Taliban talks 'were needed a decade ago' says senior British commander
The West should have attempted talks with the Taliban a decade ago, a senior British commander in Afghanistan has said, after efforts to negotiate with the insurgents have faltered.
General Nick Carter, deputy commander of the Nato-led coalition told The Guardian that it would have been more successful to approach the Taliban in 2002 after they were knocked from power.
The United States and Afghanistan are still waiting to hear from the Taliban about opening peace talks, but remain willing to go ahead with negotiations despite a stir the militant group caused in opening a new office in Qatar.
UK Muslim leaders warn of sex grooming
Sermon in mosques follows series of convictions for abuse of underage girls
Muslims in dozens of mosques across Britain who gathered for Friday prayers yesterday were told that a series of convictions for Muslim men who had groomed white teenagers for sex posed “a major challenge”.
On Thursday, five members of a paedophile gang – all from Pakistani or north African backgrounds – were jailed for life in Oxford following eight years of vicious abuse of girls as young as 12.
The convictions followed a number of others involving Muslim men who plied girls, often from broken homes, with alcohol and drugs before passing them around for sex.
Chaos and Crime: The Trials of Running a Syrian Refugee Camp
Local mafia controls a Jordanian camp housing over 100,000 war refugees from Syria. A German aid worker competing with these criminals is determined to preserve the camp residents' dignity.
Kilian Kleinschmidt walks into the camp armed with a 6-inch stainless steel hook. "I hate refugee camps," he says. He is holding the hook in his hand like a dagger.
It is getting dark, and a military policeman tells Kleinschmidt that under no circumstances should he go into the camp at night. Kleinschmidt walks through the gate in silence.
The Zaatari Camp houses 116,000 refugees who fled to Jordan from the war in Syria. They live in trailers and tents with the letters UNHCR imprinted on them in blue.
Graphic: US military's presence in Africa
From Mali, Nigeria to Ethiopia, here's a graphic of the countries where the US has bases or has conducted exercises or operations in 2013.
Mexico City to host NBA this season
On Dec. 4, the San Antonio Spurs will face the Minnesota Timberwolves in what will be second regular-season game to ever be played in Mexico City.
The NBA announced this week that two games during the 2013-2014 season will be played internationally – one in London and another in Mexico City, where the San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves are likely to receive a warm welcome.
Basketball is the country’s second most-practiced sport – after much-adored soccer – according to Mexico’s National Professional Basketball League, or LNBP. People play in the thousands of courts that anchor schoolyards, gyms, and public parks.
When indigenous Zapatista communities in Chiapas gather for a celebration, the festivities often open on a basketball court. Women play fierce games, sometimes in skirts, frequently preferring bare feet to sandals.
Middle-class rage sparks protest movements in Turkey, Brazil, Bulgaria and beyond
By , E-mail the writer
As protests raged in Turkey and were set to explode in distant Brazil, Asen Genov sat in his office in Bulgaria’s capital on the cloudy morning of June 14, about to strike the computer key that would spark a Bulgarian Spring.
Only months earlier, public outrage over high electricity bills in the country had brought down a previous government, but Genov saw more reason for anger when the new administration tapped a shadowy media mogul to head the national security service. Furious, Genov posted a Facebook event calling for a protest in Sofia, the nation’s capital, though he was dubious about turnout for a demonstration focused not on pocketbooks but on corruption and cronyism in government.
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