Monday, May 31, 2021
Exploited: Filipino Workers in Geneva
Filipino workers in Geneva, Switzerland are being forced to pay exorbitant prices to live in overcrowded apartments. 101 East investigates.
Naomi Osaka pulls out of French Open, citing mental health issues
Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open on Monday and wrote on Twitter that she would be taking a break from competition, a dramatic turn of events for a four-time Grand Slam champion who said she has "suffered long bouts of depression."
Osaka's agent, Stuart Duguid, confirmed in an email to The Associated Press that the world's No. 2-ranked tennis player was pulling out before her second-round match at the clay-court tournament in Paris.
The stunning move came a day after Osaka, a 23-year-old who was born in Japan and moved with her family to the U.S. at age 3, was fined $15,000 for skipping the postmatch news conference after her first-round victory at the French Open. She also was threatened by all four Grand Slam tournaments with possible additional punishment, including disqualification or suspension, if she continued with her intention - which Osaka revealed last week on Twitter - to not "do any press during Roland Garros."
People so easily dismiss the metal health of professional athletes simply because they are paid to play a sport at a level 99% of those who watch could never achieve. These same people then attack them when they have the audacity to let the world know they have the same issues as everyone else. Ones mental health is just as important as their physical health.
Tulsa Massacre: What happened in 1921? - BBC News
100 years ago Tulsa, Oklahoma, saw one of the biggest race massacres in American history. But for years very few people were talking about it.
Greenwood, known as Black Wall Street, was one of the most prosperous predominantly black areas in all of America.
New report says Denmark helped US NSA spy on German politicians
New details have come to light in the scandal over the US National Security Agency's surveillance of top European politicians. Revelations that emerged in 2013 showed that the US intelligence agency had tapped the phones of several leaders – including Germany's Angela Merkel.
Six In The Morning Monday 31 May 2021
Is it finally the end for Benjamin Netanyahu, the great survivor of Israeli politics?
Updated 1545 GMT (2345 HKT) May 31, 2021
A quarter of a century ago, Israelis were stunned when Benjamin Netanyahu narrowly beat Shimon Peres to become Israel's youngest-ever Prime Minister.
On Sunday, the anniversary of that first win in 1996, Netanyahu addressed the country as he faced the possibility of the end of his political career after his former lieutenant, Naftali Bennett, announced he would work with opposition leader Yair Lapid to form a new government.Blasting Bennett, leader of the small right-wing party Yamina, for committing what he called the "fraud of the century," Netanyahu portrayed him as a power hungry politician who "only cares about himself." It was a statement that some Israeli political watchers found to be more than ironic considering Netanyahu's past political maneuvers.
A quarter of a century ago, Israelis were stunned when Benjamin Netanyahu narrowly beat Shimon Peres to become Israel's youngest-ever Prime Minister.
Human-induced global heating ‘causes over a third of heat deaths’
Between 1991 and 2018, human activity contributed to 37% of all heat-related deaths in locations studied
More than a third of all heat-related deaths around the world between 1991 and 2018 can be attributed to human-induced global heating, research has found.
Climate breakdown has a range of effects ranging from wildfires to extreme weather. As the temperatures rise, more intense and frequent heatwaves disproportionately affect elderly people and those with underlying chronic conditions such as asthma, making them more vulnerable to disease and premature death.
A study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, used data from 732 locations in 43 countries to calculate the number of deaths attributed to heat levels higher than the ideal temperature for human health, which varies across locations.
US spied on Angela Merkel and other European leaders with Danish secret service help: report
The NSA reportedly accessed text messages and phone conversations of European officials through Danish internet cables
The US National Security Agency (NSA) spied on European politicians, including German chancellor Angela Merkel, with the help of Denmark’s secret service, according to Danish media reports.
The findings are part of an internal investigation by the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (FE) from 2012 to 2014 into the NSA’s role in a partnership with the intelligence unit, according to Reuters.
The investigation was codenamed "Operation Dunhammer" and a report on it was presented to the FE’s management in 2015.
China: New 3-child policy approved by Politburo
After scrapping the one-child policy five years ago, China's birth rate has not increased as the government had expected. The country is revising its policy to adjust to the aging of the population.
