Six In The Morning Saturday 6 February 2021

 

Myanmar: thousands protest against coup as military shuts down internet

Demonstrators in standoff with police amid demands for release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi

Rebecca Ratcliffe and a Guardian reporter in Yangon

Thousands of people took to the streets of Yangon on Saturday in the first major demonstration since Myanmar’s military seized power, despite a nationwide internet blackout imposed to stifle dissent.

Protesters chanted “down with the military dictatorship” and carried images of the ousted leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint, whose party won a landslide election in November. The military detained both in raids early on Monday morning and they have not been seen in public since.

“Tell the world what has happened here,” one of the protesters said. “The world needs to know.”

India: Farmers blockade highways over controversial reforms

Farmers in India have taken to the streets again as part of ongoing protests against new laws that they say will upend their ability to make a living.

Tens of thousands of protesting farmers across India began a three-hour blockade of national highways in a continued effort to force the government's hand to repeal controversial agriculture laws.

Authorities placed the capital New Delhi on high alert and deployed additional police at the city's borders, as well as closing 10 metro stations.

Doctors identify Yazidi victims in northern Iraq, bringing closure to families

The bodies of Yazidis found in mass graves left by the Islamic State group in the village of Kocho in northern Iraq are being examined by forensic scientists in Baghdad. By identifying the victims and establishing the causes of death, doctors hope to bring closure to their families. FRANCE 24's Jack Hewson reports from northern Iraq.

At the Forensic Institute of Baghdad, bodies exhumed from 17 mass graves left by the Islamic State (IS) group around the village of Kocho are being examined. Doctors aim to identify the Yazidi victims and establish the causes of death.

"With a living person you can use the profile of their eyes or their fingers, but in mass graves where people have been buried for more than a year the only method is to identify this person is using DNA," Dr. Mohammed Ihsan, Head of the Anthropology Department of the Baghdad Forensic Institute told FRANCE 24.

Tennis star Osaka slams 'ignorant' sexist comments by Tokyo Olympics chief

Tristan LAVALETTE

Japanese tennis superstar Naomi Osaka Saturday slammed "ignorant" remarks from the Tokyo Olympics' chief organiser after a sexism row that has triggered an angry backlash and calls for his resignation.

Osaka, a leading face of the Games in her home nation, joined growing criticism of former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori, 83, after he complained that women speak for too long in meetings.

The gaffe-prone Mori has apologised but refused to step down, and attempted to justify his comments by explaining he doesn't "speak to women much".

Denmark moves forward on North Sea ‘energy island’

The largest construction project in the history of Denmark will be majority-owned by the Danish government.

Denmark says it has approved plans to build an artificial island in the North Sea that could generate wind power for at least three million households.

Parliament in June adopted a political environmental framework aimed at reducing the country’s CO2 emissions by 70 percent by 2030, which included plans for the world’s first “energy hubs” on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea and in the North Sea.

How Dubai is paying the price for letting in tourists

Zeena Saifi, John Defterios and Melanie Swan, CNN • Published 6th February 2021

Take a passing glance at Dubai, and you may think life is back to normal. In recent weeks, the bustling city has been a sparkling attraction for tourists, especially from Europe, trying to escape the brutal winter and strict coronavirus lockdowns.

But as tens of thousands of visitors flocked there during its peak year-end season, the virus inevitably caught up with the city despite precautions aimed at limiting its spread. Cases began to rise, nearly quadrupling since November.