Six In The Mornng

Huge blasts hit near army HQ in Damascus

AP WEDNESDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 2012

Two massive explosions rocked the heart of Damascus today, striking near the army and air force command headquarters and sending huge columns of thick black smoke over the Syrian capital.

The bombings were the latest to hit the city as the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime intensifies, highlighting the increasingly deep reach of the rebels determined to topple him.

Syria's state-run news agency Sana said a fire broke out in the area after the twin blasts, which struck just before 7am local time (0400 GMT) near the landmark Omayyad square.

irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Wednesday, September 26, 2012, 09:46

Greek workers begin general strike

Flights and trains were suspended, shops pulled down their shutters and hospitals worked on emergency staff today in Greece's first big anti-austerity strike since a coalition government took power in June.

Called by the country's two biggest unions representing half the four-million-strong work force, the walkout is expected to bring out thousands of Greeks to the streets to protest at a new round of belt-tightening demanded by EU and IMF lenders.

"The new measures are unbearable, unfair and only worsen the crisis. We are determined to fight until we win," said Costas Tsikrikas, head of the ADEDY public sector union.

"We call on all workers to join us in the march against the policies that the troika is imposing."

Death of Libyan rebel raises calls for vengeance

Sapa-AP | 26 September, 2012 09:36

One of the young Libyan rebels credited with capturing Muammar Gaddafi in a drainage ditch nearly a year ago died on Tuesday.

Shaaban is reported to have died of injuries after being kidnapped, beaten and slashed by the late dictator's supporters, the latest victim of persistent violence and instability in the North African country.

The death of Shaaban, who had been hospitalized in France, raised the prospect of even more violence and score-settling, with the newly elected National Congress authorizing police and the army to use force if necessary to apprehend those who abducted the 22-year-old and three companions in July near the town of Bani Walid.

Libya is battling lingering pockets of support for the old regime, and its government has been unable to rein in armed militias in a country rife with weapons. Earlier this month, a demonstration at the U.S. Consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi turned violent, killing four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.

China's security boss surveys Hindu Kush

By M K Bhadrakumar

For such a high-level exchange after such a pronounced gap of nearly half a century, Beijing actually said very little indeed about the unannounced four-hour visit to Kabul on Saturday by Zhou Yongkang, the ninth ranking member of the Politburo and China's security boss - although it pointedly took note that the "last [such] visit was made by late Chinese leader Liu Shaoqi in 1966 when he was the President of China". 

Zhou's senior status make Beijing's reticence seem all the more curious, particularly as the Hindu Kush and the adjoining Pamirs and the Central Asian steppes are nowadays teeming with the "foreign devils on the Silk Road". 

An air of suspense hangs around Zhou's visit, especially since his itinerary originally didn't include the stop-over in Kabul.

Loco for cocoa: Artisanal chocolate looks to Mesoamerican roots in Nicaragua

Artisanal chocolate is taking off, with many small chocolatiers taking production back to the basics.

By Tim Johnson, McClatchy Newspapers 

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA

The first time Carlos Mann mixed a batch of his own chocolate, he knew he was loco over cocoa. Thus was born Momotombo Chocolate, an artisanal chocolate house with a twist: It makes high-end chocolate in the Mesoamerican heart of the cacao bean with the freshest of ingredients and without any industrial machinery.

“Just a pot, a fire, and a spoon,” Mann said.

Mann and dozens of other small chocolate makers around the world wager that artisanal chocolate is on the cusp of taking off. Comparisons with gourmet coffee, craft beer, and high-end wine abound.

“It’s really starting to explode.... Every week, I hear about a new bean-to-bar chocolate maker,” said Nat Bletter, an ethnobotanist and the “flavormeister” at Madre Chocolate, an artisanal maker with a shop inKailua, Hawaii.

Libyan president to NBC: Anti-Islam film had 'nothing to do with' US Consulate attack

By NBC News staff

Updated at 4:01 a.m. ET: An anti-Islam film that sparked violent protests in many countries had "nothing to do with" a deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi earlier this month, Libya's president told NBC News.

In an exclusive interview with NBC News' Ann Curry, President Mohamed Magarief discounted claims that the attack was in response to a movie produced in California and available on YouTube. He noted that the assault happened on Sept. 11 and that the video had been available for months before that.

"Reaction should have been, if it was genuine, should have been six months earlier. So it was postponed until the 11th of September," he said. "They chose this date, 11th of September to carry a certain message."

Magarief said there were no protesters at the site before the attack, which he noted came in two assaults, first with rocket-propelled grenades on the consulate, then with mortars at a safe house.