Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Ukraine President Zelenskyy allegedly wants to fire his commander-in-chief
Six In The Morning Wednesday 31 January 2024
Netanyahu faces pressure from all sides as hostage deal hopes rise
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas don’t agree on much. But there are two ways in which they do: first, they both reject a two-state solution; and second, when it comes to a deal to bring back the 100-plus hostages Hamas abducted on October 7, both sides want to have their cake and eat it.
Hamas is demanding Israel withdraw all its troops from Gaza and release vast numbers of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. Netanyahu responded on Tuesday: “We will not withdraw the IDF from the Gaza Strip and we will not release thousands of terrorists. None of this will happen. What will happen? Total victory.”
Both are likely to be disappointed. Negotiators have reportedly agreed on a “framework” for a deal. Phase one would see a six-week pause in fighting, during which civilian hostages would be released; three Palestinian prisoners would be freed for each one. A higher ratio would be applied in later phases, when IDF soldiers and bodies of dead hostages would be released, perhaps alongside a longer truce.
Myanmar hands over junta-backed warlords to China in telecoms scam case
Ten people extradited on Tuesday accused of being key figures in fraud involving victims of trafficking
Myanmar has extradited 10 people, including notorious warlords, to China, where they are wanted for their alleged role in running abusive online and telephone fraud centres in which tens of thousands of foreign nationals are trapped and forced to run scams.
The centres – which target people in China as well as in other countries - have flourished since the Covid-19 pandemic and China says about 44,000 people have been involved, including victims of human trafficking.
The Chinese embassy in Myanmar on Tuesday named six of the people who had been handed over to China’s ministry of public security from the Kokang self-administered zone. They included Bai Suocheng, a Chinese warlord who heads one of the four families who have effectively ruled the area in north-east Myanmar for several years.
How does Germany ban foreign far-right extremists?
Germany is considering banning Austrian far-right extremist Martin Sellner from entering the country. Such a move is not unprecedented, but the legal hurdles are high in the EU.
Austrian far-right extremist Martin Sellner spent the day on Monday taunting leading German politicians as he defied a mooted plan to ban him from German soil. Live-streaming his two-hour journey in a rented car to the German border, the leader of Austria's Identitarian group posted regular videos to social media after vowing to drink a coffee in the Bavarian town of Passau, just across the border.
The stunt, cheered on by a handful of supporters on the roadside, culminated in a brief encounter with the German police, who let him pass into Bavaria. He promptly filmed another video where he sarcastically thanked German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The 35-year-old Sellner recently gained public attention when it emerged that he was a key speaker in a gathering of far-right extremists in Potsdam last November, also attended by members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). At the meeting, he presented a "masterplan" to forcibly "remigrate" foreigners from Germany, including German citizens with an immigrant background.
Farmers arrested as protests blockade key food market, close in on Paris
French police arrested about 20 farmers on Wednesday as convoys of tractors edged closer to Paris, Lyon and other key locations, with many ignoring police warnings over the scope of their action.
France has been at the centre of growing rural discontent across Europe, with protests also held in Germany, Poland, Romania, Belgium and Italy. Spanish farmers have said they will join the movement.
Amid mounting calls for higher incomes, less red tape and protection from foreign competition, “there are huge expectations” among farmers, said Arnaud Rousseau, head of France’s largest agricultural union the FNSEA.
But he added that not all of the demands could be immediately answered “so I’m trying to call for calm and reasonableness”.
Eighteen people trying to blockade the Rungis wholesale food market south of Paris, a key food distribution hub for the capital region’s 12 million people, were arrested for “interfering with traffic”, police said.
Japan earthquake survivors battle unsanitary conditions with no running water
By Sakura Murakami and Tom Bateman
A month on from a huge earthquake that struck Japan's west coast, survivors are battling freezing and unsanitary conditions while tens of thousands of homes remain without running water.
Some areas in the isolated Noto Peninsula may not have water restored for another two months, the government of Ishikawa Prefecture said, adding to risks for those living in cramped evacuation centers where authorities say respiratory infections and gastroenteritis have been detected.
"There's no water, so we can't wash our clothes or bathe," said Yoshio Binsaki, a 68-year-old resident of the battered coastal town of Suzu, as he prepared to haul a 20-liter water tank to his car to take home.
