Six In The Morning

Syria conflict: US fears Aleppo 'massacre'

　The US says that it fears Syrian government forces are preparing to carry out a massacre in the country's most populous city, Aleppo.

The BBC 27 July 2012
The US state department said the deployment of tanks, helicopter gunships and fixed-winged aircraft suggested such an attack was imminent. Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said it was a "serious escalation" in the conflict. Syrian rebels in the city have begun stockpiling ammunition and medical supplies in preparation. Ms Nuland said: "Our hearts are with the people of Aleppo. And again, this is another desperate attempt by a regime that is going down to try to maintain control." But she insisted that the US would not intervene other than by providing non-lethal assistance to the rebels who have been trying to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad for 16 months.

Showtime: London gets set to stage Olympic opening ceremony


By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN July 27, 2012
Few shows can claim such an audience. As the dramatic spectacle of the Olympics Games opening ceremony in London unfolds Friday night, millions of people around the world will be glued to their television sets. Some tens of thousands more are lucky enough to have a seat inside the Olympic Stadium, the centerpiece of the Olympic Park in east London. Dubbed Isles of Wonder, it promises to be quite a show -- but then it needs to be.

Greeks Live in Dread of Troika Verdict
Financial inspectors from the troika have arrived in Greece to draft their final report on whether the country has made enough progress with its austerity and reform efforts. But many Greeks have already lost hope and are counting on the worst -- an exit from the euro zone.

By Daniel Steinvorth in Athens
An aluminum bowl filled with pasta, a bottle of water and a bread roll. "The most important thing is that it quiets your hunger," says Yannis. The 63-year-old is leaning on the wall of a building on Sophocles Street spooning up his lunch. He spent the last half-hour waiting in line outside a soup kitchen in downtown Athens. He says he doesn't have any money for food, adding: "I earn €500 ($600), of which €200 goes to rent alone." Yannis numbers among the more than 400,000 people in the greater Athens area that rely on free food for their daily survival.

China rejects call for ban on tiger farms
July 27, 2012 - 2:48PM

Gaia Vince
The UK and India have called on China and other countries to ban tiger farms because they undermine conservation efforts. But China responded strongly at the meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Geneva, challenging delegates to "show us the evidence that [tiger farms] encourage poaching of wild tigers". There are thought to be about 3000 tigers remaining in the wild, reduced from a population of 100,000 in 1900. Conservationists warn that they may become extinct in the wild in the next 20 years. China banned trade in tiger parts in 1993, but since then the country's large-scale commercial breeding of tigers in captivity has boomed.

Rainforest wildlife havens on brink of collapse
Outside destruction is threatening lush reserves designed to protect world's richest biodiversity

STEVE CONNOR FRIDAY 27 JULY 2012
The health of protected tropical forests and their rich wildlife, from exotic frogs and freshwater fish to tigers and forest elephants, is on the brink of collapse, researchers have warned. Wildlife havens set up to protect tropical forest species have suffered badly as a result of the huge deforestation and habitat destruction going on around them, a large international study concluded.

South Africa needs a 'second reconciliation', says former president
FW de Klerk claims racism is poisoning politics and the spirit instilled by Nelson Mandela is 'almost gone'

David Smith in Johannesburg
FW de Klerk, the Nobel peace laureate and former South African president, has warned that the country is again being poisoned by racism from political leaders, leaving Nelson Mandela's spirit of reconciliation "almost totally gone". De Klerk suggested that the now retired Mandela must feel sad about the betrayal of the non-racial consensus he espoused as South Africa's first black president, and that only a "second reconciliation" could restore it.