China's Politburo decided in a meeting on Monday overseen by President Xi Jinping to allow families to have up to three children in the future, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Xinhua reported that those at the meeting decided to "introduce major policies and measures to actively deal with the aging population." The report said that allowing couples to each have up to three children would be "conducive to improving China's population structure."
Brazil, not Argentina, to host Copa America, says CONMEBOL
South America's soccer federation CONMEBOL said on Monday it would move next month's Copa America to Brazil, thanking Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for stepping in after original host Argentina pulled out over surging COVID-19 cases.
The surprise decision, which relocates the competition from one South American coronavirus hot spot to another, means the oldest international tournament in the world will kick off as planned on June 13, with the final on July 10. It is a boost for Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain who has railed against lockdowns and urged Brazilians to return to normal life.
"The 2021 Copa America will be played in Brazil!" CONMEBOL said in a statement. "The start and finish dates are confirmed. The host cities and the matches will be revealed by CONMEBOL in the coming hours."
Pakistani journalist Mir ‘taken off air’ after military outburst
Geo News’s Hamid Mir called out the military at a protest against an attack on another journalist last week.
31 May 2021
Prominent Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir has been taken off the air just days after he spoke out against the country’s military at a protest against an attack on another journalist.
Mir told Al Jazeera he has been informed he will not be hosting “Capital Talk” on Geo News from Monday evening.
“I’ve only been told by Geo management that I won’t be hosting the show,” Mir said.
Sunday, May 30, 2021
Israel-Palestine: The double standard in American newsrooms
The firing of a journalist reveals how American newsrooms approach Israel-Palestine. Plus, the Slovenian prime minister’s ‘War with the media’.
India’s Covid fraudsters selling fake drugs and medical supplies
As India continues battling a devastating second wave of Covid, police in Delhi have made more than 350 arrests for fraud, relating to counterfeit medical supplies.
Who are the Taliban? | Start Here
The Taliban have been fighting the Afghan government and its allies for decades.
Now the United States is pulling its soldiers out of Afghanistan, and the Taliban seem stronger than ever.
Man Slams School District For Not Standing Against Racism
‘It’s sickening that [in] 2021, children that look like me are experiencing the same racist attacks that I did a decade ago’ — This man called out his hometown school district for not taking a stand against racism over the years.
Six In The Morning Sunday 30 May 2021
Kumbh Mela: how a superspreader festival seeded Covid across India
From across India, millions of Hindu pilgrims came to take a ritual dip in the Ganges, then returned home carrying Covid-19. Here are their stories
by Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Aakash Hassan in Delhi
On 12 April, as India registered another 169,000 new Covid-19 cases to overtake Brazil as the second-worst hit country, three million people gathered on the shores of the Ganges.
They were there, in the ancient city of Haridwar in the state of Uttarakhand, to take a ritual dip in the holy river. The bodies, squashed together in a pack of devotion and religious fervour, paid no visible heed to Covid protocols.
This was one of the holiest days of the Kumbh Mela, a festival that has become a highlight of the Hindu religious calendar and is known for drawing millions of pilgrims, seers, priests and tourists.
Lukashenko's RevengeHow Far Will the Belarusian Dictator Go in Hunting Down the Opposition?
The hijacking of a passenger plane shows the extremes to which Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is willing to go in his efforts to persecute his opponents abroad. Members of the opposition fear further shocking acts of repression.
By Giorgos Christides, Christian Esch, Christina Hebel, Katrin Kuntz und Alexander Sarovic
Two young people in their enemies' clutches. In two videos, each 30 seconds long, they introduce themselves and their offenses. Roman Protasevich, 26 years old, looks directly into the camera, speaking loudly and clearly. "I continue cooperating with investigators and am confessing to having organized mass unrest in the city of Minsk,” he says. His girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, 23, allows her gaze to wander around the room. She barely moves her lips. "I am also the editor of the Telegram channel Black Book of Belarus that published personal information about employees of the Interior Ministry,” she says.
These two young people are the spoils dictator Alexander Lukashenko can show following the forced rerouting of Ryanair Flight 4978 from Athens to Vilnius last Sunday. Lukashenko was willing to risk a worldwide outcry to get his hands on Protasevich and Sapega. Greece’s foreign minister called the incident an "act of state air piracy.” Poland’s prime minister decried what he called an "unprecedented act of state terrorism.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, for his part, called for an independent international investigation.
