Friday, May 31, 2024
Two German warships on South China Sea mission | DW News
Six In The Morning Friday 31 May 2024
Images from northern Gaza show ‘ugliness’ of Israeli army actions: Media office
The statement from the Government Media Office in Gaza comes following the announcement by the Israeli army that it has withdrawn its troops from some parts of northern Gaza.
“The videos and photos that came out of Jabalia Camp after the occupation army withdrew from it, show the ugliness of the atrocities and crimes committed in Jabalia Camp and the Beit Lahia project, and the extent of the destruction and sabotage it inflicted on citizens’ homes, service facilities, and public facilities,” the media office said.
‘Solidarity over hatred’: the small band of Israelis stopping settlers obstructing aid trucks
Peace activists confronting settlers acknowledge they are ‘a minority within a minority’
At approximately 10.30am on a scorching Monday, a group of five young Israeli settlers arrived at the Tarqumiya checkpoint, west of Hebron in the West Bank, where dozens of aid trucks bound for Gaza were expected.
The settlers had received detailed information about the timing, location, and number of trucks that would pass through the checkpoint that morning. What they had not anticipated was that dozens of peace activists had also gathered in Tarqumiya with a specific mission: to prevent the settlers from blocking the vehicles and ensure that the aid continued its journey to Gaza.
“We decided to form this humanitarian guard, because we understand that this a fight over the lives of innocent people in Gaza,” said Alon-Lee Green, the national co-director of the Jewish-Arab peace coalition Standing Together, a movement mobilising Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace, equality and social justice. “These are people who have lost their homes [and] their land, people facing starvation.
Philippines' Marcos warns China not to cross 'red lines'
At the Shangri-La defense summit, the president of the Philippines discussed maritime tensions with Beijing over the South China Sea. Meanwhile, top US and Chinese defense officials held a rare meeting on the sidelines.
Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. warned against tensions with China in the South China Sea turning violent amid increased confrontations with Chinese boats around contested shoals.
Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Friday, Marcos said the Philippines would respond if a soldier was killed by China's use of water canons against Filipino vessels.
"If a Filipino citizen was killed by a willful act, that is very close to what we define as an act of war," Marcos said in response to a journalist's question.
DR Congo forms new government after months of delay
The Democratic Republic of Congo unveiled a new government on Wednesday, ending more than five months of deadlock following President Felix Tshisekedi's re-election. The announcement came less than two weeks after the country's military said it had thwarted a coup attempt that saw armed men attack a minister's home before entering the Palais de la Nation that houses Tshisekedi's offices in the capital Kinshasa.
Military drill tempo picks up in Asia, but China still lags U.S. and allies, report says
By Gerry Doyle and Greg Torode
The United States and China have significantly increased the volume of military exercises across Asia amid roiling regional tensions in recent years, though Beijing's drills still lag in scale and complexity, a new study has found.
In a survey of military exercises in Asia between 2003 and 2022, the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies said drills are expanding at an increasing rate, driven in part by U.S. and Chinese efforts to test capabilities and boost strategic diplomacy.
The IISS study "Scripted Order", released on Friday, charted some 1,113 U.S. exercises involving Asian countries, compared with 130 run by China.
Meet the women campaigning to become Mexico's first female president
Will Grant,Mexico and Central America correspondent
As Claudia Sheinbaum, the front-runner in Mexico’s presidential election, arrives for a rally in a packed park in the colonial city of Orizaba, the crowd starts to chant "Presidenta!"
Those attending are convinced that is what she is about to become: Mexico’s first ever woman president.
The polls suggest they may well be right.
With her closest rival, Xóchitl Gálvez, also a woman, and the only man in the presidential race a distant third, Mexico is almost certainly set to break centuries of male domination of the country’s highest office.
In fluent English, Ms Sheinbaum, who belongs to the governing Morena party, says the fact that both leading candidates are women is a sign that Mexican society is finally evolving.
“It’s a symbol for Mexico. I think it’s also a symbol for the world,” she told the BBC.
