Tuesday, January 2, 2018
India's Love Commandos
We meet the men risking their own lives to help protect young lovers from being killed in the name of honour.
In India, falling in love with the wrong person can be deadly. Every day, sons and daughters are beaten - some even killed - by their own families for rejecting the caste system and falling in love across strict social boundaries.
But in Delhi, a group of men calling themselves the Love Commandos are risking their own lives to save young people from vicious honour killings and forced marriages.
Six in The Morning Tuesday January 2
Nine more reported dead in Iran as protests enter sixth day
It is estimated that 21 people have now been killed in demonstrations that have spread across the country
Nine more people have died in overnight clashes between protesters and security forces in Iran, state television has reported, as unrest in the country entered a sixth day.
State TV said six protesters were killed as they tried to storm a police station in the town of Qahderijan in the central Isfahan region. It also said an 11-year-old boy and a 20-year-old man were killed in the town of Khomeinishahr, while a member of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was killed in the town of Najafabad. All three were shot by hunting rifles, which are common in the Iranian countryside, the report said. None of the reports could be confirmed independently.
It is estimated that 21 people have now died nationwide in unrest linked to the demonstrations, the largest in Iran since its disputed 2009 presidential election.
South Korea sees 'groundbreaking' chance in talks with North
South Korea has suggested a meeting to talk about the North's participation in the Winter Olympics, claiming there is a "groundbreaking" chance to improve relations. North Korea's leader has also suggested dialogue.
South Korea on Tuesday said an improvement in relations with the North must be linked to Pyongyang's nuclear program, but offered high-level diplomatic talks with the North on January 9.
"The improvement of relations between North and South Korea cannot go separately with resolving North Korea's nuclear program, so the foreign ministry should coordinate closely with allies and the international community regarding this," South Korean President Moon Jae-In said in a statement.
South Korea's Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon meanwhile proposed that the two sides meet in the village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone on January 9 to discuss North Korea's participation in the upcoming Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Israel law tightens hold on occupied Jerusalem sectors
Israel's parliament on Tuesday gave final approval to legislation aimed at making it more difficult for the government to hand the Palestinians parts of Jerusalem under any future peace deal.
The bill, approved by a 64 to 51 vote, is the latest blow to remaining hopes for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Formulated by Shuli Moalem-Refaeli of the far-right Jewish Home party, it comes weeks after US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital sparked deadly protests in the Palestinian territories.
Australian child sex abusers on notice in Thailand
Australian paedophiles hoping to stay under the radar in Thailand are facing tougher scrutiny from a Royal Thai Police-led unit tasked with policing sex crimes against children.
Up to 180 suspected foreign child sex abusers, including Australians, regularly visit or live in Pattaya, a city notorious for its seedy nightlife, according to a child protection organisation.
Supagon Noja, director of Thailand's Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Abuse Centre, says most of the suspects escape justice using increasingly sophisticated ways to interact with children, including through the internet.
Recreational pot sales roll out in California, with celebratory 'blunts' and big crowds
Legal sale of recreational marijuana began in California on Monday with fanfare, celebratory 'blunts' and some anxiety.
Companies began selling pot in a relatively small number of businesses Monday, with more expected to join in the coming days and weeks.
The state has issued dozens of permits for retailers to begin recreational sales this week, expanding a market that is expected to grow to $7 billion annually by 2020. Several of those retailers are in West Hollywood, but they won't open until Tuesday at the city's request. That makes Santa Ana's licensed stores the closest option for Angelenos who want to buy recreational marijuana on New Year's Day. Buyers could also trek to San Diego or the Palm Springs area to purchase pot.
2017, as seen through President Trump’s tweets
By
It might be hard to remember now, but presidential Twitter accounts used to be anodyne things, serving up inoffensive sentiments only occasionally written by the chief executive himself.
Then came 2017, the year Americans started to wake up wondering what the president would do on Twitter that day. Rail against his defeated opponent? Muse about the causes of the Civil War? Raise concerns that he was about to start a nuclear conflict?
Trump’s tweets reacted to the news and created more news. Each tweet bred a frenzied news cycle full of outrage and analysis and confusion. North Korean missile launches and the Congressional agenda dictated his output as much as Times scoops and Fox & Friendssegments.
Monday, January 1, 2018
New study ranks most notorious Japanese train stations for perverts
In Japan, the word fushinsha literally translates to “suspicious person“, and is commonly used by police as a catch-all term to describe voyeurs, flashers and chikan gropers who usually commit acts of sexual harassment in public, often on public transport.
According to JASPIC, 11,607 incidents were officially recorded from March to October this year, with 4,487 reports occurring in the proximity of train stations. The following 25 stations were identified as being the most notorious for suspicious persons, with nine cases recorded at each one.
- Shin-Sapporo (Hokkaido Prefecture)
- Nagamachi-Minami (Miyagi Prefecture)
- Maebashi (Gunma Prefecture)
- Higashi-Omiya (Saitama Prefecture)
- Miyahara (Saitama Prefecture)
- Kami-Fukuoka (Saitama Prefecture)
- Kita-Toda (Saitama Prefecture)
- Kasukabe (Saitama Prefecture)
- Tokorozawa (Saitama Prefecture)
- Shiki (Saitama Prefecture)
- Tozuka-Angyo (Saitama Prefecture)
- Nishi-Kawaguchi (Saitama Prefecture)
- Honjo (Saitama Prefecture)
- Ikuta (Kanagawa Prefecture)
- Noborito (Kanagawa Prefecture)
- Mukogaoka-Yuen (Kanagawa Prefecture)
- Shizuoka (Shizuoka Prefecture)
- Hamamatsu (Shizuoka Prefecture)
- Komyoike (Osaka Prefecture)
- Yamato-Saidaiji (Nara Prefecture)
- Kobe-Sannomiya (Hyogo Prefecture)
- HyogoHimeji ( Prefecture)
- Okayama (Okayama Prefecture)
- Hiroshima (Hiroshima Prefecture)
- Meinohama (Fukuoka Prefecture)
Prefectural Ranking
Looking at the wider picture, taking into account the total reports of suspicious persons from each prefecture, reveals the following results.
