Six In The Morning

Settler violence against Palestinians raises alarm in Israel

　

By Karin Brulliard and Samuel Sockol
But human rights activists and analysts say an act of violence against Palestinians that occurred hours earlier in a much different context — a stretch of highway in an Israeli-controlled section of the occupied West Bank — has become a test case for an equally grave problem: rising attacks by radical Israeli settlers on Palestinians and their property. Israeli authorities have made no arrests in the Aug. 16 daylight firebombing of a Palestinian taxi, which left the driver and four members of a Palestinian family so severely burned that they remain hospitalized, but they have said they suspect Jewish extremists. The incident was denounced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed to find the perpetrators, and Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon, who called the beating and firebombing “terrorist attacks.” That description echoed the U.S. State Department, which described settler violence as terrorism in a recent report.

U.S. drone strikes kill 18 in Pakistan near Afghanistan border
The strikes reportedly hit compounds and vehicles in North Waziristan, home to two Taliban-allied groups and other militants. It wasn't clear who was targeted.

By Alex Rodriguez and Zulfiqar Ali, Los Angeles Times
A barrage of missiles fired by U.S. drones killed at least 18 people in northwest Pakistan on Friday, the latest in a flurry of attacks in a tribal region along the Afghan border that soon may become the site of the new Pakistani offensive against Taliban militants. Local intelligence sources said the drone strikes hit militant compounds and vehicles in North Waziristan. The area is home to militants from the Haqqani network, an affiliate of the Afghan Taliban that targets U.S., NATO and Afghan forces in Afghanistan, as well as the Pakistani Taliban, pockets of Al Qaeda fighters and other militant groups.

Tutsis and Hutus unite to bury memory of Rwanda’s civil war
Dominique and Jean bear the scars of a brutal conflict. Then they were enemies. Now they find themselves in the same volleyball team – and a friendship has blossomed

JEROME TAYLOR SATURDAY 25 AUGUST 2012
Dominique Bizimana and Jean Rukondo make unlikely teammates. Eighteen years ago they were on opposite sides of a brutal sectarian conflict that spawned the worst mass slaughter since the Second World War. Now they fight together as members of Rwanda’s Paralympic volleyball team. “We always joke when we are playing with young kids that I think that man who shot me was Rukundo,” says Bizimana, an infectiously enthusiastic 36-year-old from Rwanda’s Tutsi ethnic grouping whose lower left leg was torn off while fighting for the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). “Now we are friends and we train together. Our team is always together. It’s a good example for young people in Rwanda. Our team is a model for other generations.”

Nasrallah's lifeline to Tehran under threat as Assad teeters


Paul McGeough Senior foreign correspondent August 25, 2012
THE Arab Spring throws up opportunity and pain without discrimination. But the dilemma it conjures for Hassan Nasrallah and his Lebanon-based Hezbollah movement is truly exquisite. As a Shiite organisation, Hezbollah derives inordinate power from its twin personality: its militia and political activities. But if the seemingly inevitable fall of the Shiite-aligned Assad regime in Syria destroys the bridge by which Shiite Iran supplies Hezbollah's weapons, can the Party of God, as its name translates, endure as a serious militia? Similarly, if its militia credentials are dented, can Hezbollah muster enough popular support at next year's national polls to maintain or even tighten its de facto control over politics and security in Lebanon?

Samaras tours Europe to win support and time


DW
Many Europeans have written off Greece as a hopeless case. But the country's prime minister is touring Europe to win support - and time - for Athens. Is Europe's patience wearing thin? The summer break is coming to an end and Europe is still stuck in the midst of the euro crisis. Greece, in particular, will once again be dominating the headlines and political agendas in the days and weeks to come. On Wednesday, eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker was in Athens for talks with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on the country's progress in tackling the crisis, which many observers describe as somewhat lacking.

'Honor' crime: Why just kissing a boy can trigger murder


By Peter Wilkinson, CNN
Jasvinder Sanghera was eight years old when she was promised in marriage to a man she had never met. When, six years later, her mother showed Sanghera a photograph of her intended husband, the 14-year-old reacted with horror. The pressure on the youngster mounted as Sanghera's Indian-born mother tried to involve her in the wedding arrangements. When she refused to marry the man, saying she wanted to finish her education in her hometown of Derby, in the English Midlands, her family held her prisoner in her bedroom until she relented, she said. "In the end I said yes, but started to plan my escape," Sanghera, one of seven sisters, recalled. Her parents released her, and she promptly ran away from home. She was just 15 years old