Sunday, February 5, 2023

Six In The Morning Sunday 5 February 2023

 

China says it ‘reserves the right’ to deal with ‘similar situations’ after US jets shoot down suspected spy balloon


Updated 11:16 AM EST, Sun February 5, 2023

 

China says it “reserves the right” to deal with “similar situations” following the United States’ decision to shoot down its high-altitude balloon.

“The US used force to attack our civilian unmanned airship, which is an obvious overreaction. We express solemn protest against this move by the US side,” China’s Defense Ministry spokesperson Tan Kefei said in a statement on Sunday afternoon local time.

China “reserves the right to use necessary means to deal with similar situations,” he added.

China’s Foreign Ministry had earlier on Sunday accused the US of “overreacting” and “seriously violating international practice,” after US military fighter jets on Saturday shot down the balloon over the Atlantic Ocean in a mission President Joe Biden hailed as a success.

Iran’s supreme leader pardons ‘tens of thousands’ of prisoners

Some arrested in recent anti-government protests included in pardons, according to state media

Reuters

Iran’s supreme leader has pardoned “tens of thousands” of prisoners including some arrested in recent anti-government protests, state news agency IRNA reported on Sunday, after a deadly state crackdown helped quell the nationwide unrest.

However, the pardon approved by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei came with conditions, according to details announced in state media reports, which said the measure would not apply to any of the numerous dual nationals held in Iran.

The state news agency IRNA said those accused of “corruption on earth” – a capital charge brought against some protesters, four of whom have been executed – would also not be pardoned.


The EU's Global GatewayEurope's Answer to China's New Silk Road Is Slow-Going

The European Union wants to compete with China's New Silk Road via a multibillion-euro infrastructure initiative in Africa and Asia. But the project is meeting with resistance, even within its own ranks.

By Christoph GiesenMichael SaugaFritz SchaapStefan Schultz und Bernhard Zand


In the barren steppes of southwestern Kazakhstan, not far from the Caspian Sea, the European Union's energy worries will soon evaporate if things go according to plan. Wind and solar plants with around 40 gigawatts of capacity are planned there, along with electrolysers to produce 2 million tons of green hydrogen per year – enough to meet one-fifth of the EU's estimated import needs in 2030.

The multibillion-euro project, which involves a Dresden company, is called Hyrasia One. It is meant to be a beacon for a greener economy – and a move against Vladimir Putin: Since the Russian army invaded Ukraine, Kazakhstan has been increasingly turning away from Moscow and looking for partners in the West.


Ecuador votes on extradition amid crime boom

Ecuadorans voted in a referendum Sunday that will decide whether or not to allow extradition of citizens linked to organized crime in a country rocked by a dramatic increase in violence.

The extradition of Ecuadorans is prohibited by the South American country's constitution.

But conservative President Guillermo Lasso has proposed legalizing it as a means of dealing with a crime wave that has claimed the lives of two candidates in local elections being held alongside the referendum.

Pakistani former President Pervez Musharraf dies, aged 79

Pervez Musharraf, a former president of Pakistan, has died in Dubai following a prolonged illness.

Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's former president and military leader, has died in Dubai aged 79 after a long illness, the Pakistani army said on Sunday.

Senior military chiefs "express heartfelt condolences on sad demise of General Pervez Musharraf," a brief statement released by the military's media wing said. "May Allah bless the departed soul and give strength to bereaved family."

Musharraf, the four-star general who ruled Pakistan for nearly a decade after seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1999, died in a hospital after spending years in self-imposed exile.


Israelis rally for fifth week against Netanyahu’s judicial plans


Tens of thousands brave heavy rain in Tel Aviv to protest against government plans to weaken Israel’s Supreme Court.

Tens of thousands of Israelis have gathered for a fifth week of protests against controversial judicial changes proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

Protesters in the central city of Tel Aviv braved heavy rain for Saturday’s protest, carrying blue and white Israeli flags and chanting slogans against Netanyahu’s justice minister.

“I’m here tonight protesting against the transition of Israel from a democracy to an autocracy,” Dov Levenglick, a 48-year-old software engineer, told the Reuters news agency in Tel Aviv.





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