Wednesday, August 31, 2022
How can inevitable sea level rises be dealt with?
Scientists say the melting Greenland ice sheet will cause unavoidable ocean-level rises.
Chinese mortgage holders withholding payments as homes remain unfinished
Overt acts of protest are not common in China. But public anger at the country's real estate developers has been all too clear to see
Six In The Morning Wednesday 31 August 2022
EU foreign ministers reach political consensus to fully suspend visa agreement between EU and Russia
Following a two-day informal meeting in Prague, the European foreign ministers have reached political consensus to fully suspend the visa facilitation agreement between the European Union and Russia.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said in a news conference following the meeting that this decision “will significantly reduce the number of new visas issued by the EU member states” given that the process would become more difficult and take longer.
- A team from the UN's nuclear watchdog has arrived in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia ahead of a planned visit to the Russian-occupied nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine. The team is expected to visit the plant on Thursday, following recent shelling at the facility and mounting fears of a nuclear disaster.
US asked British spy agency to stop Guardian publishing Snowden revelations
Head of GCHQ rebuffed late-night request from National Security Agency amid strained relations in Five Eyes intelligence coalition
Julian Borger in Washington
The US National Security Agency (NSA) tried to persuade its British counterpart to stop the Guardian publishing revelations about secret mass data collection from the NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, according to a new book.
Sir Iain Lobban, the head of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), was reportedly called with the request in the early hours of 6 June 2013 but rebuffed the suggestion that his agency should act as a censor on behalf of its US partner in electronic spying.
The late-night call and the British refusal to shut down publication of the leaks was the first of several episodes in which the Snowden affair caused rifts within the Five Eyes signals intelligence coalition, recounted in a new book to be published on Thursday, The Secret History of Five Eyes, by film-maker and investigative journalist Richard Kerbaj.
Pakistanis outraged by inept government response to monsoon floods
Widespread flooding driven by devastating monsoons has affected 33 million people in Pakistan — some 15% of the population. Anger is growing at the government's failure to provide timely assistance.
For months, tens of millions of people across Pakistan have been battling the worst monsoon floods in over a decade. Pakistan's Climate Minister Sherry Rehman said on Monday that the "crisis of unimaginable proportions" had put a third of Pakistan "under water."
Unprecedented monsoon rains and catastrophic flooding have wreaked havoc on the lives of over 33 million people across Pakistan.
Greenhouse gas, sea levels at record in 2021: US agency
Earth's concentration of greenhouse gases and sea levels hit new highs in 2021, a US government report said Wednesday, showing that climate change keeps surging ahead despite efforts to curb emissions.
"The data presented in this report are clear -- we continue to see more compelling scientific evidence that climate change has global impacts and shows no sign of slowing," said Rick Spinrad, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The rise in greenhouse gas levels comes despite an easing of fossil fuel emissions the previous year as much of the global economy slowed sharply due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Canada spy smuggled UK’s Shamima Begum into Syria: New book
An official inquiry is demanded after a new book suggests the UK covered up Canadian intelligence agency’s role in the British teenager’s journey to join the ISIL group in Syria.
Mohammed al-Rashed, a spy working for Canadian intelligence, smuggled British schoolgirl Shamima Begum and her two friends into Syria in 2015, according to a new book and British media reports that prompted demands for an official inquiry.
The Secret History of the Five Eyes by Richard Kerbaj, a former security correspondent of The Sunday Times, said that the United Kingdom later conspired with Canada to cover up the role of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in the case of Begum, who married an ISIL (ISIS) fighter.
Nord Stream 1: Russia shuts major gas pipeline to Europe
By Matt Murphy
BBC News
BBC News
Russia has completely halted gas supplies to Europe via a major pipeline, saying repairs are needed.
The Russian state-owned energy giant, Gazprom, said the restrictions on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline would last for the next three days.
Russia has already significantly reduced gas exports via the pipeline.
It denies accusations it has used energy supplies as a weapon of war against Western countries.
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline stretches 1,200km (745 miles) under the Baltic Sea from the Russian coast near St Petersburg to north-eastern Germany.
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Why can’t your brain comprehend climate change?
The science all points to one thing: we’re heading for a climate catastrophe that can still be averted. But humans remain reluctant to change their habits. What’s the reason for this inertia? What’s getting in our way?
Is it acceptable that Russians can continue travelling to the EU | DW News
According to the EU border control agency Frontex, almost a million travelers with Russian passports have come to the EU since the war in Ukraine started six months ago.
Last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev dies at 91
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has died aged 91.
