Sunday, December 31, 2023
Everything you missed in Israel’s war on Gaza
In this special edition, we compile our reporting on Israel’s war on Gaza – documenting the information war as it has played out since October 7.
Hamas reports 150 Palestinians die in airstrikes as US claims 10 Houthi rebels killed
Six In The Morning Sunday 31 January 2023
Israeli minister calls for return of Jewish settlers to the Gaza Strip after the war
Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has called for the return of Jewish settlers to the Gaza Strip after the war and said Gaza’s Palestinian population should be encouraged to emigrate, according to AFP.
“To have security, we must control the territory,” Smotrich told Israel’s Army Radio in response to a question about the prospect of re-establishing settlements in Gaza.
“In order to control the territory militarily for a long time, we need a civilian presence.”
The Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu has not officially suggested plans to evict Gazans or to send Jewish settlers back to the territory since the war broke out on 7 October.
Israel unilaterally withdrew the last of its troops and settlers in 2005, ending a presence inside Gaza that began in 1967, but maintained near complete control over the territory’s borders.
All settlements on occupied Palestinian land are regarded as illegal under international law, regardless of whether they were approved by Israel.
Taiwan: Presidential candidates debate in shadow of China
Amid fierce military and political pressure from Beijing, presidential candidates in Taiwan clashed over the island's ties to mainland China in a televised debate.
Taiwan's presidential candidates argued over ways to handle the island's relationship with Beijing during a TV debate on Saturday, two weeks ahead of the election set for January 13.
Beijing, which sees Taiwan as part of its territory, had previously halted high-level communications with the administration of outgoing Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen amid the rising threat of conflict.
What happened during the debate?
Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has campaigned for the election on a ticket of sovereignty separate from China.
During Saturday's often testy debate, the DPP's candidate Lai Ching-te described himself as a "pragmatic worker of Taiwan independence."
DR Congo’s President Tshisekedi wins second term with 73% of the vote
Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi won reelection with more than 70% of the vote, the country's election commission said Sunday. The preliminary results of the Dec. 20 election were announced in the capital, Kinshasa, amid demands from the opposition and some civil society groups for the vote to be rerun due to massive logistical problems that put the validity of the outcome into question.
Tshisekedi was followed by businessman Moise Katumbi, who received 18% of the vote, and Martin Fayulu, who received 5%. Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege, a physician renowned for treating women brutalized by sexual violence in eastern Congo, got less than 1%.
The election had more than a 40% turnout with some 18 million people voting. The results will be sent to the constitutional court for confirmation, election chief Denis Kadima said.
Opposition candidates opposing the results have two days to submit their claims, and the constitutional court then has seven days to decide. The final results are expected on January 10, and the president is scheduled to be sworn in at the end of that month.
Renowned Australian journalist John Pilger passes away at 84
From Palestine to Cambodia, Pilger worked extensively to expose human suffering caused by imperialist governments.
John Pilger, the renowned Australia-born investigative journalist who was a trenchant critic of the West’s “imperialist” foreign policy, has died at age 84.
His family released a short statement on his social media accounts on Sunday to confirm his passing in London, the British capital, a day earlier.
“His journalism and documentaries were celebrated around the world, but to his family he was simply the most amazing and loved Dad, Grandad and partner. Rest in peace,” the statement read.
He is survived by long-time partner, journalist Yvonne Roberts, and his two children, Sam and Zoe.
Navalny sends ‘Arctic hugs and polar greetings’ from Siberian prison in New Year’s Eve message
Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny says he doesn’t feel lonely and is in a “great” mood despite serving a lengthy prison sentence in Siberia, but he still misses interacting directly with his family and friends.
In a New Year’s Eve message shared by Navalny’s team on social media, Navalny is quoted as saying that this will be the third time “I have taken the traditional family New Year’s Eve photo with Photoshop.”
“I am trying to keep up with the times, and this time I asked an artificial intelligence to draw me. I hope it turned out something fantastic - I will not see the picture myself until the letter with it arrives on Yamal,” he joked.
‘El Jefe’: is Karina Milei the power behind Argentina’s presidential throne?
Javier Milei swept aside an anti-nepotism law to appoint his sister to a high-ranking position – but who is she?
When Javier Milei first walked into Argentina’s presidential palace earlier this month, the radical libertarian leader was not accompanied by his vice-president, Victoria Villarruel, nor his partner, the actor Fátima Flórez.
Milei’s escort at this key political moment was a woman who many analysts describe as the true power behind his throne: his sister, Karina.