- Saitama (1,711)
- Osaka (1,227)
- Aichi (989)
- Tokyo (969)
- Hyogo (923)
- Hokkaido (717)
- Shizuoka (687)
- Kanagawa (537)
- Fukuoka (508)
- Miyagi (426)
- Hiroshima (382)
- Kyoto (362)
- Chiba (241)
- Okayama (149)
Tokyo’s Most Notorious Stations
- Akitsu, Higashimurayma City (8 reports)
- Kita-Senju, Adachi Ward (7 reports)
- Hachioji, Hachioji City (6 reports)
- Araiyakushi-Mae, Nakano Ward (6 reports)
- Higashi-Jujo, Kita Ward (6 reports)
- Jujo, Kita Ward (6 reports)
- Umejima, Adachi Ward (6 reports)
- Mizue, Edogawa Ward (6 reports)
- Ogikubo, Suginami Ward (6 reports)
- Nishi-Kasai, Edogawa Ward (6 reports)
India's Reggae Resistance: Defending Dissent Under Modi
An Indian reggae musician builds a Jamaican-style sound system to energise a wave of protests defending free speech.
Indian musician Taru Dalmia is convinced his reggae sounds can play a role in political activism, and decides it's time to act when a wave of protests erupts at universities across India.
To take his music into the hearts of rallies and communities, he raises money to build a giant sound system and hits the road.
Taru hopes his hand-built stack of speakers can support protesters alleging that free speech is being suppressed under Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government.
Taru hopes his hand-built stack of speakers can support protesters alleging that free speech is being suppressed under Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government.
Six In The Morning Monday January 1
Kim Jong Un says the nuclear button is always on his desk
Updated 0838 GMT (1638 HKT) January 1, 2018
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has warned the United States that his country's nuclear capabilities are now complete and the nuclear launch button is always on his desk.
"The entire mainland of the US is within the range of our nuclear weapons and the nuclear button is always on the desk of my office. They should accurately be aware that this is not a threat but a reality," said Kim during his annual New Year's Day address, according to a CNN translation of the speech.
North Korea casts nuclear shadow over Asia's 2018
Its missile tests have dominated the region in the past year and, with little to suggest any diplomatic aces from Trump, this is likely to continue
North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes dominated Asia-Pacific’s geopolitical landscape in 2017, and will loom large throughout the year ahead.
Pyongyang is enjoying better returns on each test, with the rest of the world seemingly helpless to resist its self-sponsored application to join the global nuclear club.
Its most recent launch involved a powerful intercontinental ballistic missile that, in theory, puts all of America’s major cities within range. Evidence that the regime is mastering the technology needed to guide a missile back into Earth’s atmosphere could emerge in the first few months of 2018.
Prison football: Inside the World Cup 2018 city whose sporting history is intrinsically linked to the Gulag
Mordovia, and the city of Saransk, are an unusual choice to host games in the tournament
By any count, Mordovia is a strange choice to host an international football tournament. And work on the Mordovia Arena, in the Russian region’s capital Saransk, is behind schedule. Metal on metal reverberates around the stadium, as an army of 1,500 migrant workers works away in the biting cold – with construction accelerating to meet the deadline of next June’s World Cup.
Saransk, population 330,000, is a not altogether unpleasant provincial backwater. But it hardly has a football team to speak of, and the legacy effect will be questionable. Until this year, FC Mordovia – who will inherit the stadium – played in the third tier of Russian football, with average attendances hovering just above 2,000. There were more obvious picks. Krasnodar already has its own stadium and a rich fanbase. Yaroslavl also has a new stadium and is on the touristic Golden ring of ancient Russian cities.
Ten amateur images that marked the past decade (2)
2013 – The Central African Republic descends into chaos – documented by our Observers
On March 24, rebels from the Seleka coalition seized control of the capital Bangui, just three months after they began their offensive from the northeast of the country. President François Bozizé fled and the head of the Seleka, Michel Djotodia, declared himself president of the republic.
However, Djotodia was unable to re-establish order in the country, and the Seleka rebels frequently looted homes and carried out acts of extreme violence on the population. Some Central Africans, especially people living in Bangui, began to rise up against the violence.
However, Djotodia was unable to re-establish order in the country, and the Seleka rebels frequently looted homes and carried out acts of extreme violence on the population. Some Central Africans, especially people living in Bangui, began to rise up against the violence.
Chinese paper warns Australia on 'interference' in South China Sea
Lindsay Murdoch
A Chinese Communist Party-owned newspaper has published an article warning that Australia's "interference" in the flashpoint waters of the South China Sea may prompt China to "adopt strong countermeasures which will seriously impact Australian economic development".
Zhang Ye, a researcher at the Chinese Naval Research Institute in Beijing, wrote in the hawkish Global Times that Australia's "kissing up to the United States" will "poison its relations with China and shake up [the] foundation for its strategic balance between China and the US".
Five things you need to know about protests in Iran
There are growing tensions in Iran after anti-government protests erupted over the country's economic policies across different cities.
At least two people have been killed in the demonstrations, which continued for a third day on Saturday.
Here are five things you need to know:
What's happening?
Iranians began protesting on Thursday in the second-largest city of Masshad, rallying against high prices.
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