Six In The Morning Sunday 21 August 2022

 

This country calls time on the 'war on drugs'

By Stefano Pozzebon, CNN

Updated 1443 GMT (2243 HKT) August 21, 2022

It's the home of notorious drug trafficker Pablo Escobar, and the origin of legendary Santa Marta Gold -- once the most sought-after varieties of weed in the United States -- named after Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range.

For many, Colombia is synonymous with drug cartels and narco-traffickers. It is one of the largest narcotics producers in the world -- last year, the US government estimated was producing over one million kilograms of cocaine, the highest in the world and more than the two closest nations, Peru and Bolivia, combined. So when the South American country's new president says he intends to regulate the use of illegal substances -- or at least some of them -- the world listens.

Palestinian flight plan mired in confusion on eve of first departure

Plane allowing people from occupied West Bank to travel to Turkey is scheduled to take off on Monday

Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem

A day before the first flight for Palestinians from southern Israel’s Ramon airport was scheduled to depart, it remained unclear whether the controversial plan would get off the ground.

Israel’s airport authority announced earlier this month that Ramon in the Negev desert, near the Red Sea city of Eilat, would begin allowing Palestinians from the occupied West Bank to travel on Turkish-operated flights to Antalya and Istanbul from 22 August.

The proposal is believed to be part of a package of goodwill measures from Israel to the Palestinians unveiled to the US president, Joe Biden, during his visit to the region last month, reportedly offered on the condition that the Palestinians withdraw their charge of war crimes at the international criminal court.

Sanna Marin: Women in Finland post videos of themselves partying to stand in solidarity with PM

But prime minister’s critics say her partying is irresponsible at a time when tensions with Russia have intensified

Maanya Sachdeva

Women in Finland are posting videos of themselves partying to support prime minister Sanna Marin who became embroiled in a “partygate” scandal this week.

Finnish women, as well as those in neighbouring Denmark, have been sharing videos of themselves dancing and having a good time with their friends to express their support for the world’s youngest head of state, amid leaked videos of the politician partying. The videos are accompanied with the hashtag #SolidaritywithSanna.

BBC journalist Megha Mohan on Saturday evening tweeted a montage video of Danish women dancing in support of Ms Marin, also noting that “there are many others though individually from Finland”.

"Anything Seemed Better than Lying Dead in Mariupol"Ukrainians Speak about Being Taken to Russia

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are being brought to Russia against their will. Here, two of them describe how Moscow lures them with welcome money and jobs, dividing them into two camps.

By Katrin Kuntz und Dmitrij Leltschuk (Photos) in Brussels and Talinn

Vladyslav Krasnikov was a theater actor in Mariupol. Sometimes, he played Puss in Boots, sometimes a judge or a man of the people. He loves the stage, and he knows how to study his surroundings and transform himself into a character. But to take a role in his own life and become a Russian citizen – it's not one that he wanted.

Not for money, not for gifts, not for the jobs offered to him by the Russian state. Nor was he enticed by the prospect of a warm bed in the village in central Russia to which the Russian authorities had taken him and hundreds of other Ukrainians. Krasnikov didn't want to budge. "I just wanted to get out of Russia," he says.

Singapore to end colonial-era ban on gay sex after years of debate

Singapore will decriminalise sex between men, the prime minister said on Sunday, effectively making it legal to be homosexual in the city-state.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the government would repeal Section 377A of the penal code, a colonial-era law that criminalises sex between men, adding that society was becoming more accepting of gay people.

"I believe this is the right thing to do, and something that most Singaporeans will now accept," he said in his annual National Day rally speech.

However, Lee said the government had no intention of changing the city-state's legal definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Why are Bangladesh tea garden workers protesting?

Nearly 150,000 tea garden workers, who are among the lowest paid in the country, demand a rise in daily wage by 150 percent.

21 Aug 2022

Bangladesh tea workers have been holding a strike for nearly two weeks to demand raise in daily wages amid rising inflation.

They say the current daily wage – 120 taka (about $1.25) – was barely enough to buy food, let alone other necessities such as health and education.

“Nowadays, we can’t even afford coarse rice for our family with this amount,” Anjana Bhuyian, a tea plucker, told the AFP news agency.