Six In The Morning

In Arab Spring, Obama finds harsh lessons on diplomacy
The president learns that bold words are not enough to engender good will

By HELENE COOPER and ROBERT F. WORTH
President Hosni Mubarak did not even wait for President Obama’s words to be translated before he shot back. “You don’t understand this part of the world,” the Egyptian leader broke in. “You’re young.” Mr. Obama, during a tense telephone call the evening of Feb. 1, 2011, had just told Mr. Mubarak that his speech, broadcast to hundreds of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square in Cairo, had not gone far enough. Mr. Mubarak had to step down, the president said. Minutes later, a grim Mr. Obama appeared before hastily summoned cameras in the Grand Foyer of the White House. The end of Mr. Mubarak’s 30-year rule, Mr. Obama said, “must begin now.” With those words, Mr. Obama upended three decades of American relations with its most stalwart ally in the Arab world, putting the weight of the United States squarely on the side of the Arab street.

Outrage at CIA's deadly 'double tap' drone attacks
Report claims just one in fifty victims of 'surgical' US strikes in Pakistan are known militants. Jerome Taylor reports on a deadly new strategy

JEROME TAYLOR TUESDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2012
Late in the evening on 6 June this year an unmanned drone was flying high above the Pakistani village of Datta Khel in north Waziristan. The buzz emitted by America's fleet of Predators and Reapers are a familiar sound for the inhabitants of the dusty hamlet, which lies next to a riverbed close to Pakistan's border with Afghanistan and is a stronghold for the Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur. As the drone circled it let off the first of its Hellfire missiles, slamming into a small house and reducing it to rubble

Governments and Islamists Exploit Film Protests
The protests against "Innocence of Muslims" are not just spontaneous outbreaks of rage. Radical Islamists and governments are exploiting the unrest for their own ends. In the process, it is hard for moderate Muslims to make their voices heard.

By SPIEGEL Staff
On Sept. 14, shortly before the black Islamic flag was hoisted above the German Embassy in Khartoum, before the windows were shattered and before part of the building was eventually set aflame amidst cries of "Allahu akbar," Rahmatallah Osman, an undersecretary in Sudan's Foreign Ministry, was sitting together with the German ambassador at his ministry. Tea and sweets were served. "The conversation proceeded in a markedly friendly atmosphere," the diplomat wrote to Berlin soon thereafter. During the entire preceding week, Sudanese preachers and media sources had been fiercely attacking Germany and Chancellor Angela Merkel.

'Da Vinci of mental manipulation' faces French court
September 25, 2012 - 10:53AM

Henry Samuel
.A Frenchman went on trial yesterday for allegedly keeping an aristocratic family under his "mental spell" in their chateau and in Oxford for a decade and defrauding them of their $5.6 million fortune. Thierry Tilly, whom prosecutors have called the "Leonardo da Vinci of mental manipulation", is accused of convincing 11 members of the De Vedrines family that they were in mortal danger from a cabal of freemasons, a European secret society and paedophiles. He allegedly claimed he was a secret agent whose job was to protect them from their enemies.

Plight of rescued baby gorillas raises fears in DRC
The plight of two rescued infant gorillas highlights the dangers confronting the endangered animals, victims of ongoing violence and rebellion in DRC.

25 SEP 2012 08:03 - MICHELLE FAUL
And a decision to allow oil exploration in a national park there may put the Grauer's gorillas at greater risk. Virunga National Park said on Monday wildlife authorities rescued two baby gorillas in the space of a week this month after they were kidnapped from their families. "Baby gorilla trafficking is terribly damaging for endangered gorilla populations because many members of the gorilla's family will probably have been killed to obtain the infant," said the park's director, Emmanuel de Merode.

Gold replaces coca for Colombian mafia
Illegal mining, with serious environmental consequences, has replaced coca cultivation as the main source of income for the Colombian mafia. Millions have been thrown out of their homes as a result.


The Colombian drug mafia is looking for new business interests. In eight of the country's provinces, illegal mining has replaced coca farming as the main source of income for organized crime. Mines are proving lucrative - the worldwide financial crisis has kept the gold price high for years, which makes it well worth mining. In addition, there's continually increasing demand for all kinds of valuable metals. The hunt for gold and other valuable minerals encourages investment in mining, much of which takes place beyond the reach of the taxman.