Six In The Morning

Rebels hope tribal rifts will speed their march to Gaddafi's birthplace
Loyalists offer little resistance ahead of battle for Sirte. Kim Sengupta joins the advancing forces.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
The scale and nature of resistance from the regime's soldiers indicated how much their firepower had been devastated by Western air strikes. There was little of the heavy shelling that had made the revolutionary forces flee in the past. This was replaced instead by sporadic rockets and small-arms clashes on the ground.

The rebel commanders, nonetheless, remain worried after reports that the male population of Sirte had been armed and what remains of the regime's armour and artillery on the eastern front has been deployed to protect the city. Renewed bombing of the military positions in the city by international coalition warplanes are said to have caused some damage, but the city remains well guarded.

How Dangerous Is Japan's Creeping Nuclear Disaster?
Fukushima Fallout
Spiegel
The technicians had for days to restore electricity to the remains of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. But then it was ordinary rubber boots, of all things, that would come to symbolize their desperation, helplessness and defeat.

On Thursday, the three men had made their way into the basement of the turbine building for reactor No. 3 to examine the situation there. When they returned later, they came fully equipped with tools and protective gear that included helmets, masks, rubber gloves and raincoats on top of their radiation suits.
The one thing the men were not prepared for was that suddenly they would be wading through more than a few inches of water.

Protesters target the lobbyists willing to do business with Belarus

By Jerome Taylor and Sarah Morrison Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Belarusian dissidents held a protest last night outside the offices of Grayling, the international lobbying firm which has been criticised for leading an investment drive inside Belarus in the middle of a widespread crackdown on pro-democracy forces.

Flanked by celebrity supporters including Jude Law, Kevin Spacey and Tom Stoppard, protesters called on British businesses to stop investing in Belarus until all political prisoners are freed.

'Military declares parliamentary poll for September
The Irish Times - Tuesday, March 29, 2011
MICHAEL JANSEN
EGYPT’S MILITARY rulers are increasingly mapping out the route the country will take in the post-Mubarak period. Yesterday, they decreed the country’s parliamentary poll will be held in September.

This declaration was strategically paired with a communique stating the emergency law, imposed in 1981, will be lifted ahead of the election.

The decision on the election is certain to displease the January 25 Youth Coalition that guided the uprising which toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. The coalition seeks an interim period of one year to 18 months so that both liberal and nationalist parties, re- pressed during the 30-year reign of Mr Mubarak, and emerging parties have time to organise.

Pentagon agency set up to detect roadside bombs blows billions

Peter Cary, Nancy Youssef, Tribune Media Services
March 29, 2011
WASHINGTON: A Pentagon agency formed five years ago to defeat the threat of roadside bombs killing more and more US soldiers in Iraq has ballooned into a 1900-employee behemoth and has spent nearly $17 billion on hundreds of initiatives.

Yet the technologies it has developed have failed to improve significantly the ability of soldiers to detect roadside bombs and have never been able to find them at long distances.

The best detectors remain the low-tech methods: trained dogs, local handlers and the soldiers themselves.

China 'to overtake US on science' in two years


David Shukman
Science and environment correspondent, BBC News
That is the conclusion of a major new study by the Royal Society, the UK's national science academy.

The country that invented the compass, gunpowder, paper and printing is set for a globally important comeback.

An analysis of published research - one of the key measures of scientific effort - reveals an "especially striking" rise by Chinese science.

The study, Knowledge, Networks and Nations, charts the challenge to the traditional dominance of the United States, Europe and Japan.