Mali's new president and coup leader to attend regional ECOWAS summit
West African leaders will meet in Ghana on Sunday to discuss a response to Mali's second coup in nine months, with the new president Colonel Assimi Goita attending.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) invited Goita to come to Ghana's capital Accra for "consultations" ahead of an extraordinary summit on Sunday devoted to Mali, according to a letter from the 15-nation bloc seen by AFP.
He flew to Accra on Saturday, military and airport sources said.
Virus-weary South Koreans compete to be the best at doing nothing at all
By Min Joo Kim
Organisers of South Korea’s annual competition to be the best at doing nothing - seriously, nothing - needed just the right spot for the work-from-home parents, remote-learning students and others weary of the pandemic.
So what could be better than a “healing forest” on the southern island of Jeju? The woodlands are known as a site for other therapeutic programs.
Twenty-eight pandemic-battered competitors gathered under the leafy canopy on Thursday for the Space Out Competition. The premise is simply: zone out for 90 minutes, with the winner having the lowest and most stable heart rate. Spectators also cast votes for the top three who displayed the best zen. (A Jeju-based hair stylist, who barely moved during the 90 minutes, won.)
‘Wake up screaming’: Gaza’s children traumatised by Israeli war
Thousands of children in Gaza suffer from trauma in the aftermath of the 11-day Israeli onslaught on the besieged enclave.
30 May 2021
As Gaza tries to recover from the deadly 11-day Israeli attack, mothers and mental health workers have raised concerns that the psychological effects of the violence will long linger among the children in the Strip.
Hala Shehada, a 28-year-old mother from northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun area, told Al Jazeera when the air strikes started hitting Gaza earlier this month she found herself reliving the tragic memories of the 2014 Israeli offensive as if it were “yesterday”.
French Open 2021: Naomi Osaka faces default from Grand Slam for refusing to speak to media
By Katie FalkinghamBBC Sport
World number two Naomi Osaka faces expulsion from the French Open if she continues to refuse to speak to the media, Grand Slam organisers said.
Japan's Osaka said last week she will not give any news conferences during the Grand Slam because she wants to protect her mental health.
She was fined $15,000 (£10,570) for not doing media after her first-round win against Romania's Patricia Maria Tig on Sunday.
The second seed won 6-4 7-6 (7-4).
Saturday, May 29, 2021
80s Music Retrospective from 2001
Overview of 80s new wave and postpunk music, featuring various underground (and not so underground) bands that inspired the grunge and "alternative" music scene of the 90s. First aired on US cable TV 06 Nov 2001.
How Mozambique Failed a Town Attacked by Militants | Visual Investigations
Insurgents who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State attacked the strategic town of Palma in March. We interviewed survivors and used videos, satellite imagery and ship-tracking data to show how Mozambique’s government failed to protect its civilians — leaving thousands to fend for themselves.
Hands, face and empty space: where Covid has left politics
Among vacant shops and 15% unemployment, John Harris and John Domokos get immersed in Birmingham as it emerges from the pandemic. Amid despair, they discover hope - focused not on a Tory/Labour race for mayor, but communities brilliantly helping themselves
What's behind the resurgence of the Wuhan lab theory?
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a deeper investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. In a statement, Biden said the majority of the US intelligence community had "coalesced" around two likely scenarios: that the virus was transmitted to humans via contact with an infected animal, or it emerged from a lab accident.
Six In The Morning Saturday 29 May 2021
We need to know how Covid-19 emerged so we can stop it happening again
Updated 0449 GMT (1249 HKT) May 29, 2021
Why does the theory that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, leaked from a laboratory in China endure so persistently?
Above all, it isn't because public, hard, tested evidence is growing at pace.
The theory instead seems to persist mostly because of several massive coincidences.
‘Black Wednesday’ for big oil as courtrooms and boardrooms turn on industry
Campaigners sense turning point as shareholders, boards and The Hague act to force Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell to cut pollution
The world’s patience with the fossil fuel industry is wearing thin. This was the stark message delivered to major international oil companies this week in an unprecedented day of reckoning for their role in the climate crisis.
