Six In The Morning

Is China's crackdown on foreigners about crime or illegal immigration?

　

By Ed Flanagan, NBC News
BEIJING – China has launched a 100-day crackdown against illegal immigration and illegal employment in the wake of a high-profile sexual assault case involving a British national who was videotaped allegedly attempting to force himself on a Chinese woman. The disturbing three-minute video surfaced on the Internet last week and has been viewed more than 8 million times on the Chinese video-sharing website youku.com, provoking outrage across China’s web-sphere.

US census shows majority of babies now from ethnic minorities
Census reflects significant changes in America's racial makeup as immigration slows as result of weakening economy

Associated Press in Washington guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 May 2012 08.38 BST
Racial and ethnic minorities make up more than half the children born in the US for the first time, capping decades of immigration growth that is now slowing. The 2011 census estimates highlight sweeping changes in America's racial makeup and the prolonged impact of a weak economy, which is resulting in fewer Hispanics entering the country. "This is an important landmark," said Roderick Harrison, a former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau who is a sociologist at Howard University. "This generation is growing up much more accustomed to diversity than its elders."

'Vulture funds' circle as Greece fears grow
As Greeks rush to withdraw savings, bailout fund pays US tax exile €400m

Stephen Foley Author Biography , Athens Thursday 17 May 2012
An American tax exile living in the Cayman Islands has emerged as a winner from the chaos engulfing Greece, even as the political and economic turmoil in the beleaguered nation deepened yesterday, with Athens putting a senior judge in charge of an emergency government to lead it to fresh elections. Kenneth Dart, the Michigan-born heir to a disposable cups fortune, was handed an estimated €400m (£320m) cheque from Greece this week, after successfully calling the country's bluff and refusing to take part in the restructuring of government debt that saved Greece from default in the spring.

Liberia's Taylor claims conspiracy in war crimes trial
Liberian warlord Charles Taylor has accused UN prosecutors of paying witnesses to testify against him as he addressed a war crimes court in The Hague.

reuters
Taylor (64) was found guilty by the UN-backed court last month of aiding and abetting war crimes in Sierra Leone. “Witnesses were paid, coerced and in many cases threatened with prosecution if they did not give statements,” the former Liberian president told the Special Court for Sierra Leone ahead of his sentencing on May 30. Dressed in a light grey suit, white shirt and blue tie, Taylor spoke for 30 minutes from the witness box – his last chance to state his case before judges pronounce a sentence.

Why ceasefires fail in Myanmar
Southeast Asia

By Francis Wade
CHIANG MAI - In northern Myanmar, government troops continue to push into the heartland of the ethnic Kachin armed opposition. Next month, the renewed conflict will mark its first birthday, and while protracted fighting has eased in other areas of the ethnically diverse country, the battle for Kachin State rages on. The limited gains made by government negotiators with at least six ethnic rebel groups over the past year make the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) something of an anomaly. Lower House member of parliament Aung Thaung, whose hawkish persona was seen as ripe for the recalcitrant group, was recently retired from his post as peace broker. More than five high-level meetings with Kachin officials failed to net a result, and as additional battalions are deployed to the frontline, the prospect of a ceasefire anytime soon seems unlikely.

Child drug traffickers: What can be done?
Between 5,000 and 14,000 children are recruited as soldiers in Colombia, writes a guest blogger, and the recruitment of minors by gangs is increasingly a problem across Latin America.

By Edward Fox, Guest blogger
A report on child recruitment by Colombia's criminal groups draws attention to the prevalence of the tactic across the region, as gangs exploit a low-cost, low-risk, and highly expendable source of manpower. The report by Watchlist on Children in Armed Conflict, entitled "No One to Trust: Children and Armed Conflict in Colombia," is the result of two field studies conducted in 2011. Its findings paint a grim picture of minors entangled in an endless web of violence, helping to fuel it in some cases as they are forced or manipulated into becoming participants.