Six In The Morning

Japan will intercept N Korean rocket if necessary

Japan says it will shoot down a North Korean rocket if necessary, as new satellite images appeared to show preparations for the launch next month.

The BBC 30 March 2012
Defence Minister Naoki Tanaka issued the order to intercept the rocket if it threatened Japan's territory. Pyongyang says it will launch a satellite on a rocket between 12-16 April. Satellite images taken on Wednesday indicate that work at the launch site is under way, says a US university. Mr Tanaka had issued an earlier order on Tuesday to the country's defence forces to prepare ''destruction measures against ballistic missiles''.

Aung San Suu Kyi: Burma vote is neither free nor fair
Opposition candidates have been targeted in stone-throwing incidents and other intimidation, says Nobel peace laureate

Associated Press in Rangoon guardian.co.uk, Friday 30 March 2012 07.27 BST
Aung San Suu Kyi has said Burma's weekend elections will be neither free nor fair because of widespread irregularities, but vowed to press forward with her candidacy for the sake of the country. She said opposition candidates had been targeted in stone-throwing incidents and other intimidation that had hampered their campaigning in the runup to Sunday's byelections, which are considered a crucial test of Burma's commitment to democratic reforms. The 66-year-old Nobel peace laureate told a news conference that the irregularities went "beyond what is acceptable for democratic elections".

Spain on edge of becoming next bailout candidate


Ralf Bosen
Spain is shut down by a general strike as people's patience about austerity cuts, towering unemployment and tougher labor laws wears thin. But the country needs to save even more money to stave off bankruptcy. Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is expected to unveil about 35 billion euros ($40 billion) in spending cuts and tax hikes Friday, as he presents his 2012 budget, primarily aimed at slashing a huge 8.5 percent deficit. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Rajoy has to make big cuts if he is to meet EU targets Rajoy said that government expenditure would be "thinned out" to make progress towards a European Union demand that the budget deficit be reduced to just 3 percent by 2013.

A new chapter for Senegal


JEDI RAMALAPA DAKAR, SENEGAL - Mar 30 2012 00:00
Senegal's incoming president, Macky Sall, will be remembered as a man of firsts in the West African country's political history. He is the first presidential candidate to campaign for the presidency and win the first time around. His predecessor and mentor, out­going President Abdoulaye Wade, ran for office four times before he could claim his seat in the presidential palace -- the Palais de la République.

War porn: The new safe sex
(This is the much-abridged version of a conference at the XII Seminar of Political Solidarity at the University of Zaragoza, Spain, March 27, 2012.)

By Pepe Escobar
The early 21st century is addicted to war porn, a prime spectator sport consumed by global couch and digital potatoes. War porn took the limelight on the evening of September 11, 2001, when the George W Bush administration launched the "war on terror" - which was interpreted by many of its practitioners as a subtle legitimization of United States state terror against, predominantly, Muslims. This was also a war OF terror - as in a manifestation of state terror pitting urban high-tech might against basically rural, low-tech cunning. The US did not exercise this monopoly; Beijing practiced it in Xinjiang, its far west, and Russia practiced it in Chechnya.

Chavez leading rival in run-up to Venezuela elections
The president of Venezuela has a double-digit lead over opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.

By Fabiola Sanchez, The Associated Press
President Hugo Chavez has a double-digit lead over the opposition's presidential candidate, but a quarter of Venezuelan voters haven't committed to either candidate, a poll said Thursday. The survey released by the Caracas polling firm Datanalisis said nearly 45 percent of those polled said they would vote for Chavez, while 31 percent supported Miranda state Gov. Henrique Capriles. About 25 percent were undecided. "Those undecided ones are going to indicate the trend in the future," said Luis Vicente Leon, the polling firm's president.