In a stunning series of defeats for the oil industry, over the course of less than 24 hours, courtrooms and boardrooms turned on the executives at Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron. Shell was ordered by a court in The Hague to go far further to reduce its climate emissions, while shareholder rebellions in the US imposed emissions targets at Chevron and a boardroom overhaul at Exxon.
‘An absolute disaster’: Spanish post office in race row over equality stamps
The stamps were released to mark the first anniversary of the death of George Floyd
Spain’s post office was mired in a racism row over a new stamp collection designed to raise awareness of prejudice against people of colour to mark the first anniversary of the death of George Floyd.
Correos, the state-run postal service, was accused by anti-racism campaigners of reinforcing the idea that black lives were worth less than those of white people because of how the stamps were priced.
The Equality Stamps collection comes in different colours from light brown to black.
The light brown ones were the most expensive at €1.60 (£1.38) while the cheapest black ones cost €0.70.
How North Korea uses Berlin universities for propaganda
North Korea's elite university brags of alleged partnerships with Western institutes, including two German ones. Those, however, bristle at the notion of partnership. DW investigates.
Those who have been selected by the regime to study at North Korea's top university, the Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang, belong to the country's academic elite. Named after the founder of North Korea, it is the most important institution for training cadres in the isolated, communist country. It also proudly claims to be the alma mater of the state's current leader Kim Jong Un.
Generally, North Koreans' contacts with the rest of the world are kept to a minimum, including in higher education establishments. So it is all the more surprising that on the English version of its website, Kim Il Sung University boasts of being associated with dozens of partner schools around the world, including two in Germany. Apparently, the university has cleverly compiled an imposing list of past, current and alleged partnerships with "sister universities" and claims that "international academic exchanges are in full swing."
Colombia’s president deploys military to Cali after deadly protests continue
Colombian President Iván Duque on Friday announced the deployment of military forces to the city of Cali where at least ten people have died in increasingly violent protests, according to local authorities.
Duque repeated his assertion that the protests, which have been raging for a month, are infiltrated by illegal armed groups and promised to deploy "all intelligence capabilities” to demonstrate this.
“This deployment will almost triple our capacity throughout the province in less than 24 hours, ensuring assistance in nerve centers where we have seen acts of vandalism, violence and low-intensity urban terrorism,” said the president, speaking from Cali, the city in southwest Colombia that has become the epicenter of the nationwide antigovernment protests.
‘No longer afraid’: Palestinians vow to fight Jerusalem evictions
At least 218 Palestinian households in East Jerusalem have eviction cases filed against them, putting 970 people at risk of forced displacement, UN says.
29 May 2021
Jerusalem’s District Court postponed a ruling this week on an appeal by seven Palestinian families, comprising 44 people, facing expulsion from their homes in the Batan al-Hawa area of Silwan.
Palestinians say, however, what they see as the “Judaisation” of East Jerusalem, incorporating expulsions, will continue – it is just a matter of time.
The court delay on Wednesday followed an earlier ruling by the magistrate’s court that the families, part of 19 families from Batan al-Hawa, be expelled from their homes to make way for Israeli settlers who claim they lived there before 1948 when the state of Israel was established.
Friday, May 28, 2021
Naples, new blood and the Mafia
Father Luigi Merola led a parish on the outskirts of Naples until the local mafia threatened his life. He then retired from active ministry, but for years he’s been a street priest, running a youth center.
Father Luigi Merola opposes the hero-worship of young criminals, the so-called "baby gangsters". In the streets of Naples there are hundreds of murals and makeshift altars that pay tribute to young Mafiosi who have been killed.
Why Ethiopia is invading itself
In 2019, after ending Ethiopia’s decades-long war with its neighbor, Eritrea, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It seemed like a new beginning for Ethiopia. After decades of dictatorships and oppressive regimes, he appeared to finally be putting the country on a new path.
Why the China Covid lab-leak theory is being taken seriously
Nearly a year and a half since Covid-19 was detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the question of how the virus first emerged remains a mystery.
The coronavirus pandemic's long-term impact on healthcare systems
Even as many parts of the world start to open up again, front line workers are struggling to cope with the silent toll of the COVID-19 pandemic - burnout.
Six In The Morning Friday 28 May 2021
How a deadly raid shows al Qaeda retains global reach under Taliban 'protection'
Updated 0551 GMT (1351 HKT) May 28, 2021
A raid on a remote village in Afghanistan kills an ageing al Qaeda leader wanted by the FBI. Messages to the group's cells around the world are seized. Two drone strikes on militants in northwest Syria swiftly follow.
