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Pakistani Taliban commander reported killed

A US drone attack has reportedly killed a key commander of Taliban Islamist militants in northwestern Pakistan. He is said to have been among several militants killed in the strike.

Pakistani officials told news agencies on Thursday that Mullah Nazir Wazir had been killed in a US drone attack that struck a house in the village of Angoor Adda, near Wana, the capital of South Waziristan.

"Mullah Nazir and five associates died on the spot," an unnamed official told the AFP news agency.

Residents of Angoor Adda and Wana reported hearing statements on loundspeakers announcing Nazir's death.

One Man, Three LivesThe Munich Olympics and the CIA's New Informant

Willi Voss started as a petty criminal in Germany's industrial Ruhr Valley. Before long, though, he found himself helping the PLO, even playing a minor role in the 1972 Munich Olympics attack. He went on to become a valuable CIA informant, and has now written a book about his life in the shadows. By SPIEGEL Staff

In the summer of 1975, Willi Voss was left with few alternatives: prison, suicide or betrayal. He chose betrayal. After all, he had just been betrayed by the two men whom he had trusted, and whose struggle had forced him to lead a clandestine existence.

It was Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's closest advisers who had used him and jeopardized his life: Abu Daoud, the mastermind behind the terror attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, and Abu Iyad, head of the PLO intelligence service Razd.

New insights into birth of giant planets

January 3, 2013 - 6:29AM

Astronomers using the most advanced land telescope in the world say they have unlocked knowledge about how formidable "gas giant" planets such Jupiter and Saturn come into being.

These vast but uninhabitable worlds are created by gobbling up gas and dust that envelope young stars in a murky disc, they believe.

The planets grow by capturing some of the gas from the outer disc, but they are really messy eaters. The rest of it overshoots and feeds into the inner disc around the

star. 

The evidence comes from observations of a youthful star called HD 142527, which is located more than 450 light years from Earth.

UN urges dialogue in Central African Republic

Sapa-AFP | 03 January, 2013 10:13

The United Nations on Wednesday called for dialogue between the Central African Republic's government and the Seleka rebels besieging the country, offering its help to organize talks.

"We continue to follow the situation with serious concern," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

"We are calling on both the government and the rebels to focus on dialogue that can avert violence and lead to a peaceful resolution," he added.

The special UN representative for the country, Margaret Vogt, "is staying in close dialogue with the key parties in CAR and in the region and has offered the United Nations support for any political negotiations," Nesirky said.

3 January 2013 Last updated at 00:22 GMT

Venezuela opposition demands 'truth' on Chavez health

The main opposition movement in Venezuela has called on the government to "tell the whole truth" about the health of President Hugo Chavez.

The Venezuelan leader has not been seen or heard in public since having cancer surgery in Cuba three weeks ago.

Opposition leader Ramon Aveledo accused the government of acting irresponsibly by making Venezuelans believe President Chavez was still exercising his duties.

The president's condition is described by officials as stable but delicate.

Report Says Mubarak Dictated Fierce Response to Egypt Protests

By KAREEM FAHIM and MAYY EL SHEIKH

Published: January 2, 2013

CAIRO — Sitting in his palace in early 2011, as protests against him consumed Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak watched live video feeds of the demonstrations in Tahrir Square and the brutal response by his security forces, who used clubs, tear gas and live ammunition against civilians, according to a commission investigating deaths during the 18-day revolt and its aftermath.

The video was delivered on an encrypted channel to Mr. Mubarak and other top officials, along with detailed security reports. Facing the most severe challenge to his rule in three decades, and just days after protests had forced Tunisia’s autocratic president to flee his country, Mr. Mubarak authorized the use of any means to stop the demonstrations, his interior minister, Habib el-Adly, told the commission’s investigators.