Six In The Morning

Afghan commanders show new defiance in dealings with Americans

　

By Kevin Sieff
Afghan commanders have refused more than a dozen times within the past two months to act on U.S. intelligence regarding high-level insurgents, arguing that night-time operations to target the men would result in civilian casualties, Afghan officials say. The defiance highlights the shift underway in Afghanistan as Afghan commanders make use of their newfound power to veto operations proposed by their NATO counterparts. For much of the past decade, NATO commanders have dictated most aspects of the allied war strategy, with Afghan military officers playing a far more marginal role. But with the signing of an agreement last month, Afghans have now inherited responsibility for so-called night raids — a crucial feature of the war effort.

Singing in Azerbaijan – but not for democracy
The country is in a fervour as it prepares to host Eurovision – but activists say the party is just a smokescreen for human rights abuses

Baku Saturday 12 May 2012
It does not take long to notice that Azerbaijan is hosting the Eurovision Song Contest. Baku Airport is emblazoned with advertisements for the competition, which will take place a fortnight from now, as is almost every taxi and bus in the city, along with many of its buildings. The gleaming, 25,000-seat concert hall, built especially for the contest, has been completed on time and was opened by the President himself last week, and hardly a day goes by without breathless items on the evening news extolling the upcoming event.

China's economic miracle a mirage for workers in unsafe coalmines
Corruption is allowing a small army of the desperate to be exploited.

Philip Wen He Hua emerges from his makeshift mine shaft, every inch of his body as black as the haul of coal he lugs behind him. Having woken before dawn, he has hiked nearly two hours through mountainous terrain to get to the coalface where his daily grind begins. Like many of the illegal coalmines that are scattered across the country, these operations in Zhaoyang - officially one of the poorest districts in China - are unregulated and run by unscrupulous bosses who pay a pittance for the coal a small army of desperate miners scrapes together, usually in appalling safety conditions.May 12, 2012

Kenyan ranches relocating rhinos in fear of poachers
Claus Mortensen is a private Kenyan rancher with a passion -- endangered rhinos -- and now a mission: to save his herd from slaughter by ruthless poachers who sell their horns to Asia, where they are prized as a miracle drug.

Sapa-AFP
But costs are spiralling for Mortensen and other ranchers as they battle to keep one step ahead of the hunters and guarantee the survival of rhinos, and elephants, on their expansive, remote reserves. "Seeing a dead rhino is terrible," said Mortensen, who runs Mugie ranch, around 300 kilometres (186 miles) north of the Kenyan capital Nairobi. "Mugie is located in such a remote corner that to secure it we need many more helicopters and airplanes," he said.

Ecuador seeks answer to riddle of Inca emperor's tomb
The mystery surrounding the tomb of the last Inca emperor - and its reputed treasure - might be closer to being solved.

By Irene Caselli Malqui-Machay, Ecuador
If Ecuadorean historian Tamara Estupinan is right, Emperor Atahualpa's mummified body was kept in the lush, hilly lowlands, a six-hour drive south-west of Ecuador's capital city, Quito. While it is still too early to confirm Ms Estupinan's theory, this discovery could shed light on a tumultuous historical period that marked the beginning of the Spanish colonial era in the Americas. At its height, in the early 1500s, the Inca empire covered most of the Andes, from southern Colombia to central Chile as well as some parts of Argentina.

US partially resumes arms sales to Bahrain
Deal paused in 2011 amid protests partly resumes with material for "external defence" after visit from crown prince.

Last Modified: 12 May 2012
The administration of US President Barack Obama has said it will resume some arms shipments to Bahrain after most were suspended last year during a government crackdown on political dissent. The State Department said on Friday the administration still has human rights concerns about its strategic Gulf ally and will work with the government to improve the situation but that equipment for Bahrain's "external defence" would be released because it is in US national interests. Bahrain hosts the US navy's 5th Fleet. "Bahrain is an important security partner and ally in a region facing enormous challenges,'' State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.