Six In The Morning

Syria crisis: Army steps up shelling in Homs

Heavy artillery fire has been rocking Homs, as Syrian troops step up an assault on the restive city.

The BBC's Paul Wood 6 February 2012
A BBC correspondent there says attacks resumed early on Monday with almost constant explosions. Rebels say a clinic is being targeted in one of the fiercest assaults on the city in the 11-month uprising. Opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have been angered by Russia and China's decision to veto a UN resolution criticising Damascus. The BBC's Paul Wood, who managed to get into Homs, says shelling resumed there at 06:00 (04:00 GMT). Some rebels fighters are firing automatic weapons in return, in what our correspondent calls a futile gesture.

Aung San Suu Kyi wins right to run in Burma elections
Opposition leader gets official approval from Burmese election commission to stand in parliamentary poll in April

Associated Press in Yangon guardian.co.uk, Monday 6 February 2012 07.37 GMT
Burma's election commission has given opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi the green light to run for parliamentary byelections, another step toward political openness in a country emerging from nearly half a century of military rule. Suu Kyi announced her intention last month to stand in elections in April but was waiting for official approval from the commission, which said it had to scrutinise her eligibility.

For Russia and China, the Arab Spring only offers a warning
Russia has benefited hugely from trade deals with Syria. It is its main weapons supplier

John Kampfner Monday 06 February 2012
At least the authoritarian regimes have the benefit of clarity. They know what they don't want. Everyone knows where they are coming from. The only surprise about this weekend vote at the United Nations, with Russia and China vetoing a motion condemning the Assad regime's violent repression in Syria, is that anyone is surprised. Beijing's approach to diplomacy, while less strident than Moscow's, is transparent – an onus on state-imposed "stability", hard-headed national economic benefit and non-interference.

Americans face prosecution as Egypt ignores Clinton, Congress
Egypt is bringing criminal charges against at least 40 people, including some Americans, in a move that puts $1.3 billion in US military aid to Egypt at risk.

By Kristen Chick, Correspondent
Egypt is bringing criminal charges against at least 40 people, including some American citizens, over the foreign funding of nongovernmental organizations, sharply raising the stakes in a standoff with the US that has put $1.3 billion in US military aid to Egypt at risk. The workers at pro-democracy organizations are being charged with operating nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) without licenses from the government and illegally receiving foreign funding, according to state media. The charges carry a sentence of up to five years in prison. The Associated Press reported that 19 Americans would be charged, while a state-owned newspaper said six.

Mexico's ruling party picks female candidate
Conservative National Action Party chooses Josefina Vazquez Mota to run for president on July 1.

Last Modified: 06 Feb 2012 07:25
Mexico's ruling conservative party has chosen Josefina Vazquez Mota, a 51-year-old economist and former minister, as its candidate for presidential elections on July 1. Vazquez Mota was elected late on Sunday with 55 per cent of votes from National Action Party (PAN) members, with 86.7 per cent of votes counted, meaning she had a large enough lead to avoid a second round run-off. Former finance minister Ernesto Cordero scored 38.1 per cent and Santiago Creel, a former interior minister, took 5.21 per cent. Jose Espina, the president of the PAN electoral commission, said: "For the computed percentage, the tendency appears to me to be irreversible."

Apple manufacturing plant workers complain of long hours, militant culture


By Chi-Chi Zhang, CNN February 6, 2012 -- Updated 0631 GMT
Chengdu, China (CNN) -- Miss Chen stares curiously at the iPad. Even though she works overtime in a factory in southwestern China that manufactures them, she's never seen the finished product. "Wow, I want it," said Chen, brushing her finger across the glossy screen with curiosity and amazement. The 18-year-old student from a village outside of the southern megacity of Chongqing is one of more than one million factory workers at a Chinese company that helps manufacture products for Apple Inc.'s lucrative global empire, which raked in a record $46.3 billion in sales last quarter.