Six In The Morning Friday 6 May 2022

 

Hungary and Slovakia resist Russian oil embargo

European diplomats have been locked in tough negotiations over a proposed new package of sanctions against Russia, with Hungary against a ban on Russian oil imports.

The plan involves phasing out crude oil over six months and refined products by the end of 2022.

Hungary and Slovakia would be given an extension allowing them to keep importing until the end of 2023. But they say that is not enough, while the Czech Republic has asked to be given the same extension.

According to diplomats, on Friday the negotiators were discussing extending the transition for those three until the end of 2024.

Summary

1. Ukrainian forces have accused Russia of firing during the civilian evacuation of the Mariupol steelworks - with a car being hit
2. There are thought to be about 200 civilians - including at least 20 children - trapped with Ukrainian fighters under the Mariupol plant
3. A bus carrying 12 civilians has now left the site, according to a report by a Russian news agency
4. Vladimir Putin says Ukraine should order its fighters in the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol to surrender
5. Capturing the whole of the shattered southern city would be symbolic for Moscow ahead of its annual 9 May Victory Day celebration
6. Meanwhile, there are reports the US provided intel that helped Ukraine sink the Russian warship Moskva
7. The Pentagon has denied other reports that the US helped Ukraine target and kill Russian generals

Xi Jinping attacks ‘doubters’ as he doubles down on China’s zero-Covid policy

President defends ‘scientific and effective’ mass lockdowns despite protests, shortages and damage to economic growth

Helen Davidson in Taipei

@heldavidson

Xi Jinping has confirmed there is no intention to turn away from China’s zero-Covid commitment, in a major speech to the country’s senior officials that also warned against any criticism or doubting of the policy.

Addressing the seven-member politburo standing committee, China’s highest decision-making body, specifically about the Shanghai outbreak, the president said China’s response was “scientific and effective”. He told officials to “unswervingly adhere to the general policy of dynamic zero-Covid”.

“We have won the battle to defend Wuhan, and we will certainly be able to win the battle to defend Shanghai,” he said, according to a translation by Sinocism’s Bill Bishop.

‘This torture has destroyed our lives’: Swedish-Iranian doctor threatened with imminent execution

Tehran is accused of detaining the scientist to influence the trial of an Iranian in Stockholm

Borzou Daragahi

International Correspondent

It was a normal work trip, similar to ones that he had taken many times before to Iran for a conference or consultation. And her biggest worry was that she’d be overwhelmed at home with their two kids.

But Vida Mehrannia’s husband never returned from his trip to Tehran six years ago. Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian physician specialising in disaster management, was instead arrested, charged with espionage and eventually sentenced to death.

He has mostly been held in solitary confinement in a case that has become geopolitically entangled with a major ongoing human rights prosecution unfolding in Stockholm.

Brazil deforestation shatters April record

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon last month shattered the record for April, destroying more than 1,000 square kilometers of the world's biggest rainforest, nearly double the previous high, according to official figures published Friday.

The record -- the third in four months -- is the latest damning statistic on the accelerating loss of the Amazon under President Jair Bolsonaro.

Satellite images show a total area of destroyed forest cover of 1,012.5 square kilometers (391 square miles) from April 1 to 29, with the last day of the month yet to be analyzed, according to the Deter monitoring system run by the national space agency, INPE.

Kishida indicates entry rules on foreigners to ease in June

By AKIYOSHI ABE/ Staff Writer

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida indicated that Japan will ease entry restrictions against foreigners in June and relax other measures that have been imposed to prevent novel coronavirus infections.

“While taking into consideration the view of experts, we want to gradually review our infection-prevention measures, including entry restrictions, as early as June so that we can move further toward returning to normalcy,” Kishida said at a news conference here on May 5.

In a speech earlier in the day, Kishida said Japan’s entry restrictions would be relaxed to the levels of other Group of Seven nations by June.

Belarus jails student a year after forcing down the airliner she was traveling on

By Radina Gigova, Tara John and Anna Chernova, CNN

Updated 1433 GMT (2233 HKT) May 6, 2022

Sofia Sapega, a Russian law student arrested with her Belarusian dissident boyfriend last year when Belarus forced a Ryanair airliner to land, was sentenced Friday to six years in prison for inciting social hatred, Russian state news agency TASS reports.

"The court finds Sapega guilty on charges of 'deliberate acts aimed at inciting social enmity and discord on the basis of social affiliation committed by a group of persons, which had grave consequences,'" said the verdict issued at Grodnensky District Court in Belarus.

The court on Friday also said Sapega was found guilty of illegally collecting and distributing personal data. She was sentenced to a month-long incarceration for this crime, and she also had to pay damages amounting to 167,500 Belarusian rubles (or roughly $65,000). The verdict can be appealed within a period of 10 days.