Six In The Morning

Europe focus of global May Day labour protests

Labour demonstrations marking May Day are taking place across the world, with the main focus on Europe and its backdrop of unpopular austerity measures and rising social unrest.　

The BBC 1 May 2012
Greece, Spain and Portugal are set to hold large nationwide demonstrations. At a Paris rally, National Front leader Marine Le Pen is expected to tell her supporters who they should vote for in Sunday's presidential run-off vote. The Occupy protest movement has urged May Day action spanning the globe. 'Real work' Anti-austerity protesters will take part in a day of strikes and demonstrations across Greece.

Palestinian TV station sued as journalists fear media crackdown
Websites have been closed and Wattan TV is facing court after it investigated alleged corruption linked to the Palestinian Authority

Harriet Sherwood in Ramallah guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 May 2012 09.23 BST
An independent Palestinian television station is facing a potentially crippling court case next week amid growing evidence of a clampdown by the Palestinian Authority on freedom of expression and journalists critical of its activities. Wattan TV is being sued for $1m (£600,000) over an investigation into alleged corruption at a Palestinian university. It claimed that the son of a senior PA official was offered a place at the university despite having failed to meet academic requirements. The station, which says it has evidence to support its allegations, fears that some of its executives could face prison sentences and that freedom of speech in the Palestinian territories will be curtailed.

One year after death of Osama bin Laden, What next for al-Qa'ida?
The network Bin Laden led may be fragmented – but it has not been eliminated. In the first of two special reports, Patrick Cockburn analyses the power it can still wield across the world

Patrick Cockburn Tuesday 01 May 2012
A year after Osama bin Laden was killed, how relevant is al-Qa'ida? In the decade since 9/11 Bin Laden was always a symbol rather than an operational commander. His death did not do much to disrupt the group as an organisation. Occasional recordings of his voice that surfaced over the years contained no new ideas and were primarily a way for al-Qa'ida to show that he was still alive. In death such a symbolic but inactive leader can exercise as much influence as when he lived, so his killing by US commandos has not inflicted fatal damage to his organisation. Yet his death was very important, less because of its impact on al-Qa'ida than because of Bin Laden's unique position in American demonology after 9/11. It is difficult to think of anybody else in US history with the same Satanic status.

Tech Pioneers Track Bodily Functions Day and Night
Using smartphone apps and sensors, high tech pioneers are monitor their own bodily functions such as heart rates, sleep patterns and blood. The 'self trackers' dream of a digitalized medicine that will enable people to lead healthier lives by getting around-the-clock updates on what is happening inside their bodies.

By Philip Bethge
Larry Smarr's large intestine appears to float in the middle of the rohttp://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,829454,00.htmlom, nestled like a stuffed sausage between his other virtual organs. Smarr, a computer science professor, adjusts the dark-tinted 3D glasses perched on his nose and picks up an electronic pointer. "And this is where the wall of my colon is inflamed," he says, pointing out a spot where the intestinal walls are indeed noticeably swollen. A supercomputer combined MRI images of the 63-year-old professor to create the three-dimensional illusion now projected on the wall. It gives the impression that the viewer could go for a stroll inside the researcher's abdomen.

Guinea-Bissau hit with Ecowas sanctions


PAP SAINE BANJUL, GAMBIA
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) said on Monday it had imposed sanctions on Guinea-Bissau after talks with the ruling junta aimed at restoring constitutional order after a coup broke down. Guinea-Bissau has been run by soldiers since the April 12 coup, which derailed presidential elections and set back Western efforts to combat drugs cartels using the tiny country as a transit hub for cocaine bound for Europe.

Sri Lankan monks join rampaging mob


By Sudha Ramachandran
BANGALORE - Sri Lanka's Muslim community is insecure and angry. A mosque in the central town of Dambulla was attacked with petrol bombs and vandalized around 10 days ago by a mob led by radical Buddhist monks. To add insult to injury, the government has bowed to the mob's demand and ordered the mosque's demolition and relocation. Muslims say the mosque is about 60 years old. The monks insist it was built after 1982 when the government declared the area to be a "Buddhist sacred area". They allege that the mosque is an "illegal structure".