Six In The Morning Monday 16 May 2022

 

Ukraine: The children's camp that became an execution ground

By Sarah Rainsford
BBC Eastern Europe correspondent, Bucha

Since Russian forces were pushed back from Kyiv at the end of March, the bodies of more than 1,000 civilians have been discovered in the Bucha region - many hastily buried in shallow graves. The BBC has learned that around 650 people were shot in what a senior police official has described as executions. Sarah Rainsford has been investigating what happened at a children's summer camp - now being treated as a crime scene.

*This report contains material some readers will find disturbing*

It is easy to miss the killing spot at first in the gloom. But in a cold, damp basement on the edge of the woods that made Bucha a popular get-away spot before the war, five Ukrainian men were forced to their knees and shot in the head.

To the right of the entrance, there are stones coated in blood that has turned dark red. Lying among that is a blue woollen hat with an exit hole in one side and its rim soaked in blood. In the wall, I counted at least a dozen bullet holes.

Scrutiny of Republicans who embrace ‘great replacement theory’ after Buffalo massacre

Extremist ideology has found favor with media figures like Tucker Carlson and also with elected politicians and others seeking office

Richard Luscombe

@richlusc

The massacre by a white supremacist gunman of Black shoppers at a Buffalo grocery store has drawn renewed scrutiny of Republican figures in the US who have embraced the racist “great replacement theory” he is alleged to have used as justification for the murders.

Born from far-right nationalism, the extremist ideology expounding the view that immigration will ultimately destroy white values and western civilization has found favor not only with media figures, such as the conservative Fox News host Tucker Carlson, but a host of elected politicians and others seeking office.

Those who have convinced themselves Democrats are operating an open-door immigration policy to “replace” Republican voters with people of color and keep themselves in power permanently include Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, chair of her party’s House conference, and JD Vance, the Donald Trump-approved Republican nominee to represent Ohio in the US Senate.

Palestinian activists accuse German police of heavy-handed crackdown on vigil in Berlin

Nearly 170 people arrested during protests against Shireen Abu Akleh’s killing

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Several activists protesting the Israeli occupation of Palestine and mourning Shireen Abu Akleh, the Al Jazeera journalist who was shot dead while covering a raid in the West Bank last week, have reportedly been arrested in German capital Berlin.

Activists alleged that nearly 170 people were arrested on Sunday during a protest against the journalist’s killing.

Although the vigil for Abu Akleh, who eyewitnesses said was killed by Israeli soldiers, was organised by a Jewish group, authorities in Berlin banned it claiming that it fell under the ban on protests ahead of Nakba Day.

Jerusalem archbishop condemns police raid at journalist's funeral

 The Catholic archbishop in Jerusalem on Monday strongly criticised Israel's "police invasion" last week of a Christian hospital ahead of the funeral of slain Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh.

The veteran journalist was shot dead during an Israeli army raid in the West Bank. Palestinians and the TV network said Israeli troops killed her, while Israel said Palestinian gunfire may have been to blame.

Anger over her death was compounded Friday when baton-wielding Israeli police in annexed east Jerusalem beat pallbearers carrying Abu Akleh's coffin which was covered by a Palestinian flag.

Turkish nuclear plant threatened by Russian sanctions

Akkuyu nuclear power plant would be Turkey’s first, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may cause problems.

By Andrew Wilks

Published On 16 May 202216 May 2022

 Unprecedented sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine have led to fresh concerns about Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, which is being built by Moscow’s state-owned nuclear company.

The first reactor of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, located on the Mediterranean coast near Mersin, is due to start production next year, but potential blocks on financing and equipment from third countries have threatened to delay the $20bn project.

Rosatom, the Russian firm behind Akkuyu, has so far escaped sanctions but the option has reportedly been discussed by the United States. Banks such as Sberbank, Russia’s largest financial institution and a major backer of the nuclear plant, have been hit.

'We are the last generation': China's harsh lockdowns could exacerbate population crisis

Analysis by Nectar Gan, CNN

Updated 0829 GMT (1629 HKT) May 16, 2022

For generations of Chinese parents, the success of their children has long been one of their most important goals in life -- and they are known to be willing to make great sacrifices for it.

And so when a Shanghai family refused to be taken from their home into government quarantine during the city's sixth week of lockdown, a police officer warned them with what he thought would be a powerful threat to bring them to heel -- their children's future.

"If you don't obey the orders from the city government, you will be punished, and the punishment will affect three generations in your family," the hazmat-suited police officer said, pointing his finger at the camera in a video posted on Chinese social media.