Six In The Morning

Robert Fisk: The Children of Fallujah - Sayef's story 

 

Special Report day one: The phosphorus shells that devastated this city were fired in 2004. But are the victims of America's dirty war still being born?

 

Fallujah

Wednesday 25 April 2012 

 

For little Sayef, there will be no Arab Spring. He lies, just 14 months old, on a small red blanket cushioned by a cheap mattress on the floor, occasionally crying, his head twice the size it should be, blind and paralysed. Sayeffedin Abdulaziz Mohamed – his full name – has a kind face in his outsized head and they say he smiles when other children visit and when Iraqi families and neighbours come into the room.

But he will never know the history of the world around him, never enjoy the freedoms of a new Middle East. He can move only his hands and take only bottled milk because he cannot swallow. He is already almost too heavy for his father to carry. He lives in a prison whose doors will remain forever closed.

Merkel feels domino effect of anti-austerity sentiment

Nicholas Kulish

April 25, 2012

 

 With political allies weakened or ousted, Angela Merkel's seat at the head of the European table has become much less comfortable, as a reckoning with Germany's insistence on lock-step austerity appears to have begun. ''The formula is not working, and everyone is now talking about whether austerity is the only solution,'' Jordi Vaquer i Fanes, a political scientist and director of the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs in Spain, said.
''Does this mean that Merkel has lost completely? No. But it does mean that the very nature of the debate about the eurozone crisis is changing.

 

 

UN ponders next step in Sudan conflict

MICHELLE NICHOLS NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - Apr 25 2012 09:13

 The UN Security Council demanded on Tuesday that Sudan immediately stop airstrikes on South Sudan and will consider in the coming days what further steps to take to stop clashes between the East African neighbours spiralling into war.

Senior UN officials told the 15-nation body that aerial bombing of South Sudan's Unity State on Monday night had killed 16 civilians, injured several dozen and caused significant damage to infrastructure.

The Sudanese army has denied carrying out air strikes.

 

 

 Taiwan chooses to shoot blanks

 

 By Jens Kastner

  Roughly concurring with the mediagenic naval maneuvers jointly being held by China and Russia in the West Pacific and the United States-Philippine Balikatan drills in the South China Sea, the Taiwanese military conducted its annual Han Kuang exercises.

However, although close to a quarter of a million military personnel and all of the island's weaponry systems were involved, not a single bullet was fired, with the sounds of shooting aired by loud speakers.

The Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) government under Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou came up with a startling explanation: live-fire drills were excluded in order to reduce carbon emissions. While the Chinese side is certain to appreciate Ma's

 eco-friendly attitude of late, not everybody on the island buys the green spin. 

 

 

Argentina's move to nationalize oil firm YPF highlights Spain's decline

 

Spain used to be one of the most powerful economic forces in Latin America, but now it's struggling to punish Argentina for nationalizing a Spanish-owned oil producer.

 By Andrés Cala, Correspondent

 Spanish and European leaders directed fresh threats towards Argentina yesterday over the nationalization of Spanish-controlled oil producer YPF. But in a clear sign of Spain’s withering might in South America, their threats increasingly sound like pleas. Years of economic decline have diminished Spain’s regional sway and there seems little Spain can do.

 Last week the Argentina's President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner moved to nationalize YPF, expropriating 51 percent of the company controlled by Spanish company Repsol. YPF is Argentina’s biggest oil company and Ms. Kirchner accused Repsol of failing to invest properly in increasing oil production, which contributed to Argentina becoming a net oil importer in 2008. Repsol, like other foreign companies, has said regulations limit profits, and by extension how much it can investment.

 

China wary as US, Philippines stage war games

By Reuters

 

ULUGAN BAY, Philippines - Hundreds of American and Philippine troops waded ashore on Wednesday in a mock assault to retake a small island in energy-rich waters disputed with China, a drill Beijing had said would raise the risk of armed conflict.
The exercises, part of annual U.S.-Philippine war games on the western island of Palawan, coincide with another standoff between Chinese and Philippine vessels near Scarborough Shoal in a different part of the South China Sea.
China has territorial disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan across the South China Sea, each searching for gas and oil while building up their navies and military alliances.