Six In The Morning

US braces for Mexican shift in drug war focus

　Front-runner in race for presidency suggests that Mexico should not 'subordinate to the strategies of other countries'

By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD and DAMIEN CAVE
The top three contenders for Mexico’s presidency have all promised a major shift in the country’s drug war strategy, placing a higher priority on reducing the violence in Mexico than on using arrests and seizures to block the flow of drugs to the United States. The candidates, while vowing to continue to fight drug trafficking, say they intend to eventually withdraw the Mexican Army from the drug fight. They are concerned that it has proved unfit for police work and has contributed to the high death toll, which has exceeded 50,000 since the departing president, Felipe Calderón, made the military a cornerstone of his battle against drug traffickers more than five years ago.

Israel calls for action as Syrian military shells Homs again
Hague says nothing has been ruled out, but Israeli leader calls for intervention now to halt the massacres

Monday 11 June 2012
Syrian government forces resumed their lethal assault on the province of Homs yesterday, activists said, as Israel launched its strongest verbal attack yet on Bashar al-Assad's regime with an explicit call for military action against its neighbour. Opposition activists said 38 people had died since Saturday as the regime attempted to regain control of rebel strongholds in Homs. They said Damascus had sent reinforcements to the mountainous area of Haffa, near the coastal city of Latakia, where heavy fighting has reportedly raged since Tuesday.

Schäuble insists funds given to state, not to banks
The Irish Times - Monday, June 11, 2012

DEREK SCALLY in Berlin
GERMAN FINANCE minister Wolfgang Schäuble has insisted the Spanish state carries ultimate responsibility for ensuring the bailout of its banks is repaid. Germany was happy to see Spain ready to apply for a bailout for its finance sector, but Mr Schäuble reiterated Berlin’s insistence that funding would not pass directly to the banks in question but through Madrid – ensuring a state guarantee on aid. News that Europe is soon to have a fourth bailout country comes amid reports that European Union officials will push for euro zone leaders to accept peer review of all future borrowing at this month’s EU summit.

Burma unrest raises fears that religious tension could spread


Daniel Flitton June 11, 2012
THE US has expressed deep concerns over violence in a disputed Burmese province that has flared just days after Australia moved to lift financial sanctions on the country. Clashes in the western Rakhine state have reportedly left seven dead, with security forces firing on rioters who burnt hundreds of homes after tensions erupted between Buddhist and Muslim residents. State-controlled media yesterday claimed the region was calm after the army deployed troops to help police in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships stop the rampaging mobs.

Cote d'Ivoire recruits child soldiers from Liberia
Cote d'Ivoire's mercenaries have trained "small boys units" loyal to former president Laurent Gbagbo to launch attacks across Liberia's border.

11 Jun 2012 06:32 - Guardian Reporter
Militias loyal to Gbagbo are recruiting child soldiers in Liberia to launch attacks similar to that which caused the death last week of 15 people, including seven UN peacekeepers. Child soldiers as young as 14 are being groomed in training camps and used as scouts in increasingly deadly attacks in the volatile west of Côte d’Ivoire, witnesses said. Human Rights Watch said that youths aged between 14 to 17 were being trained. “They call us ‘small boys unit’, and we are always safe when we go to the war zones in Côte d’Ivoire. I don’t know the total that we have killed,” a child soldier told the campaigning group.

Osprey a new tinderbox on Okinawa
Japan

By Kosuke Takahashi
On May 23, 1988, in Arlington, Texas, Bell Helicopter unveiled with much fanfare a new combo-aircraft; a fixed-wing plane that could climb and hover like a helicopter, but also rotate its giant propellers forward and fly like an airplane. On that day, Peter Van Sant, then correspondent for CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, reported that the never-seen-before plane was a "a revolutionary new aircraft" that was the latest "future shock". He expected the plane would carry commuters to Washington or Boston from downtown Manhattan, as it could take off and land in downtown business districts, reducing travel times. It was called the V-22.