Six In The Morning

On Sunday

Afghanistan Taliban attack US base in Jalalabad
Taliban suicide bombers have attacked a joint US-Afghan airbase in eastern Afghanistan.

2 December 2012 Last updated at 07:14 GMT
Afghan intelligence officials told the BBC eight suicide attackers were involved in the assault on the base in Jalalabad, and all had been killed. A Nato spokesman said one member of the Afghan security forces was killed during the attack. The BBC's Orla Guerin in Kabul said the attack appeared "coordinated and complex". The Nato spokesman said the assault was a failure because the Taliban did not penetrate the base. But our correspondent says the fact that the militants managed to reach the perimeter will raise questions, as there are checkpoints on the approach routes. She added that this is not the first time the Taliban has targeted the air base, which is used by US and Nato forces. In February it killed nine people in a similar attack.

Japan tunnel collapse leaves motorists trapped inside
Mudslide caused ceiling of Sasago tunnel near Tokyo to cave in, according to authorities and people who escaped

Justin McCurry in Tokyo guardian.co.uk, Sunday 2 December 2012 03.56 GMT
At least seven people have reportedly been trapped inside a tunnel near Tokyo that caught fire after its ceiling collapsed on Sunday morning. Japanese media said several vehicles were ablaze after a 100 metre long section of the Sasago tunnel's ceiling caved in shortly after 8am. Kyodo news agency said a mudslide had triggered the collapse. Dozens of firefighters were trying to extinguish the blaze while emergency workers attempted to reach those thought to be stranded inside. The tunnel is located along a busy section of the Chuo expressway about 50 miles west of the Japanese capital.

Tiger tourism is back and burning bright in Rajasthan
After they were closed by the government this summer, India's nature reserves are starting to reopen to tourists, but with greater safeguards for wildlife, as Harriet O'Brien discovers

HARRIET O'BRIEN SUNDAY 02 DECEMBER 2012
Listen for the call of peacocks – langur monkeys too. That was the advice I was given as we set off in rosy morning light to look for tigers in Rajasthan's Ranthambore Park. Passing under the great aerial roots of a banyan tree I started to hear strident cries. They grew louder as we rounded a corner of the track – and then we ground to a halt. A tiger cub the size of a cocker spaniel was ambling along the rough road ahead of us. It stopped in its tracks, looked at our 4x4 with insouciance and vanished into the bush. A quartet of worried peacocks emerged, scurrying past in unlikely disarray, coronet topknots bobbing crazily.

Climate impasse settles over Doha talks
Many key issues remain unaddressed halfway through a UN climate conference in Doha. While the technical means exist to prevent a climate catastrophe, experts wonder if there is enough political will to reach a deal.

DW-DE
"We want climate justice!" booms the voice from the megaphone. The phrase is then repeated by hundreds of voices - young people from Asia, Europe, Latin America and Arab countries marching down the closed-off street in Doha on Saturday morning. "The Earth is our home," state some of the posters, while others call for ambitious pledges to reduce emissions. Among the demonstrators are Reem Al-Khayat and Kholoud Abu-Holayqah, two 16-year-old Qataris. "We want to show that the environment is important to us," they said. "After all, it's we who have to live with the consequences if we don't take action now."

South Sudan official visits Sudan to try to resolve border dispute
A top South Sudanese official arrived in Sudan on Saturday to discuss how to set up a demilitarised border zone, a condition for resuming oil exports, in the first direct talks between the neighbours since new tensions broke out last month.

Reuters | 01 December, 2012 12:36
The African countries agreed at talks in Ethiopia in September to end hostilities and restart oil exports - including creating the buffer zone - after coming close to war in April, the worst violence since South Sudan seceded last year. South Sudan had shut down its oil production of 350,000 barrels a day in January after tensions over pipeline fees escalated. But the neighbours have been unable to agree how to withdraw their armies from the disputed border, a step both had said was necessary to resume oil exports from landlocked South Sudan through Sudanese pipelines.

Mexico inaugurates new President Peña Nieto, but takes on 'old' party reputation
Corruption will likely be a constant challenge for Peña Nieto and his PRI party, which ruled Mexico for 71 years largely through graft before it lost the presidency in 2000.

By Sara Miller Llana, Staff Writer / December 1, 2012
MEXICO CITY Mexican President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto takes office today, but when Mexicans chose him as president in July, they voted for more than just a presidential platform. Voters elected to bring back to power a party that ran the state for 71 years through a combination of corruption and cronyism, and, at its worst, with a repressive authoritarian hand. Some Mexicans do fear a return of past practices: Immediately upon his victory, Mr. Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) faced a scandal alleging that they systematically handed out gift cards in exchange for votes. Many others, however, seem to think that Mexico of the 21st century leaves no space for the free reign that the PRI enjoyed while in power in the last century. and the PRI itself maintains it’s a new party, just as committed to democratic principles as any other.