Libyan rebels detaining thousands illegally, Ban Ki-moon reports
An estimated 7,000 detainees being held, including women, children and black Africans tortured for skin colour
Libya's former rebels have illegally detained thousands of people, including women and children, according to the United Nations secretary general.
Many of the 7,000 prisoners have been tortured, with some black Africans mistreated because of their skin colour, women being held under male supervision and children locked up alongside adults, the report by Ban Ki-moon found.
The report, due to be published on Monday, presents a grim assessment of Libya following the civil war, with many prisoners held in private jails not under the control of the interim government and denied access to due legal process.
Shadow of Mafia returns to Italy
Just before five o'clock on Tuesday evening, to the sound of grey waves lapping the nearby beach, nine gunshots rang out by a bar in Via Forni in the down-at-heel Roman seaside suburb of Ostia. One man lay dead; the other staggered 20 yards then collapsed in a pool of blood. He died in the ambulance on the way to hospital. Both victims, Francesco Antonini, 45 and Giovanni Galleoni, 42, had criminal records for drugs and weapons offences as long their arms. And both had links with the capital's very own mini-mafia group, the dreaded Magliana Gang.
Tuesday night's killings bring Rome's gangland murder total to 30 this year, fuelling fears that a mob turf war in the capital is spiralling out of control and prompting demands from local politicians for the new government to act urgently to halt the growing power of organised crime in the capital.
Taking Back the Favelas
Rio Relying on Dubious Methods to Pacify its Slums
By Cathrin Gilbert
The men came under the cover of darkness. Armed with assault rifles, they grabbed Jonathan and whisked him away. He can't remember what happened next. He was, after all, once again high on crack.
Khmer Rouge leader defends action
Seth Mydans Phnom Penh
November 24, 2011
THE highest-ranking surviving Khmer Rouge leader, accused in the deaths of 1.7 million people, has defended himself by casting his actions as part of a patriotic struggle to keep Vietnam from annexing Cambodia and exterminating ethnic Cambodians.
Presenting what could have been the condensed version of a political address from his days as the Khmer Rouge's chief ideologue in the 1970s, Nuon Chea, 85, spoke of threats from Vietnamese agents as a justification for the purges that led to the torture and killings that defined the Khmer Rouge regime.
Chernobyl still a disaster area 25 years on
November 24, 2011
By ICHIRO MATSUO / Staff Writer
A quarter-century after the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine, some 14 percent of the land area in neighboring Belarus remains contaminated with radioactive cesium.
As of January, levels exceeding 37,000 becquerels per square meter were recorded. As such, the land is designated as "polluted."
Authorities in Belarus go to great lengths to track radioactive materials in the food chain, particularly in areas of continuing concern.
A dairy processing plant in Khoiniki, located 60 kilometers north of Chernobyl, buys up the raw milk taken from cows raised in nearby pastures.
Lawmakers, Twitter locked in dispute over Taliban tweets
Members of Congress want Twitter to stop hosting pro-Taliban tweets that bash U.S. troops, but the company is resisting.
By Brian Bennett, Los Angeles Times
Some members of Congress are urging the popular website Twitter to stop hosting pro-Taliban tweets that celebrate attacks against American and allied forces inAfghanistan.
Twitter executives have told lawmakers that the micro-posts do not violate the website's terms of service because the Taliban is not listed by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization. That designation would make it illegal to provide "material support or resources" to the militant group.
Twitter executives have told lawmakers that the micro-posts do not violate the website's terms of service because the Taliban is not listed by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization. That designation would make it illegal to provide "material support or resources" to the militant group.
Twitter feeds, apparently from the Taliban, first appeared last year in Arabic and Pashto, one of the official languages of Afghanistan. An English-language feed started in April. Many of the posts refer to U.S. troops in inflammatory terms.
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