Six In The Morning

‘Everyone at the power plant is battling on, without running away’



Glenda Kwek

March 18, 2011 – 3:54PM

“Please dad come back alive,” the tweet read.

As foreigners boarded charter flights to leave Tokyo amid radiation fears from a troubled nuclear power plant in Japan’s north, 180 workers toiled tirelessly at the facility in a race to stop a full meltdown.

Messages from the Fukushima Fifty – named because they work in shifts of 50 people – are emerging a week after the massive earthquake and tsunami damaged cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The workers have been battling to keep fuel rods in the plant’s reactors from overheating and melting down by pumping seawater manually into the cores.

Revealed: Afghan chief accused of campaign of terror is on US payroll

Witnesses back leaked UN reports detailing claims of rape and murder against feared Tajik warlord

By Julius Cavendish Friday, 18 March 2011

An Afghan warlord backed by US special forces faces persistent allegations that he launched a two-year spate of violence involving burglary, rape and murder of civilians, desecration of mosques and mutilation of corpses. Yet, despite repeated warnings about the atrocities Commander Azizullah is alleged to have committed, he has remained on the payroll of the US military as an “Afghan security guard”, a select band of mercenaries described by some as “the most effective fighting formation in Afghanistan”.

Interviews with religious leaders, tribal elders, villagers, contractors and Western and Afghan officials all pointed to a reign of terror in which they believe 31-year-old Azizullah, a ethnic Tajik, targeted Pashtun civilians while fighting the Taliban.

Belgium’s Political Crisis Foretells EU’s Future

The Fries Revolution

By Walter Mayr in Brussels

Brussels is home to two political arenas, a small one and a large one, which are located just a short walk apart. In the dark, winding corridors of the Belgian parliament, Dutch-speaking representatives from Flanders in northern Belgium are locked in a stalemate with their French-speaking counterparts from the southern region of Wallonia that could tear their kingdom apart. From here, it’s just a few steps down the Rue de la Loi to number 175, the square glass-and-stone building that houses the Council of the European Union, the EU’s main decision-making body.

It is here that the brave new world envisioned by the EU’s leaders is being shaped. It is here that politicians are planning the continent’s future, a system symbolized by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.

Nigerian election staff ask for life insurance



Mar 18, 2011 7:38 AM | By Sapa-AP  

Among them: How does one bribe police officers enough to pull guard duty on election day?

“If we inform the police, most of the time … they come to the area and ask you for money and for other assistance to do their job,” said Michael Osayande, an election official in Niger state during Thursday’s meeting.

Staff from the Independent National Electoral Commission asked for life insurance and worried aloud about ethnic and religious violence during the meeting with Jega, the assistant university chancellor picked to manage the nation’s election.

The Arab counter-revolution is winning  

THE ROVING EYE

By Pepe Escobar  

The current Arab counter-revolution is brought to you by the House of Saud – and enabled by the Pentagon. The Gulf has been plunged into pre-emptive war. After the initial euphoria of the great 2011 Arab revolt, the message of the Gulf kingdoms and sheikhdoms to Washington has been unambiguous – and effective; if we “fall”, your strategic game is in pieces. Once more, “stability” trumps democracy.

It’s hardly surprising to see Saudi Arabia – the home of pious Wahhabism, fanatic al-Qaeda, and hypocrite Saudi princes gambling, drinking and partying in London or the French Riviera – smashing a popular desire for democracy and human dignity.

Zimbabwe treason suspects released on bail

The last six of 45 Zimbabwean detainees arrested last month for watching a video about the Egypt and Tunisia uprisings were released on bail today.

 By Scott Baldauf, Staff Writer / March 17, 2011

Johannesburg, South Africa

The remaining six detainees in a Zimbabwe treason trial have been released on bail today. A Zimbabwean High Court judge called the evidence “unsubstantiated” and weak.

Despite the weakness of the evidence against the six accused – who were arrested with 39 others on Feb. 19 for attending a lecture by a university professor and for watching a video of the pro-democracy revolts in Tunisia and Egypt – the charges of treason are serious and they could receive the death penalty if they are found guilty.

The six accused, including university professor Munyaradzi Gwisai, have been required to hand over their passports and will be required to check in at their local police station three times a week until their trial begins. When issuing a bail of $2,000 for each defendant,