Thursday, April 13, 2023

Six In The Morning Thursday 13 April 2023

 

Latest leak suggests US spying on UN chief Guterres over Russia

US document says UN secretary general accommodated Russia during Black Sea grain deal negotiations, according to a news report.

Leaked Pentagon files indicate the United States was monitoring United Nations chief Antonio Guterres because it believed he was too soft on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

The documents appear to reveal private communications between Guterres and his deputy that focused on a Black Sea grain export deal, which, according to the leaked papers, the UN secretary-general was eager to preserve and willing to accommodate Russian interests to make happen.

“Guterres emphasised his efforts to improve Russia’s ability to export, even if that meant working with sanctioned Russian entities or individuals,” the leaked US document said, according to a report by the BBC.


‘I’m all for climate change’: Axel Springer CEO faces heat over leaked messages

Mathias Döpfner’s reported comments on climate, Muslims and east Germany – and his apparent political manoeuvring – create shock waves

The German CEO of Europe’s largest media publisher tried to use his flagship tabloid, Bild, to influence the outcome of Germany’s last election and fed the newspaper his personal views attacking climate change activism, Covid measures and the former chancellor Angela Merkel, leaked messages suggest.

The internal chats, emails and text messages published by the German weekly Die Zeit on Wednesday clash with the public presentation of Axel Springer SE’s chief executive, Mathias Döpfner, who recently said he wanted to bring “non-partisan” journalism to a too-polarised US media landscape through his acquisition of the English-language title Politico.


Russia’s Navalny ‘has mystery illness which may be slow poisoning’

Russia’s most prominent opposition leader is suffering ‘acute pain’, which supporters fear may be due to poison


Nick Ferris

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is fighting a mystery stomach problem which may be the result of slow poisoning, his spokesperson has claimed.

The high-profile Putin critic has reportedly lost 8kg in just over two weeks, and last week an ambulance was called to treat him at the maximum security penal colony in Melekhovo, 250km east of Moscow.

His spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said an unknown stomach complaint had flared up on Friday and claimed that prison doctors had treated him in the past by injecting him with medicine which they had refused to identify.


Iran executed 582 people in 2022, rights groups say

Two rights groups said the number of those executed in 2022 was 75% higher than the toll from 2021. Last year saw the start of nationwide protests following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini.


Iranian authorities executed last year 582 individuals, human rights groups said, a 75% increase from the year 2021.

The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said in the Thursday report that  four were hanged following taking part in the protests which ignited late last year.

Iran witnessed mass protests starting in September 2022 which were sparked by the death of 22-year-old ethnic Kurd Jina Mahsa Amini, who died while in police custody.

The two groups condemned what they described as an "execution machine."


WTA to make China return in September after Peng boycott

Professional women's tennis tournaments will resume in China in September after a 16-month boycott over concerns for the safety of Chinese player Peng Shuai, the WTA announced on Thursday.

The former doubles world number one has not been seen outside China since first making, and then withdrawing, accusations of sexual assault against a high-ranking official.

"In 2021, when Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai bravely came forward, the WTA took a stance and suspended its operation of events in China out of concern for her safety and the safety of our players and staff," it said.


Juice: European Space Agency mission to Jupiter's icy moons postponed


BBC Science Correspondent


The European Space Agency (Esa) has postponed a planned launch of a satellite to the planet Jupiter.

Weather conditions showed there was a risk of lightning to the mission that aims to establish if the planet's moons could sustain life.

Esa says it will try to launch the rocket again on Friday.

The eight-year journey from Earth to reach Jupiter's major moons is one of the organisation's most ambitious missions ever.

There's good evidence that these the moons' icy worlds - Callisto, Europa and Ganymede - hold oceans of liquid water at depth.




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