Thursday, May 4, 2023

Six In The Morning Thursday 4 May 2023

 

How the Kremlin drone attack hands Russia an opportunity

Updated 10:16 AM EDT, Thu May 4, 2023

At first glance, it looks like a sci-fi movie. What appear to be two drones, streaking across the night sky in Moscow, head straight for the Kremlin, on target to hit the historic Senate Palace, the official residence of Vladimir Putin.

Suddenly, just as one passes the Russian flag flying atop the building, it explodes, raining fiery shards down on the roof.

The video first appeared in the early hours of Wednesday on Russian social media. The Kremlin was slow to react, eventually releasing a statement calling it a “planned terrorist attack,” a deliberate attempt by Ukraine to assassinate Putin, but presenting no evidence.

The president was not injured, the Kremlin stressed, threatening that “Russia reserves the right to take countermeasures, wherever and whenever it deems appropriate.”


Pakistani minister flies to India for first visit by a senior official in 12 years

Foreign minister quashes hope of reconciliation as he stresses trip to Goa is purely for regional summit

Pakistan’s foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, arrived in Goa on Thursday, the first visit to India by a senior Pakistani official in 12 years.

Yet few held out hope that the trip signalled efforts for reconciliation between the two rival neighbours. Speaking as he boarded the plane to Goa, where India is chairing the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) council of foreign ministers on Friday morning, Bhutto Zardari emphasised his presence would be “focused exclusively on SCO” and avoided any mention of India.


Serbia tightens gun control after deadly school shooting

A host of gun control measures were announced after a teenager killed eight fellow students and a security guard in a school shooting. Gun owners have been warned to keep their weapons locked up.

Serbia's Interior Ministry warned gun owners on Thursday to keep their weapons empty and locked in gun cabinets or safes.

The warning comes a day after a 13-year-old boy opened fire on his classmates, killing eight children and a security guard at a primary school in the capital Belgrade. A teacher and six pupils were also wounded.

"The Ministry of Interior is appealing to all gun owners to store their guns with care, locked up in safes or closets so they are out of reach of others, particularly children," it said in a statement.



Iranian journalists remain imprisoned for reporting on Mahsa Amini's death

Iran is one of the most repressive countries in terms of press freedom, according to an annual report released Wednesday by Reporters Without Borders, which ranked it 177th of 180 nations. Since the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in Tehran, 72 journalists have been arrested and 25 remain imprisoned, most of them women. FRANCE 24 takes a look at the cases of two journalists who remain behind bars over their reporting on the young Kurdish woman’s death.    

Two distraught parents embraced in the empty corridor of a hospital in Kasra, Tehran. They had just learned that their 22-year-old daughter Mahsa Amini had died, three days after being arrested by the morality police for "improperly" wearing her hijab.

Journalist Niloofar Hamedi has been held for more than seven months by the Iranian authorities for capturing this silent moment in a photograph and making it public. A correspondent for the reformist daily newspaper “Shargh”, Hamedi was the first to break the news of the young Kurdish woman’s death on September 16, 2022, by posting the photograph on Twitter.


Four Proud Boys Convicted of Sedition in Key Jan. 6 Case

The verdict was a blow against the far-right group and another milestone in the Justice Department’s prosecution of the pro-Trump rioters who stormed the Capitol.

Four members of the Proud Boys, including their former leader Enrique Tarrio, were convicted on Thursday of seditious conspiracy for plotting to keep President Donald J. Trump in power after his election defeat by leading a violent mob in attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The jurors in the case failed to reach a decision on the sedition charge for one of the defendants, Dominic Pezzola, although he was convicted of other serious felonies.

The verdicts, coming after seven days of deliberations in Federal District Court in Washington, were a major blow against one of the country’s most notorious far-right groups and another milestone in the Justice Department’s vast investigation of the Capitol attack.

The trial was the last of three major sedition cases that federal prosecutors brought against key figures in the Capitol attack.



Melting glaciers in Alps threaten biodiversity of invertebrates, says study

Overlooked animals vital for alpine ecosystems could lose most of their habitat and disappear, research suggests

Invertebrates living in the cool meltwater rivers of the European Alps could lose most of their habitat and disappear, as the mountain range’s glaciers melt at an unprecedented rate due to climate change, according to a study.

Although they are often overlooked, these animals are crucial for alpine ecosystems.

Researchers focused on the mountain range of the Alps and collated data from 30 years of studies on the rate at which its glaciers are melting, and how that affects the area’s river flows over time. They homed in on how past changes affected the populations of 15 species of invertebrates such as midges and stoneflies that are specialised at living in those waters.







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