Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Six In The Morning Tuesday 29 June 2021

 

Tigray rebels vow to drive out ‘enemies’ despite ceasefire declaration

Celebrations on streets of Mekelle after soldiers and officials appointed by Ethiopian government flee city

 West Africa correspondent and 

Dissident leaders of Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray region have dismissed a government ceasefire declaration and vowed to drive out “enemies” from the region, after rebel fighters advanced on the Tigrayan capital.

In a dramatic development in the nearly eight-month-old conflict, which has been marked by large-scale atrocities, federal security forces and officials from the central government appointed interim administration fled Mekelle on Monday night. Residents took to the streets in jubilation, firing celebratory gunfire and fireworks into the sky.

“The capital of Tigray, Mekelle, is under our control,” Getachew Reda, the spokesperson for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), told Reuters by satellite phone on Monday evening, as Tigrayan fighters captured the city’s airport and other key positions.

Dutch court convicts woman for spreading Isis propaganda

Defendant distributed large amounts of propaganda via Telegram messaging app in 2019

Joe Middleton


A Dutch court has convicted a 32-year-old woman for spreading Isis propaganda.

The Hague District Court ruled that Isis is a criminal organisation with the aim of committing war crimes and jailed the woman for six years for disseminating material from her home near Amsterdam.

The woman's sentence was double the three years originally demanded by prosecutors, with judges saying the sentence request was "far too low".


Fact check: Is half a degree of warming really such a big deal?

Minimal temperature increases like 1.5 or 2 degrees Celcius might sound insignificant, but when it comes to our planet they can have a massive impact. DW looks at the facts.

When a human being's temperature rises from a healthy 36.6 to 38.6 degrees Celsius (97.8 to 101.48 degrees Fahrenheit), it has consequences. Just a seemingly minor increase leaves the body feeling unwell and unable to function normally.  

It's a similar story for the planet. 

Turkey's 'crazy' and controversial Istanbul Canal project

By laying the first stone of the Sazlidere bridge, one of six viaducts that will cross the Istanbul Canal, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan kicked off on Saturday what he himself calls his "crazy project", the construction of a canal between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, despite low enthusiasm from the Turkish public. 

During Saturday’s ceremony on the Sazlidere construction site, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan placed special emphasis on the historical nature of his outsized project.

"This is not a ceremony to inaugurate a fountain," he told a crowd of supporters including Transport and Industry Minister Adil Karaismailoglu and members of his party, the AKP.

Demolitions begin in occupied East Jerusalem’s Silwan

Israeli forces demolish a butcher’s shop and use tear gas to push back residents and activists.

Violence erupted after the demolition of a Palestinian business by Israeli forces began in the al-Bustan area of the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan on Tuesday.

Israeli forces accompanied by bulldozers entered the Palestinian neighbourhood and destroyed a butcher’s shop in Silwan. Soldiers used tear gas and batons to push back residents and Palestinian activists as they carried out the demolition.

At least four Palestinians were injured in the confrontations, according to the Palestine Red Crescent.


'I never said that I hated the country,' says US hammer thrower Gwen Berry after turning from the flag

Updated 1337 GMT (2137 HKT) June 29, 2021


US hammer thrower Gwen Berry has responded to criticism over turning away from the flag while on the podium at the Olympic trials, saying she "never said that I hated the country."

Berry placed third at the trials in Eugene, Oregon, on Saturday to qualify for her second Olympics, which get underway in Tokyo next month.
She then turned away from the flag while "The Star-Spangled Banner" played during the medal ceremony and draped a T-shirt carrying the words "activist athlete" over her head.



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