Details of a little-publicized October raid targeting a senior al Qaeda militant, Husam Abd-al-Rauf, in the Afghan province of Ghazni have revealed how the terror group continues to thrive in Afghanistan under Taliban protection, and remains connected to its other franchises across the globe, according to accounts provided by Afghan intelligence officials to CNN.
Number of EU citizens refused entry to UK soars despite Covid crisis
Post-Brexit rules allow travel without visas, but border officials have wide powers to exclude visitors
The number of EU citizens being prevented from entering the UK has soared over the past three months despite the reduction in travel because of Covid, according to Home Office figures.
A total of 3,294 EU citizens were prevented from entering the UK, even though post-Brexit rules mean they are allowed to visit the country without visas. That compares with 493 EU citizens in the first quarter of last year, when air traffic was 20 times higher.
Visitors, however, can be stopped or detained and expelled if they are suspected of travelling to Britain to work or settle without meeting the new visa requirements.
The doctors ordered to battle Covid in silence
Possibly enduring the toughest lockdown anywhere in the world, Kashmir’s doctors and patients give a rare look into the buckling healthcare system of the most heavily militarised region on Earth. Namita Singh reports in the first of a series of dispatches from Srinagar
“I don’t want to die right now,” were the last words of 28-year-old Sheikh Sumaira as she gasped for air in a Covid ward in Kashmir’s Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital. On 21 May, after her oxygen levels dipped below 40 and with her family still scrambling to find her an ICU bed, she took her final breath.
Sumaira’s family say she was admitted to one of the biggest and best-equipped government hospitals in Srinagar, the largest city in India’s Jammu and Kashmir, just two days after testing positive for the virus. Yet as her condition sharply deteriorated, doctors said there were no ventilators left and told the family it would be up to them to secure one.
Germany officially recognizes colonial-era Namibia genocide
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Germany had caused "immeasurable suffering" to the Herero and Nama people, in what is now Namibia, in the early part of the 20th century.
Germany on Friday formally recognized as genocide the crimes committed by its colonial troops at the beginning of the 20th century against the Herero and Nama people in what is now Namibia.
It's the first time that Berlin has recognized the attrocities committed, with the declaration coming after five years of negotiations.
What did Germany say?
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) said in a statement that as a "gesture of recognition of the immeasurable suffering" Germany caused, it would set up a fund amounting to €1.1 billion (US $ 1.34 billion).
Nigeria: Surviving Boko Haram
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Borno state, in northeastern Nigeria, has been ravaged by a deadly conflict between the military and Boko Haram jihadists for more than a decade. Last autumn, the authorities announced that they wanted to close the Borno refugee camps as they claimed the insurgency was almost eradicated. However, in recent months, deadly attacks have taken place on the outskirts of the regional capital Maiduguri. Our team met some of the two million displaced people who have fled the fighting.
Fatima, 26, was forcibly married to a Boko Haram commander. She did so to prevent her son from being turned into a child soldier by the Islamist sect. But since then, her family has disowned her and called her a "Boko Haram wife". Falmata, 50, saw Boko Haram put a price on her head simply for being a businesswoman. She barely survived, but lost everything in her hometown of Bama, and doesn't know how she will feed her five children and three orphaned nephews. As for 70-year-old Mala, he survived a recent massacre of peasants but hasn't dared to go back to the fields since.
‘Terrorising a generation’: Israel arresting Palestinian children
Palestinians, legal experts and activists note a worrying shift in the number of children being arrested as police announce ‘Operation Law and Order’.
28 May 2021
Thirteen-year-old Mohammed Saadi was kidnapped, blindfolded, beaten and threatened with a gun to his head by five men in his hometown of Umm al-Fahem.
It was May 20 and Saadi was among thousands who gathered for a funeral procession held for Mohammed Kiwan, a 17-year-old boy who was shot by Israeli police a week earlier.
At the time, tensions escalated in occupied East Jerusalem over Israel’s planned forced expulsion of Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah, attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and Israel’s military assault on Gaza, leading thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel to protest on a near-daily basis across towns and cities in Israel.
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