Mr Gorbachev, who took over in 1985, is best known for opening up the USSR and for his rapprochement with the West, but he was unable to prevent his country collapsing in 1991.
Many Russians blame him and his reformist policies for the country's demise.
The hospital where he died said he had been suffering from a long and serious illness.
Mr Gorbachev became general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, and de facto leader of the country, at the age of 54.
He was at the time the youngest member of the ruling council known as the Politburo, and was seen as a breath of fresh air after several ageing leaders.
Mikhail Gorbachev tells the BBC: World in ‘colossal danger’
Six In The Morning Tuesday 30 August 2022
China shuts world's largest electronics market as Shenzhen imposes more lockdowns
Updated 0841 GMT (1641 HKT) August 30, 2022
China's southern city of Shenzhen on Monday shut down the world's largest electronics market and suspended public transport nearby as authorities enforced neighborhood-wide lockdowns in response to a small number of Covid cases.
Huaqiangbei, a busy shopping area home to thousands of stalls selling computer components, mobile phone parts and microchips, is among three neighborhoods placed under a mandatory four-day lockdown in Futian district, according the district government.
Residents in those neighborhoods are forbidden to leave their homes except for Covid testing, which they are required to undergo daily until Thursday.
Taiwan fires warning shots at Chinese drone
Island country’s president says Taiwan could take ‘strong countermeasures’ if necessary
Reuters in Taipei
Taiwan fired warning shots at a Chinese drone that buzzed an offshore islet shortly after President Tsai Ing-wen said she had ordered Taiwan’s military to take “strong countermeasures” against what she termed Chinese provocations.
It was the first time warning shots have been fired in such an incident amid a period of heightened tension between China and Taiwan, which Beijing views as its own territory. Taiwan strongly disputes China’s sovereignty claims.
The drone headed back to China after the shots were fired, a military spokesperson said.
Gulsen: Jailed Turkish pop star released to house arrest after joke uproar
Gulsen Colakoglu, 46, is viewed by many as the Turkish Madonna
Turkish popstar Gulsen has been released from jail but placed under house arrest as she awaits trial for charges of “inciting hatred and enmity” in connection with a joke she made about the country’s religious schools.
The 46-year-old singer, whose full name is Gulsen Colakoglu, is often described as the Turkish Madonna. She was arrested on 25 August after a video clip of her joke on a band member during a performance in April went viral on social media.
In the video, the singer joked that one of her musicians’ “perversion” stemmed from attending a religious school.
Iraq: Al-Sadr supporters withdraw from Baghdad Green Zone
Moqtada al-Sadr's supporters left Baghdad's Green Zone after a speech by the prominent cleric dampened their protests. The retreat followed 24 hours of unrest that left more than 20 people dead.
Supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr withdrew from Baghdad's high-security Green Zone on Tuesday, after a call from the influential cleric himself.
Deadly violence had flared a day earlier when al-Sadr announced he would resign from politics, and his supporters stormed the government palace.
No church in the wild: Armed groups on Nigerian clergy abduction spree
In Nigeria, data shows increased violence against Christians, especially members of the clergy, alongside a general rise in insecurity.
On July 15, Reverend Fathers Donatus Cleophas and Mark Cheitnum were in the empty rectory of Christ the King parish in Yadin Garu, a town in the Southern Kaduna area of northwest Nigeria when five armed men walked in.
Two were wielding an AK-47 rifle, another had a machete and the other two held sticks, Cleophas said.
The gunmen confiscated the phones of both priests, who had stayed to celebrate mass after an ordination service in that diocese, and led them into the muddy grounds of a maize farm near the parish.
Yahoo Auctions to ban sales of rare, endangered species on site
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
August 30, 2022 at 18:04 JST
Japan’s largest internet auction site will ban individuals from offering rare or endangered species, along with many other species that could potentially disrupt the ecosystem.
Yafuoku's (Yahoo Japan Corp.’s Yahoo Auctions) prohibition will begin from Sept. 29 and cover about 4,000 species, including the “ookuwagata” (Japanese stag beetle) and killifish, which are currently not banned by law for sale.
“I expect (the Yahoo move) will lead to discussions about whether the easy trade of wild animals should be allowed at all,” said Jun Nishihiro of the Center for Climate Change Adaption under the National Institute for Environmental Studies, who is knowledgeable about preserving biodiversity.
Jackson, Mississippi has 'no water to drink or flush toilets'
By Sam Cabral
BBC News, Washington
Some 180,000 residents in Jackson, Mississippi have "indefinitely" lost access to reliable running water after excessive rainfall and flooding.
