Six In The Morning

Journalist expelled from China reflects on experience

　Melissa Chan of Walnut is the first accredited foreign correspondent to be barred from China in 14 years. She is not sure what prompted her expulsion.

By Rosanna Xia, Los Angeles Times
After filing 400 stories from China, reporter Melissa Chan never thought she'd wind up in the headlines herself. Chan returned to Southern California last week as the first accredited foreign correspondent to be expelled from China in 14 years, an act that sparked a flurry of news reports and expressions of solidarity from fellow journalists. Chan, who was the sole Al Jazeera English correspondent in China, said she knew she was on shaky ground for most of this year.

Nato killed 72 civilians in Libya air strikes, says Human Rights Watch
Alliance called on to compensate survivors and victims' families and explain attacks on 'military' sites that killed civilians

Reuters in Brussels guardian.co.uk, Monday 14 May 2012 07.12 BST
Nato air strikes killed 72 civilians in Libya last year, Human Rights Watch has said, accusing the western alliance of failing to acknowledge the scope of collateral damage it caused during the campaign that helped to oust Muammar Gaddafi. In a report based on investigations at bombing sites during and after the conflict, the New York-based HRW said Nato strikes killed 20 women and 24 children. It called on the alliance to compensate civilian victims and investigate attacks that may have been unlawful.

Merkel's party humiliated by shock election defeat
German voters reject austerity programme in favour of pro-growth opposition in state poll

Berlin Monday 14 May 2012
Angela Merkel's ruling conservatives suffered a humiliating defeat in key elections in Germany's most populous state yesterday when voters rejected her party's austerity policies and handed a resounding victory to her pro-growth Social Democratic Party opponents. Ms Merkel's Christian Democrats were shell-shocked by the devastating result they returned in the poll in North Rhine Westphalia, which has a total population of 18 million. Exit polls showed that they secured a mere 25.5 per cent of the vote – their worst performance ever in the state.

Stable Africa attracts Middle East money
Flush with cash from oil but stuck with few options for growth in developed markets, Middle East investors are increasingly looking to Africa.

Reuters | 14 May, 2012 00:21
Though the fast-growing continent offers plenty of opportunities, bankers say there are also a raft of problems for Middle East investors, particularly the relatively small size of deals. "We're seeing more interest but I think it's fair to say that we haven't seen a lot of that crystallise into deals so far," said Diana Layfield, Africa chief executive at Britain's Standard Chartered. "The Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds are very interested in Africa. The challenge that they face is that the [amounts] they need to invest are way too large for the continent at the moment," Layfield said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa.

Connected sky: Surfing the web above the clouds
As his plane prepares for take-off at London's Heathrow airport, frequent flyer Matt Hatton knows that in just a few minutes his smartphone will become dead weight.

By Katia Moskvitch Technology reporter, BBC News
Well, almost. No email checking. No Facebook status updates. No YouTube, Spotify, Google search. In short - no internet. Despite a number of airlines now offering in-flight internet, also called onboard wi-fi, far from every plane is equipped with the necessary technology. And even if the connectivity option is there, not many passengers use it. It is rare for the service to be free of charge - often, the costs are sky-high, compared with terrestrial prices.

Massacre in Mexico deepens country's violent image
Forty-nine bodies were dumped on a highway in northern Mexico in the latest example of drug-related violence that is scaring off investors and changing citizens' behavior at home.

By Sara Miller Llana, Staff writer
Forty-nine bodies have been dumped on a highway in northern Mexico – and by the time the world wakes up Monday morning, the harrowing image will have been beamed across the globe. Mexico's drug violence has been a public relations nightmare for President Felipe Calderon. The crime scenes inevitably make world news, scaring off would-be tourists and causing foreign investors to think twice. But imagine being a resident of one of the cities where violence is playing out, with the misfortune to witness the mayhem not on a television set but firsthand.