Six In The Morning Wednesday 4 January 2023

 

Ukrainian military dismisses Moscow’s cell phone blame over Makiivka strike

From CNN's Olga Voitovych and Sarah Dean

The Ukrainian military said Wednesday the use of cell phones by Russian troops was not the main reason their position was located in Makiivka, leading to a devastating strike in the eastern Donetsk region.

“Of course, using phones with geolocation is a mistake. But it is clear that this version looks a bit ridiculous,” according to the spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Serhii Cherevatyi.

The Russian Ministry of Defense on Wednesday appeared to blame the soldiers themselves for the Ukrainian strike, saying that “the main cause” of the incident was the widespread use of cell phones by Russian soldiers “contrary to the ban,” allowing Ukraine to “track and determine the coordinates of the soldiers' locations.” Russia also revised its estimate of soldiers killed, from 63 to 89.

Iranian actor Taraneh Alidoosti released from jail after family post bail

Alidoosti was arrested for support of women’s movement in Iran, including posing on Instagram without hijab

Patrick Wintour

The celebrated Iranian actor Taraneh Alidoosti has been released from prison by the authorities after her friends and family provided bail. Pictures of her outside jail with campaigners holding flowers and without a hijab were shown on Iranian social media.

She had been arrested for issuing statements of support for the women’s movement in Iran, including by posing on Instagram without a hijab, the compulsory hair covering in the country.

About 600 international film stars writers and actors voiced their objection to Alidoosti’s arrest, a level of support that has been unprecedented for any of the 10,000-plus Iranians arrested since the protests began three months ago.

EU to present coordinated response to China COVID wave

The European Union has been criticized for its patchwork approach to arrivals from China amid a spike in COVID-19 infections. Only some countries have introduced travel restrictions for arrivals from China.

EU nations on Wednesday were finalizing a joint response to China's COVID-19 crisis.

Over the past week, member states have been implementing their own restrictions on travelers arriving from China.

Reactions to restrictions on visitors from China

Beijing has slammed the new rules, such as testing requirements in Italy and France, as "discriminatory" and vowed to impose countermeasures. As the EU was fine-tuning its approach, Chinese government spokesperson Mao Ning said: "We sincerely hope that all parties will focus on fighting the epidemic itself, avoid the politicization of COVID.''

The Kurds, a nation without a state: A century-long fight for rights and autonomy

In this special edition of Middle East Matters, we focus on the Kurds. Spread across four nations, they are the world's largest stateless ethnic group. Indigenous to the Middle East and numbering at least 35 million, the Kurds have sought to establish a homeland of their own since the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the 1920s. They have endured decades of bloodshed in Iraq and also faced state oppression in Turkey, Iran and Syria. We take a closer look at the history and location of the Kurds and speak to researcher and journalist Guney Yildiz.

Japan's 'anti-Russian course' makes treaty talks impossible: TASS

Japan's "anti-Russian course" makes peace treaty talks impossible, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said in comments published by the state TASS news agency on Tuesday.

Russia and Japan have not formally ended World War II hostilities because of their standoff over islands, seized by the Soviet Union at the end of the war, just off Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido.

The islands are known in Russia as the Kurils and in Japan as the Northern Territories.

Archbishop says desecration of Jerusalem cemetery a ‘hate crime’

Anglican Archbishop Hosam Naoum says Israel is facing ‘religious radicalism’ as Christian graves are vandalised.

Jerusalem’s Anglican Archbishop Hosam Naoum has called the desecration of a Protestant cemetery in Jerusalem a “clear hate crime,” days after Israel swore in the most far-right government in the country’s history.

“This act is not just cowardly but disgusting, and any person with blood through their veins would reject such behaviour,” Naoum told a press conference on Wednesday.

“This really shows a clear hate crime towards Christians in Jerusalem which we absolutely reject and condemn,” he added.