Sunday, June 26, 2016
Brexit: The UK referendum, the rhetoric and the result
After an EU referendum campaign replete with racism and fear, we examine the British media's impact on the result.
On The Listening Post this week: After an EU referendum campaign replete with racism and fear, we examine the UK media's impact on the result. Plus, war and peace: Colombia's unreconciled narratives
The referendum, the rhetoric and the result
British voters went to the polls this week to decide whether to remain in, or leave, the European Union (EU). With a media market awash with polarised narratives, how much did the fearmongering and falsehoods really influence Britain's decision to vote out?
Talking us through the media battle are: Anoosh Chakelian, deputy web editor, The New Statesman; Martin Fletcher, former journalist, The Times UK; Andrew Pierce, reporter, The Daily Mail; Henry Mance, political correspondent, The Financial Times; and Emma Hogan, European correspondent, The Economist.
Six In The Morning Sunday June 26
Brexit: 'Half' of Labour top team set to resign
Up to half of the shadow cabinet is set to resign in a bid to oust Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, it is understood.
It comes after shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn was sacked overnight after telling Mr Corbyn he had "lost confidence" in his leadership.
Hours later, shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander said she would resign.
Mr Corbyn faces a vote of no confidence over claims he was "lacklustre" during the EU referendum - but sources close to Mr Corbyn said he would stand again.
The sources said they were confident that Mr Corbyn would automatically be on the ballot paper in the event of a leadership contest - but different Labour sources disagreed about whether that would be the case.
Meanwhile, a shadow cabinet member told the BBC: "I imagine that there'll be a leadership election and Jeremy will win. But this is a total distraction."
The man accused of starting the 2011 riots – and what he did next
Marcus Knox-Hooke was at the heart of the 2011 riots sparked by the death of his friend Mark Duggan in a police shooting. A new documentary examines what happened and follows him as he struggles to rebuild his lifeDid you start the Tottenham riots? Marcus Knox-Hooke thinks about this for a moment. “I suppose. You could say so. But if they hadn’t shot Mark, there would have been no riots.” He pauses. And then: “It’s not something I’m proud of.” Mark was Mark Duggan, the 29-year-old who was shot dead by police on 4 August 2011 – the spark that lit the flame of the Tottenham riots, which became the London riots and then the 2011 British riots as the violence spread first around the capital and then to cities across the country. Five people ended up dead and more than £200m of damage was done to businesses and property. And when the police studied the CCTV footage and pieced together the sequence of events, they alleged that it ultimately led all the way back to one man: Marcus Knox-Hooke. They accused him of instigating the first act of violence – violence that then spread nationwide – and charged him with eight counts of violent disorder, burglary and robbery. “It’s not something I’m proud of,” he repeats. The accusation of starting the riot was eventually dropped – though he was found guilty of four other charges, including burglary and robbery, and sentenced to 32 months in jail – but he doesn’t deny it. “There were a lot of innocent lives that got lost. A lot of innocent businesses got harmed. A lot of people’s homes got destroyed. I’d like to say sorry. It wasn’t my intention, you hear me? I had no idea it was going to escalate in such a way.”
Fallujah declared 'fully liberated' from Isis by senior Iraqi army commander
Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahad al-Saadi says troops have entered the last neighbourhood controlled by the jihadis
Fallujah has been declared "fully liberated" from Isis by the Iraqi army commander leading the operation against the jihadis.
The head of the counterterrorism forces in the operation, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahad al-Saadi said on Sunday that his troops had entered the northwestern al-Julan neighbourhood, which was the final area of the city under Isis control.
Lt. Gen. al-Saadi said the operation, which began in late May, "is done and the city is fully liberated".
Fallujah, just 30 miles west of Baghdad, has been under Isis control since January 2014.
It is the latest in a series of key cities to fall to Iraqi forces as they push the group back.
Why Beijing (and 45 other cities in China) are sinking
Beijing sinking 11 cm: Major Chinese cities are sinking. What lessons do the world's other sinking cities have for China?
China’s cities are sinking, according to a new scientific study published this month in the journal Remote Sensing.
According to the Chinese government, 46 cities across China are sinking into the ground. In the last decade alone, Beijing has sunk 14 inches. The city continues to sink at a rate of nearly 11 centimeters per year.
The study, conducted by an international team of seven scientists and engineers is based on InSAR radar technology, which monitors land elevation changes.
This sinking phenomenon, called subsidence, has a number of causes. The rapid construction of massive buildings, roads, and other infrastructure projects has put a lot a weight on the ground.Can foreign media pressure force changes in Japan?
BY PHILIP BRASOR
SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES
Former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara’s first-person “biography” of late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, “Tensai” (“Genius”), remains atop best-seller lists. It is interesting to note that when Tanaka was alive Ishihara berated him as a crude opportunist. The years have obviously tempered his view, or perhaps Ishihara’s own political career helped him appreciate how an uneducated hick without connections could become the most powerful man in Japan.
The incident that caused Tanaka’s downfall, the 1970s Lockheed bribery scandal, received greater coverage overseas than it did in Japan, and one of Ishihara’s favorite themes as a public figure has been how Japan should resist foreign pressure and assert its position as a world power. Takashi Tachibana was the journalist most instrumental in exposing Tanaka’s money politics, but it was foreign press attention that made the former prime minister’s actions impossible to ignore — even in Japan.
US: Refugees set up orchestra in New York
Newly created Refugee Orchestra Project seeks to highlight the role refugees play in American culture and society.
