There had already been months of fighting in the surrounding streets as African Union (AU) troops, deployed to bring peace to this most blighted of cities, advanced street by street.
Gunfights at the time had raged for days across narrow alleyways. On one side were soldiers from the Ugandan army, sent as the main component of the AU force. On the other, followers of al-Shabaab, the extremist al-Qa'ida-linked body that had sought to enforce its hard-line interpretation of Islamic law on the city.
One of their final bastions was Mogadishu stadium, once the centre for Somalia's national football team. Even when all the surrounding streets in the district had been cleared, the militiamen holed up there refused to surrender – requiring the soldiers to clear it one corridor and one stand at a time.
Immigration: the new Europe
Syria’s civil war has created a refugee crisis in Europe, where xenophobia is on the rise. A new ‘Irish Times’ series begins with this report from Harmanli refugee centre, in Bulgaria
Suzanne Lynch
Deep in the bleak Bulgarian countryside, 50km from the EU’s border with Turkey, the chilly January silence that envelops Harmanli refugee centre lifts momentarily with the sound of children playing.
But Khansa Abd El-Rahman, a Syrian mother of six, is impervious to the children playing at her feet as she recounts her journey into Europe. “I left Damascus last year, when the fighting became too bad. I travelled with my uncle and brother through Turkey, but I don’t know where my husband is. There is no communication or electricity in Syria. I need help.”
Khansa Abd El-Rahman is one of millions of refugees who have fled the civil war in Syria. It has spawned a huge refugee crisis, with two million Syrians estimated to have left their homes. While Lebanon, Turkey and other neighbours have absorbed much of the exodus, European countries have received an estimated 64,000 refugees from the troubled country.
Southeast Asia
Coup calculations in Thailand
By John Cole and Steve Sciacchitano
BANGKOK - With hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters occupying large swathes of the national capital and a series of shadowy armed attacks on their encampments, speculation is rising that Thailand could be on the brink of another military coup. A similar protest movement paved the way for the September 2006 putsch that overthrew former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's administration. But the situation now is substantially more complicated, militating against the prospect of another army-led takeover. During his more than three years as commander of the Royal Thai Army (RTA), General Prayuth Chan-ocha has earned the reputation for sometimes speaking before thinking. Most recently, the military leader caused a stir when, after several weeks of ruling out a military intervention in Thailand's escalating political crisis, he cryptically told reporters that he could neither open nor close the door to a future military coup.
Mexican vigilantes complicate the president's positive message
The expansion of self-defense groups in Mexico has presented problems for President Peña Nieto, who is trying to turn the page on cartel killings and turf wars associated with his predecessor.
By David Agren, Correspondent
Townspeople gathered at dusk in the central square of this city of ranches and lemon groves, planning to pick a committee to support and oversee the activities of a recently arrived self-defense group here. The vigilantes gained acceptance when they recently ran off a cartel accused of everything from extracting extortion payments to making people it didn’t like in the community disappear.
“We don’t want any more missing persons. On every block there are one or two missing persons,” says Gloria Ayala, a retired chemist taking part in the town meeting.
“People here have more confidence in themselves than the government,” Ms. Ayala says.
But after a confrontation between government soldiers and vigilantes nearby left at least one person dead, questions are swirling as to how the government allowed armed civilians to take on the cartel-orchestrated violence across Mexico that federal forces are supposed to be fighting – and how President Enrique Peña Nieto is going to contain the violence associated more with his predecessor, former President Felipe Calderón.
Iran executes 40 in two weeks: rights group
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Amnesty International says figure is more than the total for last January, and many were for drug-related offences.
Last updated: 18 Jan 2014 06:12
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Iran has executed 40 people since the beginning of 2014, according to Amnesty International, with at least 33 carried out in the past week.
The human rights organisation released a
statement detailing 21 executions confirmed by Iranian officials, and another 19 that were reported through "reliable sources".
"The spike in the number of executions carried out so far this month in Iran is alarming," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Beginning on January 9, 2014, more executions were carried out in Iran than during the entire month last year, said the group.
The Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, who decisively won the national election in June 2013, promised to follow a "path of moderation" in international affairs and to ease restrictions on civil liberties.
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