Saturday, June 15, 2013

Six In The Morning


15 June 2013 Last updated at 08:23 GMT

Hassan Rouhani leads Iran presidential election vote count

Early results from Iran's presidential election put the reformist-backed candidate, Hassan Rouhani, in the lead.
Official figures give him more than half the 12 million votes counted so far - well ahead of second-placed Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.
Mr Rouhani could win in the first round if he finishes with more than 50.1%.
Electoral officials said turnout was high among the 50 million Iranians eligible to vote on Friday for a successor to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
His eight years in power have been characterised by economic turmoil and Western sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme.
Surge of support
Final results are expected later in the day.










Big wealth gap and corruption scar Mozambique

Parts of the capital reflect the lives of the super-rich, corruption is a big concern, and 55% of people live below the poverty line

Lined up along the streets of central Maputo, Mozambique's capital, are expensive, European-style bars and restaurants with sophisticated names like Cafe Continental, Nautilus, 1908 and Mundos.
And the residential houses and flats in the capital of this southern African nation are a flabbergasting and bewildering array of 1960s modernist and art deco icons, mixed with new-money skyscrapers.
Further away in the new, Chinese-built airport in Maputo, which was completed in February, aftershave lotions sell for $230, and bottles of Dom Pérignon cost $320.
That is three months' salary for the average worker, who lives on 3,000 metacals ($100) a month.

Erdogan agrees to comply with court ruling

Demolition of Gezi Park to be suspended

Stephen Starr

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s continued pleas to protesters to leave a central Istanbul square fell on deaf ears last night as anti-government demonstrations entered a third week.
Although Mr Erdogan previously warned the thousands of people camped out at Gezi Park to leave before new, unspecified measures would be taken against them, the government agreed yesterday to comply with a court ruling suspending the demolition of the park.
“Turkey is a state of law. It is impossible for the executive branch to perform an unlawful act. There is a court decision, the government must conform to it,” said AKP spokesperson Huseyin Celik.

Revealed: a lost city and a holy temple

June 15, 2013

Lindsay Murdoch

South-East Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media


A mist-covered mountain in Cambodia gives up its treasure, writes Lindsay Murdoch.

Scratched and exhausted, Damian Evans pushed through dense jungle into a clearing where mountain villagers long ago attempted to grow rice, stepping on to a weed-covered mound.
''Bingo,'' the Australian archaeologist said as he picked up and examined an ancient sandstone block.
It is hard for the Khmers to think about history when they have empty stomachs. 
''This is a collapsed temple that was part of a bustling civilisation that existed 1200 years ago … It looks like the looters were unaware it was here.''

Guatemalan syphilis victims lose hope in legal battle against US

Thousands of Guatemalans were intentionally infected with STDs in the 1940s by US public health researchers. An appeal on their case against the US government was dismissed this week.

By Romina Ruiz-GorienaContributor / June 14, 2013
 As a nine-year-old child, Marta recalled seeing her name on a list to go to the doctor’s office. An orphan, she had been living in the National Education Center since the age of six.
Before long, she would be prodded and poked every week for a year, receiving shots in her hip and shoulder, and having blood drawn.
“My mother tells us that she would ask over and over again'why are you doing this if I am not even sick?'" says Luis Estuardo Vasquez Orellana, one of Marta Lidia Orellana Guerra’s five children. His mother, who is still alive today, also underwent unnecessary back surgery and was left to rest hanging upside down on and off in post-surgery recovery for months.
It was 1946, and Ms. Orellana was one of thousands of Guatemalans who were unwittingly subjected to secret human experiments led by US doctors.

Japan's 007 island still carries scars of wartime past

By Diana Magnay, CNN
Hashima Island, Japan (CNN) -- Hashima Island is one of the strangest places you'll ever be able to explore -- and few can.
This eerie, desolate place of deserted tower blocks some 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) off the coast of Nagasaki in western Japan was opened to tourists four years ago but access is strictly limited.
The buildings are too decrepit, so tourists skirt a defined path around one corner of the island. Only with special permission from Nagasaki City Council can you pick your way through the apartment blocks and climb the so-called "Stairway to Hell" to get a proper view of the ruins from the wind-battered shrine at the top.
It is a scene more of devastation than decay when viewed from above. Decades of typhoons and sea water erosion have torn at the concrete high-rises. Foundations hammered deep into the ocean to support the huge concrete structures stand exposed. Timber, which once lined balconies, lies in piles where the wind has left it.





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