Six In The Morning

Secret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will

　

By JO BECKER and SCOTT SHANE Published: May 29, 2012
This was the enemy, served up in the latest chart from the intelligence agencies: 15 Qaeda suspects in Yemen with Western ties. The mug shots and brief biographies resembled a high school yearbook layout. Several were Americans. Two were teenagers, including a girl who looked even younger than her 17 years. President Obama, overseeing the regular Tuesday counterterrorism meeting of two dozen security officials in the White House Situation Room, took a moment to study the faces. It was Jan. 19, 2010, the end of a first year in office punctuated by terrorist plots and culminating in a brush with catastrophe over Detroit on Christmas Day, a reminder that a successful attack could derail his presidency. Yet he faced adversaries without uniforms, often indistinguishable from the civilians around them.

Fukushima inquiry: I felt helpless, says former PM
Naoto Kan urges Japan to abandon nuclear power, as the industry attempts to bring closed reactors back into operation

Justin McCurry in Tokyo guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 May 2012 08.13 BST
Japan's prime minister at the height of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis has admitted he often felt "helpless" during the early days of the disaster, adding that the facility's triple meltdown had brought the country close to "national collapse". Speaking at a parliamentary inquiry into the handling of the incident on Monday, Naoto Kan urged Japan to abandon nuclear power, as the industry attempts to bring closed reactors back into operation. Kan, who resigned last September amid criticism of his handling of the crisis, has become one of Japan's most vocal opponents of nuclear power.

The West is horrified by children's slaughter now. Soon we'll forget
The Algerian FLN regime got away with it, after 200,000 dead – compared to the mere 10,000 killed so far in Syria's war

Robert Fisk Tuesday 29 May 2012
Bashar al-Assad will get away with it. He got away with Deraa. He got away with Homs. And he'll get away with Houla. So will the armed opposition to the regime, along with al-Qa'ida and any other outfits joining in Syria's tragedy. Yes, this may be the critical moment, the "tipping point" of horror, when Baathist collapse becomes inevitable rather than probable. And dear Mr Hague may be "absolutely" appalled. The UN, too. We all are. But the Middle East is littered with a hundred Houlas, their dead children piled among the statistics, with knives and ropes as well as guns among the murder weapons. And what if Assad's soldiers let their Alawite militia do their dirty work?

Grand designs of Georgia's president not welcomed by all
The Irish Times - Tuesday, May 29, 2012

DANIEL McLAUGHLIN
Luxury hotels, sleek public buildings and plans for a new city: is Georgia’s president building a foundation for the future or is this the work of a megalomanic? THE GRANDFATHER clock in the parlour is English, but the piano is French, like the fine porcelain that sits on the dining table between glinting Russian cutlery. The Chavchavadze family brought the best of Europe, east and west, to their Italianate villa in Georgia, and made it an oasis for cultured society in the shadow of the wild Caucasus.

'Fundamentalists Can't Take a Joke'
Iranian rapper Shahin Najafi has been in hiding in Germany since a fatwa was pronounced against him three weeks ago. In an interview with SPIEGEL, he discusses the fear Iranian leaders have of young people and his conviction that change will come to his country sooner or later.

SPIEGEL,
SPIEGEL: Mr. Najafi, you've been hiding for nearly three weeks now. What's your everyday life like? Najafi: I read, I write, I have my guitar with me. I'm trying not to think about the threat. SPIEGEL: Does anyone visit you? Najafi: No, nobody. Only my manager and Mr. Wallraff. SPIEGEL: You are married here in Germany. How is your family dealing with the situation? Najafi: It's difficult; I'd rather not say anything more about it. SPIEGEL: Are you in contact with your family in Iran? Najafi: I'm in contact with a few friends. They haven't had any problems so far. My mother knows what has happened. She's very old.

UN, Africa Development Bank back youth wage subsidy
As SA grapples with the idea of a youth subsidy, an international report has recommended providing firms with such incentives to hire young people.

29 May 2012 08:08 - Lynley Donnelly
But these must be designed to avoid negative side effects and the displacement of workers, according to the African Economic Outlook 2012 report. Unemployment rates among young South Africans has soared to double the national average, hitting 50.5% in 2010, according to the report. The problem is prevalent across the continent, where unemployment rates among people aged 15 to 24 are hitting all-time highs. Young people make up 60% of Africa’s unemployed adults.