Saturday, August 31, 2024
Six In The Morning Saturday 31 August 2024
A brutal hurricane razed their town. Five years later, they’re still searching for home
Hurricane Dorian ravaged the Bahamas in 2019. Its poorest survivors are being pushed from one shantytown to the next
Shaquille Joseph knew things were profoundly wrong, irreversibly so, when he heard the bubbling.
The noise had no logical origin. It wasn’t the sound of a tidal wave, roaring towards his house, but a steady fizzing, like a pot of water boiling over in the next room. Moments before, Joseph had been ready to fall asleep in his bedroom. But now he got up and went to the window.
Peering into the grey mist outside, Joseph finally saw it: the Atlantic Ocean was advancing through the dirt roads of the Mudd, a shantytown on the Bahamian island of Great Abaco, and home to thousands of people living in hundreds of makeshift wooden houses.
Philippines, China trade blame over latest ship collision
Manila said one of its patrol vessels was rammed three times by a Chinese coastguard ship in the South China Sea. Beijing said the Filipino ship "deliberately collided" with its vessel.
The Philippines and China on Saturday accused each other of dangerous maritime maneuvers after their coastguard ships collided in disputed waters of the South China Sea.
Tensions between the two Asian neighbors have ratcheted up in recent months over areas like the Sabina Shoal, which falls under Manila's exclusive economic zone but is also one of several parts of the sea that Beijing claims it owns.
Afghan women are erased by the Taliban as the international community looks on
The oppression of Afghan women continues unabated before the eyes of the world. The Taliban imposed severe new restrictions earlier this month, with women not only obliged to cover their faces but now forbidden from raising their voices, singing or reading aloud in public. Western countries – led by the US and EU – have condemned the new laws but also seem resigned to the Taliban regime, which offers some stability in the region.
Invisible, and now silent. Three years after the Taliban's return to power, Afghan women continue to see their few remaining rights dwindle away.
A Taliban ministry promulgated a new set of laws on August 21 that it said “will be of great help in the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice”. The laws aim to control all aspects of the social and private life of Afghans, especially of Afghan women.
Among the rules in the 114-page text published by the ministry is the requirement for women to cover their bodies and faces completely if they leave the house as well as a ban on women making their voices heard in public.
Israeli soldiers besiege Jenin as assault on West Bank enters fourth day
At least 20 people have been killed in Israel’s largest military operation in the occupied territory in decades.
Israel’s military is conducting raids in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, blocking access to aid for Palestinians in the besieged refugee camp on the fourth day of its assault.
Dozens of Israeli soldiers were stationed on the outskirts of the Jenin refugee camp, with Israeli military jeeps and armoured personnel carriers moving into the area.
‘Blood type O. DM me’: Myanmar’s poorest are so desperate they’re turning to social media to sell their kidneys
Far right eyes political earthquake as Germans head to the polls
The far right is on the cusp of winning the most votes in German state elections for the first time since the Nazis.
For some in Germany, the rise of Alternative for Germany (AfD) is a literal nightmare.
But others, particularly in the east, say the AfD is a chance for change.
All year, the temperature has been rising in German politics and Sunday’s vote in Thuringia and Saxony may be the boiling point.
Friday, August 30, 2024
Six In The Morning Friday 30 August 2024
Aid missions rejected by Israel nearly doubled in August: UN
The United Nations humanitarian affairs says Israel nearly doubled its rejections of aid missions in Gaza this month despite calls for much more assistance for desperate Palestinians.
“In August, the number of humanitarian missions and movements within Gaza that have been denied access by Israeli authorities has doubled in the north (68 vs. 30) and almost doubled in the south (99 vs 53) compared with July,” the group said in a situation update.
Elon Musk’s X could face ban in Brazil after failure to appoint legal representative
Platform failed to meet court-imposed deadline in ongoing case over accounts allegedly spreading disinformation
Fri 30 Aug 2024 14.15 BST
The social media platform X faces the prospect of a ban in Brazil after failing to meet a court-imposed 24-hour deadline to appoint a legal representative in the country.
The deadline expired at 8.07pm local time on Thursday (0.07am BST on Friday). An hour later, Elon Musk’s social network announced it would not comply.
