Monday, May 9, 2016

Six In The Morning Monday May 9

Philippines election: Polls open with outspoken mayor tipped to win


People in the Philippines are voting for a new president and other leaders, with outspoken mayor Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte the favourite to win.
Five candidates are running but Mr Duterte led polls ahead of voting, despite controversial comments while campaigning and a hardline stance.
The campaign has been driven by public concerns about the economy, inequality and rampant corruption.
More than 100,000 police officers are on duty amid violence ahead of voting.
On Monday, seven people were shot dead in an ambush by unknown gunmen in the town of Rosario, in Cavite province, south of the capital, Manila.
The region had been considered an area of concern because of its political rivalries, said local media.






Tax havens have no economic justification, say top economists

Thomas Piketty and Jeffrey Sachs among signatories of letter urging world leaders at UK anti-corruption summit to lift secrecy


More than 300 economists, including Thomas Piketty, are urging world leaders at a London summit this week to recognise that there is no economic benefit to tax havens, demanding that the veil of secrecy that surrounds them be lifted.
David Cameron agreed to host the summit nearly a year ago, but the event is in danger of simply turning a spotlight on how the British government has failed to persuade its overseas territories to stop harbouring secretly stored cash.
British officials are locked in negotiations with the crown dependencies and overseas territories, trying to persuade them to agree to a form of automatic exchange of information on beneficial ownership of companies. So far the overseas territories have only agreed to allow UK law enforcement agencies access to a privately held register of beneficial ownership, but the automatic exchange agreement would give a wider range of countries access to information on the ownership of shell companies.


BBC reporter Rupert Wingfield-Hayes detained in North Korea

Wingfield-Hayes, producer Maria Byrne and cameraman Matthew Goddard will be expelled from country

A BBC reporter, a producer and a cameraman have been detained in North Korea and are being expelled from the country, the BBC has said.
Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, producer Maria Byrne and cameraman Matthew Goddard were detained on Friday as they were about to leave the reclusive communist state.
Mr Wingfield-Hayes was questioned for eight hours and made to sign a statement by North Korean officials, the corporation said.
The team has now been taken to the airport.
All three were in Pyongyang ahead of the Workers Party Congress. They were accompanying a delegation of Nobel prize laureates on a research trip.


Saudia Arabia and Iran: The Cold War of Islam


The archenemies Iran and Saudi Arabia are battling for supremacy in the Middle East and are carrying out their struggle in proxy wars in Yemen, Syria and Iraq. Domestically, though, the two countries are facing remarkably similar problems.

No previous US president had been made to suffer such an indignity when visiting America's supposedly closest ally in the Arab world: When Barack Obama touched down at the airport in Riyadh in mid-April, King Salman opted to remain in his palace. The most powerful man in the world was received by the governor of Riyadh instead. There was no pomp or ceremonial reception and state-controlled television declined to broadcast the arrival. Obama seemed slightly at a loss on the tarmac before trying to cover up the affront with a broad smile.

The message was clear: Saudi Arabia feels as though it has been left in the lurch by America and is not afraid to show that it isn't happy.


Greece approves tax overhaul amid austerity protests


Thousands protest in Athens and Thessaloniki as parliament votes in favour of controversial tax and pensions overhaul.


Greece's parliament has approved a controversial overhaul of taxes and pensions despite mass rallies against the measures.
Police said almost 18,000 people turned up in Athens and about 8,000 in Thessaloniki on Sunday against the changes demanded by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund that the government approved in the lead-up to a crucial meeting of eurozone creditors in Brussels.
Security forces fired tear gas to disperse petrol-bomb-throwing protesters in Athens.



El Chapo's new prison high on control, low on human rights

Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was transferred to a new prison that rates highly in government control but low on inmate conditions


The northern Mexico prison where authorities suddenly transferred convicted drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is rated as the worst in the federal penitentiary system for inmate conditions and other factors, according to the government's own reporting.
The Cefereso No. 9 facility on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso, Texas, did score well on "conditions of governability," perhaps an indication that authorities believe they can control Guzman's environment there and limit the risk of him pulling off a third brazen jailbreak.
But Michael Vigil, the former head of international operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, questioned the logic of sending Guzman to a less-secure prison that's in territory firmly controlled by "El Chapo's" Sinaloa cartel after it emerged victorious from a war with the Juarez cartel in recent years.



























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