Ukraine launches operation against Russian 'plan to divide country'
Kiev sends special forces to eastern cities to oust protesters occupying government buildings as tensions with Moscow rise
Ukraine has launched an "anti-terrorist" operation against pro-Russian separatists occupying government buildings in many of its eastern cities
Police arrested 70 pro-Russian demonstrators in Kharkiv on Tuesday, as protesters in two other cities held similar standoffs. Ukrainian authorities gave few details of the "operation that cleared the building in the town of Kharkiv but said two police had been wounded by a grenade that was thrown.
Ukrainian special forces in combat gear, helmets and balaclavas and carrying machine guns stood guard early outside the building. A partly destroyed sign near the main door read: "Avakov - to jail", a reference to the Ukrainian interior minister, Arsen Avakov.
Iran, powers seek to narrow gaps in new round of nuclear talks
VIENNA
Iran and six world powers began a new round of negotiations on Tuesday aimed at settling the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program by late July, despite wide differences on how to get there.
Chief negotiators from Iran, the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia started a two-day meeting around 9:45 a.m. at the U.N. complex in Vienna, where they have held two previous such sessions since February.
Both sides say they want to start drafting a comprehensive agreement in May, some two months before a July 20 deadline for finalizing the accord. Western official say, however, that the two sides are still far apart on key issues.
Decades after genocide, Congo struggles to dislodge Rwanda rebels
Tue Apr 8, 2014 6:40am GMT
TONGO Democratic Republic of Congo(Reuters) - Twenty years after the genocide in Rwanda, a rebel group founded by ethnic extremists who took part in that slaughter still prowls the lush hills of neighbouring eastern Congo, defying a renewed threat by the army and U.N. peacekeepers to dislodge it.
The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) sits at the heart of two decades of war and instability in Democratic Republic of Congo, in which millions of people have died from violence, hunger and disease. [ID:nL6N0MZ3ZL]
Founded by members of the Interahamwe Hutu militia that organised the slaughter of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda in 1994, the FDLR's ranks have dwindled over the last decade to less than 2,000 rag-tag fighters.
But its presence in eastern Congo remains an irritant to Rwanda's Tutsi leadership, which has held power since the genocide, and has prompted years of meddling by Kigali in its larger neighbour, fuelling instability and bloodshed. Experts say removing the FDLR is essential for peace in the Great Lakes region.
Syria's latest battle: The PR fight over sanctuary for Christians
Since taking over the Armenian town of Kessab, the Syrian opposition has tried to show it, too, can protect minorities. The regime is determined to disrupt the effort.
So far, these fears have not been realized. Instead, rebels appear to be using Kessab as an opportunity to try to undo their reputation for extreme brutality towards Syria's Christians and Shiites. But the Assad regime, which considers itself the protector of minorities, has launched a media campaign to demonstrate how Islamists are terrorizing Christians in Kessab, turning the town into a public relations battlefield in Syria's civil war.
Christians' fears of the armed opposition have been stoked by events such as the Hatla massacre, in which at least 30 Shiite villagers were killed, and by snapshots of life under the control of extremist groups: strict Islamist doctrine, public beheadings of "infidels," and the alleged levying of a jizya, or protection tax, on some Christian communities by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an Al Qaeda-linked militant group.
Afghanistan's New Middle Class Could Be Key to Stability
KABUL -- The Tolo News compound of old villas protected by armed security guards has next-to-nothing in common with Silicon Valley, but it feels like a startup. Desks are crammed in where they fit. Screens line the walls. Computers are humming. Papers are strewn across meeting tables. Employees are busy discussing the latest ideas for the upcoming show. From here, Tolo News broadcasts 16 hours of live television per day.
A day after the country's elections, Tolo's young employees (the average age is 24) gather in a small courtyard to celebrate their successful coverage. The team was happy with their coverage, but also felt relieved that election day was less violent than expected and voter turnout was reported up. The bosses are here to sponsor a free lunch – a perk seen here to be as lavish as a free massage at Google's headquarters.
This team is Afghanistan's new middle class – a stratum that slowly grew in the decade after the fall of the Taliban.
8 April 2014 Last updated at 08:00
Altar: The town where migrants shop for a perilous journey
In a Mexican border town, the shops are stocked for one thing - to equip migrants for the last leg of a long and sometimes fatal journey.
From early morning, people start to congregate in the main plaza in Altar.
Under a grey sky, the sun not yet high enough to warm their backs, pockets of men and women gather to share a coffee, a quesadilla or a cigarette.
At first glance they seem like any other rural workers in northern Mexico.
The men wear caps and jeans, beaten-looking trainers and boots.
The women are dressed like the men. But Altar is unlike anywhere else in Mexico.
Amid the furtive looks and conspiratorial chats, these people are on the move, plotting their route north.
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