Six In The Morning Tuesday December 3

3 December 2013 Last updated at 08:56 GMT

North Korea powerbroker 'dismissed'

A powerful uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been removed from his post, South Korean media reports say.

Citing intelligence sources, they say Chang Song-thaek lost his position as vice-chairman of the North's top military body.

Two close aides were also executed for corruption, according to the reports.

If confirmed, Mr Chang's removal would be the most significant upheaval in North Korea's leadership since Mr Kim succeeded his father, analysts say.

Kim Jong-un took over after Kim Jong-il died in 2011.

Ukraine's leader calls for calm as opposition bids to topple government

Russian leader calls protests a “pogrom” to oust Ukrainian president

Daniel McLaughlin

 

Ukraine’s leaders have refused to back down in a confrontation with hundreds of thousands of people who have taken to the streets to protest against the collapse of a landmark deal with the European Union and violent conduct by riot police.

President Viktor Yanukovich said last night security forces had “crossed the line” in their brutal treatment of protesters in Kiev’s Independence Square on Saturday, but he also denounced opposition leaders for occupying Kiev’s city hall and his prime minister accused them of planning to seize parliament amid rallies he claimed were spiralling dangerously out of control.

Russia also weighed into the mounting crisis, with President Vladimir Putindenouncing the protests as “more like a pogrom than a revolution” and suggesting they were fuelled less by public anger over the failed EU deal than the desire of the opposition to oust Mr Yanukovich. 

Japan's new defense approach

In an attempt to curb China's hegemonic ambitions, Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe is set on strengthening his country's security ties with the United States. But the new approach is poisoning the political climate at home.

This week all eyes in East Asia are set on Joe Biden. On Tuesday, December 2, the US vice president is set to meet with Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe in Tokyo to discuss about how to deal with China's newly declared air defense zone, before traveling to Beijing and Seoul for similar talks. Each of Biden's statements in the Japanese capital will be closely monitored, as Japan fears its sole security partner - the United States - might deviate from its own hard line.

The State Department recently unnerved Tokyo when it advised US commercial airlines to notify Chinese authorities of flight plans when traveling through the new air defense zone. The zone covers an area which includes the disputed islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

Thai protests: media call in the drones

December 3, 2013

Lindsay Murdoch

South-East Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media

Bangkok: Thailand’s media has been increasingly using small, unmanned drones that are giving them spectacular video and photographic panoramas of running battles on the streets of Bangkok.

The drones that take off vertically and are powered aloft by helicopter-type rotor blades are providing an accurate picture of the number of protesters, a hotly contested issue in street rallies with anti-government protesters exaggerating numbers and the government playing them down.

They are providing a bird’s eye view for journalists who have been targets of attacks on the ground as the mood towards them has become more aggressive as the protests have dragged on. Bullets apparently fired by a sniper hit the vehicle of an al-Jazeera television crew on Monday.

Nigeria crisis: Boko Haram attack Maiduguri airbase

Boko Haram insurgents have attacked a military airbase in north-eastern Nigeria, destroying two helicopters, the authorities say.

Eyewitnesses say hundreds of militants attacked several areas of the city of Maiduguri, starting early on Monday.

A 24-hour curfew has been imposed in Maiduguri. Its civilian airport was also briefly closed.

A BBC correspondent says the large-scale, co-ordinated attack is a big setback for the Nigerian military.

Thousands of people have been killed since 2009, when Boko Haram launched its campaign to install Islamic law.

Jewish activists set sights on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, raising alarm in Muslim world

By William Booth and Ruth Eglash, Tuesday, December 3, 8:51 AM E-mail the writer

JERUSALEM — A small but growing movement by Jewish activists demanding the right to pray at the site of their destroyed temple, in the heart of this disputed capital’s Old City, is creating a potentially explosive clash with the Muslim world, which considers the spot holy and bans Jews from public worship there.

