Wednesday, July 9, 2025
“Decisions are being made out of fear” BBC and the Gaza double standard
Six In The Morning Wednesday 9 July 2025
Ukraine suffers heaviest attack as Trump criticises Putin
Laura Gozzi
President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine has been hit by the biggest ever aerial attack from Russia, after 728 drones and 13 cruise or ballistic missiles struck cities around the country in multiple waves.
Zelensky condemned the "telling attack", adding: "It comes precisely at a time when so many efforts have been made to achieve peace, to establish a ceasefire, and yet only Russia continues to rebuff them all."
The overnight strike came after President Donald Trump said the US would send more weapons to Kyiv - a reversal of last week's suspension which US media said Trump had not known about.
Gaza aid workers overwhelmed by ‘mass casualty incidents’ at food distribution sites
Doctors say hundreds have been wounded by Israeli gunfire while trying to reach convoys
Wed 9 Jul 2025 15.44 BST
Medical officials, humanitarian workers and doctors in Gaza say they have been overwhelmed by almost daily “mass casualty incidents” as they struggle to deal with those wounded by Israeli fire on Palestinians seeking aid.
Doctors said many of the casualties they are treating describe being shot as they try to reach distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a secretive US- and Israel-backed organisation that began handing out food in late May.
South Korea repatriates 6 North Korean fishermen
South Korea has repatriated six North Korean fishermen who were rescued earlier this year after drifting across the maritime border separating the two countries.
Seoul's Ministry of Unification said the men had repeatedly expressed the desire to go back to North Korea, news agency Yonhap reported on Wednesday.
French police raid HQ of far-right National Rally party in campaign financing probe
French police raided Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) headquarters on Wednesday over alleged campaign finance violations and fraud, prompting its president Jordan Bardella to decry a "new harassment campaign" against the far-right party.
The raid represents a fresh blow for the RN after Le Pen was convicted in March of embezzling EU funds and barred from running in the 2027 election. The RN has become France's largest single parliamentary party, but still remains toxic for many due to its history of anti-Semitism and racism.
Hot-button issue in election: How to deal with the rise in foreigners
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
July 9, 2025 at 16:39 JST
Dealing with the increasing number of foreigners in Japan has emerged as an issue in the Upper House election, with parties’ policies ranging from seeking a peaceful coexistence to conducting loyalty checks.
The new specified skills visa is expected to lead to a further surge in foreign residents living in Japan to help fill labor shortages in various industries.
But several problems have already arisen, including traffic accidents and crimes caused by non-Japanese nationals. And some politicians have warned about the loss of Japanese culture in areas with large foreign communities.
Can India stop Pakistan’s river water — and will it spark a new war?
Seven decades ago, one of South Asia’s greatest fiction writers, Saadat Hasan Manto, published a short story set in a village in Pakistan’s Punjab province. The plot revolved around rumours of an Indian plan to “shut down” water to Pakistan by closing off rivers that irrigated the province’s crops.
A character in the 1951 story titled Yazid responds to that chatter by saying, “…who can close a river; it’s a river, not a drain.”
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
Six In The Morning Tuesday 8 July 2025
Poisoned water and scarred hills
The price of the rare earth metals the world buys from China
When you stand on the edge of Bayan Obo, all you see is an expanse of scarred grey earth carved into the grasslands of Inner Mongolia in northern China.
Dark dust clouds rise from deep craters where the earth’s crust has been sliced away over decades in search of a modern treasure.
Israeli plan for forced transfer of Gaza’s population ‘a blueprint for crimes against humanity’
Military ordered to turn ruins of Rafah into ‘humanitarian city’ but experts call the plan an internment camp for all Palestinians in Gaza
Mon 7 Jul 2025 20.57 BST
Israel’s defence minister has laid out plans to force all Palestinians in Gaza into a camp on the ruins of Rafah, in a scheme that legal experts and academics described as a blueprint for crimes against humanity.
