Six In The Morning

Libya conflict: Gaddafi ‘cluster bombing Misrata’

Abdullah, a doctor in Misrata, told the BBC he had seen evidence of the use of cluster bombs

The BBc

Human Rights Watch said one of its photographers had seen three mortar-launched projectiles explode over a residential area of Misrata.

A Libyan government spokesman denied the allegation.

Government troops have intensified their siege of Misrata, the only west Libyan city still in rebel hands.

The BBC’s Orla Guerin reports from inside the battle-scarred city that local residents fear a massacre without greater action by Nato air forces to break the siege.

Aftershocks worsen Japan’s quake trauma



April 16, 2011 – 1:58PM

Hundreds of aftershocks have rocked the ground and frayed nerves in the five weeks since Japan’s massive earthquake and tsunami, forcing survivors to relive the terror almost daily.

The incessant rumbling of the Earth’s stressed crust has held back relief work, imperilled already dangerous operations to contain a nuclear crisis and fuelled fears far beyond the coast that was devastated by the giant wave.

Nigerians pick president in crucial election

 

Apr 16, 2011 8:42 AM | By Reuters  

The election pits President Goodluck Jonathan, the first head of state from the southern, oil-producing Niger Delta, against Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler with a reputation as a disciplinarian from the mostly-Muslim north.

Other candidates include former anti-corruption chief Nuhu Ribadu and Kano state governor Ibrahim Shekarau, although they are seen as rank outsiders.

Eurosceptic party set for big poll gain in Finland

The Irish Times – Saturday, April 16, 2011

DEREK SCALLY in Helsinki

FINLAND VOTES tomorrow in a tight general election likely to see large gains for a populist EU- critical party opposed to Portugal’s euro zone bailout.

On the back of popular opposition to the Greek and Irish assistance, the nationalist, anti-immigrant True Finns party has doubled its support within a year to challenge decades of consensus rule between Finland’s three main parties.

After winning 4 per cent in the 2007 election, the True Finns under leader Timo Soini may win about 17 per cent, a public television poll showed. The ruling Centre Party of outgoing prime minister Mari Kiviniemi has suffered a popularity dip after a political fundraising scandal forced her predecessor’s resignation last year

Assassinated Kandahar police chief was optimistic about security

A Taliban suicide bomber on Friday killed the Kandahar police chief, who recently noted to the Monitor gains in creating a ‘safe and secure environment’ in the restive province.  

By Tom A. Peter, Correspondent / April 15, 2011  

Kandahar City, Afghanistan

A Taliban suicide bomber killed the police chief of Afghanistan’s critical and long restive southern province of Kandahar on Friday, just days after the chief had expressed optimism about security gains.

“I am hopeful that we will have a safe and secure environment in our city,” Gen. Khan Mohammad Mujahid said in a Monday interview with the Monitor. “We have destroyed and eradicated [militants’] safe havens, so they don’t have bases to plan their attacks and operations.”

Four days later, a man dressed in police clothing approached General Mujahid in the courtyard of the heavily guarded police headquarters in Kandahar City, hugged him, and detonated himself.

Oil companies’ new Gulf drilling plans called inadequate



By Renee Schoof and Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON – Oil companies recently turned in their first plans for exploratory drilling in deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including new information the government has required since last year’s BP blowout about how they’d try to prevent and cope with another oil disaster.

The oil companies that want to explore the seabed below the deep water say they’ve learned from last year’s accident and have better plans in place than they did a year ago, when an explosion at an oil rig set off the nation’s worst oil accident.