Six In The Moring

Syria rebels give government truce ceasefire deadline

　The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) has given the government of President Bashar al-Assad a 48-hour deadline to observe a UN ceasefire plan.

The BBC 31 May 2012
The FSA's Colonel Qassim Saadeddine said if there was no response by Friday lunchtime the FSA would consider itself "no longer bound by the.. peace plan". The plan calls on government forces to withdraw to barracks. On Wednesday, UN observers confirmed the discovery of 13 shooting victims near the city of Deir el-Zour. Col Saadeddine said in a video published online that the government must "implement an immediate ceasefire, withdraw its troops, tanks and artillery from Syrian cities and villages".

Tens of thousands flee 'extreme violence' in Congo
Aid workers say more than 100,000 people in North Kivu have fled mass executions, mutilations and rapes by armed militias

Simon Tisdall guardian.co.uk, Thursday 31 May 2012 07.34 BST
Villagers and townspeople in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are facing "extreme violence" with atrocities including mass executions, abductions, mutilations and rapes being committed almost daily, according to aid workers in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. Fighting between the government army, the FARDC, and a group of mutineers led by a fugitive UN war crimes indictee, Bosco Ntaganda, has escalated since April. Armed militias including the notorious FDLR, a Rwandan rebel group based in Congo, have joined the fray in a multi-fronted battle for territory, money and power. But the violence has received relatively little international attention so far.

Markets in spin as anti-bailout party rises in Greek polls and Spanish borrowing costs soa
Madrid government forced to deny plan to bail out troubled bank with state cash

Madrid Thursday 31 May 2012
A day after markets in Europe were calmed on news that Greece's pro-bailout New Democracy party appeared to be pulling clear in the polls ahead of next month's crunch general election, new polls yesterday threw the situation back into doubt after suggesting the vote was back on a knife-edge. Three new polls painted a confusing picture of what might happen in Greece, ahead of next month's election, which may decide whether or not Greece remains in the euro.

Firefighters tell of Doha mall horror


May 31, 2012 - 4:14AM
Firefighters in Qatar have told of how they tried to rescue 13 children trapped by a blaze in a shopping mall nursery but found most already dead, huddled in the arms of two fellow firemen who died in the rescue bid. All 19 people killed in the inferno at Doha's Villagio mall on Monday were foreigners, including the two firefighters as well as 13 children and four teachers. The authorities have ordered that the mall's owner and four of its senior staff be arrested, reports said. Advertisement: Story continues below As smoke and flames engulfed the nursery, two of the four teachers sent farewell text messages and made their final calls to family letting them know they would not be coming home.

Business before rights in Southeast Asia


By Roberto Tofani
Impressive economic growth, democratic opening in Myanmar and prolonged financial crises in the West have renewed United States and European Union (EU) interest in Southeast Asia after a decade of relative neglect. But will Washington and Brussels sacrifice their long-standing advocacy of democracy and human rights on the altar of new economic and strategic interests? The increasing geopolitical relevance of the South China Sea, where China has competing and contentious territorial claims with Southeast Asian neighbors, has helped to drive the US's declared strategic "pivot" towards Asia. Many analysts view that strategic shift as an attempt to counterbalance China's rising regional influence by courting and defending its Southeast Asian neighbors.

French journalist released by FARC says captors were respectful
Romeo Langlois, who was captured by FARC 33 days ago and released today, criticized the rebels for using his release as propaganda, but also empathized with their plight.

By Fernando Vergara and Frank Bajak, The Associated Press
A French journalist freed by leftist rebels Wednesday said he had no complaints about his captivity other than its 33-day duration and lamented that Colombia's war is an "invisible conflict" where the poor kill the poor. Romeo Langlois said he was not embittered, but he criticized the rebels for using his capture for propaganda purposes. They freed him on their movement's 48th anniversary on a specially built stage, hanging pro-peace banners in this remote southern hamlet and organizing a barbecue. But the rebels and the roughly 2,000 people they convened for the handover to a humanitarian commission coordinated by the International Red Cross applauded vigorously when Langlois said he appreciated how the guerrillas "live in the mud and risk their lives."