Six In The Morning

Inside Pakistan's drone country
Pakistan's tribal region of Waziristan, constantly watched and regularly bombarded by US military drones, has been called the most dangerous place on earth. The relentless assault exacts a huge psychological toll on the people who live there.

By Ahmed Wali Mujeeb BBC News, Waziristan
The US missile-attacks destroy militant training compounds and cars but they also hit mosques, homes, religious schools and civilian vehicles. I witnessed the fear, stress and depression this causes for the tribal communities on a visit to the region in May. The drones do not suddenly appear over the horizon, carry out the attack and leave. At any given time of the day, at least four are hovering in the sky, emitting a distinctive and menacing buzzing sound. They call them "mosquitoes". "Anybody who has been listening to the buzzing all through the day usually can't sleep at night," says Abdul Waheed, a tribesman in North Waziristan. "It's like a blind man's stick - it can hit anybody at any time."

Land acquired over past decade could have produced food for a billion people
Oxfam calls on World Bank to stop backing foreign investors who acquire land for biofuels that could produce food

John Vidal, environment editor The Guardian, Thursday 4 October 2012
International land investors and biofuel producers have taken over land around the world that could feed nearly 1 billion people. Analysis by Oxfam of several thousand land deals completed in the last decade shows that an area eight times the size of the UK has been left idle by speculators or is being used largely to grow biofuels for US or European vehicles. In a report, published on Thursday, Oxfam says the global land rush is out of control and urges the World Bank to freeze its investments in large-scale land acquisitions to send a strong signal to global investors to stop "land grabs".

Arms manufacturers 'must do more' to speak out against corrupt practices
Two-thirds of firms do not make public adequate information about what they are doing

KIM SENGUPTA THURSDAY 04 OCTOBER 2012
Some of the world's largest defence companies have failed to provide enough evidence about how they are tackling corruption in the arms trade – a problem that costs $20bn a year globally, a report suggests today. An index compiled by the pressure group Transparency International UK shows that two-thirds of the companies do not make public adequate information about what they are doing to stop illicit practices. Firms in Europe and the US are among the worst performers.

Turkey strikes Syria again
Turkey has hit Syrian targets with fresh artillery, a day after it fired on Syrian positions for the first time. Ankara's actions were in retaliation to a Syrian strike which killed five in Turkey on Wednesday.

DW-DE
Turkey's military continued to carry out artillery strikes on neighbor Syria Thursday, according to Turkish security sources. Turkish shells hit the Tal Abyad area, where Syrian troops have artillery bases. “At least five Turkish shells landed near the Tal Abyad area, where the Syrian army maintains posts," said Rami Idlibi, a Syrian activist located in the northern province of Idlib. It was not clear whether there had been any casulties in Thursday's attack.

Nigerian authorities 'knew about planned terror attack'
Nigerian security authorities were informed of an imminent attack before the 2010 terrorist bombings in Abuja that left 12 people dead and 36 injured.

04 OCT 2012 08:55 - DANIEL EDYEGU
Victor Ben Selekaye, a former spokesperson of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) – a militant group that claimed responsibility of the deadly attacks – told the South Gauteng High Court on Wednesday he personally notified security of a planned attack on September 24 2010 after learning of it a day earlier. Selekaye is the prosecution's second witness in the terrorism trial of alleged former MEND leader Henry Okah. "I got to know of the planned attack through my childhood friend, Raphael Damfebo.

Cuba reforms: Important changes, but pace is slow
Cuba released many political prisoners and expanded personal economic rights this year. But everything won't change at once: The socialist country has a bloated state bureaucracy that moves slowly.

By Melissa Lockhart Fortner
Perhaps the biggest underlying tension among Cuba watchers is on the issue of whether things (i.e. policies) on the island are changing for the better, or whether they remain upsettingly the same as they have for half of a century. A comprehensive view, of course, would acknowledge that both phenomena exist. And a realistic observer would recognize that one cannot expect everything to change at once: countries are complex, and a socialist country in particular has a bloated state bureaucracy that moves slowly. Cuba faces some of the same challenges it has for years. How does one encourage workers to innovate and increase productivity when there are no material incentives for doing so?