Six In The Morning Wednesday December 11

11 December 2013 Last updated at 08:24 GMT

India top court reinstates gay sex ban

India's top court has upheld a law which criminalises gay sex, in a ruling seen as a major blow to gay rights.

The Supreme Court ruling reverses a landmark 2009 Delhi High Court order which had decriminalised homosexual acts.

The court said it was up to parliament to legislate on the issue.

According to Section 377, a 153-year-old colonial law, a same-sex relationship is an "unnatural offence" and punishable by a 10-year jail term.

Several political, social and religious groups had petitioned the Supreme Court to have the law reinstated in the wake of the 2009 court ruling.

Kiev protests: outrage as police descend on barricades with chainsaws

Unexpected scenes only a few hours after President Viktor Yanukovych pledged restraint to EU foreign policy chief

• Shaun Walker in Kiev
• theguardian.com, Wednesday 11 December 2013 06.28 GMT

Thousands of riot police carried out a co-ordinated attack on barricades in Kiev during the dead of night on Wednesday – a determined and unexpected crackdown on protesters who have occupied the centre of Ukraine's capital for the past fortnight.

As temperatures fell to -13C (-55F) during the coldest night of the winter to date, columns of riot police closed in on Independence Square, hub of the protests that erupted after President Viktor Yanukovych pulled out of an association pact with the EU that had been due for signing at a summit in Vilnius last month. Shortly after 1am battalions of police approached the vast square from all sides and began to dismantle the makeshift barricades that have been erected in recent days.

Several police officers confirmed they had been given orders to clear barricades from the boundaries of the square but not remove the tent camp that has sprung up inside the space.

Uruguay becomes first country to legalise marijuana trade

HEATHER SAUL 

Wednesday 11 December 2013

Uruguay has approved a ground breaking bill legalising marijuana, making it the first country to allow the growth, sale and consumption of the drug.

The decision was made by senators following almost 12 hours of debate late on Tuesday evening, with the bill passing with 16 votes in favour and 13 against in Congress. Congress' lower house had already approved the measure in late July.

The bill, which is expected to come into effect after April, allows Uruguayan residents registered on a database and aged 18 and over to purchase up to 40g (1,4oz) of the drug each month from licensed pharmacies.

The 120-day period gives authorities time to establish a control board in order to regulate standards, prices and the amount of the drug being consumed. Everyone involved in the production and sale of marijuana will have to be registered and licensed by authorities. License-holders will be limited to growing six plants in their own home per year.

Thai protesters claim authority over government

December 11, 2013 - 11:50AM

Sinfah Tunsarawuth and Grant Peck

The head of Thailand's protest movement on Tuesday extended his extraordinary claims to holding power over government activities, issuing orders to officials over whom he has no legal or actual authority.

Suthep Thaugsuban's latest move was bold, but bizarre. He turned the tables on his nemesis, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, saying his opposition group was ordering the prosecution of her on a charge of insurrection - a capital crime for which he himself has been charged for leading temporary occupations of government offices and urging civil servants to refuse to go to work. 

The orders from Mr Thaugsuban gave no clue as to how the deadlock over Thailand's political crisis may be resolved, but were likely to keep tensions high after violent clashes early last week between protesters and police.

As Argentine police stand down, looters step up

Police are striking for higher wages in 16 of Argentina's 23 provinces. Looting has followed, reflecting an unaddressed social volatility.

By Jonathan Gilbert, Correspondent 

BUENOS AIRES

 Argentina has witnessed widespread looting in recent days as mobs seized on a security vacuum caused by police striking for salary hikes in at least 16 of the country’s 23 provinces.

The government often denounces attempts to destabilize it and says the violence – which has caused at least nine deaths, including six last night, according to local media – was an organized effort to generate chaos. But analysts say it reflects a deep-seated social volatility that the administration of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has done little to address.
 
“It’s a sort of time bomb,” says Sergio Berensztein, a political analyst in Buenos Aires. “There’s a social tension, a marginalization that has been put on display here in a very clear manner.”

Southeast Asia

Dec 11, '13

At hand was an opportunity for reform, a chance to lead Vietnam in a new liberal direction with the popular backing of the Vietnamese people. Instead, on November 28, the National Assembly cemented the authoritarian status quo, reaffirming and solidifying the central role of the ruling Communist Party in national affairs. 

Although the recent constitutional amendment process was open to the general public, the people's opinions, many expressed critically on the country's vibrant blogosphere, others collected in thousands of public conferences and discussions, were ultimately ignored. Such is the tradition in Vietnam's one-party state, where the government commands complete control and squashes civil



liberties to maintain its dominance. The new charter will take effect on January 1. 

The heart of the disagreement between the people and the state is the new constitution's Article 4, which as in the 1992 charter legally guarantees the Communist Party's central role. The new charter expands that controversial article's scope, which under the previous constitution identified the Communist Party as the "vanguard of the Vietnamese working class", but in the new one includes "all of the Vietnamese people".