Six In The Morning Saturday 13 August 2022

 

Inside the Ukraine power plant raising the specter of nuclear disaster in Europe

By Eliza Mackintosh and Oleksandra Ochman, CNN

Updated 0949 GMT (1749 HKT) August 13, 2022

Every day Olga is bused from her home in the Russian-occupied town of Enerhodar, on the banks of the Dnipro River in southeastern Ukraine, to the nearby Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant where she works.

The plant, the largest nuclear complex of its kind in Europe, is the focal point of growing global concern after days of increased shelling have triggered calls for international experts to visit the facility and ratcheted fears of a potential nuclear accident.

Kyiv has repeatedly accused Russian forces, which seized the plant in March, of storing heavy weaponry inside the complex and using it as cover to launch attacks, knowing that Ukraine can't return fire without risking hitting one of the plant's six reactors — a mistake that would spell disaster. Moscow, meanwhile, has claimed Ukrainian troops are targeting the site. Both sides have tried to point the finger at the other for threatening nuclear terrorism.

Female protesters beaten by Taliban fighters during rare Kabul rally

Shots fired into air and rifle butts used to attack dozens of women protesting outside Afghan education ministry

Agence France-Presse in Kabul

Taliban fighters beat female protesters and fired into the air on Saturday as they violently dispersed a rare rally in the Afghan capital, days before the first anniversary of the hardline Islamists’ return to power.

Since seizing control on 15 August last year, the Taliban have rolled back the marginal gains made by women during two decades of US intervention in Afghanistan.

About 40 women – chanting “bread, work and freedom” – marched in front of the education ministry building in Kabul, before the fighters dispersed them by firing their guns into the air, an AFP correspondent reported.

Climate bill: Could coal communities shift to nuclear?

A major economic bill headed to the president has “game-changing” incentives for the nuclear energy industry, experts say, and those tax credits are even more substantial if a facility is sited in a community with a coal plant that's closing

Via AP news wire

A major economic bill headed to the president has “game-changing” incentives for the nuclear energy industry, experts say, and those tax credits are even more substantial if a facility is sited in a community where a coal plant is closing.

The transformative bill provides the most spending to fight climate change by any one nation ever in a single push. Among the many things it could do nuclear energy experts say is spur more projects like one Bill Gates is planning in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Gates' company, TerraPower, plans to build an advanced, nontraditional nuclear reactor and employ workers from a local coal-fired power plant scheduled to close soon.

How is China trying to redefine power balance in Taiwan Strait?

Beijing's pledge to conduct "regular patrols" near Taiwan after large-scale military drills points to a worrisome and dangerous development, according to analysts.

After seven days of large-scale military exercises around Taiwan, the Chinese People's Liberation Army announced on Wednesday that the drills — held in response to a recent visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — had concluded.   

Beijing, however, pledged to continue "regular combat readiness patrols" in the area, raising the possibility of frequent Chinese military operations near the self-governed democratic island.

52-degree heat, relentless rain in cards if climate crisis unchecked

By TORU ISHII/ Senior Staff Writer

Failure to address global warming could result in a third of the world’s population facing temperatures exceeding 52 degrees and daily rainfall levels of 300 millimeters by the end of this century.

That is the dire forecast put together by a group of researchers at the University of Tokyo.

“The research results show that measures to deal with climate change based on past experience will be insufficient and that there is a need for even further reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and greater international support and cooperation,” said Taichi Sano, a doctoral candidate in the engineering graduate school and one of the key members of that group.

The research results are expected to be published shortly in a journal of Britain’s Institute of Physics.

Displaced by partition, she visited Pakistan home after 75 years

Last month, 90-year-old Reena Chhibber Varma, undeterred by age and ailments, embarked on a journey that many thought was impossible.

By Aliza Noor

Published On 13 Aug 202213 Aug 2022

 Last month, 90-year-old Reena Chhibber Varma, undeterred by her age and ailments, embarked on a journey that many thought was impossible. She travelled to Pakistan to see her erstwhile home for the first time in 75 years.

As the colonial British left the Indian subcontinent, they divided it into two nations on religious lines – Hindu-majority India and mostly Muslim Pakistan, which included Bangladesh, then known as East Pakistan.

The partition, as it came to be known, forced more than 15 million people to move to the other side in what was the world’s largest forced migration. Nearly two million people were killed in the riots during the exodus and the bloody history of partition continues to affect relations between the two nations.