Friday, August 2, 2024

Six In The Morning Friday 2 August 2024

 

Why Putin thinks he's the winner in prisoner swap

Steve Rosenberg

Russia editor

It’s something Vladimir Putin does rarely: go to the airport to meet people off a plane. Personally.


But he was there last night: on the tarmac at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport to meet and greet those Russians whose release he’d secured from foreign jails; part of the largest prisoner swap between Russia and the West since the Cold War.


Out of the plane and down the steps came 10 people, including spies, sleeper agents and a convicted assassin.


“Congratulations on your return to the Motherland!” he told them.


Police brace for more far-right riots as minister warns people about rallies in wake of Southport attack


Home Office minister warns those planning on organising further disorder 'we will be watching you'

There is potential for more violence in the wake of the Southport attack, a Home Office minister has said, as he warned those planning on organising further disorder “we will be watching you”.

Asked how concerned the government is about the prospect of further disorder on the streets this weekend, David Hanson told LBC Radio:

There is that potential. But I always say to anybody who’s organising this, we will be watching you. If you are organising this now, we will be watching you.

We have powers under existing legislation to stop you organising this now and to take action accordingly, and if you do take action and are not part of any organised group, be prepared to face the full force of the law on this criminal activity.”


Could scores of deaths in Kerala landslides have been avoided?

Landslides in Wayanad killed over 300 people and wiped out entire villages

Stuti Mishra

More than 300 people were killed and entire villages wiped out after landslides caused by heavy rainfall struck Wayanad in the southern Indian state of Kerala earlier this week, sounding alarm all over the country about the growing frequency and intensity of such disasters.

Heavy rainfall, flooding and landslides are common during South Asia’s monsoon season from June through September, but they have grown more destructive in recent years, in large part because of human activities.

Kerala’s case is illustrative. Though the occurance of the flooding and landslides was beyond human control, the extent of the disaster was not.

Nigeria: Curfews in place amid reports of deaths at protests

Violent protests that left several dead were met with 24-hour curfews on Friday. Thousands took to the streets in demonstrations dubbed "day of rage" against alleged bad governance.

Police were on high alert on Friday in Nigeria, a day after clashes broke out between protesters and police forces in some cities in Nigeria.

At least 13 people have been reported killed in the cost-of-living protests, according to human rights group Amnesty International.

"Our findings, so far, show that security personnel at the locations where lives were lost deliberately used tactics designed to kill while dealing with gatherings of people protesting hunger and deep poverty," the rights group wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

‘The Iranian regime will not commit suicide’ to avenge Hamas chief Haniyeh

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran on Wednesday in a strike blamed on Israel. Iran has promised to avenge his death, sparking fears of a broader regional conflict stemming from the Gaza war. FRANCE 24 examines what kind of Iranian "response" can be expected. 

Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas and a leading figure in the Palestinian resistance movement, was killed on Wednesday in Tehran in a strike Hamas and Iran blamed on Israel

Israel has not claimed responsibility for Haniyeh’s assassination, although Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Israel had dealt "severe blows" to its "enemies" in recent days.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that "severe punishment" would be meted out to Israel following the assassination. 

Scientists have spotted unexpected X- and C-shaped structures in the atmosphere. They are struggling to explain them

Each day, radio signals from key communications and navigation satellites travel freely through a layer of Earth’s atmosphere known as the ionosphere.

Floating 50 to 400 miles (80 to 643 kilometers) above our heads, directly beneath the lowest reaches of space where some communications satellites orbit, this zone in the upper atmosphere is also home to many unsolved puzzles — including an alphabet-shaped one that has the potential to thwart all that those radio signals do to keep life on our planet running smoothly.

Astronomers have known for some time that X-shaped crestlike formations can appear in the ionosphere’s plasma — a sea of charged particles — after solar storms.





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