Each week, hundreds of Jews ascend the creaky wooden ramp built above the Western Wall and enter what is often called the most contested real estate on Earth. Many then embark upon a game of hide-and-seek with their police escorts — whispering forbidden prayers while pretending to talk into cellphones, and getting in quick but banned bows by dropping coins and then bending to pick them up.

Their proposals, long dismissed as extremist, are now being debated in the Israeli parliament and embraced by an expansionist wing in the ruling coalition government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Shinzo Abe depicted as Chaplin's Great Dictator over State Secrets Law

The main body of the poster reads

National information is unilaterally concealed.
What is kept secret is secret.
Why it’s kept secret is also secret.
It can also remain a secret and be thrown away.
The information will be public 60 years later (after the people involved die).
The people holding the secret themselves, their family and people close to them are all being watched.
Those pursuing the secret will be tossed into prison.
Whistle-blowers are sent to 10 years in prison.
That is the “State Secret Bill.”

Six In The Morning Monday December 2

2 December 2013 Last updated at 08:44 GMT

Thailand protests: PM rejects resignation demand

 Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has rejected protesters' demands that she step down, amid ongoing clashes in Bangkok.

Ms Yingluck said the demands were not possible under the constitution, but that she remained open to talks.

More clashes broke out on Monday as protesters tried to storm the prime minister's office, Government House.

Four people have died in Thailand's worst political turmoil since the 2010 rallies that ended in violence.

"Anything I can do to make people happy, I am willing to do... but as prime minister, what I can do must be under the constitution," Ms Yingluck said in a televised address.

What now for the surveillance state?

Even GCHQ and the NSA know their work may not be sustainable without a proper debate about their power

• • 
    Alan Rusbridger
  • The Guardian, Monday 2 December 2013

To most visitors, Cheltenham is a charming spa town on the edge of the Cotswolds. They admire its handsome regency terraces, visit its racecourse and throng to a thriving festival scene. Less visibly, Cheltenham is also a company town built around one industry: spying.

The Government Communications Headquarters seems to be very good at what it does. Its 6,400 employees include many bright computer engineers who work tirelessly to invent ever more imaginative ways to collect vast amounts of data on hundreds of millions of people.

Some find what they do reassuring, others menacing. As for the people who work at GCHQ, they have found themselves, for the first time, under intense scrutiny. This is, to put it mildly, unwelcome to them. They would like it to stop – and they have friends in politics, the law and even the press who agree.

Kiev protesters camp out ahead of fresh protests

Ukraine’s opposition parties are demanding the resignation of the country’s leaders

Daniel McLaughlin

 About 1,000 protesters have blocked off the Ukrainian government’s main headquarters this morning in protest at its decision to suspend moves to deepen integration with Europe and to revive economic ties with Russia.

In response to an opposition call for a nationwide strike over president Viktor Yanukovich’s U-turn on Europe, protesters gathered outside the cabinet building in the capital Kiev and lined the street with obstacles, including flower pots and rubbish bins, to prevent government workers from getting inside.

“We were told to go back home and await further instructions. We simply could not get to work. All the doors are blocked,” said a government employee who tried to enter the building.

Honduras opposition supporters protest Hernandez' presidential victory

Thousands have marched in the Honduran capital to support opposition candidate Xiomara Castro's claim that she won a presidential vote. Earlier this week, the ruling party's candidate was declared the winner.

Castro (pictured right), the wife of ousted former leader Manuel Zelaya, led thousands of supporters through the streets of the capital, Tegucigalpa, to protest the result of the election. Zelaya was also present (center).

The demonstration was said to have attracted more than 5,000 supporters, who gathered outside the office of the Supreme Electoral Court.

Also at the forefront of the march were supporters who bore the coffin of a slain party activist amid chants of "murderers and fraud."

"We are here to denounce the culture of death promoted since the coup, this can only be a political crime," said Zelaya, whose removal from office in a coup in 2009 has divided the country.

