Friday, June 7, 2024

Six In The Morning Friday 7 June 2024

'My 17-year-old was brutally killed, but I'm glad she fought for freedom'

By Yogita Limaye, BBC News

An abandoned Myanmar military camp sits atop a wooded hill, overlooking a picturesque lake which is well known in these parts because of its unique heart-like shape.

Landmine canisters and spent bullets litter the ground. Yellow wildflowers have sprouted through piles of corrugated tin sheets strewn about where soldiers’ barracks used to be. Hastily dug trenches line one part of the camp.

Warning: You may find some of the details in this piece disturbing

Under the overcast sky, a flag flutters in the wind - red, white and blue horizontal stripes with the picture of a hornbill at the centre – the flag of the Chin National Army (CNA), an ethnic arme

Rwanda opposition leader barred from standing against president

Diane Rwigara’s name missing from list of candidates to challenge Paul Kagame in 15 July vote

A prominent opponent of the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, has been barred from standing in next month’s election to challenge his three-decade rule.

Diane Rwigara, the leader of the People Salvation Movement, who was also barred in 2017, launched her election bid in May and submitted her candidacy last week. Her name was missing from the provisional list of candidates announced by the electoral commission on Thursday.

“After all the time, work and effort I put in, I am very disappointed to hear I am not on the list of presidential candidates,” Rwigara said on X. “Paul Kagame, why won’t you let me run?”

Taliban open to cooperating with Germany on deportations

Afghanistan's Taliban leadership has said it is open to working with Berlin on accepting deported Afghan criminals. However, there are doubts within the government about how feasible the plan might be.

Afghanistan's ruling Taliban on Friday said it was open to cooperating with the German government on the return of Afghan criminals to their home country.

Berlin has said it is considering the deportations after the killing last week of a police officer by an Afghan national on the sidelines of a rally held by an anti-Islam group in the southwestern city of Mannheim.

However, Germany's Foreign Office has expressed doubts about the plan, which is backed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.

Two decades on, India still haunted by Gujarat religious riots

Twenty-two years ago, the Indian state of Gujarat erupted in violence. For several weeks from the end of February 2002, inter-communal violence led to the deaths of around 2,000 people, most of them Muslims. Entire neighbourhoods were burnt down and families massacred. This outpouring of hatred was sparked by a fire on a train on February 27, 2002 at Godhra station. Fifty-nine Hindu pilgrims were burnt alive and dozens of others seriously injured. Hindu fundamentalist organisations in the region immediately accused Muslim extremists of attacking the convoy. It was the start of the worst religious riots in India since independence in 1947. Two decades later, our team returned to Gujarat, which is still scarred by the tragedy.

Ukraine begins strikes on Russian soil using US weapons

Two attacks in the past week suggest the lifting of restrictions has allowed Ukraine a more effective defence.

By John T Psaropoulos

Ukraine may have realised the first benefits of being allowed to strike Russian territory with Western weapons last week.

On May 26 and 27, France and Germany said they were allowing Ukraine to use their weapons against targets on Russian soil, following Russia’s new offensive against Kharkiv on May 10.

US sources told media on May 30 that the US was allowing Ukraine to use its weapons “for counter-fire purposes in Kharkiv”.

Isolated and inexperienced: A portrait of the judge overseeing Trump’s documents case from veterans of her courtroom

By Tierney Sneed and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN

10 minute read

Updated 7:37 AM EDT, Fri June 7, 2024

Judge Aileen Cannon had been on the federal bench for little more than a year when a senior judge offered to preside over one of her first criminal trials in her isolated south Florida courthouse.

“It’s very lonely,” Senior Judge Paul C. Huck told CNN of Fort Pierce, a small fishing and citrus community on the edge of the Southern District of Florida where Cannon is the only federal judge. “It’s a pretty sleepy town with a pretty sleepy courtroom.”

Huck ultimately presided over the March 2022 criminal trial – not because Cannon needed help, he said, but because he enjoys volunteering for trials in courts across Florida.

Ignoring Asia