Israel Katz said he has ordered Israel’s military to prepare for establishing a camp, which he called a “humanitarian city”, on the ruins of the city of Rafah, Haaretz newspaper reported.
Palestinians would go through “security screening” before entering, and once inside would not be allowed to leave, Katz said at a briefing for Israeli journalists.
Russia's top independent election monitor Golos shuts down
Russia's main independent election observer, Golos, has announced its closure after more than two decades of monitoring an increasingly tightly controlled electoral system.
The group made the announcement less than two months after its co-chair, Grigory Melkonyants, was sentenced to five years in a penal colony.
ICC issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over persecution of Afghan women
The International Criminal Court on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for the top brass of the Taliban in Afghanistan, accusing them of persecuting girls and women purely based on their gender, “depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms”.
The International Criminal Court on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for senior Taliban leaders in Afghanistan over the persecution of women, a crime against humanity.
ICC judges said in a statement there were “reasonable grounds” to suspect Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani “have committed... the crime against humanity of persecution... on gender grounds”.
“While the Taliban have imposed certain rules and prohibitions on the population as a whole, they have specifically targeted girls and women by reason of their gender, depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms,” the court said.
Ishiba vows to continue talks despite Trump's reciprocal tariff
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
July 8, 2025 at 17:44 JST
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed regret over U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a new reciprocal tariff of 25 percent on all Japanese goods imported to the United States.
“It is deeply regrettable that the U.S. government has not only imposed additional tariffs but has now also announced a further increase in tariff rates,” he said.
Ishiba expressed his intention for Japan to continue its negotiations with the United States in reconsidering the tariff measures.
Bayeux Tapestry to be loaned to England for first time
The tapestry, which depicts the Norman conquest of England in 1066, is one of the most precious pieces of 11th-century heritage
The Bayeux Tapestry is set to be displayed in the British Museum for the first time, it can be revealed.
The announcement of the loan of the 70-metre-long, medieval tapestry, which chronicles the Norman Conquest of 1066, will be made to coincide with French President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to the UK.
It is believed the tapestry, one of the world's most famous pieces of medieval art, will be temporarily swapped for the Anglo-Saxon treasures of the Sutton Hoo ship burial.
Monday, July 7, 2025
Six In The Morning Monday 7 July 2025
Iranian president says Israel tried to assassinate him
Masoud Pezeshkian did not specify whether alleged airstrike on meeting he was holding was during recent war
Mon 7 Jul 2025 15.28 BST
The Iranian president has said that Israel attempted to assassinate him by bombarding an area in which he was holding a meeting.
“They did try, yes. They acted accordingly, but they failed,” Masoud Pezeshkian told the US media personality Tucker Carlson in response to a question on whether he believed Israel had tried to kill him. Carlson’s interview, conducted via an interpreter and released on Monday, is one the first interviews the Iranian president has given with western media since the 12-day war fought between Israel and Iran last month.
Poland starts spot checks at German border
Temporary, random checks will be carried out along Poland's borders with Germany and Lithuania and come after the German government ordered a similar approach for entry into Germany.
Authorities in Poland on Monday began carrying out random checks at 52 border crossings at the country's border with Germany in a move contrary to the spirit of the European Union's visa-free Schengen zone.
The move comes after stricter German controls at the Germany-Poland border, which have been stepped up under Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government after they were reintroduced in November 2023.
The Polish border checks, which also apply to Poland's border with Lithuania, are set to run initially until August 5.
Erdogan, pro-Kurdish MPs meet in 'new phase' of rapprochement
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish DEM party Monday to discuss the next steps after PKK militants agreed to end their decades-long insurgency.
DEM, Turkey's third-biggest party, has played a key role in facilitating an emerging peace deal between the government and jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan, whose Kurdish militant group is expected to begin laying down its weapons later this week.
The meeting, which lasted just over an hour, brought together Erdogan, Efkan Ala, a senior figure in his ruling AKP, and spy chief Ibrahim Kalin with DEM lawmakers Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar.
