Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Six In The Morning Tuesday 13 June 2023

 

Ukraine offensive: BBC goes inside village just freed from Russian forces

By James Waterhouse in Neskuchne, eastern Ukraine
BBC News

The BBC is among the first media organisations to gain access to some of the first villages liberated in Ukraine's counteroffensive.

Out of this cluster of four settlements in the eastern Donetsk region, Neskuchne has seen the heaviest fighting according to the battalion which liberated it.

Its name means "not boring" in Russian.

An obvious irony for a village that was occupied by Russia in spring last year - a few weeks after President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It was at the most northern point of a protruding Russian front line.


Turkmenistan moves towards plugging massive methane leaks

Central Asian country has the worst rate of climate-heating ‘super-emitter’ events in the world

The president of Turkmenistan has launched two initiatives aimed at cutting the colossal leaks of methane from the country’s oil and gas industry. Success would represent a major achievement in tackling the climate crisis.

A roadmap will pave the way towards the central Asian country joining 150 others that have already signed the Global Methane Pledge to cut global methane emissions by 30% by 2030. An inter-departmental government commission will also focus on reducing emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas.



China's quantum leap — Made in Germany


Germany's oldest university hosts many scientists conducting groundbreaking work. Little did they know how they would become entangled in China's quantum military strategy. A DW investigation with CORRECTIV.


The podium is decorated with pink and white plastic flowers. The Chinese man behind it speaks at length about a laser radar system for detecting stealth aircraft. Amid the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, his audience joins him virtually for the talk.

A young participant is curious — why is quantum research so important for Xinjiang? The Xinjiang Association of Science and Technology has organized the online session to showcase groundbreaking achievements in Chinese quantum research.

It's a "battlefield against terrorism," the lecturer replies, referring to the northwest province. As the technical director of Chinese start-up Quantum CTek's Xinjiang branch, his words are deliberate, even telling.


China, AI and a say on world order: Why the US wants back in UNESCO

After five long years, it just couldn’t afford to be absent any longer: On Monday, the United States formally asked to rejoin the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The US claims it needs a place back at the table, where China has had plenty of time to exert undue influence on some of the most hot-button issues of our time, including education and the future of artificial intelligence (AI).


The American readmission application capped a long list of promises made by US President Joe Biden to reverse his predecessor Donald Trump’s crusade against a string of international bodies he did not feel the US needed to be a part of, including the Paris Climate Agreement and the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The decision by the US to rejoin UNESCO was met with resounding applause at its headquarters in Paris, where Director-General Audrey Azoulay described it as an “historic moment” and “an important day for multilateralism”.

“What’s happened over the last years meant that UNESCO matters," she said. “And when you’re absent from that ... you lose something. You lose something for your influence in the world, but also for your own national interest.”

Report: ‘Lax’ sterilizations conducted under old eugenics law

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

June 13, 2023 at 15:45 JST


A draft report on the nation's former eugenics law, under which about 25,000 people with disabilities and certain diseases were sterilized, many of them forcibly, highlights the inappropriate manner in which the policy was enforced.

Diet investigators, who researched the background of the 1948 enactment of the Eugenic Protection Law and the extent of the damage, submitted the draft to the chairs of the welfare committees of the Diet's two chambers on June 12.

“As a member of the Diet, I want to sincerely reflect on (what the legislature did) and apologize from the bottom of my heart,” said Hiromi Mitsubayashi, chairman of the Lower House Committee on Health, Labor and Welfare.


Amazon plane crash: Oldest sister praised for ‘heroic role’, search continues for missing rescue dog Wilson

Updated 12:33 AM EDT, Tue June 13, 2023

 

The oldest of four children who survived a plane crash in the Amazon jungle has been praised for her “heroic role” in keeping her siblings alive throughout the ordeal, their grandfather said, as search efforts turn to locating Wilson, a missing search and rescue dog who kept them company.

The Mucutuy children, ages 1 to 13, survived in the dense jungle for more than a month when their plane crashed on May 1 – killing their mother Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia as well as the pilot and another passenger.

In clips shared online by the Colombian Defense Ministry, the children’s grandfather Narciso Mucutuy detailed how 13-year-old Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy cared for her younger siblings during the traumatic ordeal.





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