25 June 2013 Last updated at 08:20 GMT
Afghan Taliban assault in Kabul secure zone
Afghan security forces have put down a militant gun and bomb attack near the presidential palace, in one of the most secure areas of Kabul.
Officials say four insurgents and three security guards died. The Taliban say they carried out the attack.
President Hamid Karzai was in the palace, but the target appears to have been the nearby Ariana hotel, which houses a CIA station.
This is the latest in a string of attacks on Kabul in recent months.
Most recently a suicide bomber in the capital targeted a prominent Afghan politician on 18 June, just hours before Nato formally handed security responsibility to the Afghan forces.
How Qatar became a global power
The smallest Gulf monarchy is now an international brand
In 1995, when Sheikh Hamad deposed his father in a bloodless coup, Doha was a sleepy Gulf town that had traces of its pearl-diving past. Now it is a city of gleaming towers – capital of a tiny country that punches above its weight.
Qatar, the smallest Gulf monarchy, has become a global brand. Securing the 2022 World Cup was a PR triumph. It plans to compete to host the 2024 Olympics. It has a glittering portfolio: Harrods, the Shard, Paris St-Germain football club. Doha's Islamic art museum is a brilliant example of money in the service of high culture. Its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, has $100bn-$200bn assets in 30 countries. Its vice-chairman is the outgoing prime minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim. Qatar is Britain's top supplier of liquefied natural gas.
The TV news channel al-Jazeera, founded in 1996, has been a successful example of "soft power", breaking taboos in a region dominated by state media. But it has lost credibility during the Arab spring by being so openly partisan in support of revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and now Syria. It rarely reports on events in Qatar itself.
Merkel election manifesto a ‘fiscal fairytale’
German chancellor’s promise of billions in new welfare spending criticised
Derek Scally
While demanding savings and reform around Europe, German chancellor Angela Merkel has launched her campaign for a third term with a manifesto promising voters billions of euro in new welfare spending.
The Christian Democratic Union’s (CDU) programme, drafted with their Bavarian allies (CSU) and a clear political pitch for Germany’s political centre, and has been criticised as a “fiscal fairytale” by the opposition Social Democratic Party.
Even Dr Merkel’s struggling junior partner, the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), have criticised the chancellor and CDU leader for promising German voters wine while forcing austerity water on European partners.
FDP leader Philipp Rösler complained that Dr Merkel and her party had been “led astray by the sweet poison of spending money”.
UNITED NATIONS
Golan Heights peacekeeping mission in trouble
The UN Security Council's peacekeeping mission in the Golan Heights is up for renewal, but the escalation of the conflict in Syria has plunged it into crisis. Does the UN mandate need strengthening?
For many years, soldiers regarded deployment with the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) as a well-paid, quiet job. Since 1974 the UN observer force has been monitoring the ceasefire between Israel and Syria along a 70 kilometer-long (44 miles) corridor.
Until recently, the area was usually calm. Now, though, the Syrian civil war is starting to spill over into the border region. Both Syrian troops and opposition fighters have repeatedly crossed into the buffer zone, and there have been several exchanges of fire with Israel.
Eight soldiers killed In India's Kashmir
June 25, 2013 - 6:05AM
Srinagar: Eight soldiers were killed and six others injured in rebel attacks in India's Jammu and Kashmir state, an army spokesman said on Monday, in a sign of escalating violence ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the state.
Militants have escalated attacks on security forces since March this year, killing 27 security men so far, with Monday's the deadliest so far.
The security incidents follow protests in February when India hanged Mohammad Afzal Guru for an attack on parliament in 2001.
Physical, sexual violence high in Africa: report
African countries have some of the highest levels of physical and sexual violence against women in the world, a report has found.
About 45.6% of women in Africa experienced physical and sexual violence, compared to 35% globally, according to the report.
The research was a collaboration between the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the SA Medical Research Council (MRC).
It revealed that globally, women who experienced violence with their intimate or non-partners were twice as likely to be depressed, have alcohol related problems, and have HIV and a sexually transmitted diseases.
Other health problems linked to violence were unwanted pregnancies, abortion and low birth-weight babies.
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