Six In The Morning

On Sunday

Programming prodigy passes away at 16: Hear her philosophy of life



By Todd Bishop
Arfa Karim Randhawa, the computer programming prodigy who became the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional at 9 years old, has passed away at the age of 16, according to reports out of her native Pakistan this weekend. She had been in the hospital for nearly a month after reportedly suffering an epileptic seizure and cardiac arrest. Two weeks ago her outlook appeared to improve. In recent weeks, Microsoft had stepped in to help provide expert medical care.

Sunday's Headlines:

Honeymooning couple rescued from submerged ship Costa Concordia

Tension at new high as Iran vows to punish West

Kabul's wheels of change

No end in sight for Nigeria fuel strike

U.S. troops need better training on laws of war, experts say

Honeymooning couple rescued from submerged ship Costa Concordia
South Korean couple were found in a cabin two decks above the water line by rescuers who were banging on doors

Staff and agencies guardian.co.uk, Sunday 15 January 2012
A honeymooning couple have been rescued from the submerged Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia more than 24 hours after it ran aground off the coast of Tuscany. The South Korean newlyweds were found by rescuers in a cabin two decks above the water line of the Mediterranean. It is understood the pair, who are 29 years old, are in good condition.

Tension at new high as Iran vows to punish West
Tehran threatens to close Straits of Hormuz if US enforces an embargo

Sunday 15 January 2012
They buried a young scientist called Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan in Tehran on Friday. And if the hazardous carousel of attacks, embargoes and official threats does not slow down soon, there could be other bodies and hopes wrapped in a sheet and put into the ground. Many more young men, peace in the Straits of Hormuz and beyond, and supplies of oil at an affordable price could all be as dead as the assassinated Roshan if the crisis over Iran's nuclear project ratchets up further.

Kabul's wheels of change
An Australian is helping Afghans change their lives through the power of skateboarding, writes Jackie Dent.

January 15, 2012
HANIFA glides down the slanted ramp, her bright red-and-green traditional garb sparkling as she whizzes across the smooth floor. A little girl with bright-pink knee-pads follows her move, a determined look on her face. Nearby, Fazila has her hand extended, rolling another little girl backwards and forwards on a mini-ramp. The air in the expansive indoor skate park is cool and smells of fresh timber. Two years ago, Hanifa, 14, and Fazila, 16, were eking out a living selling chewing gum in the streets of Kabul to support their families. Now, the pair are paid instructors at Skateistan, what is thought to be the world's first co-educational skateboarding school - a spacious facility with two classrooms, a climbing wall, an array of ramps and walls plastered with colourful children's drawings.

No end in sight for Nigeria fuel strike
Nigeria's government and labour unions failed to end a paralysing nationwide strike over high petrol costs, potentially sparking an oil production shutdown in a nation vital to US oil supplies.

BASHIR ADIGUN ABUJA, NIGERIA - Jan 15 2012 07:45
It was not immediately clear early on Sunday whether a major oil workers' union had gone ahead with its threat to have its members walk off their jobs starting at midnight in an effort to halt oil production. But the fact labour unions left quickly from their meeting with the government and no one announced when talks would resume raised concerns the impasse would see Nigeria go through more days of disruptive strikes. Nigeria, which produces 2.4 million barrels of oil a day, is the fifth-largest oil exporter to the United States. Any disruption to oil production could roil the oil futures market at a time traders remain concerned about world supply.

U.S. troops need better training on laws of war, experts say
Commanders must do a better job of translating the rules for modern circumstances, experts say. A court-martial over the killing of civilians in Haditha, Iraq, highlights the issue.

By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times
The court-martial of Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich at Camp Pendleton for his role in two dozen civilian deaths in the Iraqi village of Haditha has highlighted a legal peril for modern military personnel: determining who is the enemy. Troops these days fight in tense, foreign enclaves where terrorists wear no uniforms and take cover among women and children. They are on a mission to engage the enemy but are expected to hold their fire against civilians, a sacred tenet of international law.