Six In The Morning Saturday 6 August 2022

 

Fears for nuclear safety after shelling at Ukrainian power plant

By Vasco Cotovio and Tim Lister, CNN

Updated 1320 GMT (2120 HKT) August 6, 2022

Ukrainian officials and international experts have been warning for months of the risk that fighting poses to a sprawling nuclear power plant on the banks of Dnipro River in southern Ukraine. Earlier this week, the global nuclear watchdog said the situation was becoming increasingly perilous.

Then, on Friday, explosions rang out at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power complex, the biggest of its kind in Europe, reigniting fears of a potential disaster.

Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling the plant, which was taken over by Russian forces in early March, along with the town of Enerhodar, where the complex is located.

Met denies racism after black man ‘choked’ in illegal stop and search

Metropolitan police apology and £30,000 payout for ‘incident’ on Chiswick Common that left Zac Sharif-Ali ‘gasping for breath’

Tom Wall

The Metropolitan police is facing a fresh allegation of racism after a black man walking his dog claimed he was choked for 90 seconds in a headlock before being taken back to a police station and strip-searched.

Following a decade-long legal battle for justice, the Met last month accepted that Zac Sharif-Ali was illegally stopped and searched by a white officer, PC Duncan Bullock, on London’s Chiswick Common in December 2012.

Bullock, who was dressed in plain clothes, did not properly identify himself, failing to give his name or station, which made the search unlawful. Sharif-Ali was released without charge the same day.

Africa revives push for colonial-era reparations

For years, Africa's push for reparations from European nations for colonial-era wrongs has been piecemeal. Now the continent wants to consolidate ongoing campaigns.

In a joint initiative, African countries are renewing their efforts to obtain reparations from European countries for the transatlantic slave trade and other colonial-era wrongs committed centuries ago.

The slave trade — which affected millions of Africans — was the largest forced migration in history and one of the most inhumane.

What is the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad?

 Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the militant group Israel says is the target of its latest Gaza bombardment, is an Iran-backed group founded in 1981 and committed to armed resistance against the Jewish state.

The group initially set up by students at the Islamic University of Gaza is seen as a sister organisation to Hamas, the Islamists who have controlled the Palestinian enclave since 2007.

Both were born out of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that was established in Egypt last century.

Myanmar generals banned from ASEAN until peace plan progress

Foreign ministers express disappointment at military administration’s failure to implement crisis plan agreed upon in April 2021.

Foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to bar Myanmar’s ruling generals from the group’s meetings until they make progress on a 15-month-old plan to address the crisis triggered by the military coup.

Speaking at a press conference at the end of a series of ASEAN regional meetings in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s foreign minister Prak Sokhonn, who is also a special envoy on Myanmar, said the generals “must act in a way that shows progress is made, then we will be able to act on a decision to show progress”.

Taiwan says multiple Chinese aircraft and vessels spotted in possible simulated attack

By Jessie Yeung and Eric Cheung, CNN

Updated 1400 GMT (2200 HKT) August 6, 2022

Taiwan says it detected "multiple" Chinese aircraft and naval vessels taking part in military drills around the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, in what could be a possible simulated attack against the island.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry said some of the aircraft and vessels had crossed the sensitive median line in the Taiwan Strait that separates the island from the Chinese mainland.

"Our military has broadcast warnings, deployed combat air patrol and naval vessels and activated land-based missile systems in response to the situation," said the ministry.