Thursday, May 30, 2024
US and China defense chiefs set to hold rare direct talks in Singapore
Six In The Morning Thursday 30 May 2024
Hong Kong convicts 14 activists of subversion
Kelly Ng & Lok Lee, in Singapore and Hong Kong
Hong Kong has found 14 pro-democracy activists guilty of subversion in the largest use yet of a China-imposed National Security Law.
They included former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung and Helena Wong, journalist-turned-campaigner Gwyneth Ho, and ordinary Hong Kongers who joined the mass protests of 2019 such as nurse Winnie Yu.
They were among the 47 activists charged with trying to "overthrow" the government by organising an unofficial primary in 2020 to pick candidates who can run for office.
Israeli journalist describes threats over reporting on spy chief and ICC
Haaretz journalist was warned of ‘consequences’ if he reported on attempts by Mossad chief to intimidate ex-prosecutor
An investigative reporter with Israel’s leading leftwing newspaper, Haaretz, has said unnamed senior security officials threatened actions against him if he reported on attempts by the former head of the Mossad to intimidate the ex-prosecutor of the international criminal court.
Amid growing concern over Israel’s censorship regime, enforced by the military censor’s office and by gag orders issued by the courts, Haaretz published an article on Wednesday with blacked out words and sentences to demonstrate the scale of redactions.
Refugees and migration: Criticism of Europe's asylum policy
Migration policy is at the center of election campaigning in the European Union. Migration researchers warn of an erosion of international asylum standards and say refugee children are particularly at risk.
The European Union (EU) took in over 1 million refugees in 2023. The notorious Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, which was planned for 2,800 people, became a symbol of the bloc's failed refugee policy: Up to 20,000 men, women and children were housed there, living in catastrophic hygiene and health conditions.
The prevention of such situations must be the top priority, said migration researcher Franck Düvell from the University of Osnabrück at the presentation of the study "Global Refugee Report" (Report globale Flucht 2024) in Berlin this week. However, Düvell pointed out that still, people in many camps still live in "atrocious conditions."
"Fundamental norms of refugee protection continue to be ignored," he said.
ANC on course to lose majority in South Africa's seismic election
The African National Congress looked set on Thursday to lose the parliamentary majority it has held for 30 years, as partial election results suggested it would need a partner to stay in power - a first in South Africa's post-apartheid history. If the final results confirm the loss of its majority, the ANC will be forced to make a deal with one or more other parties to govern - a situation that could lead to political volatility in the coming weeks or months.
U.N. rights group says Japan needs to do more to counter human rights abuses
By YURI KAGEYAMA
A group working under the U.N. Human Rights Council has issued a wide-ranging report about rights in Japan, including discrimination against minorities and unhealthy working conditions.
The report, issued this week in Geneva, recommended various changes in Japan, such as more training in businesses to raise awareness of rights issues, setting up mechanisms to hear grievances, enhancing diversity and strengthening checks on labor conditions, as well as sanctions on human rights violations.
The U.N. Working Group on Business and Human Rights, which visited Japan last year, is made up of independent human rights experts who work under a mandate from the council, but they don’t speak for it.
Survivors say Russia is waging a war of sexual violence in occupied areas of Ukraine. Men are often the victims
Within an hour of being arrested by Russian security forces, Roman Shapovalenko was threatened with rape.
On August 25, 2022, the day after Ukraine’s Independence Day, he said three armed, masked officers from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) stormed his home in the southern Ukrainian port city of Kherson, which was occupied by Russian forces at the time.
They turned his house inside out searching for incriminating evidence. A message in Shapovalenko’s phone that called Russian soldiers “orcs” — a derisive reference to the evil forces in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth books and a popular Ukrainian slur for the Russian army — was enough for them. He said he was tied up, blindfolded and stuffed into an unmarked car.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
The rise of illiberal Europe - The enemy inside the gates
Israel declares full control of Gaza-Egypt border
Six In The Morning Wednesday 29 May 2024
UNRWA: ‘People in Gaza are exhausted’
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) says in an X post that more families are fleeing Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip after the intensification of Israeli military operations in the city.
