EGYPT
Tahrir Square sit-in begins, Morsi defends decrees
Opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's seizure of powers have begun a one week sit-in in Tahrir Square in Cairo. Morsi told fellow Islamists at a rally Friday that he was maintaining "political stability."
The United States, the European Union and the United Nations said presidential decrees issued by Morsi on Thursday - ostensibly to remove hitches in Egypt's transition to democracy - were counterproductive.
Morsi defended his moves as his supporters rallied outside his presidential palace, saying it was his "duty to continue the march of the revolution," in a reference to the popular revolt that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.
The United States, the European Union and the United Nations said presidential decrees issued by Morsi on Thursday - ostensibly to remove hitches in Egypt's transition to democracy - were counterproductive.
Morsi defended his moves as his supporters rallied outside his presidential palace, saying it was his "duty to continue the march of the revolution," in a reference to the popular revolt that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.
A Tokyo resident on facing his fear and living with earthquakes
David McNeill thought he was ready. But, as he remembers in this extract from a new book, the reality was beyond his worst fears
Everyone who lives in Tokyo mentally rehearses where they will be if the Big One strikes. When I first arrived as a student, I found myself walking through a sprawling, crowded, low-ceilinged shopping centre underneath the city's business district, pondering the apocalypse.
The word didn't seem inappropriate. Tokyo has a remarkable history of almost biblical destruction. In 1923, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami levelled much of Yokohama and Tokyo, crushing, incinerating or drowning at least 100,000 people. Even the national icon, Mount Fuji, looms threateningly 60 miles away, ready to spew millions of tons of ash down on the world's largest metropolis.
Ceasefire lets Netanyahu keep focus on Iran, re-election
November 24, 2012
Karin Brulliard
JERUSALEM: The criticism started pouring in almost as soon as Israel's ceasefire with Hamas was signed on Wednesday night.
The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had left the job unfinished, the Israeli opposition howled. A television snap poll found most of the public did not support the truce brokered by Egypt.
Even so, many Israeli analysts said that for Netanyahu, who is seeking re-election in January, the abrupt end to the eight-day hostilities in the Gaza Strip carried as many political benefits as risks. Gaza was never Netanyahu's battle. If the ceasefire holds - a big if - Netanyahu now has several weeks to turn domestic and international focus back to his signature security issue: Iran.
The Israeli military operation did not destroy Gaza's Hamas rulers, and even emboldened them regionally, and there is broad agreement in Israel that the offensive lasted too long to accomplish a fairly narrow mission of stunting Gaza militants' ability to launch rockets at Israel. But letting it drag out further would only benefit Iran, analysts and officials said.
UN concern as thousands flee rebel advance in DR Congo
The United Nations has expressed shock at the sight of thousands of civilians fleeing a rebel advance in the eastern DR Congo and appealed for access to help those caught up in the violence.
And in what would be a major first for its peacekeeping operations, the United Nations said Friday it was considering using drones to monitor the fighting between the military and the M23 rebels.
Regional leaders were heading for Kampala meanwhile for a summit Saturday on the latest crisis in the mineral-rich region.
The rebels captured Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, on Tuesday before taking the key town of Sake 20 kilometres to the west the next day, forcing thousands more people to take flight.
Russian beauty queen puts spotlight on Russia's official corruption
Her public denunciation of Russia's corruption surprised some this week. It also coincided with one of the Kremlin's periodic efforts to convince Russians that something is being done about it.
A Russian beauty queen garnered global headlines this week by standing by her impassioned denunciation of the endemic corruption that demoralizes society and saps the economic life of her homeland, made in an essay she'd written that was supposed to be about why she's proud to be a Russian.
"But my Russia – it is also my poor, long-suffering country, mercilessly torn to pieces by greedy, dishonest, unbelieving people," Natalia Pereverzeva wrote in an essay that was part of her entrance requirement to the Miss Earth competition this week in Manila, Philippines.
"My Russia – it is a great artery, from which the 'chosen' few people are draining away its wealth. My Russia is a beggar. My Russia cannot help her elderly and orphans. From it, bleeding, like from a sinking ship, engineers, doctors, teachers are fleeing, because they have nothing to live on," she wrote.
In a Jordan camp, outsiders seek Syrian brides
By ,
ZAATARI REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan — Between bitter fall weather and unceasing war at home, Syrian refugees at this northern desert tent camp have enough problems. But fathers like Abu Yousef say they must also contend with something else: older Arab men in search of Syrian brides.
“Of course I would rather her marry a Syrian, someone from our community, but what can we do?” Abu Yousef said of his daughter, whose husband was killed in the Syrian uprising. Although he at first rejected the idea, Abu Yousef said he had consented to an arrangement proposed by a 55-year-old retired Saudi engineer as an opportunity to provide for his widowed daughter, 27, and her three children.
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