain wary of potential downsides.
The online survey conducted earlier this month on 423 elderly people who require home nursing care but do not suffer from dementia showed 43 percent were unsure about receiving shots while 15 percent were against it entirely.
Through their caregivers, who responded to the survey on their behalf, they cited worries about side effects and doubts about the effectiveness of the vaccines.
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