Six In The Morning

Mexico's old guard claim presidential win

　 Party that ruled for past century has clear lead in vote count

REUTERS
MEXICO CITY — The party that ruled Mexico for most of the 20th century claimed victory in a presidential election on Sunday as a senior election official said the party's candidate, Enrique Pena Nieto, held an irreversible lead over his rivals. President Felipe Calderon congratulated him on his win. Pena Nieto, on track to return his once long-dominant opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to power, had between 37.9 and 38.55 percent of the vote, ahead of second-placed leftist challenger Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who had between 30.9 and 31.86 percent of the vote.

Apple pays $60m to settle iPad dispute in China
Conclusion of dispute with Proview means that leading tablet maker can legally begin selling under iPad trademark in its second-biggest market

Charles Arthur and agencies guardian.co.uk, Monday 2 July 2012 06.23 BST
Apple has paid $60m (£38.2m) to settle a dispute in China over ownership of the iPad name, a court there announced on Monday, removing a key obstacle to sales of its tablet computer in the enormous Chinese market. Apple's long-running dispute with Shenzhen Proview Technology, which had claimed to own the name, highlighted the possible pitfalls for global companies in China's young trademark system. But it also posed a challenge for the communist government, which wants to attract technology investors to develop China's economy. Apple said it bought the global rights to the "iPad" name from Proview in 2009, but Chinese authorities said the rights in China were never transferred.

UN talks could finally rein in lawless trade in killing


Monday 02 July 2012
At first glance they look like any other bullet. A 54mm slither of brass built for one purpose – to kill another human being. But bullets tell a story. The markings around the circular primer at the base of the casings reveal they were manufactured in Iran – a country supposedly under an international arms embargo. Since 2010, these cartridges have flooded into west and central Africa.

PNG poll tension erupts into killing


Hamish McDonald, Wewak, Papua New Guinea July 2, 2012
SEVERAL people have reportedly been hacked to death in an ambush near a polling station as Papua New Guinea lurches into the second week of its troubled national elections. The attack took place late on Thursday near the Murusapa polling station inland from the northern coastal city of Madang, with supporters of one candidate attacking scrutineers of another candidate with bush knives (parangs) while bystanders fled. The exact death toll was unclear last night but reports said between three to six people may have been killed.

Destruction of Timbuktu shrines 'a war crime'
Rebels in Mali have smashed seven tombs of ancient Muslim saints in Timbuktu as the ICC warned their campaign of destruction was a war crime.

02 Jul 2012 07:27 - AFP
The hardline al-Qaeda-linked fighters who seized control of Timbuktu along with the rest of northern Mali three months ago, consider the shrines to be idolatrous and have wrecked seven tombs in two days. Mali's government and the international community have expressed horror and outrage at the destruction of cultural treasures in the fabled city, an ancient desert crossroads and centre of learning known as the "City of 333 Saints". "My message to those involved in these criminal acts is clear: stop the destruction of the religious buildings now," International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in Dakar. "This is a war crime which my office has authority to fully investigate."

One country, two (failed) systems
THE ROVING EYE

By Pepe Escobar
HONG KONG - It wasn't supposed to be like this. They won't see it on CCTV in the motherland - it won't be reported anyway. At least 400,000 Hongkongers, snaking all over Central in absolutely sweltering heat, from early afternoon until deep into the night, and from all walks of life (tycoons excluded), all of them expressing their anger at Hong Kong's new CEO, pro-Beijing property developer Leung Chun-ying; the notion of "one country, two systems"; their impossibility to actually vote; and last but not least, motherland China. Definitely this is not what Little Helmsman Deng Xiaoping envisaged - as Hong Kong celebrated the 15th anniversary of the handover; 400,000 people, in a city of 7 million, is immense.