Japan sees dip in U.S. student visas due to Trump’s policies
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
July 7, 2025 at 16:01 JST
The number of U.S. student visas issued to Japanese dropped by 40 percent in May compared to previous years, according to data released by the U.S. Department of State.
Known as F-1 visas, the decline in student visas issued to Japanese nationals studying abroad in the United States appears to be connected to U.S. President Donald Trump's tightening of restrictions on foreign students.
While some are desperate to seek entry, others have given up on the United States and are choosing other destinations.
‘Nail in a coffin’: Trump’s steel, aluminum tariffs bleed Indian foundries
The small ancillary units that depend on steel and aluminium exporters for their income are especially hard hit.
For the past several years, the United States has been a major market for Aditya Garodia to export more than 100 items of steel derivatives like fasteners from his factory in West Bengal state in eastern India.
But ever since US President Donald Trump took office and unleashed a range of tariffs – 25 percent on steel and aluminium initially, as well as standalone country tariffs – global markets have been on edge, creating significant uncertainty for businesses across sectors.
South Africa's police minister accused of links to criminal gangs
Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has been accused of having ties to criminal gangs and of meddling in police investigations into politically motivated murders.
These explosive allegations were made by KwaZulu-Natal police boss Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi at a press briefing on Sunday.
He said Mr Mchunu was receiving financial support from an allegedly corrupt businessman to fund his "political endeavours".
Sunday, July 6, 2025
Six In The Morning Sunday 6 July 2025
How Trump is using the 'Madman Theory' to try to change the world (and it's working)
Allan Little
Asked last month whether he was planning to join Israel in attacking Iran, US President Donald Trump said "I may do it. I may not do it. Nobody knows what I'm going to do".
He let the world believe he had agreed a two-week pause to allow Iran to resume negotiations. And then he bombed anyway.
A pattern is emerging: The most predictable thing about Trump is his unpredictability. He changes his mind. He contradicts himself. He is inconsistent.
‘Our days are full of hardship’: people in Gaza barely dare to hope for success in ceasefire talks
Sun 6 Jul 2025 15.49 BST
In Gaza City on Sunday morning, there was only one topic of conversation: the possibility of peace. In the half-ruined town, as across the entire territory, few took their eyes off their phones, a television or better-informed relatives or friends for more than a few minutes.
Um Fadi Ma’rouf, from the now destroyed town of Beit Lahia in the far north of Gaza, said she was encouraged by the positive response from Hamas to the most recent US-sponsored proposal of terms for a deal.
Using AI to Humiliate WomenThe Men Behind Deepfake Pornography
Beijing disinformation targeted French Rafale jets to boost sales of China-made planes, intel says
China deployed its embassies to spread doubts about the performance of French-made Rafale jets after they saw combat in India and Pakistan's clashes in May, French military and intelligence officials have concluded, implicating Beijing in an effort to hammer the reputation and sales of France's flagship fighter.
Findings from a French intelligence service seen by The Associated Press say defence attachés in China's foreign embassies led a charge to undermine Rafale sales, seeking to persuade countries that have already ordered the French-made fighter – notably Indonesia – not to buy more and to encourage other potential buyers to choose Chinese-made planes. The findings were shared with AP by a French military official on condition that the official and the intelligence service not be named.
London police chief calls for 'mega' forces to cut costs
The commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police Mark Rowley on Sunday called for major reforms to the United Kingdom's policing model, saying it "hasn't been fit for purpose for at least two decades."
The call comes amid falling public confidence in law enforcement in Britain and as police forces struggle to overcome years of austerity.
Iran tells millions of Afghans to leave or face arrest on day of deadline
Millions of Afghan migrants and refugees in Iran have been asked to leave or face arrest as a deadline set by the government comes to an end.
Sunday’s target date neared amid public concerns over security in the aftermath of the 12-day conflict with Israel, which the United States joined with air strikes on Iran’s uranium-enrichment facilities.