Six In The Morning

Heavy fighting loosens Gbagbo’s grip



TIM COCKS AND ANGE ABOA ABIDJAN, CôTE D’IVOIRE – Apr 05 2011

Sustained machinegun and heavy weapons fire rang out from the direction of the palace in the commercial capital Abidjan before dawn in the heaviest fighting since soldiers backing presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara entered the city five days ago, a Reuters witness said.

A spokesperson for Ouattara’s government said late on Monday his troops had already taken control of Gbagbo’s official presidential residence, but his statement could not be independently verified.

House Republicans to propose $6.2 trillion in spending cuts

The reduction, to take place over the next 10 years, is part of their 2012 budget blueprint that makes vast changes to the scope of federal governmen

By Lisa Mascaro, Washington Bureau

April 5, 2011

House Republicans will propose $6.2 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade Tuesday as part of their ambitious 2012 budget blueprint that will include vast changes to the size and scope of the federal government, amplifying the fiscal battle with the White House.

Such a spending reduction would dwarf President Obama’s proposed fiscal 2012 budget, and the resulting political battle would dwarf the debate over spending in the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The 2011 fracas has consumed Washington and risked a government shutdown while Congress tries to negotiate $33 billion in cuts.

EU and US urge China to free Ai Weiwei

International concern grows over fate of missing Chinese artist amid wider crackdown on dissidents and activists  

Tania Branigan in Beijing

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 5 April 2011 07.35 BST

Britain, the US and the EU have joined the growing international outcry over the detention of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and the wider crackdown on dissidents and activists.

Officials detained the 53-year-old at Beijing airport on Sunday morning. No one has been able to contact him since.

“I call on the Chinese government to urgently clarify Ai’s situation and wellbeing, and hope he will be released immediately,” William Hague said.

The foreign secretary added: “The development of independent civil society and application of human rights under the rule of law are essential prerequisites for China’s long-term prosperity and stability.”

Why a lack of empathy is the root of all evil

From casual violence to genocide, acts of cruelty can be traced back to how the perpetrator identifies with other people, argues psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen. Is he right?

By Clint Witchalls  Tuesday, 5 April 2011

Lucy Adeniji – an evangelical Christian and author of two books on childcare – trafficked two girls and a 21-year-old woman from Nigeria to work as slaves in her east London home. She made them toil for 21 hours a day and tortured them if they displeased her. The youngest girl was 11 years old.

Sentencing her to 11-and-a-half years in prison last month, Judge Simon Oliver said: “You are an evil woman. I have no doubt you have ruined these two girls’ lives. They will suffer from the consequences of the behaviour you meted out to them for the rest of their lives.”

Kazakh authorities indulged in “blatant ballot-box stuffing”

Kazakh authorities indulged in “blatant ballot-box stuffing”, and piled “undue pressure on people” to ensure a landslide victory for the country’s long-serving president in Sunday’s election, Europe’s election watchdog has reported.  

By Richard Orange, Astana

“Kazakhstan should be proud of its economic growth, but this election is a sign that unfortunately their democratic processes have not grown at the same pace,” said Tonino Picula, who led a team of observers for the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

Monday’s report comes as a blow to the democratic claims of Nursultan Nazarbayev, 70, who has led the resource-rich former Soviet republic with a firm but deft hand since the last days of the Soviet Union.

Mr Nazarbayev won an overwhelming 95 per cent of the votes in the poll, the country’s election commission said, on a spectacular turnout of 89.9 per cent.

Condolence cash in Japan



Apr 05, 2011 | Reuters | TOKYO

The operator of Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant started paying ‘condolence money’ on Tuesday to victims of the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl while it kept pouring radioactive water into the sea.

In desperation, engineers at the Fukushima Daiichi plant have turned to what are little more than home remedies to stem the flow of contaminated water. On Tuesday, they used “liquid glass” in the hope of plugging cracks in a leaking concrete pit.