Isis: the inside story
One of the Islamic State’s senior commanders reveals exclusive details of the terror group’s origins inside an Iraqi prison – right under the noses of their American jailers. Report by Martin Chulov
Thursday 11 December 2014 06.00 GMT
In the summer of 2004, a young jihadist in shackles and chains was walked by his captors slowly into the Camp Bucca prison in southern Iraq. He was nervous as two American soldiers led him through three brightly-lit buildings and then a maze of wire corridors, into an open yard, where men with middle-distance stares, wearing brightly-coloured prison uniforms, stood back warily, watching him.
“I knew some of them straight away,” he told me last month. “I had feared Bucca all the way down on the plane. But when I got there, it was much better than I thought. In every way.”
The jihadist, who uses the nom de guerre Abu Ahmed, entered Camp Bucca as a young man a decade ago, and is now a senior official within Islamic State (Isis) – having risen through its ranks with many of the men who served time alongside him in prison. Like him, the other detainees had been snatched by US soldiers from Iraq’s towns and cities and flown to a place that had already become infamous: a foreboding desert fortress that would shape the legacy of the US presence in Iraq.
'Millions will die' without new antibiotics
Give up guns for books, Malala Yousafzai tells governments
Youngest Nobel peace prize recipient receives standing ovation at ceremony in Oslo
Alexandra Topping
The Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai has used her Nobel peace prize acceptance speech to launch a searing attack on “strong” governments that had the resources to begin wars but not to enable universal education.
Speaking at the Nobel peace prize ceremony in Oslo she said: “Why is it that countries which we call strong are so powerful in creating wars but are so weak in bringing peace? Why is it that giving guns is so easy, but giving books is so hard?”
Raising her voice in the silent room, where she was given a rousing standing ovation at both the beginning and end of her speech, she added: “We are living in the modern age and we believe that nothing is impossible. We have reached the moon 45 years ago, and maybe we will soon land on Mars. Then, in this 21st century we must be able to give every child a quality education.”
Zambia: "Falling in Love with Radio in the African Bush"
How Zambia's Chikuni Radio touches hearts and changes lives with human development programming – by Eva Georgia, DW Akademie trainer in Zambia.
By the people for the people - this is one definition of community radio, and happens to be a definition I ascribe to. But in 25 years of trekking across the globe and working in and with community media, I haven't often seen it put into practice. In August this year, I had to journey deep into the African bush of Zambia - 226 kilometres south-east of the capital Lusaka - to once again feel the true pulse of community radio: a Catholic missionary station called Chikuni Radio, where "by the people for the people" isn't just a saying, it's a daily method. Excuse me for getting so emotional, but I'm head-over-heels in love with Chikuni!
Once we reach the regional capital Monze, it's still another 36 kilometres to remote Chikuni, the last 10 of those a challenging gravel road that appears to lead to nowhere. Remote maybe, but people have been scraping together an existence here since 1905, and today Chikuni is known in Zambia as a centre of excellence in education and health care. Over the years, the town's liberal Catholic Mission has built a proud community that boasts one of the country's top hospitals, one of the country's top high schools and one of the country's top colleges. All that is at the heart of Chikuni Radio's programming.
Once we reach the regional capital Monze, it's still another 36 kilometres to remote Chikuni, the last 10 of those a challenging gravel road that appears to lead to nowhere. Remote maybe, but people have been scraping together an existence here since 1905, and today Chikuni is known in Zambia as a centre of excellence in education and health care. Over the years, the town's liberal Catholic Mission has built a proud community that boasts one of the country's top hospitals, one of the country's top high schools and one of the country's top colleges. All that is at the heart of Chikuni Radio's programming.
Report describes Brazil's crimes again humanity, political killings, torture
Brazil's National Truth Commission released a nearly 2,000-page report Wednesday, detailing government-approved political killings, torture, and crimes against humanity, and calling for the perpetrators to be prosecuted.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil took its most significant step yet to address the human rights violations of its military dictatorship on Wednesday, releasing an exhaustive report that documents nearly two decades of government-approved political killings and torture.
After 30 years of impunity for crimes of the state, the National Truth Commission report names 377 people allegedly responsible for 434 deaths and disappearances, and thousands of acts of torture. The list includes top regime figures who instituted policies of persecution, and lowly soldiers who carried them out.
The nearly 2,000-page report describes crimes against humanity in excruciating detail, and calls for the perpetrators to be prosecuted.
11 December 2014 Last updated at 02:05
Meet Afghanistan's 'Bruce Lee'
Just a few weeks ago, Abbas Alizada was a just another young Afghan with little money and big dreams.
But after posting a picture on Facebook of himself striking a pose next to martial arts legend Bruce Lee, the Kung Fu fan from a Kabul suburb has shot to social media fame.
There is still little money, but the 21-year-old's hopes are sky-high after the post went viral.
The photo montage is subtitled "Old dragon - New dragon" and shows Abbas looking remarkably like his Hollywood hero.
Abbas Alizada was 14 when he got hooked on Bruce Lee action movies.
Martial arts heroes like Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee have always been popular in Afghanistan and films are easily available on local bazaars.
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