Six In The Morning Sunday 26 June 2022

 

Russian missiles hit Kyiv as G7 summit begins in Europe

By Tim Lister, Julia Kesaieva, Salma Abdelaziz, Pierre Bairin and Jeevan Ravindran, CNN

Updated 1515 GMT (2315 HKT) June 26, 2022

Russia targeted the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv with a series of missile attacks Sunday, as leaders of the G7 nations gather in Germany for the first day of their annual summit.

One person died and at least six were wounded in a Russian missile strike that hit a residential apartment block in Kyiv. The city's Deputy Mayor, Volodymyr Bondarenko, said four of the injured were admitted to the hospital as search and rescue operations continue.

Bondarenko also said a kindergarten was hit in the missile strike but no one was injured, and video from Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs showed a large missile funnel in the backyard of the kindergarten.

Sri Lanka almost out of fuel, with no fresh supplies in sight

Bankrupt nation’s energy minister apologises to motorists but unable to say when petrol and diesel imports will be restored

Staff and agencies

Sri Lanka has increased the price of fuel by up to 22%% after the energy minister warned it had virtually run out of petrol and diesel after several expected shipments were delayed.

Kanchana Wijesekera apologised to motorists as he said on Saturday that oil cargoes that were due last week did not turn up, while those scheduled to arrive next week will also not reach Sri Lanka due to “banking” reasons.

Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) said on Sunday it had raised the price of diesel, used widely in public transport, by 15% to 460 rupees ($1.27) a litre while upping petrol 22% to 550 rupees ($1.52).

Spotlight on Germany's Colonial PastWhen Can Ngonnso Return Home?

The Ethnological Museum in Berlin is home to a statue called Ngonnso, taken from her home by German colonialists at the beginning of the 20th century. A tribe in Cameroon has been demanding her return for decades. And now, they may finally be granted their wish.

By Guido Mingels

And here she sits, 5,000 kilometers away from her home, as she has been for the last 120 years. She isn’t particularly conspicuous among the dozens of exhibits in the Cameroon hall of the Ethnological Museum at Berlin's Humboldt Forum. The label somewhat imperiously describes the figure as a "palm wine vessel," since the sculpture, less than a meter in height, is holding a bowl in her lap. Her body is covered with cowrie shells, earrings dangle from her ears and her expression is impassive. She is made of wood.

But Ngonnso, snatched by German colonialists in 1902, is a princess, a deity. She is the ancestral mother and founder of the Nso people.

Opinion: Climate justice must be more than a promise

At the G7 summit, rich countries should finally take responsibility, quit coal by 2030 and honor their promises to compensate poorer countries least responsible for the climate crisis, says Mathias Mogge.

For most people, the climate crisis is no longer a future scenario. Floods, heat waves and wildfires have gripped our entire planet — and will become stronger in years to come. Countries in the Global South are particularly hard hit, even though their citizens have been emitting the least CO2.

It is high time that those most responsible — above all the G7 countries — cough up for the damages wrought by the climate crisis across the globe. But so far, the G7 presidency has not taken the ambitious steps needed to play a leadership role in stopping climate change and fighting its impacts.

Survey: LDP lags far behind other parties on gender diversity issues

By YUTA OGI/ Staff Writer

June 26, 2022 at 14:33 JST

Of all the contenders running in the Upper House election next month, candidates of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are the least supportive of the rights of sexual minorities and legally allowing married couples to use different surnames, a survey shows.

The LDP, led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, lags far behind other political parties in backing legislation to promote understanding of sexual minorities.

Just 40 percent of the party’s candidates running in the July 10 election are behind the prompt enactment of such legislation, according to the survey by The Asahi Shimbun and a team led by Masaki Taniguchi, a professor of political science at the University of Tokyo.

Teesta Setalvad who fought for 2002 Gujarat riot victims arrested

Rights groups say the arrest of Setalvad, who campaigned to get justice for the 2002 Gujarat riot victims, will have a ‘chilling effect’.

By Zafar Aafaq

Published On 26 Jun 202226 Jun 2022

A United Nations expert has joined global human rights groups in expressing concern over the arrest of Indian rights defender Teesta Setalvad a day after the country’s Supreme Court upheld the findings of a special investigation team (SIT) that cleared Prime Minister Narendra Modi of complicity in 2002 anti-Muslim riots.

Setalvad was picked up by the anti-terrorism wing of the Gujarat police on Saturday afternoon from her home in Mumbai hours after India’s interior minister, Amit Shah, a close aide of Modi, accused her of giving baseless information to the police about the deadly anti-Muslim violence during Modi’s chief ministership of the state.

“Deeply concerned by reports of #WHRD [Human Rights Defender] Teesta Setalvad being detained by Anti Terrorism Sqaud [sic] of Gujarat police,” said Mary Lawlor, UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, in a tweet describing Setalvad as “a strong voice against hatred and discrimination”.