This week has seen two mass killings of Palestinians in Rafah at the hands of Israeli forces, in which at least 61 civilians were killed.
“It’s been repeatedly proven that no matter where families shelter, they are not safe”, UNRWA said.
- A group of Palestinian NGOs and professional unions declared Gaza a “famine-stricken” zone, and pleased with the international community to do the same.
- Israeli forces shelled a tent camp in a designated “safe zone” west of Rafah and killed at least 21 people, including 13 women and girls, in the latest mass killing of Palestinian civilians.
- The UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting over Israel’s ground invasion of Rafah as Spain, Ireland and Norway formally recognised the state of Palestine.
- The UN says it has received about 170 trucks of humanitarian aid over the past three weeks – “a drop in the ocean” from the 500 trucks needed daily.
- Israel’s incursion launched in early May has forced one million people to flee Rafah, most of whom had already been displaced several times by Israel’s bloody war on Gaza.
- At least 36,171 Palestinians have been killed and 81,420 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s attack is at least 1,139 with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza.
Delhi temperature hits 50.5C as India’s capital records hottest day
Authorities warn of water shortages as temperatures reach nine degrees higher than expected
Temperatures in Delhi have hit a record high of 50.5C (122.9F), as authorities warned of water shortages in India’s capital.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD), which reported “severe heat-wave conditions”, recorded the temperature in the suburb of Mungeshpur on Wednesday afternoon, breaking the landmark 50C measurement for the first time in the city.
The temperature was more than nine degrees higher than expected, the IMD said, and came on the second day of record-breaking heat. On Tuesday a high of 49.9C had been hit in Mungeshpur and Narela, breaking the 2002 record of 49.2C.
Police search European Parliament offices in Russia probe
Belgium is investigating "pro-Russian interference networks" ahead of next month's European parliamentary elections.
Belgian investigators raided the home and offices of a European Parliament staffer believed to be involved in spreading Russian propaganda ahead of the EU assembly election next month.
The searches on Wednesday "concern evidence of Russian interference, indicating that members of the European Parliament were approached and paid to promote Russian propaganda via the news site Voice of Europe," Belgium's federal prosecutor's office said.
"Evidence suggests that the European Parliament staffer in question played an important role in this case," it added.
A robot will soon try to remove melted nuclear fuel from destroyed Fukushima reactor
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 29, 2024 at 11:30 JST
The operator of Japan’s destroyed Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant demonstrated Tuesday how a remote-controlled robot would retrieve tiny bits of melted fuel debris from one of three damaged reactors later this year for the first time since the 2011 meltdown.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings plans to deploy a “telesco-style” extendable pipe robot into Fukushima No. 2 reactor to test the removal of debris from its primary containment vessel by October.
That work is more than two years behind schedule. The removal of melted fuel was supposed to begin in late 2021 but has been plagued with delays, underscoring the difficulty of recovering from the magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami in 2011.
South Africans go to the polls in election seen as biggest test yet to ANC’s 30 years in power
Millions of South Africans are voting in what is expected to be the most pivotal general election since the end of apartheid.
For months, polls have shown the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party could lose its majority for the first time since Nelson Mandela led it to power in 1994.
While polling can be challenging in South Africa, most analysts believe that the ANC faces its stiffest challenge yet with a population deeply frustrated by the country’s direction. If support for the ANC drops below 50% for the first time, the party will be forced to enter into a coalition government.
Iceland's Blue Lagoon evacuated as volcano erupts
Thomas Mackintosh,BBC News
Another volcanic eruption has begun in south-west Iceland, forcing the evacuation of the famous geothermal Blue Lagoon spa and the small fishing town of Grindavik.
The new fissure opened up near Sundhnuksgigar on the Reykjanes peninsula, the fifth eruption in the area since December.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said the fissure is longer than 2.5km (1.5 miles) and is continuing to grow.
Footage from the site shows a wall of molten rock shooting up to a height of 50m, and huge plumes of ash covering most of the sky.