Six In The Morning

Park Geun-hye becomes South Korea's first female president

By CNN Staff

February 25, 2013 -- Updated 0400 GMT (1200 HKT

(CNN) -- Park Geun-hye made history Monday by becoming South Korea's first female president, pledging to secure South Korea against the threat of an increasingly hostile North Korea at the same time as mending bridges with Pyongyang.

"North Korea's recent nuclear test is a challenge to the survival and future of the Korean people, and there should be no mistake that the biggest victim will be none other than North Korea itself," she said. "I urge North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions without delay and embark on the path to peace and shared development."

Reiterating her policy of 'trustpolitik' - a policy based on deterrence combined with cautious approaches to North Korea - she said she intended to "lay the groundwork for an era of harmonious unification where all Koreans can lead more prosperous and freer lives and where their dreams can come true."

"I will move forward step-by-step on the basis of credible deterrence to build trust between the South and the North."

ELECTIONS

Italy's vote brings prospect of shaky coalition

Who will move into the Palazzo Chigi, the prime ministerial seat in Rome: left-leaning Bersani? Or ex-premier Berlusconi? In any case, Europe is hoping for a stable government - which might not be the case.

The law behind Italy's electoral system bears a curious name: Porcellum. It's a Latinized version of the word "porcata," which could be translated as garbage. But it wasn't disappointed voters, rather academics and politicians who came up with the name while establishing the law, nearly 10 years ago. Critics say junk is a good name for the law, as it's extremely complicated, and virtually no one understands exactly how it allocates seats in parliament.

In the Italian Parliament, the party that wins the most votes automatically earns an absolute majority of the seats, even if the party receives just 30 percent of the vote. In the Senate within parliament, however, the seats are distributed by way of regional lists.

Chinese general dives in deep end on social media

February 25, 2013 - 4:53PM

John Garnaut

China correspondent for Fairfax Media

BEIJING: China’s most famous sabre-rattling general has turned uncharacteristically silent after a bruising first foray on the ‘‘battleground’’ of online public opinion.

Major-General Luo Yuan has attracted more than 237,000 followers since opening a microblog account with Sina Weibo, a hugely popular Twitter-like service, only days ago.

He’s encountered another type of angry public opinion, one that is more inclined to blame China for the world’s problems than the reverse. 

Andrew Chubb, researcher

‘‘Weibo is a very important public opinion battleground,’’ wrote General Luo, warming up to his typically spirited opening salvo on Thursday.

But efforts by propaganda authorities to delete negative comments have not disguised that the ‘‘beloved people’’ have not been entirely won over to his cause.

DR Congo: African leaders sign peace deal

Regional African leaders have signed a UN-brokered accord which aims to bring peace to the troubled eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The deal was signed in the presence of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

He said he hoped it would bring "an era of peace and stability" to the region.

As many as 800,000 people have been displaced since the March 23 rebel group took up arms against the Kinshasa government last May.

Raul Castro to step down: Who will run Cuba next?

Raul Castro, president of Cuba, says he'll step down in five years. Who will replace Castro? Miguel Diaz-Canel has been tapped to be first in the line of succession.

By Peter Orsi, Associated Press / February 24, 2013

HAVANA

Raul Castro announced Sunday that he will step down as Cuba's president in 2018 following a final five-year term, for the first time putting a date on the end of the Castro era. He tapped rising star Miguel Diaz-Canel as his top lieutenant and first in the line of succession.

The 81-year-old Castro also said he hopes to establish two-term limits and age caps for political offices including the presidency — an astonishing prospect for a nation led by Castro or his older brother Fidel since their 1959 revolution.

The 52-year-old Diaz-Canel is now a heartbeat from the presidency and has risen higher than any other Cuban official who didn't directly participate in the heady days of the revolution.

Prisoner’s death fuels Palestinian protests, as Israel braces for more

By Joel Greenberg, Monday, February 25, 3:14 AM

JERUSALEM – The death of a Palestinian prisoner under Israeli interrogation after a week of demonstrations for the release of four other inmates on hunger strikes triggered fresh clashes Sunday and heightened concerns in Israel about a swelling wave of unrest in the West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority said that the results of an Israeli autopsy attended by the chief Palestinian forensic pathologist showed that the prisoner had been tortured. But Israel’s health ministry said the preliminary findings could not determine the cause of death, though they did not support initial Israeli assertions that the prisoner had died of cardiac arrest.