Kenya declares cult an ‘organised criminal group’ after starvation deaths
The authorities’ declaration comes as cult leader Mackenzie faces charges of murder, child torture and “terrorism”.
Kenyan authorities on Wednesday proscribed the church of a religious leader who ordered his followers to starve themselves and their children to death so that they could go to heaven, as an organised criminal group.
Paul Mackenzie, head of the Good News International Church, is currently facing charges of murder, child torture, and “terrorism” after last April’s discovery of hundreds of bodies of his followers who had starved to death on his instructions.
In an official gazette document published on Wednesday, the Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki declared the church an “organised criminal group”, paving the way for further investigation and possible prosecution of members deemed to have aided Mackenzie.
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Six In The Morning Tuesday 30 January 2024
Israeli troops storm Al-Amal Hospital
By
- Israeli troops have stormed Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis and are demanding doctors, displaced Palestinians evacuate, Palestine Red Crescent says.
- Hamas’s political chief reviews new truce proposal saying “priority is to stop the brutal aggression against Gaza and complete withdrawal of occupation forces”.
- Israeli commandos disguised as medical staff and civilians gun down three men in Jenin’s Ibn Sina Hospital in the occupied West Bank, alleging they planned to carry out “terrorist” attacks.
- A large number of Palestinian civilians have been killed in Israeli attacks on residential homes in the Sabra and Tuffah neighbourhoods of Gaza City, Wafa news agency reports.
- At least 26,751 people have been killed and 65,636 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.
Displaced Palestinians ‘terrified’ as Israeli forces take al-Amal Hospital
Israeli forces have stormed al-Amal Hospital, where thousands of Palestinians are taking refuge.
Israeli forces had destroyed the back wall of the hospital along with setting fire to the majority of makeshift tents that were set in the facility of this medical complex.
The majority of evacuees there are completely terrified as the Israeli forces are recommending them to flee and to get out of the medical complex.
Imran Khan handed 10 years in prison for leaking state secrets
Former Pakistan PM condemned trial as ‘a joke’ amid crackdown on his political party in run-up to election
Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for leaking official secrets, amid a crackdown on his political party before the general election due next week.
The sentence is the harshest yet against Khan, who has been held in jail since August after he began to openly criticise the country’s military.
The case relates to a diplomatic cable that allegedly went missing while in his possession. Khan publicly cited the cable as proof that the US had been part of a conspiracy behind his fall from power in 2022 but he denied taking it from the ministry of foreign affairs.
Mandela auction suspended amid row over heritage
A controversial auction of 70 personal items belonging to former South African President Nelson Mandela has been suspended.
"This auction has been suspended," a note on New York-based Guernsey's auction house stated on Tuesday.
The auction, which was scheduled to take place in February, would have included some personal belongings of the anti-apartheid hero, including his identity document and hearing aids.
'French agriculture can't be bartered away': Farmers unite against EU rules and globalised markets
French farmers have been putting pressure on the government to respond to their demands for better remuneration to fight rising costs and what they say are stifling EU regulations. As tractors blockaded major highways around Paris for a second day on Tuesday, Damien Brunelle, a farmer from the Rural Coordination union, spoke to FRANCE 24 about the continuing protest and the reasons behind it.
Nationwide protests have been roiling Europe’s largest agricultural producer since mid-January, with French farmers angry, in part, over EU regulations and environmental policies they say are rendering them incapable of competing in an increasingly globalised world market.
Farmers have used tractors, trucks and hay bales to block major highways and obstruct traffic across France. They encircled Paris on Monday, with the intention of blocking several key routes into the capital.
Rural Coordination was established in 1992, in part, to oppose the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and international free-trade agreements. More radical than the nation’s main FNSEA union, Rural Coordination has favoured street protests to negotiations over the past 30 years.
Kabukicho touts tied to Chinese Dragon accused of deception
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
January 30, 2024 at 16:45 JST
Tokyo police said they have arrested a gang of touts who pretended to be working for a well-known “izakaya” pub chain to lure customers to unrelated eateries that charged exorbitant prices.
