Six In The Morning

UN to vote on Syria peace plan, diplomat says

Move toward vote comes as hundreds reportedly killed in mortar barrage on Homs

NBC, msnbc.com and news services
The U.N. Security Council plans to vote on a intensely negotiated resolution backing an Arab peace plan for Syria on Saturday, a day after government forces reportedly killed more than 200 people in a barrage of mortar shells in Homs. As reports of the Homs attack spread, protesters around the world marched on Syrian diplomatic outposts. A U.N. diplomat revealed the Security Council agenda Friday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be quoted by the media.

Syrian embassies in London and Cairo attacked over Homs massacre
Cairo embassy is trashed, while police in London detain five people and missions are targeted in other countries

Staff and agencies guardian.co.uk, Saturday 4 February 2012 06.47 GMT
Five people have been arrested during a demonstration at the Syrian embassy in London, Scotland Yard said. There have been further demonstrations at Syrian missions in other countries over the massacre of civilians in Homs. In Cairo, Egypt, enraged Syrians again stormed their country's embassy, smashing furniture and equipment and setting fire to parts of the building.

Drums of war beat louder as Iran and Israel step up rhetoric
Evidence is mounting that Washington believes an Israeli attack on Iran is now only a matter of time.

Saturday 04 February 2012
Iran's supreme leader threatened to attack Israel yesterday in retaliation for Western sanctions against the Islamic Republic, warning that "threatening Iran and attacking Iran will harm America". Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's declaration came as apprehension of possible conflict was intensified by a report suggesting that the US Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, believes Israel could strike nuclear targets in Iran before the summer after concluding that military action might be needed before it was "too late" to stop Tehran's nuclear programme.

Le Pen fears for nomination as officials fail to sign
The Irish Times - Saturday, February 4, 2012

RUADHÁN Mac CORMAIC in Paris
FRENCH NATIONAL Front leader Marine Le Pen has said she may fail to win enough signatures to stand in the presidential election because local officials are afraid to put their name to her nomination papers. In what opponents see as a bluff aimed at burnishing her anti-establishment credentials, Ms Le Pen has taken a legal challenge to the rule that requires prospective candidates to secure signatures from 500 mayors. She wants her sponsors to be allowed remain anonymous.

Role model for a nation on the march
As India grapples with its growing pains, Hamish McDonald meets the polarising leader tipped as its next prime minister.

Hamish McDonald February 4, 2012
In Narendra Modi's office as chief minister of Gujarat state is a monitor relaying data and images of traffic on the busy highway that crosses the border with neighbouring Maharashtra state. Each state levies the same toll on trucks and cars plying these two concentrations of Indian industry and commerce. Yet Modi's toll gate on the Gujarat side collects 4 billion rupees (almost $80 million) more than the gate on the Maharashtra side. ''With technology I can see from my office what is going on,'' Modi says, with a laugh of delight.

Zimbabwe cracks down on SA, UK newspapers
Several top South African publications circulating in Zimbabwe face a ban from the country, along with the UK-published Zimbabwean, unless they register their operations, the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) head, Godfrey Majonga, said on Friday.

RAY NDLOVU AND FARANAAZ PARKER JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
The ZMC argues that it is legally empowered to ban the South African publications under Section 66 and 90 of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act as the publications have no offices or representatives in the country to which complaints can be taken to, despite that the SA publications' news content targets a Zimbabwean readership. "None of the publications or their journalists appears on our registers and we are very concerned at this development," said Majonga.