North Korea's youth revolution stirs unease
The execution of Jang Song Taek, 67, is seen as part of a purge of older officials by 30-year-old leader Kim Jong Un, in some ways reminiscent of China's bloody Cultural Revolution under Mao.
By Barbara Demick and Jung-yoon Choi
BEIJING — It is North Korea's version of a youth revolution, and it's making a lot of people nervous.
At 30, Kim Jong Un may well be the world's youngest head of state. His brother, Kim Jong Chul, two years older, is best known as an avid Eric Clapton fan but is also said to keep an eye on the leader's security. And the youngest of the Swiss-educated siblings, 26-year-old sister Kim Yo Jong, is seen frequently as an aide-de-camp to the leader.
With Thursday's execution of their uncle, Jang Song Taek, and the purge of his cronies, this impatient new generation of the Kim family dynasty appears to be kicking out the adults. More executions are expected.
The developments also are worrying neighbors, including China, who wonder whether they can trust Kim Jong Un with the country's nuclear weapons and the flow of trade that keeps North Korea afloat.
"He had to get rid of the grumpy old men," said Andrei Lankov, a North Korea scholar based in Seoul. "He couldn't be a boss with subordinates who are twice his age, who don't understand him and don't take him seriously."
ANC accused of pettiness for excluding Desmond Tutu from Mandela funeral
South Africa's ruling party lambasted for not inviting retired archbishop and old Mandela ally turned fierce government critic
Retired archbishop Desmond Tutu, one of the most prominent figures in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, has been excluded from the funeral of Nelson Mandela on Sunday in what has been described as a politically motivated snub.
Critics accused the governing African National Congress (ANC) of looking petty by apparently failing to invite Tutu, one of the most vocal campaigners for Mandela's release from jail during white minority rule.
An estimated 5,000 guests including Prince Charles, Malawian president Joyce Banda and various other dignitaries will attend the state funeral in Qunu, the village where Mandela grew up in Eastern Cape province. Tutu's daughter Mpho, chief executive of the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, said on Friday: "The archbishop is not an accredited clergyperson for the event and will thus not be attending." His office declined to comment further.
Ukraine: Divided land, divided church
Protests in Ukraine have highlighted the division between the country's two main Orthodox churches. One has an independent streak and is protecting demonstrators from police. The other is subordinate to Moscow.
The colors of St. Michael's Monastery in Kyiv are those of the Ukrainian flag: light blue walls and golden domes. And, as people enter the building, they carry the blue and yellow flags in a steady stream.
"We have come to pray for students battered by the police," said Olena, a student from the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. She and her four friends traveled for three days to Kyiv to demonstrate for closer ties between Ukraine and the European Union - and against President Viktor Yanukovych, who recently put a stop to this process, triggering the mass protests.
In the early hours of November 30, dramatic scenes played out before the monastery gates. A few hundred meters downhill, on the Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square), special police forces violently cleared a camp set up by opponents of the government.
China makes US Navy ship change course
December 14, 2013 - 4:26PM
A US Navy guided-missile cruiser had a confrontation with a Chinese military ship in the South China Sea this month, underscoring rising tensions in the region over China's newly declared air defence zone.
The USS Cowpens, operating in international waters, and a Chinese naval vessel "had an encounter that required manoeuvring to avoid a collision" on December 5, the US Pacific Fleet said on Friday.
"This incident underscores the need to ensure the highest standards of professional seamanship, including communications between vessels, to mitigate the risk of an unintended incident or mishap."
Report: Political instability on the rise
December 12, 2013 -- Updated 0446 GMT (1246 HKT
Growing levels of conflict, terrorism, and the toppling of regimes in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as political violence in East Africa, are driving a rise in political instability worldwide, according to research by UK risk analysis firm, Maplecroft released on Thursday.
Since 2010, one in ten of the countries surveyed have experienced a significant increase in the level of short-term political risk.
These risks include governments asserting control over natural resources, regimes being ousted by popular uprisings and the expropriation of foreign investors' assets.
The findings form part of the latest Maplecroft Political Risk Atlas, which uses 52 indicators to help companies monitor political issues affecting the business environment in 197 countries.
14 December 2013 Last updated at 00:25 GMT
Why border lines drawn with a ruler in WW1 still rock the Middle East
A map marked with crude chinagraph-pencil in the second decade of the 20th Century shows the ambition - and folly - of the 100-year old British-French plan that helped create the modern-day Middle East.
Straight lines make uncomplicated borders. Most probably that was the reason why most of the lines that Mark Sykes, representing the British government, and Francois Georges-Picot, from the French government, agreed upon in 1916 were straight ones.
Sykes and Picot were quintessential "empire men". Both were aristocrats, seasoned in colonial administration, and crucially believers in the notion that the people of the region would be better off under the European empires.
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