Geneva II: Iran not in first round of nations for UN Syria peace talks
Russia tightens security in Sochi before Olympics
Forces go on combat alert as Black Sea resort as part of measures by Putin
Russian forces went on combat alert in Sochi and tightened restrictions on access to the Black Sea resort today as part of measures by president Vladimir Putin to ensure security at next month’s Winter Olympics.
Aware that the success or failure of the Sochi Games will help shape his legacy, Mr Putin has increased security in Russia following two suicide bomb attacks in the southern city of Volgograd which killed at least 34 people.
Moscow’s most wanted man, the Chechen insurgent leader Doku Umarov, has urged militants who want to carve an Islamic state in Russia’s south to use “maximum force” to prevent the Games going ahead.
US failures in Iraq seeded al Qaeda resurgence
The resurgence of al Qaeda in Iraq was triggered by the government's repression of Sunni opposition. But America's speedy withdrawal and subsequent diplomatic failures helped feed the sectarian tension, say critics.
For most Americans, the Iraq War ended when its last troops were withdrawn at the end of 2011. But the violence in the country has barely relented since then, and last week's outbreak of fighting in Fallujah and Ramadi was only the latest eruption of long-lasting sectarian tensions. Plenty of media reports have compared the latest resurgence of al Qaeda-related groups in the al-Anbar region west of Baghdad with the sectarian conflict that erupted in the country in 2006 and 2007. At the time US troops (and money) helped to quell what many feared could develop into a full-scale civil war between Sunnis and Shiites.
Those sectarian tensions remained unresolved when US troops forces pulled out four years later, and last week's violence was triggered by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's decision to break up a year-old protest camp outside al-Anbar capital Ramadi.
Girl, 10, forced to wear suicide bomb vest
January 7, 2014 - 11:19AM
An Afghan girl believed to be about 10 years old was found wearing a bomb vest in Helmand province after her brother encouraged her to carry out a suicide attack, officials said on Monday.
The girl, named as Spogmai, had been persuaded to attack border police after male relatives accused her of having "illicit relations" with officers, according to reports.
She was strapped into a bomb harness by one of her elder brothers and sent across a river to her target, in southern Helmand. But she began crying with cold while crossing the river and her brother, a suspected Taliban commander called Zahir, fled, according to the Pahjwok news agency. Some reports said she was still wearing the vest when she handed herself in to the police; others said Zahir took it with him.
Ancient pharaoh's tomb unearthed in Egypt
A US team in Egypt has identified the tomb of Pharaoh Sobekhotep I, believed to be the founder of the 13th dynasty 3 800 years ago.
Egypt's antiquities minister said on Monday that a US team in Egypt has identified the tomb of Pharaoh Sobekhotep I, believed to be the founder of the 13th dynasty 3 800 years ago.
The team from the University of Pennsylvania had discovered the quartzite sarcophagus of Sobekhotep I, which weighed about 60 tonnes, a year ago, but was unable to identify who it belonged to until last week, the ministry said.
Its identity was established after the team found fragments of a slab inscribed with the pharaoh's name and showed him sitting on a throne, Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said in a statement.
"He is likely the first who ruled Egypt at the start of the 13th dynasty during the second intermediate period," the minister said.
Label it: Chile battles obesity
Packaged foods and soft drinks sold in Chile that are high in saturated fat, sugar, or salt will carry prominent labels on the front of the package. But not everyone is happy with the rules.
Change is coming to the Chilean lunch box. After years of ever sweeter, fattier, and saltier snacks, new rules aim to move children's diets toward healthier foods.
The guidelines, published late last month, will require some of the most popular kids’ foods to carry a warning label. Starting this year, packaged foods and soft drinks high in saturated fat, sugar, or salt will carry prominent markers on the front of the package.
These will be the world’s first obligatory warnings for such ingredients, says Undersecretary of Health Jorge Díaz.
Chile is responding to a swelling obesity rate and a widespread lack of consumer consciousness. Chileans are moving to cities, buying more processed food, and leading more sedentary lives, the health ministry says. Now, the long-thin country has swelled to be the sixth most obese among the 39 wealthy nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. A quarter of Chileans are listed as obese, and obesity in children six years old and under rose from 7.2 percent in 2005 to 10.1 percent in 2012, according to Mr. Díaz.
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