Six In The Morning

Afghanistan militants 'attack Kandahar killings site'

Militants in Afghanistan have launched an attack on a government delegation visiting the site where a US soldier killed 16 civilians.


Two of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brothers and several top security officials were in the delegation in Panjwai in Kandahar province. One Afghan soldier was killed and three other people injured but the delegation is heading back to Kandahar city. The US soldier said to have carried out Sunday's attacks is under arrest. The unnamed 38-year-old staff sergeant is being held at an undisclosed location. 'No rush to exits' A senior Afghan official confirmed to the BBC that an attack "from several directions" had taken place on the delegation, which was there to meet villagers and tribal elders. Afghan forces returned fire.

As Annan flies out, Assad's men go in to kill the innocent
Massacre of women and children reported in Homs as UN envoy leaves empty-handed

ALASTAIR BEACH TUESDAY 13 MARCH 2012
There were renewed fears that Syria was slipping towards all-out civil war last night after opposition activists claimed that scores of men, women and children had been butchered by regime militias roaming through a rebel neighbourhood in Homs – just 24 hours after the former United Nations chief Kofi Annan jetted out of Damascus saying he had drawn up a plan for ending the crisis. Reports emerging from the shell-blitzed city suggested entire families had been shot or had their throats slit, with numerous videos being uploaded to YouTube showing blood-soaked corpses in homes and backyards.

Germany Fails To Meet Its Own Austerity Goals
European countries are expected to implement tough austerity measures amid the debt crisis. But Germany isn't setting a very good example. SPIEGEL has learned that Berlin failed to reach its own austerity goals in 2011. And despite pressuring its neighbors to save, Germany is behind this year too.


As she travels from one European Union summit to the next, Angela Merkel's constant mantra in recent months has been austerity, austerity, austerity. But apparently the German chancellor hasn't been quite as strict when it comes to her own country's budget. SPIEGEL reports this week that the German government didn't reach even half of its planned savings in the federal budget. Only 42 percent of the spending cuts named by Merkel's coalition government, comprised of the conservative Christian Democrats and the business-friendly Free Democratic Party, were actually not implemented.

Joseph Kony: Prophet of war
Last week the internet was swept up in a furore over a Ugandan warlord who has been skulking around East Africa for 20 years.

FARANAAZ PARKER - Mar 12 2012 16:07
Internet users embraced the cause along with the Twitter hash-tag #stopkony but activists and academics have taken issue with the video and its creators. They have said the video oversimplifies the complicated political situation in Uganda and that its facts are outdated and in some cases simply incorrect. The clearest criticism of the video is that Kony is no longer even living in Uganda, and has not been for at least six years. The Mail & Guardian has compiled a timeline of Joseph Kony's life and activities over the last 50 years.

Family magic fails Rahul Gandhi
South Asia

Neeta Lal
NEW DELHI - Questions are being raised over Rahul Gandhi's fledgling political career, even as the prime ministerial candidate for India's 2014 elections took responsibility for the Congress Party's defeat in polls across five states where voters voiced staggering disenchantment with the country's oldest political force. The sweeping anti-Congress wave pushed the party to last place in a four-cornered fight in Uttar Pradesh, the party's heartland, snatched away Goa and gave Punjab back to the Akali Dal - the first time a state government there has bucked incumbency in more than 40 years. Even in Uttarakhand, the Congress victory was tenuous as India's oldest party struggled to unseat the fractious Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government there by the tiniest margin of one seat. (The right-wing BJP bagged 31 seats, against 32 for Congress in the 70-member assembly.)

Astronauts' eyeballs deformed by long missions in space, study finds
Flattening at the back of their eyes may be caused by increased pressure of cerebrospinal fluid in microgravity

Ian Sample, science correspondent The Guardian, Tuesday 13 March 2012
Brain scans of Nasa astronauts who have returned to Earth after more than a month in space have revealed potentially serious abnormalities that could jeopardise the future of long-term space missions. Doctors examined 27 astronauts who had flown long-duration missions with the US space agency and found a pattern of deformities in their eyeballs, optic nerves and pituitary glands that remains unexplained. The problems are similar to those caused by intracranial hypertension, a rare medical condition that occurs when pressure inside the skull rises and presses on the brain and the backs of the eyes.