Friday, July 26, 2024

Six In The Morning Friday 26 July 2024

 

Paris prosecutor opens probe into 'criminal' attack on France's high-speed train network

French train operator SNCF on Friday said that the country’s high-speed network had been targeted with widespread and "criminal" acts, disrupting travel for hundreds of thousands of people just hours before the grand opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Paris prosecutor has opened a probe into a suspected bid to undermine "fundamental national interests".

France's high-speed rail network was hit by "malicious acts" including arson attacks that have disrupted the transport system, train operator SNCF said Friday, hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

"This is a massive attack on a large scale to paralyse the TGV network," SNCF told AFP, adding that many routes would have to be cancelled.

"SNCF was the victim of several simultaneous malicious acts overnight," the national train operator said, later adding that vandals had damaged signal boxes along the lines connecting Paris with cities such as Lille in the north, Bordeaux in the west and Strasbourg in the east. Another attack on the Paris-Marseille line was foiled. 

Bangladesh student protests turn into ‘mass movement against a dictator’

Strength of PM’s crackdown shows her nervousness and that climate of fear is breaking down, say critics

Hasan still has the metal pellets Bangladesh police fired at him lodged deep in his bones. Fearful he will join the growing ranks of those thrown behind bars by the state for participating in protests that have swept Bangladesh this month, Hasan has been in hiding for a week and described his state as one of “constant panic and trauma”.

“Whenever I hear the sound of a car or a motorbike, I think it might be the police coming for me,” he said.

When the 33-year-old telecommunications graduate joined the protests in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, at the beginning of July, they were a peaceful affair. Students across the country had mobilised to oppose the reintroduction of quotas for all government jobs, meaning 30% would go to descendants of those who fought in the 1971 war of independence.


Philippines 'racing against time' after oil tanker capsizes

The Philippines Coast Guard is setting up a massive operation to contain an oil spill after the Terra Nova tanker sank in Manila Bay with 1.4 million liters of industrial oil on board.


Philippines' authorities on Friday were racing to contain an oil spill from a tanker that sank in Manila Bay on Thursday. 

The ship, transporting some 1.4 million liters (370,000 gallons) of industrial oil, faced stormy seas as Typhoon Gaemi passed by the Philippines on the day before.

The tanker's crew was hoping to steer the vessel to port, but the ship capsized and sank.


Japan to ‘cite’ role of Korean labor at historic Sado gold mine

By ANRI TAKAHASHI/ Staff Writer

July 26, 2024 at 16:39 JST


Japan has agreed to acknowledge the history of wartime Korean labor at the Sado gold and silver mine in Niigata Prefecture as part of its efforts to gain UNESCO World Cultural Heritage listing for the site.

South Korea had bitterly criticized Japan for not owning up to its past over the wartime use of Korean labor under brutal conditions.

Seoul is now satisfied that Tokyo is taking appropriate steps to explain the history of the site, according to multiple officials from both Japan and South Korea.


Huge crowds at Venezuela opposition’s final election rally


Huge crowds came out for the final election rally by Venezuela’s opposition ahead of the vote on Sunday, when they hope to end the decades-long rule of the socialist government.


Destructive cyclones and dreamlike scenery: award-winning photos show beauty and destruction

A photograph of a young girl in a checked green dress against the backdrop of a churned-up sea filled with debris is the winner of the 2024 Mangrove Photography Awards.

Taken by Indian photographer Supratim Bhattacharjee, it shows the aftermath of a cyclone in the Sundarbans, a huge mangrove forest that lies at the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers on the Bay of Bengal.

Extreme weather is becoming more frequent in the region, leading to the destruction of homes and businesses, and the mass displacement of people.





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