Six In The Morning Thursday September 19

Egypt army storms area near Cairo

Fighting between security forces and armed groups in Kerdassah district leaves one policeman dead, state TV reports. Last Modified: 19 Sep 2013 09:06

Egyptian troops and police have stormed the Kerdassah district in the outskirts of Cairo to clear it of "terrorist elements", security officials said, triggering clashes with armed groups based in the area.

Vehicles carrying armed personnel were sent into the village on Thursday while army helicopters hovered above.

The clashes have so far left one policeman dead and at least 48 people were arrested, the interior ministry said, adding that another 135 people were wanted for arrest.

It said police forces took control of the area and imposed a curfew.

Security troops launched an operation in the area to arrest people accused of torching police stations and killing about 11 security officers in clashes that erupted following the army's ouster of President Mohamed Morsi last July.

Police forces had not been allowed in Kerdassah since then.

Thursday 19 September 2013

Robert Fisk in Damascus: Assad's troops may be winning this war in Syria's capital - untouched by Obama's threats

Dispatch from Damascus: The killing fields remain, and truth is as rare as hope

And so the war goes on. Missile alerts may be over but the killing fields remain, untouched by Obama’s pale threats or Sergei Lavrov’s earnestness. The Syrian army fights on in the rubble and the shells fly over Damascus and the road from Lebanon is still littered with checkpoints. Only when you reach the city do you notice how many people have now built iron guard doors before their homes and iron gates on car parks. The claim that 40-50,000 rebels surround the capital is probably untrue but there are up to 80,000 security men and soldiers inside Damascus and, on this battlefront, they may well be winning.

It’s a campaign that started long before the use of sarin gas on 21 August and continued long afterwards. But on that fateful night, the Syrian army did mount one of its fiercest bombardments of rebel areas. In 12 separate attacks, it tried to put special forces men inside the insurgent enclaves, backed up by artillery fire. These included the suburbs of Harasta, and Arbin.

Killing of rap artist sparks protests in dozens of Greek cities

Hip-hop musician Pavlos Fyssas stabbed to death by member of Golden Dawn party

Damian Mac Con Uladh

Thousands of people took to the streets in dozens of cities across Greece yesterday evening, in protest at the fatal stabbing the previous night of a well-known anti-fascist hip-hop artist by a member of a neo-Nazi party. The incident sparked condemnation across the country’s fractured political spectrum.

Police fired tear gas and deployed water canon after some protesters set dumpsters on fire and started hurling things at police lines, in angry scenes reminiscent of the rioting after the police shooting of a teenager in 2008. Police said they made 23 arrests and detained 42.

Pavlos Fyssas (34) suffered two fatal knife wounds to the chest as he was being chased, around midnight, by a large group of men, many wearing black sweatshirts and camouflage combats, in a working-class district of Piraeus.

Match-fixing scandal: police arrest 14 in Singapore

September 19, 2013

Lindsay Murdoch

South-East Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media

The alleged financier and organiser of an international syndicate accused of rigging soccer matches has been arrested with 13 others in Singapore, only days after the Victorian Premier League arrests shocked Australian sport.

 Singaporean Dan Tan Seet Eng, 49, employed Wilson Raj Perumal, the alleged mastermind of Australian match-rigging, investigators told Fairfax Media.

But investigators said the two men had a spectacular falling out over Mr Perumal's gambling problems and Mr Tan had sent him to Europe in an attempt to set him up for arrest. That backfired when Mr Perumal became a supergrass under police protection in Hungary, investigators said.

ICC calls on US to arrest Sudan genocide suspect Bashir

Sapa-AFP | 19 September, 2013 10:36

The International Criminal Court has urged US authorities to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, an indicted war crimes suspect, should he travel to New York for a UN summit.

The court has asked "the competent US authorities to arrest Omar al-Bashir and surrender him to the court, in the event he enters their territory," it said in a statement.

Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide in Darfur, has embarrassed the US government and the United Nations by seeking a visa to enter the United States to attend the annual UN General Assembly next week.

Washington opposes Bashir attending the annual meeting, but it has refused to say whether it can or will block the Sudanese leader.

North Koreans are visiting Singapore – whither the 'hermit' kingdom?

A nonprofit in Singapore is paving a path that some say may help open up North Korea to the outside world and stoke interest in private commerce and economic growth there.

By Tom Benner, Contributor 

SINGAPORE

Neither Dennis Rodman nor tough talk from Washington and Seoul have improved relations with the new regime in North Korea.

But a little-known professionals’ network is trying to pave a path that may help open up the reclusive North to the outside world and stoke interest in private commerce and economic growth there.

The Choson Exchange, a nonprofit based inSingapore, regularly sends business volunteers toPyongyang and brings North Koreans to Singapore, in an effort to connect young people through workshops in economic policy, international business, and law.

The group’s ability to network with young North Korean professionals signals an apparent willingness within the regime to open up to market ideas, the one force that analysts say can drive positive change in the country. “The idea behind all of this,” says Geoffrey See, the founder of the program, “is that we would like to see North Korea integrate with the rest of the world.”