Iraq: Overall death toll down, uptick in 'execution-style' killings

The U.N. reports at least 565 civilians and 94 security personnel were killed in November in Iraq, a decrease by nearly a third since October. 1,373 Iraqis were also wounded in November.

By Sameer N. Yacoub, Associated Press 

BAGHDAD

The monthly death toll in Iraq dropped by nearly a third to 659 last month, the U.N. said Sunday, but a recent spike in the number of bullet-riddled bodies found on the street has raised fears the country is facing a return to all-out warfare between Sunni and Shiite factions.

Underscoring the dangers, a triple bombing struck the funeral of the son of an anti-al-Qaida Sunni tribal leader northeast of Baghdad on Sunday, one of several attacks across the country that killed 17 people, Iraqi officials said.

Widespread chaos nearly tore the country apart in the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated government. Violence ebbed in 2008 after a series of US-Iraqi military offensives, a Shiite militia cease-fire and a Sunni revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq. Despite the relative calm, attacks continued on a near-daily basis and political tensions remained high between Sunnis and the majority Shiites who consolidated their power after the American military withdrew in December 2011.

Ivory Coast hit squads target opponents in Ghana: UN

UNITED NATIONS (United States) (AFP) - Ivory Coast sent hit squads to Ghana to kill followers of former strongman Laurent Gbagbo and paid Liberian mercenaries not to stage cross-border attacks for Gbagbo, a UN report said.

The Ghana government told United Nations sanctions experts they had "foiled" at least two missions this year by Ivory Coast agents to kill or abduct Gbagbo associates, said the report obtained by AFP Sunday.

Payments were made to Liberian mercenaries and Ivory Coast militia commanders in a bid to head off attacks aimed at destabilizing President Alassane Ouattara's government.

Japanese Politician Compares Protesters Against State Secrets Bill To Terrorists

Liberal Democratic Party General Shigeru Ishiba on Friday posted comments to his blog in which he compared those demonstrating against the governments proposed State Secrets bill to terrorists.  What's sad is that Mr. Ishiba isn't the first nor will be the last to use terrorism as a slur against those who oppose a governments policy.   During the runup to the Iraq war the Bush administration used similar tactics in declaring either you're "with us  or you're against us" implying rather implicitly that any opposition to the invasion of Iraq was tantamount to supporting terrorists.  Statements weren't the only means used to silence those they considered to members of the radical left.  The USA Patriot act, warrantless wiretapping, illegal searches of homes and businesses and indefinite detention of Americans labeled enemy combatants.     Where does it all stop.  For its clear that Mr. Ishaba doesn't believe in the peoples right to for redress of their grievances against the government.  He's saying they should shut-up and let those who their betters decide what's best for them.

Mr. Ishiba Japan has an elected representative government. You may have heard of this particular concept its all the rage now.  Yet, the Liberal Democratic Party which you lead clearly doesn't believe in the  peoples right to demonstrate against a law which they strongly believe will infringe upon the their constitutional rights.

LDP Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba is under fire for comments he made on his blog on Friday, in which he likened civic groups protesting outside the Diet against the state secret bill to terrorists.
Ishiba wrote that their “noisy protests against the government decision are tantamount to terrorism.”
On Sunday, Ishiba responded on his blog. “No matter which side you are opposing or supporting, to simply shout, carry on, and cause a public disturbance for many people, is decidedly an ineffective way to express public opinion.”

History seems to believe a subject Shigeru Ishiba missed during his education:  I am sure he's never heard of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine, the demonstrations in the Philippines which lead to the downfall of Ferdinand Marcos which led to the election of  Corazon Aquino.  

All three of these revolutions were nonviolent and led to dramatic changes in the way these countries were governed.

Inside Chollywood

101 East asks if Chinese cinema is about to enter a golden age that will make it too lucrative for Hollywood to ignore.




In 2006, when Tang Long made the long journey from rural Hubei to the Hengdian World Studios in eastern China, he had one dream in mind – to make it as an actor.

