Six In The Morning

French gun suspect 'wants to die'

A gunman suspected of seven killings in southern France has told police laying siege to his flat in Toulouse that he wants to die "weapons in hand", Interior Minister Claude Gueant says.

The BBC 22 March 2012
Mr Gueant said there had been no contact overnight with Mohammed Merah and it was not certain he was alive. Police set off regular explosions overnight to increase the pressure on 23-year-old Merah. He is suspected of killing seven people in three separate attacks. The siege is now in its second day. Mr Gueant told French radio: "We have one priority: to take him alive so that he can surrender to face justice. We hope he is still alive." However, he said it was "quite strange that he did not react" to the explosions that were set off overnight to intimidate Merah.

Serial killer reveals why he struck at Toulouse school
'Scooter assassin' tells police he targeted children out of frustration after failing to find soldier he planned to kill

　　Toulouse Thursday 22 March 2012
The suspected killer who attempted to "bring France to its knees" was still defying a besieging army of police officers early today in a ground-floor flat in a quiet suburb of Toulouse. Three loud explosions, probably stun grenades, illuminated the night sky just before midnight but authorities insisted no attempt had yet been made to seize Mohamed Merah, 23, believed to be the "scooter assassin" who murdered seven people in eight days.

Religion and Climate Change Fuel Chaos in Sahel
Bloody conflicts in a band of Africa stretching from Senegal to Somalia are hampering efforts to bring progress to the troubled region. Muslims are increasingly pitted against Christians, and nomads against sedentary farmers. Matters are made worse by climate change and a flood of weapons.

By Horand Knaup
The imam climbs across the wreckage that was once his home. Then he bends over. "These are criminals," he mumbles as he pushes aside a few bricks with his calloused hands. It was the same thing that had already happened so many times since last summer. Shortly before dawn, the residents of Kauda could hear the dull roar of an ancient Antonov airplane belonging to the Sudanese Air Force as it approached the town. Then the bombs fell. One landed right in front of Ismail Alokori's house. The 60-year-old cleric was lucky because the bomb only destroyed his house. A neighbor was hit by shattered wood and lost her leg.

PNG votes for power to oust judges


Jo Chandler March 22, 2012
THE Papua New Guinea parliament voted overwhelmingly yesterday to give itself the power to remove judges from their positions, triggering an outcry from political and legal commentators who say it is a serious assault on the independence of the nation’s embattled judiciary. While the O’Neill government has argued that the Judicial Conduct Bill is required to ensure that judges act fairly and appropriately, the leader of the fledgling two-member opposition, Dame Carol Kidu, condemned it as a "disgraceful and blatant attack on the fundamental principles of our constitutional democracy".

Iran nuclear claims test good faith
Middle East

By Gareth Porter
VIENNA - The first detailed account of negotiations between the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran last month belies earlier statements by unnamed Western officials portraying Iran as refusing to cooperate with the IAEA in allaying concerns about alleged nuclear weaponization work. The account given by Iran's permanent representative to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, shows that the talks in February came close to a final agreement but were hung up primarily over the IAEA insistence on being able to reopen issues even after Iran had answered questions about them to the organizations's satisfaction.

Drug lords targeted by Fast and Furious were FBI informants
Federal agents released alleged gun trafficker Manuel Fabian Celis-Acosta to help them find two Mexican drug lords. But the two were secret FBI informants, emails show.

By Richard A. Serrano, Washington Bureau
Reporting from Washington— When the ATF made alleged gun trafficker Manuel Fabian Celis-Acosta its primary target in the ill-fated Fast and Furious investigation, it hoped he would lead the agency to two associates who were Mexican drug cartel members. The ATF even questioned and released him knowing that he was wanted by the Drug Enforcement Administration. But those two drug lords were secretly serving as informants for the FBI along the Southwest border, newly obtained internal emails show. Had Celis-Acosta simply been held when he was arrested by theBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in May 2010, the investigation that led to the loss of hundreds of illegal guns and may have contributed to the death of a Border Patrol agent could have been closed early.