Six In The Morning

He's Back And No It's Not Arnold

Iraqi cleric urges resistance to U.S., Israel after return from exile

NAJAF, Iraq — A powerful cleric whose fearsome militia once battled Americans urged followers Saturday to resist the United States "with all means" in his first public address in Iraq after four years in exile.
Addressing an adoring crowd of thousands, Muqtada al-Sadr also called on the newly formed government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to make sure all U.S. forces leave Iraq by the end of the year as planned.
And he warned that "we have the political means" to reject that governmentif it does not provide security and services to its citizens.

Once Free Now Authoritarian

US tells Twitter to hand over WikiLeaks supporter's messages
A member of parliamentin Iceland who is also a former WikiLeaks volunteer says the US justice department has ordered Twitter to hand over her private messages.

Birgitta Jonsdottir, an MP for the Movement in Iceland, said last night on Twitter that the "USA government wants to know about all my tweets and more since november 1st 2009. Do they realize I am a member of parliament in Iceland?"

She said she was starting a legal fight to stop the US getting hold of her messages, after being told by Twitter that a subpoena had been issued. She wrote: "department of justice are requesting twitter to provide the info – I got 10 days to stop it via legal process before twitter hands it over."

Oh The Joy Of Despair

Economic gloom and doom drain France of its joie de vivre
Victor Hugo, without recourse to opinion polls, had it about right.

The French really are a nation of Misérables. Now polls in 53 countries show the most pessimistic and most anxious people in the world are not the war-torn Iraqis or Afghans, nor the cuts-threatened British, but the French.

More than 60 per cent of the French people questioned by the BVA polling organisation predicted an economically gloomy and troubled 2011.

From The Mouth Of A Wanted War Criminal

Omar al-Bashir says South Sudan not ready for split
He told al-Jazeera TV the south did not have the ability to create a stable state or provide for its citizens.

The BBC's James Copnall in Khartoum says the comments will infuriate the SPLM - ex-rebels who have ruled the south since civil war ended in 2005.

Final rallies have taken place in the south before voting starts on Sunday.

Correspondents expect an overwhelming "yes" vote, which would see the world's newest country come into being.

The referendum is part of a 2005 deal that ended the two-decade north-south civil war.

We'll Disappear Those Who Disagree

Tunisia arrests bloggers and rapper
Tunisian authorities have rounded up bloggers, activists and a rap singer in a string of arrests that come in the midst of what is being described as a nationwide uprising.

Two web activists, Slim Amamou and Azyz Amamy, have not been heard from since Thursday, sources in Tunisia told Al Jazeera.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that it had been alerted that at least six bloggers and activists had been arrested or had disappeared in locations across Tunisia, and that there were probably others who had been targeted.

Al Jazeera spoke with Amamy on Wednesday evening, local time, after his email and Facebook accounts were hijacked in an alleged government-led "phishing" campaign. His last tweet was published on Thursday morning, as was Amamou's.

When The Only Thing The Army Cares About Is India This Happens

In Pakistan today, 'anyone could shoot you'
ISLAMABAD — A 60-year-old university administrator in the southern port city of Karachi is wistful as he recalls the more tolerant, freewheeling Pakistan of his youth.
And a new effort by the Obama administration may help bring back those times of youth.
Once, when a teacher suggested no book can be perfect, the boy asked if that included Islam's holy book, the Quran. That sparked a candid class discussion about religion. But in today's Pakistan, Muqtida Mansoor said he would never dare to ask the question in public.
After all, "anyone could shoot you."