Six In The Morning Sunday 26 May 2019

Trump dismisses North Korean tests of ‘some small weapons’

US President Donald Trump has dismissed concerns about recent North Korean missile tests, appearing to contradict his own national security adviser.

In a tweet issued shortly after his arrival in Japan on Sunday, Mr Trump called the missiles “small weapons”.

US National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Saturday that the tests violated UN resolutions on North Korea.

President Trump began a state visit to Japan on Sunday by teeing off a round of golf with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Jews in Germany warned of risks of wearing kippah cap in public

Government commissioner says lifting of inhibitions and rise of uncouthness are factors behind rising incidence of antisemitism

Germany’s government commissioner on antisemitism has warned Jews about the potential dangers of wearing the traditional kippah cap in the face of rising anti-Jewish attacks.

“I cannot advise Jews to wear the kippah everywhere all the time in Germany,” Felix Klein said in an interview published Saturday by the Funke regional press group.

In issuing the warning, he said he had “alas, changed my mind (on the subject) compared to previously”.

An Inside JobThe Right-Wing Populist Plan to Destroy Europe

Europe’s right-wing populists haven’t been stopped by the scandal in Austria. They are working hard to destroy the European Union from within its own institutions and the European elections may show how close they are to success. By DER SPIEGEL Staff

After the Ibiza videos had made their way around the world, after Austria’s vice chancellor had resigned and the government appeared to be on the verge of collapse, as people found themselves wondering just how deep the abyss could be, the operatic aria “Nessun dorma” – “none shall sleep” – could be heard on the square in front of Milan’s Duomo cathedral. It’s Matteo Salvini’s entrance music.

It was last Saturday, one week before elections to the European Parliament. And Salvini, Italy’s interior minister, had assembled a pan-European festival of right-wing populists and radicals. Marine Le Pen had come in high spirits from France, Geert Wilders was there from the Netherlands, Jörg Meuthen from the Alternative for Germany party, along with Bulgarian, Slovak, Austrian, Flemish, Danish, Finnish and Estonian nationalists, 11 parties from Europe’s right-wing periphery who want to form a “super group” in the next European Parliament.

Iraq warns of ‘danger of war’ as Iranian FM visits

Iraqi leaders have warned of the risks of war during a visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, whose country is locked in a tense standoff with the United States.

Zarif’s visit to neighbouring Iraq — which is caught in the middle of its two allies the US and Iran — follows a decision by Washington to deploy 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi warned of the “danger of a war” during a meeting with Zarif on Saturday night, his office said.

Special report: The mechanics of silencing online dissent

Online campaigns are not looked upon kindly when they go against the dominant state narrative, even if they are organic.

Ramsha Jahangir

Journalists in Pakistan who dissent from the official narrative are feeling the brunt not only of the state and its bad laws. A more insidious form of censorship is being used to silence them online.


Each morning, in the last few months, journalist Shahzeb Jillani would wake up to a barrage of notifications on Twitter.

Jillani, who has a following of over 14,000 users on the micro-blogging site, was usually not alarmed by the scurrilous trolling and abuse.

These schoolgirls want an end to child marriage. So they’re fighting to change their country’s constitution

By Bukola Adebayo, CNN

 In a plush living room of a home in a wealthy suburb of Lagos, three teenagers are huddled around a computer.
Kudirat Abiola, 15, Temitayo Asuni, 15 and Susan Ubogu, 16, want to change the law on child marriage in Nigeria and they’re deep in discussion, even ignoring calls to break for a hearty Sunday lunch of jollof rice and southern fried chicken.
More than a third of girls in Nigeria end up in child marriages, and with 22 million married before the age of 18, the nation has among the highest number of child brides in Africa, according to a 2018 UNICEF report.