Gabriel Elizondo
New York - After fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries, a number of musicians have come together to set up an orchestra in New York.
The Refugee Orchestra Project includes refugees from Syria to Russia who hope to communicate their experience through music, raise funds for those in need, and highlight the importance that refugees play in American culture and society.
Lubana al-Quntar is the first Syrian opera singer to obtain international recognition.
"Seeing the struggle of my people everyday, it means so much to me to sing for them," said Quntar.
The orchestra also performs works by composers who were refugees. A recent concert was held on World Refugee Day in Brooklyn.
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Six In The Morning Saturday June 25
Brexit: EU push for UK to leave 'as soon as possible'
Government faces pressure to begin Brexit negotiations immediately after landmark vote to leave the 28-member bloc.
European Union officials have called for the UK to start the exit process as quickly as possible after Britons voted to leave the 28-member bloc, prompting the resignation of David Cameron, the prime minister, and dealing the biggest blow to European efforts at greater unity since the second world war.
The outcome of Thursday's EU referendum - a 52-to-48 split in favour of Britain's exit - caused financial markets to fall sharply and brought the British pound down to a 31-year low, its biggest drop in history.
There are now fears the vote could set off a chain reaction of further breakaway bids by other EU members battling hostility to Brussels.
Thailand jails activists for campaigning to reject constitution in referendum
Thirteen people arrested while handing out leaflets urging people to vote no in referendum on draft constitution
A Thai court jailed seven activists on Friday for campaigning against a military-backed draft constitution which will be put to a referendum in August.
Authorities arrested 13 people on Thursday while they were handing out leaflets urging people to vote against the charter. Six were released on bail, a lawyer for the group said, while the rest chose not to post bail.
“Six have been released but seven will be jailed,” said Kumklao Songsomboon of the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights group.
Brexit: How the world's media reacted to the EU referendum result
'Good luck,' says French newspaper
The world's media has reacted to news the UK has voted to leave the European Union in a variety of different ways, with some wishing Britain a tongue-in-cheek "good luck" and others saying "welcome to the outside".
Following the news, Eurosceptic politicians in other EU member states have called for referendums of their own.
Here are the front covers of some of the world's major newspapers for Saturday, 25 June:
France
"Good luck," the Libération newspaper wished the UK, their front page featuring a picture of the time Boris Johnson got stuck on a zip wire while carrying two Union flags as part of the London 2012 Olympic celebrations.
Proposed US gun control measure infuriates both sides
June 25, 2016 - 3:03PM
Bob Egelko
San Francisco: Legislation proposed in Congress, which would bar gun sales to people on a government terrorist watch list, has achieved a rare distinction - a thumbs-down from both the National Rifle Association and the American Civil Liberties Union.
For the NRA, virtually any restriction on buying or selling firearms is unacceptable, and this one, dubbed ``No-fly, no-buy", is tied to a list whose embarrassing mistakes have prevented young children and the late Senator Edward Kennedy from boarding aircraft.
``The right to bear arms is enshrined in the Constitution,'' said NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker. ``Flying on a plane is not the same as a Second Amendment right.''
For the ACLU, the problem is a list that is shrouded in secrecy, giving those affected little notice of the reasons for their inclusion on it and little opportunity to challenge those reasons. The organisation won a ruling from a federal judge in 2014 requiring the government to provide more information to watch-listed air travellers but says it hasn't made much of a difference.
Abu Sayyaf frees woman after beheading 2 Canadians
Updated 0747 GMT (1547 HKT) June 25, 2016
Islamist militant group Abu Sayyaf released a Filipina hostage after nine months in captivity in the Philippines.
The terror group woke up Marites Flor at dawn Fridayand dumped her outside the home of a local governor in Sulu, the military told CNN Philippines.
Her release comes after the militants beheaded two Canadian hostages who were captured with her in September at a resort.
'Treated us like dogs'
The victims suffered constant abuse at the hands of their kidnappers, Flor said after she was freed.
"They treated us like dogs, like kids. They beat us up when we make mistakes," she told the media.
Venezuela opposition says petition to oust Maduro is validated
25 June 2016
Venezuelan opposition leaders say they have validated enough signatures on a petition to move to the next stage in a process to remove President Nicolas Maduro in a recall referendum.
Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have given fingerprints to authenticate signatures on the petition.
Referendum co-ordinator Vicente Bello said the number of signatures had "clearly exceeded the minimum needed".
The process must now be validated by electoral officials.
If that step is passed, a second petition must be signed by four million people before a recall referendum can be held.
Friday, June 24, 2016
Donald Trump On Brexit: Isn't My Golf Course Wonderful (videos)
Donald Trump is supposedly the Republican party's nominee for president which makes head of the party and its chief spokesperson. In Scotland the day after the historic vote which culminated the U.K. voting to leave the EU Donald Trump gave a five minute advert about his golf course not once mentioning the real world effects of the Brexit vote. So clueless is Donald Trump, he praised Scottish voters for taking back their country in voting to leave the EU. 2/3 of those voting in Scotland cast their ballots to remain in the EU. Donald Trump had the world watching to discover how in saw the outcome and its effect on the US, Europe and the world. What he delivered was praise for himself, his family, the golf course he was promoting and the beauty of the suites available. How is that being responsible and presidential?
America's Republican party should hide themselves in shame for nominating a narcissistic, racist, misogynist fool.
America's Republican party should hide themselves in shame for nominating a narcissistic, racist, misogynist fool.
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