Six In The Morning Wednesday 20 October 2021

 

The world is banking on giant carbon-sucking fans to clean our climate mess. It's a big risk.

By Ivana Kottasová, CNN
Video and Photos by Temujin Doran, CNN
Design by Carlotta Dotto, CNN

Updated 0914 GMT (1714 HKT) October 20, 2021

The windswept valleys surrounding the Hengill volcano in southwestern Iceland are dotted with hot springs and steam vents. Hikers from all over the world come here to witness its breath-taking scenery. Even the sheep are photogenic in the soft Nordic light.

Right in the middle of all that natural beauty sits a towering metal structure resembling four giant Lego bricks, with two rows of six whirring fans running across each one. It's a contraption that looks truly futuristic, like something straight out of a sci-fi film.

Humans have emitted so much carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere that machines like this are being used to literally suck the gas back out, like giant vacuum cleaners, in an attempt to slow the climate crisis and prevent some of its most devastating consequences.

Bolsonaro should be charged with crimes against humanity, inquiry finds

Brazilian president savaged for ‘macabre’ and ‘slovenly’ response to Covid pandemic and ‘deliberate neglect’ of Indigenous people

Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro

Wed 20 Oct 2021 16.22 BST

Jair Bolsonaro should be charged with crimes against humanity and jailed for his “macabre” reaction to a Covid outbreak that has killed more than 600,000 Brazilians, including a disproportionate number of Indigenous citizens, a congressional inquiry has found.

Two of the most dramatic accusations against the Brazilian president – murder and genocide of the country’s Indigenous populations – were removed from a previous draft of the report on Tuesday night after talks between opposition senators serving on the inquiry.

But the final draft suggests the committee will recommend Brazil’s populist president be charged with nine separate offenses including charlatanism, incitement to commit crimes, the propagation of pathogenic germs, and crimes against humanity.

Oklahoma woman convicted of manslaughter over miscarriage

‘Poolaw’s case is a tragedy,’ says rights organisation, as court sentences her to four years in jail

Stuti Mishra

An Oklahoma woman’s conviction under the charges of third degree manslaughter for a miscarriage she suffered has sparked outrage among rights groups.

Indigenous woman Brittney Poolaw was sentenced to four years in a state prison by Comanche County Courthouse this month for a miscarriage she suffered last year. A notice of intent to appeal was filed by her lawyer last week.

The prosecution alleged 21-year-old Poolaw was using methamphetamine — a nervous system stimulant often used as a recreational drug — and it was one of the several “conditions contributing” to the miscarriage. An autopsy confirmed the presence of meth in the foetus.

Libya's decade of instability after Moammar Gadhafi's death

Libya has not managed to emerge from the conflict that preceded dictator Moammar al-Gadhafi's death on October 20, 2011. Parliamentary elections scheduled for December have been postponed.

"We announce to the world that Gadhafi has been killed at the hands of the revolution," Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) spokesman Abdul Hafiz Ghoga said on October 20, 2011. "It is the end of tyranny and dictatorship," he added.

In February 2011 Libyans, inspired by the uprising in neighboring Tunisia, had stood up to the regime of the dictator Moammar al-Gadhafi, who rose to power after the 1969 coup he had led.

By March, the United Nations had given its approval for a military operation to protect the civilian population from reprisals by the regime. NATO launched attacks on Gadhafi's military — significantly weakening the dictator's forces.

Jailed Kremlin critic Navalny wins Sakharov Prize, EU's top human rights award

The European Parliament on Wednesday awarded the Sakharov Prize for human rights to jailed Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who last year survived a poisoning attack he blames on the Kremlin.

Navalny's organisation described the award as a victory for all supporters of "truth".

"The Sakharov Price is, of course, an award for you all. To all the people who are not indifferent, who even in the darkest of times are not afraid to speak the truth," Navalny's FBK anti-corruption foundation said on Twitter.

In a tweet, the parliament's right-of-centre EPP group announced the prize and called on Russian President Vladimir Putin "to free Alexei Navalny. Europe calls for his -- and all other political prisoners' -- freedom".

Yemen war: Lawyers submit case to UK police accusing UAE, Saudi

London-based Guernica 37 legal team argues key figures in Saudi Arabia, UAE were complicit in crimes against humanity.

Human rights lawyers have filed a complaint to British police accusing senior government figures in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of complicity in war crimes in Yemen.

The London-based Guernica 37 legal team submitted their dossier to the capital’s Metropolitan Police Service and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on Wednesday.

Toby Cadman, the barrister leading the complaint, said 22 high-ranking Saudi and Emirati political and military officials are alleged to have been involved in crimes against humanity.