On the streets of the Kabukicho entertainment district in Shinjuku Ward, the suspects claimed to be connected to an affiliate of the Torikizoku chain of “yakitori” izakaya. But they were actually associated with Chinese Dragon, an organized crime group based in the capital, police sources said.
The Metropolitan Police Department on Jan. 29 arrested Kenji Takahashi, 58, a resident of Tokyo’s Toshima Ward, on suspicion of obstructing business by deception.
Secret calls and code names: The risky business of sending money to N Korea
By Jungmin Choi
BBC Korean
Every year, hundreds of North Korean defectors, who have since settled in the South, send much-needed money back home. But this is getting riskier as both countries are increasingly cracking down on illegal transfers of money.
"It is like a spy movie and people are putting their lives on the line," says Hwang Ji-sung, who has been a broker in South Korea for more than a decade.
As a defector himself, he knows how complex and difficult the task is - requiring a covert network of brokers and couriers spread across South Korea, China and North Korea.
Secret calls using smuggled Chinese phones are made at remote locations. Code names are used.
Monday, January 29, 2024
Wives of Russian soldiers protest against 'endless war' in Ukraine
Six In The Morning Monday 29 January 2024
'Little to no warning' for US troops killed in attack on sleeping quarters
Since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, US bases in Iraq and Syria have been attacked around 150 times, according to US officials.
The map below shows which bases have been more frequent targets since 18 October.
Summary
- The US has vowed a "very consequential response" to a drone attack on a base in Jordan that killed three American troops, with President Joe Biden blaming Iran-backed militants
- American troops were still in their sleeping quarters when the drone struck with little to no warning, the BBC's US partner CBS reports
- The drone arrived at the same time as a returning US drone - and as a result elements of the defence system were turned off, an official says
Secret EU plan ‘to sabotage Hungarian economy’ revealed as anger mounts at Orbán
Brussels’ fury grows over Budapest’s ‘policy of blackmail’ in continuing to hold up £50bn support package
Officials in Brussels have reportedly drawn up a secret plan to sabotage Hungary’s economy if Viktor Orbán decides this week to again block a €50bn support package for Ukraine.
The plan, reported by the Financial Times, reflects the fury mounting across European capitals at what one diplomat called the “policy of blackmail” being pursued by the Hungarian prime minister, who leads the bloc’s most pro-Russia state.
The FT said the strategy involved targeting Hungary’s economy, weakening its currency and reducing investor confidence.
China's real estate giant Evergrande ordered to liquidate
China's real estate giant Evergrande was ordered on Monday to liquidate, after it failed to present creditors a viable restructuring plan for its debts.
Judge Linda Chan at a Hong Kong court said it was appropriate for the court to order the company to wind up its business given a "lack of progress on the part of the company putting forward a viable restructuring proposal" as well as Evergrande's insolvency.
Fergus Saurin, a lawyer representing an ad hoc group of creditors, said he was not surprised by the ruling.
French farmers block motorways around Paris in stand-off with government
Protesting French farmers began blocking several motorways around Paris on Monday to press their demands for better working conditions, higher pay and less environmental regulation in an intensifying stand-off with the government.
For days, nationwide protests have flared in Europe's largest agriculture producer, with farmers angered in part by red tape and environmental policies they say are hurting their bottom lines and rendering them unable to compete with less stringent neighbours.
Across France, farmers have used tractors and trucks to block roads and jam traffic. They plan to step up their pressure campaign by establishing eight chokepoints along the major arteries to Paris on Monday afternoon.
"We need answers," said Karine Duc, a farmer in the southwestern Lot-et-Garonne department as she joined a convoy of tractors heading for Paris.
Hayashi won’t budge on U.S. base relocation in Okinawa visit
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
January 29, 2024 at 18:32 JST
The government will proceed with land reclamation work for a U.S. military base project in Okinawa Prefecture despite the prefectural governor’s demands to suspend it, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said.
In a 15-minute meeting with Hayashi on Jan. 28, Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki reiterated his opposition to U.S. Marine Corp Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, being relocated to Henoko Point in Nago, also in the prefecture.
“We ask the government to seriously take to heart the will of the people of Okinawa who oppose the project, halt the landfill work and open dialogue with Okinawa Prefecture to resolve the issue,” Tamaki told Hayashi at the prefectural government office.