Arriving at the largest outdoor film set in the world, where hundreds of productions take place every year, he knew nothing about the film industry and no one in it. Tang started out as an extra, and was paid $4 a day to be part of a large crowd in the background of a scene.

The next step up would be what the industry calls a "contract extra", where he gets a close-up shot, possibly with a line if he is lucky.

"I never made it," says Tang, who stands at about 1.6 metres tall. "I don't have the physique and there was just too much competition. Everyone here is dreaming of stardom and trying to show off their talents."

To feed himself, Tang took on any behind-the-scenes role that came along. As a tea boy with a can-do attitude, he quickly impressed and worked his way up to managing location runners.

Guess What? China Has Cleaned Up The Internet

The Chinese government has announced that it has cleaned up the internet.  Scrubbed that sucker clean of all the negativity out there.  What does this mean for you dear user?  No more wild conspiracy theories about how the Goa'uld have taken control of the United Nations or Fox News.  You will longer be able nude photographs of your favorite celebrities or their hope to make a comeback porn video's Paris Hilton.

Yes, the Communists will no longer allow you to make up rumors about whomever you happen to have a hate on for this week.  Be it Kim-Jong un or that clown who came to your birthday party when you were six.  It's all coming to an end thanks to the Ms. Manner's wanna be's of China's Communist Party.

Beijing launched the campaign this summer, arresting dozens of people for spreading rumors, creating new penalties for people who post libelous information and calling in the country's top bloggers for talks urging them to guard the national interest and uphold social order. At the same time, government agencies at all levels have boosted their online presence to control the message in cyberspace.
"If we should describe the online environment in the past as good mingling with the bad, the sky of the cyberspace has cleared up now because we have cracked down on online rumors," Ren Xianliang, vice minister of the State Internet Information Office, said during a rare meeting this week with foreign journalists.

The good mingling with the bad.  He makes sound so nefarious and dark like somehow you can control people's emotions.

A study by an Internet opinion monitoring service under the party-owned People's Daily newspaper showed the number of posts by a sample of 100 opinion leaders declined by nearly 25 percent and were overtaken by posts from government microblog accounts.
"The positive force on the Internet has preliminarily taken back the microphone, and the positive energy has overwhelmed the negative energy to uphold the online justice," said Zhu Huaxin, the monitoring service's general secretary, according to a transcript posted by state media.

Like you can prevent people from posting negative opinion pieces about the Communist Party and the government at large when they feel aggrieved by policies instituted by its unelected leaders who answer to no one but themselves.

"If there's no channel for the public to express themselves, they may take to the street," said historian and political analyst Zhang Lifan, whose online accounts were recently removed without warning — possibly because he had shared historic facts that the party did not find flattering.
"The governments also can take pulse of the public opinion, but if no one speaks up, they will be in darkness," Zhang said. "It is so odd they are covering up their eyes and blocking their ears."

  Revolutions have been instigated because the populace no longer believed in government or its ability to address their concerns.  

No matter the China's leaders think one cannot scrub the internet of opinion which doesn't meet your standards of discourse.   People being who they are will find ways   around the censorship and eventually the facts are exposed to wider audience.  

Six In The Morning Sunday December 1

1 December 2013 Last updated at 08:30 GMT

Thai troops deployed amid Bangkok protests

Troops have been deployed in the Thai capital Bangkok to support riot police shielding official buildings from anti-government protesters.

Tear gas and water cannon were fired as protesters tried to breach barricades outside Government House.

Activists have threatened to enter key government buildings, including the headquarters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Sunday is the eighth day of protests aimed at unseating Ms Yingluck.

Protest leaders had said it would be the decisive day. They declared it "V-Day" of what they are calling a "people's coup".

The naked truth: Hollywood still treats its women as second class citizens

Research shows female stars are paid less, have fewer lines and spend more time with their clothes off than men

• Edward Helmore
• The Observer, Sunday 1 December 2013

By Monday morning, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the sci-fi adventure thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence, will have taken close to half a billion dollars in global ticket sales. A female-led blockbuster is rare in any year, and all the more so in one marked by box-office disappointments and industry turmoil.

