Friday, February 4, 2022

Six In The Morning Friday 4 February 2022

 

China joins Russia in opposing Nato expansion

China has joined Russia in opposing further Nato expansion as the two countries move closer together in the face of Western pressure.

Moscow and Beijing issued a statement showcasing their agreement on a raft of issues during a visit by Russia's Vladimir Putin for the Winter Olympics.

Mr Putin claims Western powers are using the Nato defence alliance to undermine Russia.

It comes amid tensions over Ukraine, which he denies planning to invade.



Iceland to end whaling in 2024 as demand dwindles

Japan’s return to commercial whaling in 2019 has left few buyers for Iceland’s meat

AFP in Reykjavik


Iceland, one of the only countries that still hunts whales commercially, along with Norway and Japan, plans to end whaling from 2024 as demand dwindles, the fisheries minister has said.

“There are few justifications to authorise the whale hunt beyond 2024,” when current quotas expire, Svandis Svavarsdóttir, a member of the Left Green party, wrote in Morgunblaðið newspaper.

“There is little proof that there is any economic advantage to this activity,” she said.


Rotterdam mayor says ‘no request’ to dismantle bridge for Bezos’ yacht

Mayor’s comments come after officials reportedly said they would allow the bridge to be partially removed

Holly Bancroft

The Dutch city of Rotterdam has not received a request to temporarily dismantle a historic bridge to accommodate Jeff Bezos’ superyacht despite reports to the contrary, its mayor told local media.

The city’s mayor clarified the situation a day after a municipality spokesperson told the media that officials had given the go ahead for the central section of the famous Koningshaven Bridge to be removed to allow the vessel to pass through.

The Amazon founder’s £375 million ($485m) boat will be the world’s largest sailing yacht at 417ft long, according to Boat International magazine, and its 40-metre high trio of masts is reportedly too tall to make it under Rotterdam’s iconic bridge.


Turkey's intelligence agency abducts arms dealer in Ukraine

An arms dealer who had started to expose Turkey's clandestine arms trafficking networks was snatched during a Turkish intelligence operation. The whistleblower had claimed kickbacks reached the highest offices in Turkey.

Nuri Bozkir is a man who many believe poses a threat to the Turkish president. The abducted arms dealer is viewed as one of the few people who could unveil systematic wrongdoing by the Turkish government because he was an integral part of its covert weapons shipments to war zones.

The Turkish national intelligence agency, MIT, captured the arms dealer-turned-whistleblower in Ukraine, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told pro-government media last week.

"Our intelligence found that this person was hiding in Ukraine and we talked to [Ukrainian President] Zelenskyy about him being caught," Erdogan said. "Our intelligence service and great cooperation with its partners made this arrest possible."


‘Nobody left the house’: Atmeh locals in the dark about ISIL boss

Following US raid, landlord and neighbours say they were unaware of Abu Ibrahim al-Qurayshi’s presence in Syrian town.

 Mousab al-Sheikh is in shock.

“Nobody used to think about Daesh [ISIL] here,” he says, standing by the remains of a three-floored building that he and his father own in Atmeh, a town in Syria’s Idlib province just off the Turkish border.

The structure was destroyed during an overnight United States special forces operation on Thursday that killed at least 13 people, including six children, according to first responders. The following evening, US President Joe Biden said the operation had targeted and led to the death of ISIL (ISIS) leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi. US officials said al-Qurayshi blew himself up, also killing his wife and children. ISIL has yet to acknowledge his death.



Why Russia loves banging on the 'fake news' drum

Updated 1544 GMT (2344 HKT) February 4, 2022


Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has a knack for soundbites, and the allegation by US officials that Russia was cooking up a "graphic propaganda video" to create a pretext for invading Ukraine was no exception.

"This is delusional, in my opinion, this kind of fabrication," he told a Russian reporter Friday. "And there are more and more of them every day, it is obvious to any more or less experienced political scientist."
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) loves a fake news story -- that is, they love to pounce on anything they can present as Western spin, dissembling or propaganda. The ministry even hosted a web page dedicated to outing what they branded as "false publications" -- a page that, alas, appears to be dormant.


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