Six In The Morning

In Syria, a rebellion calls for revolutionary measures
Law student Hanadi, 19, is eager to see action on the front lines. Her ticket? A marriage of convenience to a militia commander fighting to oust Bashar Assad.

October 9, 2012, 12:12 a.m.
The crack of a sniper rifle and the boom of exploding shells seemed to take turns as Hanadi slipped out of the apartment and onto the dark street. Seconds later, a shell landed nearby and Hanadi groaned, worried that the Syrian army would storm the neighborhood that night — before she got her camera back from the repairman, leaving her unable to record the fighting. Walking down the street, carefully planting her feet, she glanced left and right through open doors, concerned that her husband might see her. At the corner, a few young Free Syrian Army fighters manning a checkpoint recognized her immediately.

Rural India marches on Delhi over landless poor
Adivasis, or tribals, among victims of economic boom seeking not just 'right to land' or compensation but say in India's future

Jason Burke in Gwalior guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 9 October 2012 07.52 BST
The bus left Badpura village, bounced down a dirt track leading to where the buffalo bathe, then along a narrow lane through scrappy fields and out on to the main road. From the vehicle's windows green and white flags flew. Inside were a dozen or so landless peasant farmers, heading to Delhi, the capital, to confront their nation's leaders and press their right to land. So far the marchers, 50,000-strong according, to the organisers, have covered around 80 kilometres, not even a quarter of the distance they hope to travel. Their march will take another three weeks. They have come from Kerala in the south-west to Bengal in the north-east, all drawn from the poorest of the Indian poor.

Revolutionary road: the urban showcase of Egypt's uprising
The graffiti that sprang up in one of the hotspots of Egypt's insurrection so unsettled the government that it was whitewashed – but now it's back. Alastair Beach reports in Cairo

ALASTAIR BEACH CAIRO TUESDAY 09 OCTOBER 2012
On Martyr's Road in Downtown Cairo, the ghosts of Egypt's uprising haunt every single step. Following the terrible clashes which erupted here in November last year, the long thoroughfare leading east off Tahrir Square became an unofficial shrine for Egypt's revolutionaries; its walls transformed by street art into a mesmerising point of pilgrimage. The murals, which included Banksy-style stencils depicting victims of the regime, clearly unsettled the Egyptian government – one evening in September, municipal workers arrived under the cover of darkness to whitewash some of the artwork.

No red carpet for Merkel ahead of Athens visit
Merkel is to visit Greece amidst local protests and speculation about whether Greece can stay in the eurozone. Top European officials have launched a new fund to help achieve this, but want to see Greece to do more.


A ban on protests has been put into place throughout most of Athens this Tuesday and 7,000 police officers have been deployed to maintain order. On Monday night several thousand protesters took to the streets to let German Chancellor Angela Merkel know what they thought of her upcoming visit. Several people held signs telling Merkel 'you are not welcome,' and some signs compared Merkel to Adolf Hitler. Merkel's unpopularity in Greece stems from her insistence that Greece adopt strict austerity measures in exchange for international bailout funds. Some of those funds come from the European Union, and as the EU's biggest economy, Germany has ended up footing a large chunk of the bill. The fact that Merkel is making a personal appearance in Athens is seen by some as a gesture that Merkel wants Greece to stay in the eurozone. There is, however, also worried speculation that if Greece cannot carry out the harsh austerity measures, it would default on its debt and be forced to leave the common currency area.

Rio's mayoral race: A new 'Al Gore' for Brazil?
Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes swept yesterday's municipal election. But some say his opponent could play a watchdog role as Rio prepares for the World Cup and Olympics.

By Rachel Glickhouse, Guest blogger / October 8, 2012
Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes swept yesterday's municipal election in Rio, winning with nearly 65 percent of the vote. In second place was Rio state assemblyman Marcelo Freixo, who won 28 percent of the vote. For those familiar with Rio politics, it wasn't a surprise: Mayor Paes is a popular incumbent who raised much more money than Mr. Freixo (around 14 times more), had a huge coalition (Freixo refused to create one), enjoyed much more TV advertising time than Freixo, and has support from the state governor, President Dilma Rousseff, and former president Lula.

Kublai Khan: China's favourite barbarian
China has a love-hate relationship with what is foreign. Traditionally all people beyond the Great Wall were barbarians - only part human. But invaders have sometimes been welcomed, in time, into the Chinese family. One was Kublai Khan.

By Carrie Gracie BBC News, Beijing
In the 13th Century, no-one knew how big the world was so it was not so wild for the Mongols to set off from the grassland with the idea that they were going to conquer all of it. When the mighty Genghis Khan died in 1227, he had already claimed an empire stretching from the Pacific to Europe. His grandson Kublai set out to finish the job, and started by moving south to attack China's Song dynasty. But China had been a united empire on and off for more than 1,000 years. So what did the Song dynasty rulers make of Kublai's ambition? "For the Song, it would been absolutely inconceivable that the Mongols could take over the whole of China," says John Man, author of a biography of Kublai Khan.