The dispute began in April when the supreme court judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered the suspension of dozens of accounts for allegedly spreading disinformation – a request Musk has denounced as censorship.
Israel agrees to pause fighting to allow polio vaccination
Russian 'guided bomb' attack on Ukraine's Kharkiv kills at least five
Russian strikes killed at least five people in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, local officials said on Friday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had dropped a guided bomb on the city and reiterated his call for Western allies to allow long-range attacks on Russian military air bases.
Russian strikes killed at least five people in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, including a 14-year-old girl at a playground, officials said on Friday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had dropped a guided bomb on the city and urged Kyiv’s allies to take “strong decisions” to bolster his country’s air defence systems.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, lies around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Russian border and has been bombed persistently by Russian forces since they launched their invasion in February 2022.
Germany deports 28 Afghans after unveiling new security package
Nearly 40,000 people died home alone in Japan this year, report says
Almost 40,000 people died alone in their homes in Japan during the first half of 2024, a report by the country’s police shows.
Of that number, nearly 4,000 people were discovered more than a month after they died, and 130 bodies went unmissed for a year before they were found, according to the National Police Agency.
Japan currently has the world’s oldest population, according to the United Nations.
The agency hopes its report will shed light on the country's growing issue of vast numbers of its aging population who live, and die, alone.
Thursday, August 29, 2024
Six In The Morning Thursday 29 August 2024
UN calls for de-escalation as Israeli West Bank raids continue
Alex SmithBBC News
Five more Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in a second day of raids in the occupied West Bank, with the UN calling for de-escalation.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they were "five terrorists who had hidden inside a mosque" in Tulkarm, near the boundary with Israel.
Israel began what it said was a major counter-terrorism operation in the West Bank on Wednesday. There have been conflicting death tolls as the operation unfolded across multiple cities.
Two Stand News journalists in Hong Kong found guilty of sedition
Chris Patten condemns ‘dark day for press freedom’ as Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam convicted over 11 articles
Thu 29 Aug 2024 13.04 BST
Two journalists from the closed Hong Kong media outlet Stand News have been found guilty of conspiring to publish seditious materials – the first such convictions since Hong Kong’s return to Chinese control – after a trial that was closely observed as a bellwether for the city’s diminishing press freedom.
The former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam were arrested on 29 December 2021 after police raided the outlet’s newsroom.
Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, said the verdicts marked “a dark day for press freedom” in Hong Kong.
Ukraine updates: Air defense repel another Russian attack
Ukraine's air force said it destroyed 60 of 74 Russian attack drones and two of three missiles launched overnight. Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war. DW has more.
Russia not ready to end war with Ukraine, says Polish FM
Russia is not ready for peace talks with Ukraine because it continues to demand that Ukraine give up large parts of its territory, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said.
"Russia continues to demand Ukraine's capitulation, and as long as that is the case, Ukraine will not accept it," Sikorski told the PAP news agency.
He was responding to an announcement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he would present a new peace plan before the US elections in November.
Paraguay's abundant hydropower draws crypto miners, legal and not
In the Paraguayan city of Hernandarias, a data center with row upon row of supercomputers stands as a testament to a burgeoning crypto mining sector fueled by the South American country's abundance of green electricity.
Run purely on renewable power, the soccer field-sized site was erected by local company Penguin Group near the Itaipu hydroelectric power plant, one of the world's largest, on the Parana river.
Landlocked Paraguay, whose economy is driven by agriculture, is home to three hydropower plants.
This has helped attract more than 60 crypto mining sites in the last three years alone -- representing more than $1.1 billion in investments, Penguin spokesman Bruno Vaccotti told AFP.
Typhoon No. 10 makes landfall in Kyushu on a northeast path
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
August 29, 2024 at 17:03 JST
Powerful Typhoon No. 10 made landfall near Satsuma-Sendai in Kagoshima Prefecture around 8 a.m. on Aug. 29, prompting widespread evacuation orders and disaster-related warnings.
Strong gusts of wind were reported in Miyazaki Prefecture and a linear rainband formed in Oita Prefecture.
The slow-moving typhoon, also known as Shanshan, is expected to remain over the main island of Kyushu until the following morning, bringing torrential rain and strong winds, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.