Stricken Chinese cruise ship lifted from Yangtze River; hundreds of bodies recovered
Updated 0759 GMT (1459 HKT) June 6, 2015
The Eastern Star is upright once again, looking almost normal with its bottom resting on the water and its deck and cabins clear above it.
The ship's positioning Friday was a step forward in the dayslong nightmare playing out on a section of the Yangtze River that flows through Hubei province. It means answers should be easier to come by as to why the Eastern Star capsized Monday night and what can be done to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
It also means closure could be coming soon to hundreds of families.
At least 396 bodies had been recovered by Saturday, according to Chinese state media. There are 46 people still unaccounted for.
Unique consultation brings climate down to the citizens
Today people from 80 countries will join the largest ever global debate on climate change
in Copenhagen
From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, people from 80 countries will come together around the world today for the largest ever global debate on climate change.
The “World Wide Views” meeting is a unique experiment in simultaneous civic participation, hearing opinions from more than 10,000 people in more than 80 countries in one day, from 10am to 5pm.
Organisers hope that, by bringing ordinary citizens to a table previously dominated by bureaucrats and lobbyists, they can help break the long-running deadlock in UN talks to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
The war in southern Thailand is long-running and threatens to spread
June 6, 2015 - 12:15AMLindsay Murdoch
South-East Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media
On May 16 this year, a bomber walked unnoticed into a toy store in the main street of Yala, a town in southern Thailand only a few hours' drive from the country's main tourist beaches, and left a shopping bag packed with explosives.
Minutes later, a mobile telephone in the bag detonated the bomb that ripped through the store, one of three dozen blasts over three days in May that injured 22 people and terrified the town's population of 65,000.
As soldiers, police and firemen rushed to the scene, three year-old Fadia sat trembling on the concrete floor of her family's agriculture products shop 50 metres away.
Explosions at Turkish political rally kill 2, injure 100
Updated 0944 GMT (1644 HKT) June 6, 2015
Two explosions at a campaign rally for the Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party left two dead and more than a 100 wounded just two days before Turkey's parliamentary elections, the semi-official Anadolou news agency reported, quoting Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker.
The explosion occurred in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, an area populated by many Kurds.
Selahattin Demirtas, the leader of the party, was expected on the stage to make his final and most anticipated campaign speech. In televised images of the campaign event, two rally organizers can be heard yelling for ambulances and music for the event is cut.
Philippines wants defense pact for Japanese troops
By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III said Friday he wants to start talks to allow Japanese troops into his Southeast Asian country, as both nations try to build up their defenses at a time of tense territorial disputes with China.
A visiting forces agreement would allow for refueling and other logistical and legal needs for periodic visits by Japanese troops, Aquino told a news conference at the end of his four-day visit to Tokyo. The Philippines has similar deals with the U.S. and Australia.
The Philippines and Japan on Thursday signed a strategic partnership agreement and said they would start talks on selling Japanese military hardware and technology, while bolstering exercises and operations between their militaries. Japan will be delivering 10 patrol ships for the Philippine coast guard and also promised to upgrade its surveillance and defense capability.
Violence looms over Mexico elections
A mounting body count and widespread disillusion with the govering elite threaten to mar midterm vote
by Alfonso Serrano @serfer6
Mexico is not burning, the country’s Interior Minister Miguel Ángel Osorio assured citizens last month in response to pre-election violence that saw at least three candidates murdered by mid-May. But flaming government buildings and a mounting body count have defied Osorio in the run-up to Sunday’s midterm elections, in which 500 congressional seats and nine governorships are at play.
Since Osorio’s declaration, at least four more candidates from various political parties have been gunned down as dozens of criminal gangs coerce candidates in a battle to control local terrain and drug-trafficking routes. At least 20 additional candidates have been intimidated out of the running. The drug-fueled violence has coalesced in recent days with violent protests in Mexico’s southern states, as teachers opposed to education reform, joined by parents of the missing 43 students in Guerrero state, have blocked highways, sabotaged would-be voting stations and burned thousands of ballots.
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