Libya's south teeters toward chaos — and militant extremists
Libya's long-neglected, isolated southern region has grown more lawless since the fall of Moammar Kadafi. Only ill-trained tribal militias hold Islamist extremists at bay.
By Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times
SABHA, Libya — Their fatigues don't match and their pickup has no windshield. Their antiaircraft gun, clogged with grit, is perched between a refugee camp and ripped market tents scattered over an ancient caravan route. But the tribesmen keep their rifles cocked and eyes fixed on a terrain of scouring light where the oasis succumbs to desert.
"If we leave this outpost the Islamist militants will come and use Libya as a base. We can't let that happen," said Zakaria Ali Krayem, the oldest among the Tabu warriors. "But the government hasn't paid us in 14 months. They won't even give us money to buy needles to mend our uniforms."
Krayem is battling smugglers, illegal migrants bound for Europe and armed extremists who stream across a swath of the Sahara near the porous intersection of southern Libya,Chad, Niger and Algeria.
Savage terms for Cyprus depositors
Some savers may face losses of up to 60 per cent in deal designed to avert bankruptcy
Large depositors at Cyprus' largest bank may be forced to accept losses of up to 60 per cent, far more than initially feared, under the European rescue package to save the country from bankruptcy, officials said yesterday.
Those with deposits of more than €100,000 at the Bank of Cyprus would lose 37.5 per cent in money that would be converted into bank shares, according to a finance ministry decree obtained by the Associated Press. In a second raid on these accounts, depositors also could lose up to 22.5 per cent more, depending on what experts determine is needed to prop up the bank's reserves.
NORTH KOREA
China weighs up opposing North Korea policies
China has become more open than ever about its policy regarding North Korea. While some want a change of course as China seeks to keep instability from its door, others think the status quo should be preserved.
"North Korea's third nuclear test is a good moment for China to re-evaluate its longstanding alliance with the Kim dynasty," demanded Deng Yuwen, a guest columnist in the Financial Times newspaper. Deng, as deputy editor of the China's Study Times journal, published by the Beijing's Central Party School, called on China to "abandon North Korea."
Such comments represent a challenge to the decades-long friendship between the two Communist neighbors. Bilateral relations have reached a low point since the end of last year. Not only did North Korea provoke the world with its latest test in February this year, it also launched its Unha-3 rocket to successfully place a satellite in orbit around the Earth.
Egyptian comic arrested for insulting president
March 31, 2013 - 10:47AM
CAIRO: Egypt's public prosecutor has ordered the arrest of popular satirist Bassem Youssef over alleged insults to Islam and to President Mohamed Mursi, in the latest clampdown on critical media.
Judicial sources said several complaints had been filed against Youssef, whose razor-sharp humour – delivered on his weekly television program Albernameg (The Show) – has spared few public figures.
He is accused of offending Islam through "making fun of the prayer ritual" on his show, and of insulting Dr Mursi by "making fun of his international standing", the sources said.
New CAR leader, facing isolation, says no reprisals
Central African Republic's new leader Michel Djotodia said he would not take reprisals against rivals and called on those who fled abroad to return.
The United States said on Saturday it did not recognise Djotodia, who toppled President François Bozizé on March 24 after leading thousands of his Seleka rebels into the mineral-rich nation's capital Bangui, triggering days of looting.
"I make a patriotic and brotherly appeal for our countrymen, who have chosen the path of exile, to return," the former civil servant turned self-declared president told several thousand cheering supporters near the presidential palace.
"There will be no witch hunt, because we must establish tolerance, dialogue and forgiveness," he said.
Anger Over Plan to Sell Site of Wounded Knee Massacre
By JOHN ELIGON
WOUNDED KNEE, S.D. — Ever since American soldiers massacredmen, women and children here more than a century ago in the last major bloodshed of the American Indian wars, this haunted patch of rolling hills and ponderosa pines has embodied the combustible relationship between Indians and the United States government.
It was here that a group of Indian activists aired their grievances against the government with a forcefultakeover in 1973 that resulted in protests, a bloody standoff with federal agents and deep divisions among the Indian people.
No comments:
Post a Comment