Six In The Morning

Security fears hobble inquiry of Libya attack
The volatile situation in the area adds to the challenge of the investigation

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, ERIC SCHMITT and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
Sixteen days after the death of four Americans in an attack on a United States diplomatic mission here, fears about the near-total lack of security have kept F.B.I. agents from visiting the scene of the killings and forced them to try to piece together the complicated crime from Tripoli, more than 400 miles away. Investigators are so worried about the tenuous security, people involved in the investigation say, that they have been unwilling to risk taking some potential Libyan witnesses into the American Embassy in Tripoli. Instead, the investigators have resorted to the awkward solution of questioning some witnesses in cars outside the embassy, which is operating under emergency staffing and was evacuated of even more diplomats on Thursday because of a heightened security alert.

Kenyan troops take control of Shabaab stronghold Kismayu
On Thursday, the commander of the Ras Kamboni Brigade, Sheikh Ahmed Madobe, told the Nation the final push to take the city was imminent.

By NATION Reporter Posted Friday, September 28 2012 at 08:27
The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) have taken control of Kismayu, the last remaining al-Shabaab stronghold in Somalia. KDF information officer Cyrus Oguna said the military entered Kismayu at 2.00am and advised locals to avoid areas where the troops are operating. "KDF troops have taken control of Kismayu!!!," the military said Friday. "Residents are advised to avoid areas where KDF and SNA troops are to avoid collateral damage." KDF said it had suffered no casualties. "Our troops are safe and sound, so far no casualties," the military said.

Greece may seek Spanish-style rescue of banks as part of debt crisis solution


NATHALIE SAVARICAS ATHENS FRIDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2012
Greece could return cap-in-hand to its European partners for a Spanish-style rescue of its ailing banking sector despite receiving billions of euros in bailout loans. A Greek government source said the country was looking for ways to lessen its burden as it attempts to put its economy back on course, including another writedown in the value of its debt or a "strong recapitalisation of its banks". The country remains mired in a deep recession, and will have contracted by 25 per cent by time the recession ends, the Greek finance minister, Yannis Stournaras, said last week.

Alternative Nobel winner says non-violence works
Known as the "Machiavelli of non-violence," Gene Sharp shares the 2012 Right Livelihood Awards with three others. He's written widely on non-violent political action, inspiring movements from Myanmar to Egypt.

DW-DE
It may have started when he chose to become a conscientious objector and refused to serve in the Korean War of the 1950s. The US political theorist Gene Sharp, now 84, knew even back then that political revolution could be non-violent. That conviction - and his work over the past decades - has won Sharp a Right Livelihood Award, otherwise known as an "Alternative Nobel prize," in Stockholm. He shares the 150,000-euro ($195,000) prize with Sima Samar, an Afghan doctor, and Britain's Campaign Against Arms Trade. The 90-year-old Turkish environmentalist Hayrettin Karaca receives an honorary award.

Egypt pursues blasphemy cases as Morsi defends ban at UN
Several blasphemy cases moved forward this week in Egypt. President Morsi defended curbing free speech in an address Wednesday at the United Nations.

By Kristen Chick, Correspondent / September 27, 2012
An Egyptian court upheld a six-year prison sentence today for an Egyptian Christian charged with insulting Islam and the president, just a day after the opening hearing in the trial of another Egyptian man accused of insulting the religion. An Egyptian rights group also announced today that it would ask Egypt’s highest appeals court to consider the case of an Egyptian Shia man convicted of desecrating a mosque. And, in a rare case, prosecutors this week brought charges of defaming Christianity against a Muslim who ripped a Bible. The flurry of developments in blasphemy-related cases comes in the wake of the uproar, in Egypt and across the Muslim world, over an American-made anti-Islam YouTube clip.

World fish supply declining, but there’s hope for recovery


McClatchy Newspapers
A group of leading ocean scientists took a look at previously unstudied fisheries across the world and found grim news: declining stocks and poor fishery management threaten their future. But there’s also promise, it says. Well-managed fisheries that have seen copious scientific study, such as the valuable pollock fishery in Alaska, can serve as a model for developing nations where fish is a vital source of protein for their growing populations. Even collapsed fisheries can recover, said Christopher Costello, one of the lead authors of the study published this week in the journal Science.