Nevertheless the film's success is likely to intensify rather than diminish calls for greater sexual equality in film. For despite the success of women-led films such as The Hunger Games and Cate Blanchett's Oscar-tipped performance in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, or directors like Kathryn Bigelow and writers such as Lena Dunham – and most recently the taboo-busting French lesbian romance Blue Is the Warmest Colour – Hollywood remains stubbornly set in its ways regarding sexual equality.

Golddiggers thwarted by Ancient Rome: Romania shelves plans to allow the exploitation of a heritage mining site...

MADELEINE FRENCH

 Sunday 01 December 2013

A leaked British report into the archaeological significance of an ancient Roman gold mine has helped to scupper plans by the Romanian government to approve invasive mining at the site.

The expert report, kept hidden for three years by the Bucharest government, was commissioned by Romania's ministry of culture and funded by a not-for-profit organisation, Pro Patrimonio, which works to protect Romania's cultural heritage. The report says that the ancient site, in Rosia Montana in the Apuseni Mountains of western Transylvania, is worthy of consideration as a Unesco world heritage site and that its galleries are "the most extensive and most important underground Roman gold mine known anywhere".

This month, the ministry of culture presented a list of monuments that it would like to see included as world heritage sites, but the picturesque village of Rosia Montana, with its ancient galleries that tell of Roman mining, was not on it.

Billions from Beijing: Africans Divided over Chinese Presence

By Bartholomäus Grill in Bagamayo, Tanzania

Chinese companies have pumped billions into Africa to secure access to natural resources, boosting countries' economies along the way. Ordinary citizens aren't reaping the benefits, though, and have become increasingly wary of the new investors.

Everything is as it has always been: decayed rows of houses, weathered doorframes with intricate carvings, potholed dirt roads, fishing boats rotting on the beach and, in the middle of it all, the Boma, a stone fortress built by the former German conquerors in Bagamayo, a sleepy coastal town in Tanzania.

Bagamayo was the capital of the colony of German East Africa from 1888 to 1891, when the administrative seat was moved to Dar es Salaam because the shore in Bagamayo was too shallow for a real seaport. Since then, time seems to have stood still.

"But soon nothing will be as it once was in Bagamayo," says Marie Shaba, "because now the new rulers of the world, the Chinese, are coming."

A jail by another name - China labor camps now drug detox centers

By John Ruwitch

Li Zhongying was freed from a Chinese labor camp ahead of schedule in September because, guards told her, the government was scrapping 're-education through labor', a heavily criticized penal system created in the 1950s.

Several hundred other inmates were not so lucky, she said. Like Li, they were held without trial and forced to do factory work under what she called "cruel" conditions. They remained because they were drug offenders, she told Reuters.

Many of China's re-education through labor camps, instead of being abolished in line with a ruling Communist Party announcement this month, are being turned into compulsory drug rehabilitation centers where inmates can be incarcerated for two years or more without trial.

Israeli Arabs, Palestinians protest plan to relocate Bedouins

By Maher Abukhater and Batsheva Sobelman

AMALLAH, West Bank -- Thousands of Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank demonstrated Saturday against an Israeli government plan that in some cases would relocate Bedouins from traditional lands in the Negev desert to urban communities.

Some of the gatherings turned violent, with 28 protesters arrested and at least 15 police officers injured, one of them stabbed. Police fired stun grenades, tear gas and skunk water to disperse demonstrators.

The "Day of Rage" was called as the Israeli parliament was preparing to give final approval to what has become known as the Prawer Plan, named after an Israeli government official who wrote it.

Israeli officials say the plan was reached after extensive consultation with Bedouin leaders. It would provide recognition and previously denied services for some Bedouin communities that have been viewed by the Israelis as squatters on state land and relocate others while providing some compensation.