ASIA PACIFIC
Kabul Residents on Heroin Watch as Addiction Grows
By
KABUL, Afghanistan — Each afternoon, spectators line a bridge in west Kabul and gaze down. They have not come to stare at the Kabul River — a dismal trickle of muddy runoff this time of year — but at the figures huddled on its garbage-strewn banks.
Some of the men below rock back and forth, or crawl on all fours. Others sit perfectly still, with blankets over their heads, shielding lit matches from the wind and their gaunt faces from the men on the bridge above.
This is where Kabul’s surging numbers of heroin addicts gather to smoke, inject and occasionally die — usually with an intently staring audience. Some look on in judgment, others with pity.
Pakistan dares to ask: will school attack finally end myth of the ‘good Taliban’?
Decades of state support for jihadis has led to national confusion over who the real enemies are. But the latest attack might be a watershed
It is not just the survivors of Tuesday’s assault on Peshawar’s Army Public School who have been reliving the nightmarish attack that left 132 teenage boys dead. The entire country has been traumatised by graphic accounts of gunmen spraying bullets into a hall full of children and then later sadistically killing others after checking whether their parents served in the military.
On Wednesday, Pakistan’s army made a point of letting scores of television crews trample over the crime scene in order that they could broadcast pictures of rooms blasted by suicide bombers, floors covered with pools of barely dried blood, and the sad detritus of an ordinary school day suddenly interrupted by seven terrorists.
Rifaat Hussain, an academic, said the military was trying to generate a commodity that has long eluded Pakistan: a national consensus to fight terrorism. “The army had already decided Pakistan will never know peace or become a normal country unless these guys are put out of business, but they are using this horrific event to drive the point home,” he said.
The week Hollywood got scared and had to grow up a bit
Sony suffered a chorus of disapproval after it withdrew 'The Interview', but it's not too late for it to take a stand
Some rodents are also climate culprits
New findings show that beavers and Arctic ground squirrels are contributing more to climate change than previously thought. Information on wildlife's role in global warming will help inventory greenhouse gas sources.
Research released this week has shed new light on the role some rodent species play in contributing to climate change. And it's greater than imagined.
The way in which beavers and the Arctic ground squirrel (pictured above) interact with landscapes releases significant amounts of greenhouse gases, the studies show.
Research by Susan Natali and Nigel Golden on Arctic ground squirrels and climate change in Siberia was presented at the annual American Geophysical Union meeting, held December 15 through 19 in San Francisco.
On Wednesday, December 17, researcher Colin Whitfield released a study cataloguing methane emissions caused by beavers.
These two species are now understood to be significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions - comparable to previously known sources such as cud-chewing animals.
Cuba harbours one of US's most wanted fugitives, Assata Shakur
December 21, 2014 - 4:32PMTina Griego
Washington: This week's shift in relations between Washington and Havana has renewed the call for Cuba to turn over one of the United States' most controversial fugitives.
Even the act of naming her reveals the depth of the schism. Law enforcement calls her JoAnne Chesimard. Her supporters know her by her chosen name, Assata Shakur. She is the godmother and aunt of slain rap star Tupac Shakur.
Thirty years ago, Shakur fled to Cuba, where she was granted political asylum by Fidel Castro. US law enforcement has repeatedly sought her extradition, and the FBI has placed her on itsTop Ten Most Wanted Terrorists list. Information directly leading to her apprehension carries a $US2 million reward.
South AsiaSPEAKING FREELY
Crossroads for terror in South Asia
By Uday Deshwal
Burdwan in West Bengal, a city about 150 kilometers from Kolkata, was the location in early October of a blast inside a house which resulted in the death of two men, Shakil Ahmed and Swapan Mondal. Another man injured in the blast was later detained with with two women who were also present at the time of the blast and reportedly disclosed that those present at the time were all members of the terrorist outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen
Bangladesh (JuM-B/JMB) - and were planning to carry out attacks across Bangladesh.
Subsequent investigations revealed disturbing plans for a large terror scheme, with the JMB operating out of India to attack targets in Bangladesh and possibly even in India.
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