Throughout the months of electoral campaigning, “El Jefe” – the male boss, as Karina is known – would precede her brother on stage to announce him to the crowd.
Saturday, December 30, 2023
Six In The Morning Saturday
‘They told us – you are slaves’: survivors give harrowing testimony of Darfur’s year of hell
With the war in Sudan poised to escalate and the humanitarian crisis growing, traumatised survivors of a blood-drenched summer in West Darfur tell of their ordeal
G amar al-Deen was visiting a friend when gunmen poured into his neighbourhood on 27 April 2023. “I came back to find they were all dead,” he says. “My mother, my father, uncles, brothers, sisters. I wanted to die myself in that moment.”
Deen, a teacher, lost a dozen members of his family that day. Several of his neighbours were killed too. At his friend’s during the carnage, he saw a group of fighters strip a woman naked and then rape her in the street. “They told us, ‘This area belongs to us, not you, you are slaves,’” he says.
The attack was one of many by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary organisation, and allied Arab militiamen in El Geneina, capital of Sudan’s West Darfur region, between mid-April and mid-June. Their fighters carried out almost daily raids against areas of the city populated by the Masalit, an African ethnic group, according to former residents.
Serbian students block roads to protest Vucic party victory
Hundreds of protesters — mostly students — gathered to block a major intersection in the Serbian capital ahead of a partial vote rerun on Saturday.
The action was the first day-long protest since parliamentary and local elections on December 17, which President Aleksandar Vucic's party claimed it had easily secured.
What is the opposition claiming?
Opposition parties, such as the coalition Serbia Against Violence, allege that ethnic-Serbian voters from neighboring Bosnia had been allowed to vote illegally in Belgrade.
British warship arrives near Guyana, fueling Essequibo land dispute with Venezuela
Venezuela and Guyana have been locked in a land dispute over the oil-rich Essequibo region which makes up about two-thirds of Guyana's territory, but has long been claimed by Caracas.
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday ordered over 5,600 troops to join a "defensive" exercise near the Guyana border, in response to Britain sending a warship to the area in a show of support to its former colony.
Britain said Friday the Venezuelan military exercises were "unjustified and should cease."
London diverted the patrol vessel HMS Trent to Guyana "as part of a series of engagements in the region during her Atlantic patrol task deployment."
69 Japanese fraud suspects extradited and arrested in 2023
By SHIMPACHI YOSHIDA/ Senior Staff Writer
December 30, 2023 at 18:44 JST
A record 69 Japanese fraud suspects operating overseas were arrested by Japanese police in 2023 following extradition proceedings involving four Asian countries, the National Police Agency said.
In addition to the Philippines, where a group allegedly orchestrated a string of violent home robberies across Japan, local authorities uncovered fraud groups operating in Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.
The NPA said there had been a growing trend in recent years for Japanese gangs to base their fraud operations elsewhere in Asia due to strengthened detection in Japan. It added that this year witnessed a marked increase in raids, seizures and arrests after suspects were deported back to Japan.
Ukrainian shelling kills 14 Russian civilians, officials say, a day after Russia launched largest aerial assault of war
Russia says at least 14 people, including two children, were killed in Ukrainian shelling on the Russian city of Belgorod on Saturday, vowing to respond.
Death toll climbs as Israel ramps up attacks in Gaza
- At least 165 Palestinians have been killed and 250 injured in the last 24 hours, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
- At least 14 people have been detained by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank in overnight raids, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said in a statement.
100,000 people moved into Rafah in last few days: UN
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates at least 100,000 people have moved into Rafah, the city located in the far south of the Gaza Strip, over the last few days.
This took place as Israeli shelling and air raids intensified in and around Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city, and elsewhere in the south.
Friday, December 29, 2023
Fresh airstrikes on Gaza as UN says 150,000 Gazans have nowhere to go
Six In The Morning Friday 29 December 2023
At least 28 killed as 'biggest Russian air attack' hits Ukraine
The UK will provide about 200 air-defence missiles to Ukraine to help in its defence from Russian drone and missile attacks.
The missiles, which were made in Britain, are designed to be launched from aircraft including Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets, the defence ministry says.
They re-supply the UK-developed air defence systems that were given to Ukraine a year ago.
"Today’s air defence package sends an undeniable message, in the face of Russian barbarity that the UK remains absolutely committed to supporting Ukraine," says Defence Secretary Grant Shapps.
Britain has so far committed £4.6bn ($5.8bn) to the Ukrainian war effort.
