Thursday, September 3, 2015
Dalit Muslims of India
In a bid to escape poverty and caste discrimination, some Hindu Dalits are converting to Islam and other faiths.
For centuries India's social structure was built around a rigid Hindu caste system. While the caste system was constitutionally abolished in 1950, its legacy still deeply affects contemporary Indian society.
The Hindu population, around 84 percent of the 1.2 billion people that live in the country, is still influenced by the four main traditional castes, which also have their own sub-sects: Brahmins, the priestly and academic class; Kshatriya, the warrior caste; Vaishya, which comprises the business community; and Shudra, the working class.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Japan's Womenomics
The island nation is pinning its hopes on women to save its flagging economy.
Japan's government believes it has found a cure for its faltering economy: Women.
Long overlooked during more than two decades of economic stagnation, Japanese women are considered among the most highly educated but underutilised resource in the developed world.
In what has been dubbed "womenomics", Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, has put the country's women at the heart of a strategy to revive the country's ailing economy.
Six in The Morning Wednesday September 2
Migrant crisis: Thousands arrive in mainland Greece
Thousands of migrants are arriving in mainland Greece as the government prepares for talks on tackling the huge number of people reaching its shores.
Two ships carrying more than 4,200 people travelled to Piraeus port at night after leaving Lesbos island.
The whole EU is struggling to deal with an unprecedented influx of migrants.
Hundreds of people, mostly from the Middle East, remain stranded outside a railway station in Hungary after police stopped them travelling through the EU.
The EU's border control agency, Frontex, says 23,000 migrants arrived in Greece last week alone- an increase of 50% on the previous week.
More than 160,000 people have arrived in Greece so far this year - already surpassing last year's total.
Malaysian police to question former PM Mahathir over anti-government rally
Former leader Mahathir Mohamad to be quizzed over corruption accusations against prime minister Najib Razak and other politicians at Bersih protest
Malaysian police will question ex-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad after he attended a rally at the weekend calling for his former protégé and current PM, Najib Razak, to step down.
Inspector-general of police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar was quoted across Malaysian media as saying that authorities would record a statement by the influential leader, who ruled Malaysia for 22 years, after he made accusations at the protests that members of parliament had taken bribes.
Mahathir has called for a vote of no confidence against Najib, accusing him of halting an investigation into corruption and buying politicians.
Wikipedia rocked by 'rogue editors' blackmail scam targeting small businesses and celebrities
YEMEN 01/09/2015
Anti-Saudi graffiti painted on kingdom’s embassy in Yemen
Graffiti picturing a giant skull and a menacing snake have popped up on the walls of the shuttered Saudi embassy in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital. “A picture that speaks a thousand words” was the comment of quite a few Yemenis who shared photos of the graffiti on social media, criticizing Saudi Arabia for leading the coalition against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Yemen has waded deeper and deeper into war since the Saudi-led coalition of Arab nations, backed by the United States, began bombing Houthi rebels in March to try to stop their expansion after they took Sanaa. Since then, air raids have led to the death of thousands of civilians. Most international organisations have by now left the country, and according to the United Nations, it is now experiencing a “humanitarian catastrophe”. Yemen was already one of the world’s poorest countries before war broke out.
Hungary blames European Union amid anger in Budapest
Viktor Orban to meet EU officials as Germany demands unity among member states
in Subotica
Hungary has accused the European Union’s top officials of causing its refugee crisis and warned them to prepare for “millions” of new arrivals to the bloc, as hundreds of migrants massed outside a Budapest train station to demand passage to Germany.
A day after allowing migrants for the first time to board international trains, Hungarian police yesterday morning barred about 1,000 asylum seekers from Keleti train station, prompting an hours-long stand-off outside the building.
As some migrants waved tickets for trains to Munich, Berlin and Hamburg, others chanted “Germany, Germany”, “Freedom” and “Merkel” – showing their desire to travel to a country that has pledged to accept some 800,000 refugees this year.
All those confusing geography terms, explained in a gorgeous antique map
by Phil Edwards
You can see the original map, circa 1870, at the David Rumsey Collection (we've upped the contrast on this digital version to make it slightly more readable).
A few of the more confusing terms merit some clarification, so we referred to the Oxford English Dictionary on the following:
- What's the difference between a gulf and a bay? They're pretty similar, but a bay is often wider and has a wider opening to the sea. At the same time, some gulfs are larger than many bays (like the Gulf of Mexico). There's bound to be some confusion, since the terms are often used interchangeably.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Being A Journalist In Turkey: Getting Arrested For Doing Your Job
Turkey is known for arresting and imprisoning journalists for doing their job.
So it should come as no surprise that Turkish authorities have arrested three journalists from Vice News charging them with supporting a terrorist organization, namely ISIS. The three arrested journalists had been reporting from southeast Turkey which as see a rise of unrest following Turkish armed forces attacks on the PKK.
So it should come as no surprise that Turkish authorities have arrested three journalists from Vice News charging them with supporting a terrorist organization, namely ISIS. The three arrested journalists had been reporting from southeast Turkey which as see a rise of unrest following Turkish armed forces attacks on the PKK.
