Six In The Morning Thursday 30 September 2021

 

Relatives of family killed in Kabul missile strike are seeking resettlement in America

By Anna Coren, Sandi Sidhu, Julia Hollingsworth and Ahmet Mengli, CNN

Updated 0657 GMT (1457 HKT) September 30, 2021

Every day for the past month, Emal Ahmadi's 7-year-old daughter Hada has asked him the same thing: "Where is my sister?"

She misses playing with her younger sister Malika, he says. She cries a lot, wondering when she is coming home.

The tragic answer is that she won't return.

Malika died in a US drone strike in the courtyard of their family home in Afghanistan's capital on August 29, along with nine other relatives, six of them children.

The US military has since conceded it made a "tragic mistake," admitting that all of the 10 people killed were civilians -- and none were associated with terror group ISIS-K, as they initially claimed.

Top Republicans rub shoulders with extremists in secretive rightwing group, leak reveals

Jason Wilson

@jason_a_w

Thu 30 Sep 2021 10.00 BST

Wealthy entrepreneurs and media moguls also named on membership list for influential Council for National Policy

A leaked document has revealed the membership list of the secretive Council for National Policy (CNP), showing how it provides opportunities for elite Republicans, wealthy entrepreneurs, media proprietors and pillars of the US conservative movement to rub shoulders with anti-abortion and anti-Islamic extremists.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which monitors rightwing hate groups, describes the CNP as “a shadowy and intensely secretive group [which] has operated behind the scenes” in its efforts to “build the conservative movement”.

The leaked membership list dates from September last year, and reveals the 40-year-old CNP put influential Trump administration figures alongside leaders of organizations that have been categorized as hate groups.

Germany: Nazi death camp secretary caught after fleeing trial

A 96-year-old woman due to go on trial for alleged war crimes as a secretary at a Nazi death camp had gone into hiding.

A district court in Germany had issued an arrest warrant for a 96-year-old woman who was due to go on trial on Thursday on charges of complicity in thousands of murders at the Stutthof death camp during World War II, court officials say.

Irmgard F. was arrested by police after a warrant was issued for her to be brought before the regional court in the Schleswig-Holstein town of Itzehoe where she was standing trial.

North Korea’s Kim seeks to reopen hotline with South, but dismisses US offer of talks

North Korea leader Kim Jong Un expressed his willingness to restore stalled communication lines with South Korea in early October to promote peace while shrugging off US offers for dialogue as “cunning ways” to conceal its hostility against the North, state media reported Thursday.

Kim’s statement is an apparent effort to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington as he wants South Korea to help him win relief from crippling US-led economic sanctions and other concessions. Pyongyang this month has offered conditional talks with Seoul alongside its first missile firings in six months and stepped-up criticism of the United States.

The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency closed meeting on Thursday at the request of the United States, United Kingdom and France on North Korea’s recent tests.

Ethiopia orders expulsion of 7 top UN officials for ‘meddling’

The seven, including individuals from UNICEF and OCHA, have been declared ‘persona non grata’ and given 72 hours to leave the country, foreign ministry says.

Ethiopia’s government has ordered the expulsion of seven senior United Nations officials from the country for “meddling” in its internal affairs.

The move on Thursday came as humanitarian workers have been sounding the alarm about limited access to the embattled Tigray region, which has been racked by conflict for nearly 11 months.

The seven, who include individuals from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), have been declared “persona non grata” and given 72 hours to leave the country, a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.

Ecuador riot: Police storm jail where 116 died in gang war

Four hundred police officers have entered a prison in the Ecuadorean port city of Guayaquil where at least 116 inmates have been killed in a gang war.

The brutal prison fight first broke out on Tuesday and officials had said on Wednesday that the jail was back under their control.

But early on Thursday, neighbours said they had heard explosions and gunshots.

Shortly afterwards, police said it was sending 400 officers back in to "maintain order".

Ecuador's police force posted video on its Twitter account of officers moving back into the Guayas prison complex, also known as the Litoral Penitentiary.