Six In The Morning

On Sunday

Western defense budget cuts may be unstoppable
Companies, governments already preparing for reduced military spending

By Peter Apps Reuters
Whether or not America's politicians can find a way to sidestep the brutal automatic military cuts of sequestration, the era of rising Western spending on weapons and wars is over. That reality increasingly is challenging major arms manufacturers, spurring them to look for new markets, cost cuts and mergers. It is also confronting policymakers with difficult political and strategic choices as new rivals, particularly China, spend more on their armed forces. U.S. military spending still dwarfs that of other countries - the equivalent of the next 13 nations' spending by some estimates - but the global military balance is clearly shifting. With European states already cutting, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies this year reported that Asian military spending outstripped Europe's for the first time in several centuries. U.S. lawmakers may well avoid or delay automatic across-the-board budget cuts that would hit the military hard and are set to begin on January 2 if there is no deal on deficit reduction. But few see the United States avoiding military budget cuts in the next few years given that the government's debt burden has now surged above $16 trillion and continues to rise.

IoS Investigation: The shocking truth about landmines
As casualties from landmines rise for the first time in years, campaigners say another Diana figure is needed to revive international will to tackle a terrible legacy of war

EMILY DUGAN SUNDAY 14 OCTOBER 2012
The landmine belongs to another era – or so many of us like to believe. We think of it as an evil all but consigned to history by the entreaties of Diana, Princess of Wales, and a Nobel prize-winning campaign for a ban. But after years of steady decline in the number of casualties, the numbers harmed by landmines is on the rise again. In 2010-11 at least 4,191 people were maimed or killed by landmines, the first increase in the annual toll for seven years. Of these, at least 1,155 died of their injuries. This year is expected to be even worse. The events of the Arab Spring have contributed to this, with Syria, Libya and Yemen all laying new mines.

Nuclear world order triggers uncertainty in 2012
The nuclear stalemate between the US and the USSR 50 years ago kept the Cuban missile crisis from becoming a war. Today there are many nuclear powers with various interests. But just how stable is the new world order?

NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION
The world held its breath on October 14, 1962, when US fears were confirmed. The Soviet Union had stationed medium-range nuclear missiles in Cuba, a mere 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the US coastline of Florida. The Soviets therefore not only threatened the US military base Guantanamo in Cuba, but also directly the populous east coast of the United States. When US President John F. Kennedy demanded the unconditional withdrawal of the missiles in a television address on October 22, the strategic air force forces were already in "defense condition 2" - just one step below the beginning of combat operations. The world had probably never been so close to a nuclear war before than at that point in time.

IMF warns millions face humanitarian emergency in W Africa
The IMF has called for accelerated efforts to help millions of people who face an "humanitarian emergency" in West Africa's Sahel region.

13 OCT 2012 15:31 - SAPA-AFP
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank on Saturday raised the alarm on the "humanitarian emergency" in West Africa's Sahel region, where millions risk starvation amid regional insecurity, drought and poor harvests. "We are troubled by the acute humanitarian emergency in the Sahel region where hunger threatens the lives of 19-million people and the stability of the region," said a statement from the organisations' joint development committee. "Food security and food price volatility remain persistent threats to development and merit continued attention."

Two years after Mubarak, his prison torture apparatus still wounds Egypt
Human rights activists hoped a democratic government would bring reform to Egypt's prison system, but two years after the revolution, they are still calling for an end to torture.

By Erin Banco, Contributor / October 13, 2012
Sitting cross-legged on a makeshift bed in his parent’s apartment, Tarek Mohamed Abdel Hafez lifts his jacket to reveals his battle scars – marks from the first few weeks of his nearly 1,000-day sentence in prison. “It was 12 days of torture – four days upstairs and eight days underground, where I was naked and not given any food or water," he says. Mr. Hafez says he was wrongly accused of throwing explosives at police during the two-day uprising in Mahalla, where he lives, in April 2008. The protest was one of the most infamous political demonstrations to take place before the Jan. 25 revolution that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak. Hundreds of people were arrested, including Hafez, and many faced torture – a practice that has long been ingrained in the Egyptian prison system.

Spain's next threat: Losing 20% of its economy


By Oliver Joy, CNN
It's September 11, 2012. The National Day of Catalonia. And an estimated two million people are on the streets of Barcelona waving banners "Catalonia -- The next state in Europe" and "Independencia." Separatist Catalans are calling for sovereignty from Madrid and the rule of the conservative People's Party, led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Losing 20% of the economy is the last thing the Spanish government needs right now. But if those calling for Catalan independence get their way, that could be exactly what happens. Catalonia -- a region in the northeast of Spain and home to global brands and tourist attractions including Barcelona Football Club and the Gaudi House Museum -- represents one fifth of the Spanish economy.