A Turkish court has charged three journalists working with Vice News with “aiding a terrorist organisation” and ordered their arrest pending trial in a move that has caused indignation and outrage amongst journalists and international human rights groups.
Correspondent Jake Hanrahan and cameraman Philip Pendlebury, who are British, and their Turkey-based fixer and a driver were taken into police custody on Thursday while working in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir. They were covering recent clashes between Turkish security forces and the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement, the youth wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). They were charged by the court on Monday.
According to the lawyer representing Hanrahan, Pendlebury and their fixer, who wished to remain unnamed, police acted upon a tipoff by an anonymous caller, who claimed the journalists were “working with the Islamic State”.
Turkish press face arrests, harassment
Anti-press measures in Turkey are having a devastating impact on the country's media. Journalists face harassment and prosecution over social media posts; authorities repeatedlygag coverage of sensitive issues; and reporters face detentions, raids, and investigations.Mehmet Baransu, who helped the newspaperTaraf expose the alleged Sledgehammer coup plot, is charged with obtaining secret documents. Turkey's reputation as a leading jailer of journalists improves with the release of dozens of imprisoned journalists in 2014, but doubts persist over the country's commitment to press freedom.
CPJ calls for the release of VICE News reporters, fixer, in Diyarbakir, Turkey
New York, August 28, 2015--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in the southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakir to release British journalists Jake Hanrahan and Philip Pendlebury immediately. The journalists were on assignment with the U.S.-based global news channel VICE News when they, along with their fixer, were detained by police in Baglar district on Thursday, news reports said.
Six In The Morning Tuesday September 1
Middle East
Palmyra's Temple of Bel destroyed, says UN
A satellite image confirms that the main temple in the ancient city of Palmyra in northern Syria has been destroyed, the United Nations says.
There had been earlier reports of an explosion at the Temple of Bel in Palmyra, which is held by militants from the Islamic State (IS) group.
Syria's antiquities chief had earlier said the basic structure of the 2,000-year-old site was intact.
But UN satellite analysts Unosat say the imageshows almost nothing remains.
"Unfortunately, the images we acquired do show that the main building of the temple has been destroyed," Einar Bjorgo, Unosat's manager, told the BBC early on Tuesday.
Prehistoric sea scorpion that grew to 6ft in length named after Trojan warship
EU split grows and rules fray as migrant crisis intensifies
Germany calls for unity as central European states seek their own tough stance
on the Serbia-Hungary border
The European Union’s border and asylum policies were in disarray on Monday night, as member states sought their own solutions to a continuing surge in migrants from the Middle East, Africa and south Asia.
On Monday, Hungary lifted a ban on migrants using international trains, amid outrage over last week’s death of 71 people in a truck driven by suspected people smugglers, only for Austrian border police to stop migrant-filled trains from Budapest to Germanyfor several hours.
Austrian police said they wanted to check migrants’ papers and send those who had applied for asylum in Hungary back to Budapest. But when the trains finally enteredAustria, it seemed the police had abandoned their plan.
Thai court acquits journalists of criminal defamation
A court has cleared two journalists who were sued for slander by the Thai navy. The article which appeared on news website "Phuketwan" accused some members of the Navy of being involved in migrant smuggling.
An Australian and a Thai journalist were also found not guilty of violating the Computer Crimes Act, their lawyer said from the island Phuket.
Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian (pictured) had faced up to seven years in prison over the July 2013 piece for the "Phuketwan" news website in a case that had sparked global condemnation from the United Nations and human rights groups. In the article, they had quoted a Reuters news agency investigation which suggested that the some members of the Thai navy helped smuggle Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in Myanmar.
Reuters was not charged over the series of articles, which were honored with a Pulitzer Prize last year.
"The judge did the right thing, this is a big step for freedom of expression and freedom of the media in Thailand," Chutima told French news agency AFP after the verdict was read.
What new violence in South Sudan spells for the region
Conflicts between government forces and rebel leaders has prompted the United States to threaten renewed UN sanctions against the world's newest country.
ADDIS ABABA — South Sudan's rebel leader is warning attacks by government troops on rebel-held areas could sabotage a peace agreement.
Riek Machar told reporters in Ethiopia Monday that the South Sudan government is not respecting the cease-fire.
"The cease-fire has not been respected by the government since it was declared ... they still are on the offensive," Machar said. "If this situation goes on, it means the peace agreement is not implementable."
Both sides agreed to a cease-fire that took effect Sunday, but there are reported violations in the volatile states of Upper Nile and Unity.Is this disturbing video Israel's Eric Garner moment?
Updated by Max Fisher
For a few years now, Palestinians in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh have held a weekly demonstration to protest the Israeli occupation that has confiscated village land for a nearby Israeli settlement. These protests don't usually make international news.
But last week's was different. Friday's demonstration in Nabi Saleh escalated into a violent confrontation between an Israeli soldier and a young child — all caught on camera by the press who had attended the protest. The result was a video of an IDF soldier placing an 11-year-old child in a chokehold, holding a gun near his head, and then sitting on him as he screamed in fear and pain.
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