Obama and Xi end ‘constructive’ summit
The BBC
US President Barack Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have ended a two-day summit described by a US official as “unique, positive and constructive”.
US National Security Advisor Tom Donilon said Mr Obama had warned Mr Xi that cyber-crime could be an “inhibitor” in US-China relations.
He also said that both countries had agreed that North Korea had to denuclearise.
The talks in California also touched on economic and environmental issues.
The two leaders spent nearly six hours together on Friday and another three hours on Saturday morning at the sprawling Sunnylands retreat in California.
Syria’s many fronts
SYRIA
Syrian government troops won an important strategic victory in retaking the boder city of Qusair this past week. Yet, military experts doubt that this means the forces of President Assad can push further north.
Anyone traveling around Syria will end up passing through Qusair, sooner or later. The town is in the heart of the country, nestled between idyllic olive and apricot groves roughly halfway between Damascus and Aleppo.When moving inland from the coast one also arrives in Qusair. Some 150 kilometers to the east is Palmyra, while westwards it’s only a few kilometers to Lebanon.
Afghanistan’s vigilantes help keep Taliban in check
One man’s story shows people will fight for their corner.
June 9, 2013 Pamela Constable
As he jolted along village roads recently in a ute with a machine-gunner standing in the back, Farhad Akbari stopped every few minutes and pointed to another invisible landmark among the mud-walled houses, swaying poplars and rippling wheat fields.
”This corner used to be a Taliban check post, but now everyone can pass freely,” he said with a satisfied nod. ”That orchard is where the Taliban used to escape from fighting. We ambushed them and killed seven.” Further on, he paused by a stream with a dirt culvert.”This is where a mine exploded under two of my men,” he said.
Sudan ‘orders halt to oil transfers’ from South Sudan
The BBC
Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has ordered the stoppage of oil transfers through its territory from South Sudan from Sunday, state media report.
State radio gave no further details in a text alert that it sent to subscribers.
Oil only started flowing again in April after the two sides struck a deal.
President Bashir said in May that Sudan would stop the flow of oil if South Sudan continued to support rebels operating on Sudanese soil.
Tear gas returns to Turkey protests
Force used again on ninth day of rallies in Ankara, as fears grow that thriving tourism industry is set to suffer.
Last Modified: 09 Jun 2013 04:29
Thousands of Turks joined mass anti-government protests which have stretched to over one week, defying Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s call to end the worst civil unrest of his decade-long rule.
Reports of renewed riot police force against protesters in Ankara surfaced on Saturday evening, with tear gas and water cannon apparently sprayed at people gathering in the capital’s Kizilay Square.
In Istanbul meanwhile, crowds were said to be at their highest levels on the ninth straight day of protests, with football fans and feminists taking to the streets.
Boundless Informant: the NSA’s secret tool to track global surveillance data
Revealed: The NSA’s powerful tool for cataloguing data – including figures on US collection
Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill
The National Security Agency has developed a powerful tool for recording and analysing where its intelligence comes from, raising questions about its repeated assurances to Congress that it cannot keep track of all the surveillance it performs on American communications.
The Guardian has acquired top-secret documents about the NSA datamining tool, called Boundless Informant, that details and even maps by country the voluminous amount of information it collects from computer and telephone networks.
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