Warlords With Dark Pasts Battle in Afghan Election
By
KABUL, Afghanistan — Ashraf Ghani, the apparent front-runner in the Afghan presidential race this year, was once unstinting in his opinion of one of the country’s most prominent warlords, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, calling him a “known killer.”
He said that in 2009, when General Dostum was supporting President Hamid Karzai for re-election. Now, Mr. Ghani simply calls General Dostum his running mate.
In fact, of the 11 campaigns in the April 5 presidential election, six include at least one candidate on the ticket who is widely viewed as a warlord, with pasts and policies directly at odds with Western attempts to improve human rights here.
South Korean missionary 'confesses' to spying in North
Baptist evangelist Kim Jeong-wook, arrested in October, reads statement detailing anti-government activities
A South Korean missionary arrested in North Korea in October has said he had sought to establish underground churches while operating under the orders of South Korea's intelligence agency.
At a news conference in Pyongyang, Kim Jeong-wook, wearing a dark suit and in apparent good health, read a statement which detailed a number of anti-government activities.
No questions were taken at the event, footage of which was broadcast on South Korean television.
Foreigners arrested in North Korea are often required to make a public "confession", which can expedite their eventual release.
Gunmen seize government buildings in Ukraine
Russian flag raised as protesters blockade themselves inside HQ in Crimean capital
Armed men seized the regional government headquarters and parliament on Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula today and raised the Russian flag.
A Reuters correspondent on the scene in the Crimean capital, Simferopol, said the door of the parliament was blockaded from inside by tables and chairs and no one was now able to enter.
Interfax news agency quoted a witness as saying there were about 60 people inside and that they had many weapons. It said no one had been hurt when the buildings were seized in the early hours of Thursday.
“I heard gunfire in the night, came down and saw lots of people going in. Some then left. I’m not sure how many are still in there,” a 30-year-old man who gave his name only as Roman said.
'A Perfect Storm': The Failure of Venezuela's New President
He was hand-picked by Hugo Chávez, but Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has lost control of the country's economy. Vast protests have been the result, but the government in Caracas has shown no signs of bending.
The smell of smoke wafts over Caracas. A group of young women have built a barricade of wooden pallets and garbage bags and lit it on fire on the main street running through Bello Monte, a middle-class quarter of the Venezuelan capital.
Portrait of despair: Thousands queue for UN food parcels in Yarmouk, Damascus
February 27, 2014 - 6:39PMRuth Pollard
Middle East Correspondent
Beirut: Scared and desperate, their bodies ravaged with hunger, a heartbreaking tide of people crowds into the space between the devastated buildings of Yarmouk in Syria in the hope they will receive a UN food parcel that will stave off death for another week.
Many have already starved to death in Yarmouk, once home to 160,000 Palestinian refugees and an unknown number of Syrians. After three years of war, that number has dwindled to around 18,000, the United Nations says, with many fleeing to other countries or displaced within Syria itself.
On the outskirts of Syria’s capital, Damascus, Yarmouk has been under bombardment for almost a year, its residents hiding in rubble as aid groups struggle to negotiate access to the area.
Uganda shrugs off aid cuts over anti-gay law
Uganda shrugged off Thursday foreign aid cuts and international criticism of its tough new anti-gay law, saying it could do without Western aid.
"The West can keep their 'aid' to Uganda over homos, we shall still develop without it," government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said in a message on Twitter.
On Monday, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed a bill into law which holds that "repeat homosexuals" should be jailed for life, outlaws the promotion of homosexuality and requires people to denounce gays.
The signing of the law came despite fierce criticism from Western nations and key donors, including US President Barack Obama, who has warned that ties between Kampala and Washington would be damaged.
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