Six In The Morning

Violent Uproar in Afghanistan Casts Shadow on U.S. Pullout



By MATTHEW ROSENBERG and THOM SHANKER
American officials sought to reassure both Afghanistan’s government and a domestic audience on Sunday that the United States remained committed to the war after the weekend killing of two American military officers inside the Afghan Interior Ministry and days of deadly anti-American protests. But behind the public pronouncements, American officials described a growing concern, even at the highest levels of the Obama administration and Pentagon, about the challenges of pulling off a troop withdrawal in Afghanistan that hinges on the close mentoring and training of army and police forces.

Syria holds 'farcical' poll while violence continues


Justin Vela Antakya, Southern Turkey Monday 27 February 2012
Syrians voted in a government-sponsored referendum yesterday, which if approved would allow multi-party elections and time limits on presidential terms. The poll was rejected as farce and a political stunt by activists and Western politicians who say it is designed solely to bolster the beleaguered Bashar al-Assad. Members of the Syrian opposition called for a boycott and demanded the international community intervene to end a conflict that has left at least 6,000 people dead. "The Syrian people are calling for international intervention and for this regime to step down," said Omar al-Muqdad, a senior Syrian activist.

Make Greece 'offer it can't refuse' to leave euro zone
The Irish Times - Monday, February 27, 2012

DEREK SCALLY in Berlin
GREECE SHOULD be “made an offer it can’t refuse” to leave the euro zone, according to one of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet ministers, ahead of a vote today on Germany’s contribution to a second bailout. With almost two-thirds of Germans opposed to further assistance to Athens, according to a new poll, interior minister Hans-Peter Friedrich suggested the EU should “create incentives for an exit” by Greece. “Outside European monetary union, Greece’s chances of regenerating itself and becoming competitive are definitely better than if it remained inside the euro zone,” said Mr Friedrich to Der Spiegel, insisting he did “not mean that Greece should be kicked out” of the 17-nation bloc. Mr Friedrich’s remarks reflect widespread pessimism in Germany’s ruling coalition government that bailouts are the correct medicine

Senegal tallies votes as incumbent seeks third term
Senegal tallied results on Monday in an election in which incumbent Abdoulaye Wade, who is seeking to extend his rule with a disputed third term, was greeted by jeers as he cast his ballot.

Sapa-AFP | 27 February, 2012 06:45
The west African nation's reputation as a haven of stability has been tarnished by pre-poll violence over 85-year-old Wade's candidacy which left six dead in a month of riots. As night fell some votes were counted by candlelight or lamps, and people sat intently listening to results trickling in on their cellphone radios. In an election fraught with tension, none of the 13 opposition candidates emerged as a frontrunner before the poll as protests over Wade's candidacy rocked the nation and left six dead.

Weibos: China clamps down on popular microblogs
Weibos are the freest place in China to speak. Now Chinese authorities are moving to curb that freedom.

By Peter Ford, Staff writer /
Beijing Just a few years ago, no ordinary Chinese citizen would ever have heard sensitive news – say, for example, if a top Chinese policeman had spent a day in a US consulate, apparently seeking asylum. But when that happened in February, it was all over China's hugely popular Twitter equivalents within hours. Resourceful "citizen journalists" posted photos of police massing outside the US Consulate in Chengdu, screenshots of an airline passenger manifest, and other evidence suggesting that Wang Lijun had been at the consulate and then escorted to Beijing by a senior Chinese security official. More than 2 million posts flooded China's "weibos" – Twitter-like microblogs – in just a few days.

Americans are no-shows at opening of NGO trial in Egypt


By Omnia Al Desoukie | McClatchy Newspapers
CAIRO — Civil society workers for U.S. and other nonprofit groups that are accused of illegally receiving foreign funds entered pleas of not guilty Sunday, the first day of a trial that threatens to unravel three decades of close Egyptian-American relations. None of the 16 American defendants showed up to court. Of the 43 defendants, only 14 Egyptian nongovernmental organization — NGO — workers were present inside the cage as prosecutors read charges that accused them of circumventing Egyptian law to receive more than $20 million in funding from Washington to set up offices and promote a U.S.-friendly agenda.