Six In The Morning

Jonathan urges Boko Haram to state demands

Nigerian president says government will engage in "dialogue" if the group identifies itself and lays down clear demands.

Last Modified: 27 Jan 2012
The Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, has challenged Boko Haram to identify itself and state clearly its demands as a basis for talks. The radical Islamist group killed more than 500 people last year and another 250 in the first weeks of 2012 in gun and bomb attacks in the West African country, according to Human Rights Watch. "If they clearly identify themselves now and say this is the reason why we are resisting, this is the reason why we are confronting government or this is the reason why we destroy some innocent people and their properties ... then there will be a basis for dialogue," Jonathan said in an interview to Reuters at the presidential villa in the capital, Abuja,on Thursday.

Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt faces genocide trial
Judge links Rios Montt to deaths of 1,700 people as soldiers used rape and torture to rid country of leftist insurgents in 1980s

Reuters in Guatemala City guardian.co.uk, Friday 27 January 2012
Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt will face trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity as the Central American nation seeks to put a brutal 36-year civil war behind it. A judge found sufficient evidence that linked Rios Montt, who ruled during a particularly bloody period in 1982-83, to the killing of more than 1,700 indigenous people in a crackdown on insurgents. "I believe that there is enough evidence in these charges," said Judge Carol Flores, who agreed with prosecutors that Rios Montt should answer for brutality under his rule.

Settlers who went too far - even for Netanyahu
Donald Macintyre ventures to the village which has provoked a legal crisis in Israel

Friday 27 January 2012
Itai Harel gazed across at the rocky wilderness of the Judaean Mountains and urged us to "look at all this wonderful, empty land all the way from Jerusalem, waiting for its sons to come to build and live in it". It was one of the few moments that Mr Harel, a 38-year-old social worker, turned lyrical in helping to explain why he, his wife and six children are living with 50 other families in a fenced outpost on a remote hilltop east of the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Sudan and South Sudan leaders bid to defuse oil dispute
The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan are to meet in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to discuss a dispute over transit fees for South Sudan's oil.

The BBC 27 January 2012
Since independence last July, South Sudan has been using Sudan's infrastructure to export its oil. However, last week South Sudan said it was suspending oil production, accusing Sudan of "stealing" its oil. Sudan says the south has not been paying transit fees and that it has taken the oil in lieu of payment. The summit will bring together South Sudanese president Salva Kiir and his Sudanese counterpart - and old enemy - Omar al-Bashir.

Iran Set to Turn Off Oil Supply to Europe
The European Union embargo on Iranian oil will only come into effect in six months, but the leadership in Tehran wants to act first: Exports to Europe are set to be halted immediately. It is a move which could mean added difficulties for struggling economies in southern Europe.

Spiegel
It's a move which has tit-for-tat written all over it, but one which could nonetheless have a serious impact: The Iranian government wants to present a bill to parliament this weekend calling for an immediate halt to oil deliveries to Europe. The move, with most reports citing the Iranian news agency Mehr, has come about in response to the EU agreement to impose sanctions against Iran, which were announced earlier this week. The sanctions banned any new contracts for buying oil from Iran, but allowed existing deals to continue until July in order to give countries time to find other sources. But that process is now at risk after the latest move from Tehran, a step the Iranian government had already threatened.

Court blocks 'Mein Kampf' excerpts from being published


By Christopher Cottrell, CNN January 26, 2012
A civil courtin Munich has blocked a British publisher's plans to print excerpts of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" in Germany later this month. The court ruled Wednesday that British publisher Peter McGee's plans to disseminate portions of the anti-Semitic manifesto in Germany were not protected by long-standing citation rights. Initially slated to hit the shelves in the Zeitungszeugen magazine in Germany on January 26, it would have been the first time that any parts of the book had been reprinted in a newspaper or magazine in that country since the end of World War II.