Friday, July 4, 2025

Six In The Morning Friday 4 July 2025

 

Russia launches record number of drones at Ukraine after latest Trump-Putin phone call


The smell of smoke and explosives saturated the air in Kyiv on Friday as residents emerged from shelters across the city following a record Russian drone attack that came just hours after US President Donald Trump said he had made “no progress” towards a ceasefire in a call with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The massive aerial assault stuck multiple buildings and residential areas in the capital in what has been described by Ukrainian officials as one of the worst attacks of the three-year conflict.




Hamas officials meet to discuss proposed Gaza ceasefire deal

Militant group said to want stronger guarantees of permanent end to war as Netanyahu prepares to meet Trump in US


 in Jerusalem
Fri 4 Jul 2025 08.33 BST


Hamas leaders are close to accepting a proposed deal for a ceasefire in Gaza but want stronger guarantees that any pause in hostilities would lead to a permanent end to the 20-month war, sources close to the group have said.


Hamas officials met on Thursday in Istanbul to discuss the ceasefire proposals and later issued a statement confirming they were talking to other “Palestinian factions” before formally announcing a response.


The militant Islamist group has come under immense pressure in recent months, with its military leadership decimated and the Israeli military forcing its fighters out of former strongholds in the southern and central parts of Gaza.


UN criticizes Germany over Afghanistan deportation plans



Germany’s Interior Minister has said he is open to creating a direct line with the Taliban to enable deportations of Afghans living in Germany. The UN has criticized the plan.

A UN human rights agency on Friday criticized Germany's plans to deport people to Afghanistan despite Taliban rule in the Central Asian country.

It comes after German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Thursday he was open to "making agreements directly with Afghanistan to enable deportations."

Forbidden Stories: An anti-corruption journalist's murder in Haiti and a prosecutor above the law


Haitian journalist Gary Tesse was murdered in October 2022. The man allegedly responsible is former Les Cayes prosecutor Ronald Richemond, who is also accused of seizing and reselling large tracts of land to enrich himself. Forbidden Stories has picked up Tesse’s investigation where he left off, revealing the methods Richemond used to steal land with impunity.

Gary Tesse was murdered in 2022 after criticising Les Cayes prosecutor Ronald Richemond, whom he accused of illegal practices. Forbidden Stories traveled to Haiti to continue Tesse’s investigation.

KEY FINDINGS: 

  • For the first time, a former henchman of Les Cayes prosecutor Ronald Richemond has accused him of being the mastermind behind the murder of journalist Gary Tesse.
  • The official investigation has stalled. The investigating judge in charge of the case fears for his life and has said he may recuse himself.
  • Richemond is also accused of seizing and reselling numerous plots of land for an estimated $80,000 per plot, using Haiti’s lack of an official land registry to his advantage.

Facing settler threats, Palestinian Bedouins forced out of rural West Bank community



Thirty Palestinian families left their home in a remote area of the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday, saying they were forced out after years of persistent harassment and violence by Israeli settlers.
The families, members of the Bedouin Mleihat tribe from a shepherding community in the Jordan Valley, began dismantling homes built with iron sheets and wooden boards on Friday, overwhelmed by fears of further attacks.

Akon's futuristic $6bn city project in Senegal abandoned, BBC told

Nicolas Négoce, Natasha Booty & Jonathan Griffin
BBC News


Plans for a futuristic city in Senegal dreamt up by the singer Akon have been scrapped and instead he will work on something more realistic, officials say.

"The Akon City project no longer exists," Serigne Mamadou Mboup, the head of Senegal's tourism development body, Sapco, told the BBC.

"Fortunately, an agreement has been reached between Sapco and the entrepreneur Alioune Badara Thiam [aka Akon]. What he's preparing with us is a realistic project, which Sapco will fully support."













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