Six In The Morning

Libya election: Historic vote amid tensions

　 Libyans are voting in their first free election for more than 50 years.

The BBC
They are selecting a temporary assembly which will have the task of picking a cabinet and a prime minister. But the vote has been overshadowed by violence and deep regional divisions. An electoral worker died on the eve of the vote when gunmen attacked a helicopter near Benghazi. Many people in eastern Libya are concerned that the oil-rich area will be under-represented in the assembly. The region has been allotted only 60 seats in the 200-seat assembly.

Broken America: The towns left in financial ruin
First came the US sub-prime mortgage meltdown. Now entire towns are declaring bankruptcy.

Los Angeles Saturday 07 July 2012
They were hanging up the bunting in Mammoth Lakes this week, celebrating Independence Day in the traditional small-town fashion. First, locals queued up for an eat-all-you-can-eat "pancake breakfast". Then they took part in a fiercely contested "hot-dog-eating contest". Finally, after witnessing the annual town parade, the community oohed and aahed over a short but patriotic fireworks display. Yet behind the show of civic pride lay a palpable sense of unease. For all the conspicuous consumption of junk food, and the proudly worn stars-and-stripes paraphernalia, locals were grimly aware that their picturesque resort, in California's Sierra Nevada mountains, was making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Greeks forced to rely on charity
With jobs lost and wages cut, many Greeks are having to rely on the good-will of others just to survive.


The European financial crisis is being felt especially hard in Greece, with many people having to depend on charity to survive. People from all backgrounds are paying the price for the economic turmoil in their country, with one-in-four people in Greece having lost their jobs. Former businessman Panagiotis Covas is representative of the growing number of unemployed Greeks. The last thing he expected was to be lining up at a soup kitchen in downtown Athens. "I am here because I have not the possibility to have a normal life", he said. “I had a lot of money. My business was destroyed, and after this I was forced to live without money - without enough money to have a normal life."

Crisis looms as Sudan economy falters
A simmering war with Sudan over oil and a refugee crisis is casting a shadow over South Sudan's independence

Charles Molele
I was sitting in a market in Agok, a small border town in Warrap State, while a group of young men avidly hunched over a battered Sony portable radio transistor to catch the latest news about the first anniversary independence celebrations on July 9. As the countdown reached fever pitch, the word on the street was that celebrities and dozens of other South Sudanese living abroad would be coming home to attend the much-anticipated celebrations, among them the international supermodel Alek Wek and Chicago Bulls basketball player Luol Deng, as well as Hollywood actor George Clooney.

Iran won't crack
THE ROVING EYE

By Pepe Escobar
Let's startsledgehammer style. Iran won't crack. Iran won't crack. Iran won't crack. No sledgehammer, though, is likely to perforate the limitless fog of delusion hovering over a US elite that a relentless propaganda campaign tries to sell as "the international community". See, for instance, this bland op-ed, where we discover that "the international community is now on watch for cracks in Iran's defiant stance: Will increased sanctions compel Tehran to make real concessions and allow for a diplomatic solution to the standoff?" Here's your short answer: no.

Palau: Is it the world's cannabis capital?
A small group of Pacific islands with the population of a small town has been named as the country with the highest consumption of beer and cannabis. Is that really true?

By Richard Knight BBC News
The United Nations' 2012 World Drugs Report, published in June, contains at least one surprising number - the nation with the highest level of cannabis use among adults is Palau. This tiny island nation in the western Pacific Ocean is home to just 21,000 people, where - according to the UN - a quarter of adults use cannabis. Not only are Palauans ahead of everyone else on this measure, they're ahead by a long way. The country with the next highest rate of cannabis use is Italy, where - the report says - some 15% of adults use the drug.