Six In The Morning Wednesday 6 July 2022

 

Ukraine-Russia war: Civilians flee frontline city as Russians advance

By Paul Kirby
BBC News

Residents have been told to leave Ukraine's eastern city of Slovyansk, a day after two people were killed in a Russian attack on a market.

Civilians boarded minibuses on Wednesday morning as Russian forces advanced from the north and east.

UK defence intelligence said there was a "realistic possibility" the battle for Slovyansk would be the next key contest in the struggle for the Donbas.

Russian forces were likely to be 16km (10 miles) north of the city, it said.

Global hunger toll soars by 150 million as Covid and Ukraine war make their mark

Tenth of world’s population now chronically undernourished, with spectre of widespread famine drawing ever closer, warns report

Lizzy Davies

The number of people going hungry in the world has risen by 150 million since the start of the Covid pandemic, the UN has said, warning that the food crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine risks pushing the worst-hit countries into famine.

Globally, the number suffering from chronic undernourishment rose to as many as 828 million last year, a rise of about 46 million on the previous year, and three times that increase if measured since the world shut down due to Covid, a report has found.

With the price of fuel, food staples and fertiliser soaring since the invasion of Ukraine, however, that total is expected to rise even further in the next year – a scenario that could see some of the world’s poorest fall into famine, the most extreme form of food deprivation.

People-smuggling network behind 10,000 Channel migrant crossings targeted with Europe-wide arrests

‘Slick’ operation saw boats purchased in Turkey, stored in Germany then transported to the French coast in small numbers to evade authorities

Lizzie Dearden

Home Affairs Editor

Members of a criminal network believed to have smuggled 10,000 people to the UK on small boats have been arrested in the largest operation of its kind.

The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) worked with law enforcement in France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands to disrupt a group sending dinghies from Turkey to be used for Channel crossings.

Around 40 suspects - including leaders of the gang - have been arrested in a series of coordinated raids across Europe, while more than 100 inflatable boats, dozens of engines and more than 1,200 life jackets have been seized.

Saudi Arabia's new hajj lottery has many Muslims fuming

Saudi Arabia's lottery system for the 2022 hajj has Muslims in Europe, Australia and the Americas infuriated. Preparing for this year's pilgrimage to Mecca became a financial and logistical nightmare for many Muslims.

Even if everything goes according to plan, preparing for and performing the hajj is an emotional journey for many Muslims. However, for thousands of prospective pilgrims from about 50 countries in Europe, Australia and the Americas, the preparation for this year's hajj season has turned into a financial drama, as well.

In June, Saudi Arabia's Hajj Ministry announced that, effective immediately, Muslims from those regions would have to apply for tickets for the pilgrimage at a fixed price through a newly introduced lottery system on the government-backed website Motawif. The new system is said to protect pilgrims from "fake" tour organizers, who have offered hajj visa for varying prices online and offline. However, the move also sidelined long-established operators who had already sold tickets for the 2022 hajj season, which starts on July 7.

Rhinos killed, poachers arrested in S.Africa's Kruger Park

Three poachers suspected of killing several rhinos in South Africa's Kruger National Park were arrested after they were tracked down by sniffer dogs, park officials said on Wednesday.

Rangers flying over the park grounds spotted a carcass and an injured rhino on Friday morning after being alerted by a tourist who reported hearing gunshots, South African National Parks said in a statement.

Two more dead rhinos were soon found in area, triggering the deployment of another helicopter, more rangers and dogs.

Is North Korea hiding a bigger problem behind its Covid-19 outbreak?

By Paula Hancocks and Yoonjung Seo, CNN

Updated 1052 GMT (1852 HKT) July 6, 2022

Choi Jung-hun smiled as I read out the latest official Covid-19 figures from North Korean state media: fewer than 5 million cases of "fever" and just 73 fatalities -- a fraction of the death toll of every other country in the world.

"North Koreans call them rubber band statistics," he said, in a nod toward Pyongyang's flexibility with the truth. "It's hard even for North Korea to know its own numbers."

He speaks with some authority. Choi was a doctor for more than 10 years in North Korea, specializing in infectious diseases before he fled his home country in 2011.