Six In The Morning

Spies Like Us: Please Speak Into The Pen Wait Not Working Try The Flower

US woman arrested in Iran as spy: Why the story may not have teeth
Istanbul, Turkey
James Bond couldn’t have done it better. Which is why an unconfirmed 007-style story about Iran arresting an American woman with a microphone hidden in her teeth is grabbing headlines.
The report first emerged this week in the state-owned newspaper, Iran, which does not have a history of publishing truth-telling facts when it comes to alleged enemy spies.

Then on Thursday Iran’s semiofficial Fars News Agency, which is tied to the Revolutionary Guard, weighed in with its own unsubstantiated report: “Iranian authorities announced” the detention one week ago of 55-year-old Hal Talayan, it claimed. The story was titled: “Iran arrests US spy.”

Legacy Of The Vietnam War

Vang Pao, Hmong guerrilla leader, dies in US
Vang Pao, a revered former general in the Royal Army of Laos who led thousands of Hmong guerrillas in a CIA-backed secret army during the Vietnam War, has died. He was 81.

After immigrating to the United States once the communists seized power in Laos in 1975, Vang Pao was venerated as a leader and a father figure by the large Hmong refugee populations who resettled in California's Central Valley, Minneapolis and cities throughout Wisconsin.

A New Nation Or Humanitarian Crisis?
As South Sudan heads for independence, Daniel Howden discovers a disturbing disparity between hope and reality
A failed state before it's born? Inside the capital of the world's next nation
Juba's main landmarkis making itself redundant. A digital clocktower that sprouts from the city's central roundabout counts down the remaining days, minutes and hours of the five years from the peace deal that ended the civil war to the referendum on secession. On Sunday the display will reach zero and the south of Sudan will begin voting in a process expected to create a new country and put the defunct clock at the centre of the world's newest capital city.

There is little doubt that the result will be an overwhelming vote in favour of splitting Africa's largest country in two.

Hungry's Media Laws In Line With Eurasia

Orban says Hungary's media laws in line with EU norms
PRIME minister Viktor Orban has pledged to amend Hungary’s controversial new media law if the European Union demands it and countries with similar legislation change theirs.

But Mr Orban insisted that the tough media rules were perfectly in line with EU norms, as Hungary weathers criticism from the likes of Germany and France during the first week of its six-month presidency of the bloc.

Critics say the legislation gives too much power to a council staffed entirely by government loyalists, which has the power to levy large fines on publications, websites and broadcasters whose coverage is deemed “unbalanced” or insulting to “human dignity” or “public morality” — terms so vague that many media outlets fear the law will be used to muzzle critical reporting.

Living In Fear Of a Red Star Over China

Chinese expansion fears revealed
AUSTRALIA'S intelligence agencies believe China is hiding the extent of a huge military build-up that goes beyond national defence and poses a serious threat to regional stability.

A strategic assessment by the agencies found China's military spending for 2006 was $90 billion - double the $45 billion announced publicly by Beijing.

Australia's peak intelligence agency, the Office of National Assessments, as well as the Defence Intelligence Organisation and the Defence and Foreign Affairs departments concluded that China was building a military capability well beyond its priorities of self-defence and preventing Taiwan's independence.

Love Thy Neighbor As Long As They Are Just Like You

Copts celebrate amid tight security
Thousands of Coptic Christians have packed churches across Europe and the Middle East to celebrate Christmas Eve mass amid security fears following a recent deadly bombing at a Coptic church in Egypt.

Security was stepped up across Egypt as threats against specific churches were posted on the internet, days after the New Year's Day bombing of the al-Qiddissin Church in Alexandria that killed 23 people.

Tensions remained high in the country ahead of the Coptic Christmas on Friday as Copts gathered for mass, and the mood was somber outside St Mark's Cathedral in the capital, Cairo.

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from outside the church, said Egyptian authorities are still trying to identify the attackers.