Six In The Morning Friday July 3

Greek debt crisis: Major rallies due ahead of vote

• 3 July 2015
 
• From the sectionEurope

Rival camps in Greece are set to hold major rallies in Athens ahead of Sunday's crucial referendum on an international bailout terms.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is expected to be at one rally to support the "No" vote, opposing the terms.

EU leaders have warned that a "No" vote could see Greece leave the eurozone.

Greece's economy is already being squeezed after the country lost access to fresh funds. Banks have been shut and limits imposed on cash withdrawals.

Greece has been in deadlock with its creditors for months but only called the referendum last week.

There has been no campaigning as such, the BBC's Chris Morris reports from Athens - just a few chaotic days as supporters and opponents of the governing Syriza party have jostled for position.

Pope Francis can expect warm welcome and tough questions in South America

 The pope’s visit to Ecuador and Bolivia shows his commitment to addressing poverty, but where will he stand on Paraguay’s 10-year-old rape victim case?

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome, Laurence Blair in Asunción, and Uki Goñi in Buenos Aires

Friday 3 July 2015 09.00 BST

Pope Francis is expected to be confronted by a host of thorny issues when he touches down in Quito, Ecuador on Sunday to begin an seven-day tour of South America, including a contentious case involving a 10-year-old rape victim in Paraguay who has been refused access to an abortion.

The pope is sure to be asked by the Holy See’s traveling press corp to weigh in on the case – which has been condemned by human rights experts - as well as other issues that he has not spoken publicly about, such as the supreme court decision this month that legalised gay marriage across the US.

The popular Argentinean pontiff will be greeted like a rock star during his tour of Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay. The trip is being seen as a triumphal homecoming of sorts for the pope, who is making his first return to the region since hisvisit to Brazil in 2013. That trip, in which Francis visited poverty-stricken favelas, was originally planned for his predecessor, Pope Benedict.

Malaysia state fund 1MBD denies sending money to PM Najib

The Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB has denied providing funds to the country's prime minister. It follows media reports that entities linked to the fund had deposited millions into Najib Razak's personal accounts.

Both investment fund 1MDB and Prime Minister Najib Razak's office have denied allegations, reported in "The Wall Street Journal," that banks, companies and government agencies linked to state fund 1MDB had wired some $700 million (631 million euros) into Najib's personal accounts.

"There have been concerted efforts by certain individuals to undermine confidence in our economy, tarnish the government and remove a democratically elected prime minister," Najib's office said in a statement in reaction to the reports, calling them a "continuation of political sabotage."

For its part, 1MDB called the reports "highly irresponsible" and said it "wishes to make clear that the company has never provided any funds to the prime minister."

Muzzling the Media: Defying the Kremlin Crackdown on Press Freedom

By Benjamin Bidder and Matthias Schepp

Against the backdrop of the bloody conflict in Ukraine, the Kremlin is seeking to harness the Russian media and increasingly clamping down on critical voices. But some journalists are refusing to deliver pro-Putin propaganda.

It takes a while to remove an article from 50,000 newspapers after they have already been printed. Seven editors of the Siberian weekly paperNovaya Buryatia spent fully three days on the project, though they were assisted by secretaries and graphic organizers, of removing page 16 from every single copy. Only then could the issue of the free paper, known for its independent editorial stance, be distributed as usual in shops, schools and offices in the province of Buryatia on Lake Baikal.

What triggered this bizarre act of self-censorship on the part of the editor-in-chief was a call from Russia's mighty domestic intelligence service, the FSB. President Vladimir Putin's security services, it seemed, deemed the article a threat to domestic security and to Russia's international reputation.

Myanmar military press-gangs Rohingya into forced labour

July 3, 2015 - 1:27PM

Aubrey Belford

Buthidaung: In the fertile river valleys near Myanmar's border with Bangladesh, stateless Rohingya​ Muslims say there is no let-up in soldiers forcing them into hard labour, despite the government launching a campaign three years ago to end the practice.

The military, which ruled the former Burma for nearly half a century before handing power to a semi-civilian government in 2011, has vowed to end forced labour. President Thein Sein, a former general, promised in 2012 to eradicate what was once a military custom within three years.

But army units in the north of Myanmar's restive Rakhine state still routinely force minority Rohingya to porter loads, tend military-owned fields and maintain military infrastructure, according to interviews with 16 villagers in three hamlets.

Evidence of ongoing forced labour could complicate Myanmar's efforts to convince the United States to drop sanctions introduced during military rule.

China criticized over Ramadan restrictions

By Ivan Watson, Serena Dong and Shen Lu, CNN

Updated 1303 GMT (2003 HKT) July 2, 2015

Some schools and local government agencies in China's restive Xinjiang province have adopted policies that critics, including the Turkish government, say prevent residents from fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The fast -- traditionally observed from dawn until dusk -- is a central tenet of Islam, the religion practiced by many of the ethnic Uyghurs native to China's western province of Xinjiang.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry published a statement this week saying that reports of Uyghurs being "banned from fasting and fulfilling other acts of worship have been received with sadness by the Turkish public opinion."