Six In The Morning Saturday March 29

29 March 2014 Last updated at 09:05

Afghan election commission HQ under attack

Insurgents are attacking the headquarters of the Afghan election commission in Kabul, a week before the presidential election, police say.

Gunmen have entered a nearby building and are firing at the election commission with automatic weapons.

The attack comes a week before presidential elections which the Taliban have vowed to disrupt.

It comes a day after a major attack on a building housing foreign aid workers in the Afghan capital.

A police officer quoted by Associated Press news agency says the assailants have not entered the heavily secured compound of the International Election Commission and are based in a house about 500m away.

The insurgents are attacking the commission headquarters with assault rifles and some heavier weapons, says the BBC's David Loyn

Tony Abbott hails 100 days without asylum-seeker boats arriving

Prime minister says that during the same period under the former Labor government there were 66 boat arrivals

Australian Associated Press

Saturday 29 March 201403.33 GMT

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has touted the success of his anti-people- smuggling operation, but stopped short of labelling it mission accomplished, as the end of the monsoon season is looming.

Abbott on Saturday said it had been 100 days since an asylum-seeker boat had reached Australian shores.

He said that during the same period under the former Labor government there had been 66 boat arrivals.

Abbott warned, however, that the end of the monsoon season might prompt asylum seekers to attempt to reach Australia by boat.

Twenty years on, Rwanda still bears the scars of its genocide

RICHARD DOWDEN Saturday 29 March 2014

It was possibly the fastest genocide in history. They called it work – “Kasi” – carried out with methodical planning and execution. Guns, grenades, spears, studded clubs, hatchets but mostly kitchen knives were used. Many women were raped before they were murdered. The final solution was planned and proclaimed by national and local government, and carried out by the army and police and the ordinary people guided by traditional social hierarchies based on the Collines – hills of Rwanda. All were urged on by radio stations and some public officials, and carried out with appalling efficiency.

In such a densely populated country it was hard to hide or escape. Even the churches were not places of sanctuary. Indeed many pastors and Catholic priests were involved in the killing. Some killed because they wanted to, others because they were forced to.

Three reasons Putin will march into eastern Ukraine. And three he won’t.

Putin and Obama agreed Friday to seek a 'diplomatic path' to resolve the crisis. But what Putin intends is unclear. Here are reasons for and against his sending forces into eastern Ukraine.

By Howard LaFranchi, Staff writer 

WASHINGTON

Will he or won’t he?

Concerns are growing that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be preparing to launch a lightning military strike into eastern Ukraine, as US military officials report suspicious increases in the number of Russian troops amassed on the Russian-Ukraine border.

Even President Obama has gotten into the speculation about Mr. Putin’s intentions, saying in an interview with CBS News released Friday that the Russians might “simply” be trying to “intimidate” Ukraine’s struggling interim government – “or it may be that they’ve got additional plans.”

Calling on Putin not to “revert back to the kinds of practices that … were prevalent during the cold war,” Mr. Obama urged the Russian leader to “de-escalate the situation” and “move back” Russian troops from the border.

But also on Friday, Putin called Obama, and the two leaders discussed ways to forge a “diplomatic path” for resolving the Ukraine crisis. The two presidents agreed to have their top diplomats – Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov – meet soon to discuss what the White House called a “de-escalatory approach" to the crisis.

Egypt reopens Gaza crossing for three days

Following a 50-day closure, the land crossing is limited to those seeking medical treatment, students and foreigners. Last updated: 29 Mar 2014 08:33

Egypt has reopened its land border with the Gaza Strip after a 50-day closure, but only for three days and then just for special cases, Gaza's governing group Hamas has said.

Passage to Egypt will be limited to those seeking medical treatment, students going to their places of study, foreigners and in cases deemed as humanitarian, according to Hamas's interior ministry.

A busload of Palestinians heading for Egypt was the first vehicle through the crossing in the city of Rafah, which is also open to traffic in the opposite direction.

Egypt has severely restricted access through the crossing since July, when the army deposed Hamas's ally, president Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Why is public support for the death penalty declining?

Fifty-five percent of US adults support the death penalty, according to a Pew Research Center analysis released Friday – down from a peak of 78 percent in 1996.

 

By Mark Guarino9 hours ago

Public support for the death penalty is dropping in the United States, although more than half of adults still say they favor it as a punishment for murder.

Fifty-five percent of US adults support the death penalty, according to a Pew Research Center analysis released Friday – down from a peak of 78 percent in 1996. In 2011, the figure was 62 percent.

Why the decline in support?

The trend coincides with a drop in violent crime in most major cities – something that also peaked in the early-to-mid-1990s, notes Drew DeSilver for the Pew Research “Fact Tank” blog. In 1991, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation data, there were about 758 violent crimes reported per 100,000 people. By 2012, the rate had fallen to about 387 crimes per 100,000 – the lowest rate in more than four decades.