Rising floodwaters over the weekend breached the city's main water treatment facility, bringing it to the brink of collapse.
A state of emergency has been declared, and schools, restaurants and businesses have temporarily closed.
Raw reservoir water is coming through the pipes, residents were told.
Both the city and state are distributing bottled drinking water to residents as well as non-potable water via tanker truck.
Monday, August 29, 2022
Can Pakistan handle the worst flooding in decades?
At least 1,100 people have died in two months of torrential monsoon rains.
Ukraine's counteroffensive: A turning point in the war? | Ukraine latest
Ukraine's southern military command said Monday that Kyiv had kicked off its much-anticipated counter-offensive to take back the city of Kherson, which Russia took in the early days following the February 24 invasion.
Six In The Morning Monday 29 August 2022
Kherson: Ukraine claims new push in Russian-held region
By Leo Sands & Yaroslav Lukov
BBC News
Ukraine's military claims to have broken through Russia's first line of defence in the occupied Kherson region.
The reported push appears to form part of a long-awaited offensive being launched by Kyiv in an attempt to retake the country's south.
It follows weeks of Ukrainian attacks aimed at cutting off Russian forces there from main supply routes.
Russia's military has not commented on Ukraine's claim, but one official said this was "yet another fake".
Major sea-level rise caused by melting of Greenland ice cap is ‘now inevitable’
Loss will contribute a minimum rise of 27cm regardless of what climate action is taken, scientists discover
Damian Carrington Environment editor
Major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now inevitable, scientists have found, even if the fossil fuel burning that is driving the climate crisis were to end overnight.
The research shows the global heating to date will cause an absolute minimum sea-level rise of 27cm (10.6in) from Greenland alone as 110tn tonnes of ice melt. With continued carbon emissions, the melting of other ice caps and thermal expansion of the ocean, a multi-metre sea-level rise appears likely.
Billions of people live in coastal regions, making flooding due to rising sea levels one of the greatest long-term impacts of the climate crisis. If Greenland’s record melt year of 2012 becomes a routine occurrence later this century, as is possible, then the ice cap will deliver a “staggering” 78cm of sea-level rise, the scientists said.
Black Sea dolphins casualties of Russia's war in Ukraine
Pacing up and down a beach of fine white sand on the Black Sea coast, 63 year-old Ukrainian scientist Ivan Rusev breathes a sigh of relief: he did not find any dead dolphins today.
A few moments earlier he had rushed towards what he thought was a stranded dolphin. Mercifully it turned out only to be "tangled fishing gear".
Rusev spoke to AFP from the Tuzly Estuaries National Nature Park, a protected area of 280 square kilometres (108 square miles) in the Bessarabia region of south-west Ukraine.
Rusev, whose weather-beaten face is shaded by a hat he brought during adventures in central Asia, is the scientific director of the park.
Opposition CDPJ asks Kishida to explain Abe's state funeral
A senior lawmaker of the main opposition party asked Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday to attend parliamentary committee sessions to explain the grounds for holding a state funeral next month for assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The public is split over the decision to hold the state funeral given Abe's divisive political legacy and scandals, as the government continues to make preparations to receive thousands of mourners including foreign dignitaries at the Sept 27 event at an indoor arena in Tokyo.
Jun Azumi, the Diet affairs chief of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters after making the request to his counterpart from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that the prime minister should explain the decision "to the people in his own words in parliament."
Supporters storm gov’t HQ after Sadr ‘withdraws’ from politics
Muqtada al-Sadr’s ‘final withdrawal’ from politics announcement spurred followers to violently force their way into Baghdad’s presidential palace.
Iraq’s powerful Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr announced he is quitting political life for good and closing his political offices in a move that could further inflame tensions in the country.
The statement, published on Twitter on Monday, comes amid months of protests by his supporters backing his call for the dissolution of the Iraqi parliament, which has seen 10 months of deadlock – representing the longest Iraq has gone without a government – and for new elections to be held.
Why China's response to US warships in Taiwan Strait surprised analysts
Updated 0753 GMT (1553 HKT) August 29, 2022
After United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in early August, the Chinese military staged some of its biggest ever military exercises around the island.
Chinese warplanes swarmed across the Taiwan Strait and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) even fired missiles over Taiwan, the democratically ruled island that the Chinese Communist Party claims as its sovereign territory despite having never controlled it.
Those Chinese military exercises set what some analysts and officials feared might be a "new normal" across the strait: A more permanent PLA presence ever closer to Taiwan.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)