24 September 2013 Last updated at 09:11 GMT
Pyongyang thought to be mastering production of components for gas centrifuges needed to make such bombs, say experts
While the West is trying to extricate itself from the war zone in Afghanistan as quickly as possible, old warlords like Ismail Khan are preparing for a post-withdrawal period that many anticipate will be violent.
Khan grabs a pointer, taps it onto an area west of Herat and says: "This is where I came across the border from Iran with 17,000 men in 1996, during the Taliban era. Then we continued through Faryab and Mazar to Faizabad and back to Herat." He drags the pointer to the north and then to the east, sweeping it across all the wind turbines and power plants, as if they were nothing but hindrances. "My militias fought bravely everywhere," says Khan.
Nairobi attack: Kenya forces comb Westgate site
Kenyan security forces are combing the Nairobi shopping centre attacked by suspected al-Shabab militants, as they seek to secure the site.
An explosion and bursts of gunfire were heard coming from the Westgate complex on Tuesday morning, as speculation grew that the operation was nearing its end.
At least 62 people have been killed and more than 170 injured.
Meanwhile, Kenya's foreign minister said "two or three" Americans and a British woman were among the attackers.
In an interview with the US TV programme PBS Newshour, Amina Mohamed said the Americans were 18 or 19 years old, of Somali or Arab origin, and lived "in Minnesota and one other place"
North Korea 'has technology to build uranium-based nuclear bombs'
Pyongyang thought to be mastering production of components for gas centrifuges needed to make such bombs, say experts
North Korean scientists are thought to have attained the ability to build uranium-based nuclear bombs on their own, cutting the need for imports that had been one of the few ways outsiders could monitor the country's secretive atomic work.
According to evidence gathered by two North American experts, material published in North Korean scientific publications and news media shows that Pyongyang is mastering domestic production of essential components for the gas centrifuges needed to make such bombs.
The development further complicates long-stalled efforts to stop a nuclear bomb programme that Pyongyang has vowed to expand, despite international condemnation.
GREECE
Greek public sector workers take to the streets over layoffs
Thousands of public sector workers have gone on strike again in Greece to protest the planned mass dismissal of civil servants this year and in 2014. The marchers said the government was firing them indiscriminately.
Greek public sector workers resumed their strike action on Tuesday as many schools remained shut and hospitals were left with skeleton staff only.
The protesters voiced their anger over a government plan to fire 15,000 civil servants by the end of 2014, with 4,000 of them already having to go in the course of this year. The harsh measure was foisted upon Athens by international creditors who had kept the debt-stricken southern European nation afloat with bailout tranches totaling more than 240 billion euros ($323.8 billion).
Return of the Lion: Former Warlord Preps for Western Withdrawal
While the West is trying to extricate itself from the war zone in Afghanistan as quickly as possible, old warlords like Ismail Khan are preparing for a post-withdrawal period that many anticipate will be violent.
Ismail Khan abruptly gets up from his armchair. "I understood the question," he says. "So you want to know whether now, 12 years after Western troops arrived, every village finally has electricity." Afghanistan's minister of water and energy walks over to a map on the wall on which rebuilt hydroelectric power plants, new solar plants and modern wind turbines are marked.
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is banned, and crackdown could broaden
CAIRO — An Egyptian court on Monday banned the Muslim Brotherhood and its vast social services network in what could be a devastating blow to the Islamist organization, which swept Mohamed Morsi to the presidency just last year and has fiercely resisted the military coup that ousted him in July.
The far-reaching ruling appears to apply to any group remotely associated with the world’s oldest Islamist movement, granting temporary legal cover to the military-backed government of Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sissi to broaden a crackdown that has already left the Brotherhood battered.
China, too, worries that boys are being left behind
By Lara Farrar | McClatchy Foreign Staff
SHANGHAI — Zhang Mei Lian is worried about her 16-year-old son. Worried that he’s falling behind his female classmates in school. Worried that he isn’t athletic enough, that he doesn’t know how to repair things, such as computers or a broken light. Worried that, in short, he doesn’t know how to be a man.
“Our current education system is really bad for boys,” Zhang said. “Boys should be strong. Otherwise, they are all turning into some kind of feminized boys. Boys should be acting like boys.”
Zhang isn’t the only one who’s concerned about the masculinity of young Chinese men. Much as in some segments of the United States, where boys’ falling academic achievement has been the subject of a host of studies, China is worried about whether rapid social change is leaving boys behind.
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