Afghans Demand That U.S. Admit Military Errors
By ROD NORDLANDKABUL, Afghanistan — Months of fraught negotiations and public posturing over how a long-term American military force could remain in Afghanistan have suddenly come down to a demand for a single personal gesture: a display of contrition by President Obama for military mistakes that have hurt Afghans.
Afghan officials said Tuesday that in return for such a letter from Mr. Obama, President Hamid Karzai would end his vehement opposition to American counterterrorism raids on private Afghan homes — one of the most contentious issues between allies over a costly dozen-year war — clearing the way for an agreement to keep a smaller American troop force in the country past the 2014 withdrawal deadline.
As described by Mr. Karzai’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi, the letter would be tantamount to an apology, though he did not use that word. But not even that would be enough to ensure the final passage of a security agreement the United States had pressed to have in hand before next year. The Afghans have made final approval subject to an Afghan grand council of elders, a loya jirga, that is to begin meeting on Thursday, and aspects of the security deal remain deeply unpopular with the public.
Egyptian army opponents break their silence
Egypt's Islamists demonstrated for months against the army. Now, secular activists are out in the streets to protest the co-opting of their revolution. But, the military government has a propaganda machine on its side.
Accompanied by brass-band music and dignified-looking men in uniform, Egyptian Prime Minister Hasim Beblawi on Monday (18.11.2013) inaugurated a monument on Cairo's Tahrir Square to those who died in the revolution. Less than 24 hours later, activists had torn down the plaque and daubed the monument with graffiti. "Down with the traitors to the revolution: Islamists, Mubarak loyalists and the army," they wrote in blood-red letters.
To bystanders' applause, one of the activists shouted into his megaphone: "We do not want to kill anyone, we do not want bloodshed. All we want is justice for the martyrs and punishment for anyone who has damaged the country and the revolution, so our country can be better."
Nearly three years after the popular uprising against President Hosni Mubarak, the murderers of protesters were still at large, he shouted, adding that the new regime protects the security forces who were responsible, just like the old one did. That the murderers have now built a monument to their victims is a farce, he said.
Unprepared: Government Failings Intensify Haiyan Aid Disaster
Typhoon Haiyan has left entire regions all but inaccessible in the Philippines, while the ensuing chaos has hampered the efforts of relief workers. A country hit by about 10 typhoons a year ought to be better prepared.
It was the day after the typhoon when Peter Görgen's phone rang. As an operations manager for the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), Görgen is one of the first people to receive a call when Germany expects to provide aid in a disaster zone.
Botswana government rejects fracking claims
Botswana's government has denied claims that fracking is under way in the country's top wildlife park, but says exploration drilling is taking place.
Botswana's government on Tuesday said environmental protection was key in its search for natural gas, rejecting claims that fracking was already under way in the country's top wildlife park.
"There are currently no fracking operations going on in the country except exploration drilling by various exploration companies," said a statement from the ministry of minerals, energy and water resources.
This week, the Open Society Initiative for Southern African (Osisa) said Botswana had granted concessions "over vast tracts of land" while keeping the public in the dark about the developments.
"There is coal bed methane prospecting in the reserve as well as other areas of Botswana, but no commercial operations now or in the near future," government spokesperson Jeff Ramsay said.
Vigilante groups seize control of towns in western Mexico
Towns across Michoacan have kicked out gangs via armed civilian uprisings. But is one illegal armed group supplanting a more powerful one an improvement?
Rogelio Valencia peered out from a sandbag bunker outside Tepalcatepec in a fertile region ofMexico’s Michoacan state, keeping an eye cocked for marauding gangsters.
“They might come in 10 or 12 pickups. But we are prepared,” says Mr. Valencia, a civilian with a pistol tucked in his waistband and a two-way radio at hand.
Tepalcatepec is in a “liberated” region of Michoacan state, where an armed uprising of civilians has succeeded in lifting a yoke imposed by a crime group with a feudal-sounding name, the Knights Templar, which keeps a searing and heavy hand on the majority of Michoacan’s 113 municipalities.
It is a success story of sorts, if you call one illegal armed group supplanting a more powerful one as improvement.
Exclusive: Syria's chemical weapons may be destroyed at sea - sources
By Anthony Deutsch and Michelle Nichols
AMSTERDAM/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria's chemical weapons could be processed and destroyed out at sea, say sources familiar with discussions at the international body in charge of eliminating the toxic arsenal.
Four days after Albania rejected a U.S. request that it host a weapons decommissioning plant, Western diplomats and an official of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons at The Hague told Reuters the OPCW was studying whether it might carry out the work at sea, on a ship or offshore rig.
Confirming the discussion, the OPCW official stressed there had been no decision: "The only thing known at this time is that this is technically feasible," the official said on Tuesday.
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