Six In The Morning Sunday February 1

Killings leave Japan's pursuit of bigger foreign role at the crossroads

Shinzo Abe could risk public support if he pushes too far with his ‘proactive pacifism’ after the shocking deaths of two Japanese at the hands of Isis

Tokyo’s determination to play a more visible role in international affairs is at a crossroads following the violent deaths of two of its citizens at the hands of Islamic State [Isis] militants.

Japan awoke on Sunday to the grim news of Kenji Goto’s beheading, a week after his compatriot, Haruna Yukawa, met the same fate, and to the realisation that they are now on Isis’s list of targets.

At stake is the future of Shinzo Abe’s “proactive pacifism”, a more robust defence posture the prime minister has used to justify record military spending, arms exports and a legislative assault on Japan’s postwar diplomatic raison d’etre.

Blogger takes on Mexico's drug gangs by publishing vital news on the latest shootouts, abductions and cartel roadblocks

A secret online activist, unbowed by threats and murders, is nominated for a free-speech award

CATHERINE VERVIER

 

 

Sunday 01 February 2015

Being a citizen journalist in Tamaulipas, one of Mexico’s most violent states, means living a life of extreme risk and expecting very little by way of reward.

For three years, the anonymous administrator of the website Valor por Tamaulipas (Courage for Tamaulipas) has hidden his online identity from everyone he knows and faced a constant barrage of threats against him and his family. He has seen colleagues brutally murdered, while criminal gangs and corrupt officials apparently continue to operate with impunity in his state.

In recent years, Tamaulipas, which borders Texas in the US, has become a black hole for reporting, with traditional media outlets resorting to self-censorship to avoid upsetting the drug cartels that dominate the region. But there is one place where citizens can read about stories that the local newspapers, television channels and radio stations dare not cover.

Nigeria's Maiduguri 'under attack'

Suspected Boko Haram members launch offensive against city's south.

01 Feb 2015 07:41 GMT

Suspected Boko Haram fighters have launched an offensive against the key Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the largest city in Borno State, witnesses said. 

Armed men on Sunday hit Maiduguri's south in a bid to gain entry to the strategically important city.

Al Jazeera's Ahmed Idriss, reporting from Abuja, said the offensive could be an attempt by the group to "prove a point" following recent successes by multinational forces fighting Boko Haram in Chad and Cameroon.

"The military also says it is deploying large numbers of troops to north of the city as this could be a ploy or diversion by Boko Haram," he added.

Why Paris terrorist wore a GoPro

In a generation raised on YouTube, even terrorists understand the power of a video clip. 

By Jessica Mendoza, Staff Writer

It’s not an event unless it’s on video.

That appears to have been the case for terror suspect Amedy Coulibaly, who wore a camera on his body when he attacked a Jewish grocery store in Paris earlier this month, according to multiple news outlets.

The information, first released by CNN, supports an earlier report by French magazine L’Express that Coulibaly used a GoPro camera to record seven minutes of his raid. He then emailed a copy of the clip using a computer at the market before he was killed by police, according to L’Express reporter Eric Pelletier.

1 February 2015 Last updated at 00:00

The Swedish Schindler who disappeared

By Rob BrownBBC World Service

During World War Two, a young Swedish diplomat saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazis. But in January 1945 Soviet troops arrested him - he was never seen in public again.

The day German soldiers arrived in Budapest is one that 89-year-old Marianne Balshone will never forget. 

She was due to meet her fiance, Pista, on the quay of the Danube but he called to tell her that German troops were crossing the bridges of the city - he told her to stay at home. 

"From that day on, everything went downhill… that was the beginning of the end of my youth," says Balshone. She was 17 years old at the time. 

Frank Vajda also remembers that day. As an eight-year-old, he watched as the German tanks rolled into his city. "They came roaring by and I remember the people being ecstatic... all giving the Hitler salute and screaming... I was horrified."

Showdown looms for Beijing and Hong Kong

The gulf between the Chinese Communist Party and pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong has grown increasingly wide. As they did last year, the two camps and their opposing ideologies are likely to clash again.

Four months ago, the Occupy Central crusade - also known as the Umbrella Movement - exposed to the world the shocking frailty of the "one country two systems" model.

Occupy Central was a reaction against the Xi Jinping leadership's efforts to tighten control over the Hong Kong, despite guarantees that the Special Administration Region (SAR) enjoys a high degree of autonomy apart from foreign and defense issues.

A "White Paper on the Practice of the 'One Country, Two Systems' Policy" issued last June by the central government emphasized that Beijing has "complete jurisdiction" over Hong Kong and that all of the SAR's administrators - including judges- should demonstrate "patriotism" toward the socialist motherland. The document also warned against "a small minority of Hong Kong people colluding with outside forces to interfere in China's domestic affairs."