Six In The Morning

Ratko Mladic war crimes trial begins at The Hague

Serbian commander charged over worst atrocities in Europe since the Nazi era, 17 years after Bosnian war ended

• Julian Borger in The Hague
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 May 2012 08.23 BST

Ratko Mladic, the former Serbian military commander during the Bosnian war, goes on trial this morning for crimes against humanity committed during the conflict, 17 years after it came to an end.

The prosecution will open the long-awaited trial in The Hague with an opening statement listing 11 charges including two counts of genocide, extermination, murder inhumane acts, and deportation – the worst atrocities Europe has seen since the Nazi era. More than 100,000 people died, mostly Muslim and Croatian civilians.

Ninth largest economy in world resorts to austerity

California, America's 'golden state', is slashing spending to avoid a Greek-style default

GUY ADAMS 

 

LOS ANGELES

 

WEDNESDAY 16 MAY 2012

Taking a deep breath, California's most powerful man strode to a lectern and unveiled the fiscal policy that he hopes will keep America's most populous state from falling into bankruptcy.

"You name it," he declared, "and we've got to cut it!"

It wasn't the most nuanced announcement. But this is no time for subtlety. After years watching his state fall deeper and deeper into the red, Governor Jerry Brown used a gloomy Monday night press conference to unveil what aides described as the ultimate in austerity budgets.

Profiting from Power?The Dubious Business of the Yanukovych Clan

By Benjamin Bidder in Kiev

When President Viktor Yanukovych assumed Ukraine's top office, he pledged to battle corruption. Now Ukrainians suspect he is abusing his position to profit himself, family and friends. They operate a network of successful firms, while the purchase of his luxury residence has been skillfully obfuscated.

 Back in the days when Viktor Yanukovych was still seen as a figure for hope by many in Germany and Yulia Tymoshenko was still free, the President of Ukraine was more positive about Germany than he is now.

In late August 2010, Yanukovych traveled to Berlin, just six months after his election win that ended the Orange Revolution heroes' stint in power. At the time, it was secretly hoped that the man who had tried to assume power via electoral fraud in 2004 would end the chaos that the quarreling orange camp had unleashed on the country. He was expected to implement reforms and attract investors.

Strong growth hasn't ended Africa's food crisis, says UN

 Sub-Saharan Africa posts economic growth rates higher than the worldwide average but has the planet's greatest food security problems, the UN says.

“Impressive GDP growth rates in Africa have not translated into the elimination of hunger and malnutrition,” Helen Clark, administrator at the United Nations Development Programme said in a statement at the release of the report on Tuesday..

“Between 2004 and 2008 African economies grew an average of 6.5% a year, only slowing to 2.7% in 2009 in the wake of the global financial and economic crisis,” the report read.

“Sub-Saharan Africa rebounded in 2010, regaining its high growth rates (5.4% in 2010 and 5.2% in 2011),” it added, noting that African economies are likely to grow at a rate of more than 5% in 2012.

In terms of economic growth this has been “the second fastest region after developing Asia for a couple of years”, Sebastian Levine, a policy adviser at UNDP’s regional bureau for Africa told reporters.

India dumps Iran, squeezes Obama

By M K Bhadrakumar 

The cloud cover of sophistry that has been characteristic of India's Iran policy in recent years lifted on Tuesday when the government admitted in parliament that it had taken a policy decision to reduce oil imports from Iran. 

The frank admission came on a day when an emissary from Washington, Carlos Pascual, special envoy on energy matters in the United States State Department, arrived with the proclaimed intention of weaning New Delhi away from Tehran's fuel. 

The Barack Obama administration will be delighted that the sustained diplomatic and political pressure on India is finally bearing fruit. Tehran, on the other hand, will view this as the unkindest cut of all the blows that New Delhi has inflicted on it over the past five year. Meanwhile, a protagonist lurking in the shade is all excited - Saudi Arabia. 

US-led imperative in peril as trained Afghans turn enemy

This year, 22 coalition service members have been killed by men in uniform

By MATTHEW ROSENBERG

A burst of gunfire snapped First Sgt. Joseph Hissong awake. Then came another, and another, all with the familiar three-round bursts of an American assault rifle — and the unfamiliar sound of its rounds being fired in his direction.

The shooters were close. His first thought: “Are Taliban inside the wire?”

But it was not the Taliban. Over the next 52 minutes, as his company of paratroopers braved bullets and rocket-propelled grenades in the predawn darkness to retake one of their own guard towers in southern Afghanistan, they found themselves facing what has become a more pernicious threat: the Afghan soldiers who live and fight alongside the Americans.