- Read more here
Summary
- At least 28 people have been killed and dozens wounded in a wave of Russian strikes across Ukraine, officials say
- Ukraine's military says Russia launched a "massive" attack with 158 drones and missiles - the air force says it has "never seen so many locations targeted simultaneously"
- Russia "used nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal", with homes and a maternity hospital hit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says
- Cities across Ukraine were attacked, including the capital Kyiv, Lviv in the west, Odesa and Zaporizhzhia in the south, and Dnipro and Kharkiv in the east
- Earlier this week, Ukraine struck a Russian warship in the occupied Crimean port of Feodosia
Academic paper based on Uyghur genetic data retracted over ethical concerns
Exclusive: Study published in 2019 used blood and saliva samples from 203 Uyghur and Kazakh people living in Xinjiang capital
Concerns have been raised that academic publishers may not be doing enough to vet the ethical standards of research they publish, after a paper based on genetic data from China’s Uyghur population was retracted and questions were raised about several others including one that is currently published by Oxford University Press.
In June, Elsevier, a Dutch academic publisher, retracted an article entitled “Analysis of Uyghur and Kazakh populations using the Precision ID Ancestry Panel” that had been published in 2019.
The study by Chinese and Danish researchers used blood and saliva samples from 203 Uyghur and Kazakh people living in Ürümqi, the capital of Xinjiang, to evaluate the use of genetic sequencing technology developed by Thermo Fisher Scientific, a US biotech company, on the two minority ethnic groups. Outlining the need for the research, the authors suggested that better DNA sequencing could help the police identify suspects in cases. “A clear knowledge of the genetic variation is important for understanding the origin and demographic history of the ethnicity of the populations in Xinjiang … [which] may offer an investigative lead for the police.”
Mexico, US agree to cooperate on border amid migrant surge
Washington closed a number of border crossings after authorities registered a record number of irregular arrivals. Mexico's president says the two countries have now agreed to keep crossings open.
Mexico and the United States have agreed to strengthen efforts to regulate migration, officials said on Thursday.
The two countries' governments issued a joint statement after Mexican President Andres Lopez Obrador, received top US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Security of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
Blinken's visit came as the Republican Party, which holds a majority of seats in the lower house of Congress, demanded US President Joe Biden crack down on irregular migrants in return for approval for a Ukraine aid package.
War of narratives: Syrian imagery falsely illustrates Gaza
A video of bloodied Syrian school children shrieking after an explosion was misrepresented online as an atrocity in Gaza, throwing a spotlight on a disinformation trend researchers say dehumanises victims of both wars.
A flood of real images from Israel and Gaza has been revealing the horrors of the conflict that broke out on October 7 when Hamas militants launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, but they can vie for attention with misappropriated scenes from Syria's civil war.
AFP fact-checkers have debunked many social media posts mislabelling videos and photos from Syria, some dating as far back as 2013, in a war of distorted narratives playing out in tandem with the actual fighting between Israel and Hamas militants.
A teacher's footage of the terrified schoolchildren, like other clips misrepresented online, was meant to catalogue Syria's long-running civil war under President Bashar al-Assad which erupted in 2011.
Lacking space in Tokyo, Japanese real estate giants turn to India
Japanese real estate companies are expanding their investments in India and could drastically change skylines there.
Sumitomo Realty and Development Co. will open a number of skyscrapers in the 2030s in Mumbai at a total cost of about 500 billion yen ($3.54 billion).
With little room for development in central Tokyo, the company plans to make India, with its continuing economic growth, a new base for operations.
In October, Sumitomo Realty and Development acquired an 80,000-square-meter plot of land in the Worli district of central Mumbai, equivalent to 1.7 Tokyo Domes, for about 80 billion yen.
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
December 29, 2023 at 16:35 JST
Death of ‘Parasite’ star puts spotlight on pressures facing South Korean celebrities
Actor Lee Sun-kyun’s sudden death this week is the latest in a string of shock celebrity losses in South Korea, a country with one of the world’s highest suicide rates and where public figures are often expected to be paragons.
Lee, who received acclaim for his role as Park Dong-ik, the father of the wealthy Park family in the Academy Award-winning “Parasite,” was found dead in his car on Wednesday morning in what police said was a suspected suicide. His funeral was expected to be held later on Friday.
At the time of his death the 48-year-old father of two was being investigated by police over allegations of illegal drug use and had recently been through multiple rounds of lengthy questioning.