Six In The Morning Friday 13 May 2022

 

Snake Island: The tiny speck of land playing an outsized role in Russia's war on Ukraine

By Tim Lister, CNN

Updated 1219 GMT (2019 HKT) May 13, 2022

It is just 46 acres of rock and grass with no fresh water (and no snakes either), but Snake Island in the Black Sea has taken on a totemic significance in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

The isle -- known as Zmiinyi Ostriv in Ukrainian -- lies around 30 miles (48 kilometers) off the coast of Ukraine and close to the sea lanes leading to the Bosphorus and Mediterranean.

Moscow has never laid claim to Snake Island, and it's a long way from any part of the Russian mainland. It's over 180 miles from Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014. In no geographical or historical sense could Russia claim it as their own.

But history be damned because it has strategic value and the Russians clearly thought it would be easy pickings. Even before the conflict, Ukraine knew that it was vulnerable. Last year, President Volodymyr Zelensky flew to Snake Island, where are there are no voters but some sheep, to emphasize that it mattered. "This island, like the rest of our territory, is Ukrainian land, and we will defend it with all our might," he said.

Israeli police ​attack funeral procession for shot journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh

TV images show Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Aqleh’s coffin falling as police grab Palestinian flags from crowd

Sufian Taha in Jerusalem

Israeli forces have attacked a funeral procession for a Palestinian American journalist shot dead this week, kicking and hitting people with batons and causing mourners carrying her coffin to lose balance and drop it to the ground.

Police said mourners were “disrupting public order”. Footage showed the coffin of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Aqleh on mourners’ shoulders outside St Joseph’s hospital in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem as police rushed in and attacked people, several of whom held Palestinian flags. The sound of a stun grenade could be heard.

Israel forbids public displays of Palestinian flags and often prevents people from hoisting them at rallies and protests in the city.

Germany train attack: Five people injured as knifeman stabs passengers and police probe ‘terror link’

Suspect, 31, overpowered by passengers while travelling on railway in far west of country

Tom Batchelor

German police are investigating after five train passengers were injured in an apparent random knife attack on Friday morning, which detectives said may be linked to Islamist terrorism.

The train was traveling near the city of Aachen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, in the far west of the country, at around 7.40am local time when a man began attacking fellow passengers “randomly and arbitrarily”, state interior minister Herbert Reul said.

An Iraqi-born man has been arrested in relation with the attack.

Sri Lankans running out of food, fuel and medicine

Sri Lankans told DW how they're struggling with shortages of food, fuel and medicine as the nation faces one of its worst economic crises in decades.

"I have a 10-month-old baby. I couldn't even buy medicines for her when she was sick last week," said Gunarathna Vaani, who resides in the suburbs of Sri Lanka's capital Colombo.   

"There are no medicine stocks available in the market. Even basic tablets like paracetamol or Benadryl are not there. I had to borrow medicines from my neighbors to treat my baby," she told DW. 

Pointing to empty market shelves, Vaani explained how she's struggling to get milk powder for her child, as well as her difficulties securing gas and kerosene supplies to cook food.

Iran arrests at least 22 protesting staple food price hikes

Iranian authorities have arrested at least 22 demonstrators who had been protesting sudden price hikes of subsidised staple foods in two southern cities.

Brittney Griner: US basketball star has Russian detention extended

The American basketball star Brittney Griner's pre-trial detention in Russia has been extended for one month.

Ms Griner, 31, has been in custody since February after Moscow airport officials allegedly found cannabis oil in her luggage, while she was returning to the US after playing in Russia.

US officials said she was wrongfully imprisoned and should be released.

Griner - regarded as one of the world's best female players - faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.