Kim Jong Un just had his own uncle killed. Why?
BY MAX FISHER
Just over a week after South Korean intelligence officials revealed that North Korea had purged senior government official Jang Song Thaek, who also happened to be the uncle of leader Kim Jong Un, North Korean state media have announced that Jang has been executed. Jang's bizarre case raises two closely related but distinct questions: What did Jang do? And why would Kim have his own uncle put to death?
The truth, needless to say, is probably not that Jang was killed for "half-heartedly clapping," as the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency claims in a lengthy explanation for the execution. More likely, this is perhaps a way for Kim to consolidate his power within a large, inscrutable bureaucracy that's dominated by much older and more experience cadres who may have resisted the young upstart's leadership.
The highly public purge of Jang has been unprecedented from the beginning. North Korea has had plenty of political purges in its history, but never like this; they've been done quietly, behind the scenes.
Ashton indicates Ukraine still keen to sign EU deal
The EU's Catherine Ashton has said Ukraine still plans to sign an association agreement. The European Parliament has advocated sending a special delegation to the troubled country to broker talks.
On Thursday, the European Union and Russia both expressed hopes for closer ties with Ukraine, asprotests continued on the streets of the capital, Kyiv.
Returning from talks with all parties in Ukraine earlier in the week, EU foreign policy head Catherine Ashton said that President Viktor Yanukovych had indicated that he still wanted to sign a deal.
"Look, Yanukovych made it clear to me that he intends to sign the association agreement," Ashton said, adding that such a move "will help to bring in the kind of investment that [Yanukovych] needs." An agreement for closer EU cooperation would secure both institutional support out of Brussels and also market confidence in Ukrainian prospects, Ashton said.
Abducted in Syria: Extremist Rebels Target Journalists
Radical Islamists embedded among the rebels in Syria are reportedly targeting foreign journalists for abduction. Instead of holding them for ransom, however, they use them as trump cards in their power struggles with more moderate rebel groups.
It was Sept. 16. The two Spaniards had almost made it to safety. Journalists Javiar Espinosa and Ricardo García, as well as their escorts, fighters with the Free Syrian Army, were hardly 15 minutes by car from the Turkish border when they were stopped at the last checkpoint within Syrian territory and abducted.
The two Spaniards were a big catch for the radical Islamists. Since early last summer, ISIS and other extremist groups have apparently shifted their strategy and begun targeting foreign reporters for abduction.
War-crime execution sparks fresh violence in Bangladesh
December 13, 2013 - 6:37PMBen Doherty
South Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media
Dhaka, Bangladesh: With the first execution of a prisoner convicted by Bangladesh’s controversial war crimes tribunal, the country has plunged back into violence, and elections scheduled for next month seem increasingly unlikely to go ahead.
In the hours since Abdul Quader Mollah’s hanging, already a government-allied political leader has been lynched, while police and soldiers have fought with, and fired on, protesters. Buildings and cars have been torched, and roads blockaded.
Abdul Quader Mollah, known as the "Butcher of Mirpur" for a string of violent atrocities committed against Bangladeshis fighting for independence from Pakistan during the country’s 1971 war, was hanged at 10.01pm on Thursday night, local time.
Arabia’s jetsam find new solace
Battered Ethiopians return to a warm welcome after Saudi Arabia’s clampdown on foreigners.
Abdulla Shahmola trudges up the road leading from Addis Ababa airport to the outskirts of the city, his battered black suitcase balanced precariously on his head. Weariness and relief are etched into his delicate features as he heaves his heavy bag to the floor.
"I have so many possessions that I had to leave behind in Saudi Arabia – a television, a bed, a fridge," he laments, adding that he is thankful to be back in Ethiopia.
Shahmola is one of hundreds of men, women and children steadily streaming from the airport cargo terminal, where up to 20 flights have been arriving daily from Jeddah and Riyadh since November 13.
Argentine slum honors 'Blue Virgin,' remembers pope
A 10-hour procession celebrates the 'Blue Virgin,' more formally known as Paraguay’s 'Lady of Caacupe.' Last year, the Mass was led by Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now the pope.
Thousands of Paraguayan immigrants living along the polluted Riachuelo river in Argentina's capital celebrate their "Blue Virgin" every year with a grueling but joyful 10-hour procession that winds through every corner of their slum. Last year, their feast day's Mass was led by none other than Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who has since become their beloved "slum pope."
That Time magazine named Pope Francis "person of the year" on Wednesday makes perfect sense to those who knew him as the church leader who saw to it that every major slum in the city had a working parish.
"For us slum-dwellers, it's a point of pride that Francis has been here drinking mate (an herbal tea shared communally by South Americans) and spending lots of time with the poorest people, and that he's now recognized by the entire world.
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