Anti-Islam marches split Germany along old fault lines
Growing number of public figures condemn Pegida movement as racist and intolerant
Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, Cologne cathedral and other German monuments extinguished their lights on Monday night in protest at anti-Islam marches spreading across the country.
Some 18,000 people marched through Dresden in the latest protest against immigration policies, while similar but smaller demonstrations took place for the first time in Berlin and Cologne.
In all cities, loud and lively counter-demonstrators took to the streets.
In Cologne, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki ordered the lights illuminating the cathedral extinguished as an anti-Islam demonstration attracted a few hundred marchers on the opposite side of the Rhine. In Berlin an estimated 5,000 counter-demonstrators stopped a 300-strong anti-Islam march reaching the Brandenburg Gate, also in darkness.
Thousands flee homes in Kashmir as India-Pakistan clashes spread
About 6,000 civilians in Indian-controlled region leave homes as intense shelling reported along border
Thousands of Indians have fled their homes as fighting between India and Pakistan spread along a 124-mile stretch of the border in the disputed region of Kashmir.
Tension between the nuclear-armed rivals has risen since the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, called off peace talks in August and clashes along stretches of their border have been erupting intermittently since October.
At least 10 Indian and Pakistani soldiers and civilians have been killed in fighting over the past week.
About 6,000 civilians in Indian-controlled Kashmir fled from their homes late on Monday as fighting moved to civilian areas, said Shantmanu, the divisional commissioner of Jammu region. About 4,000 left after fighting began last week.
SpaceX to try and land a rocket on a barge, but mission likely to go wrong
Kurdish fighters advance against IS in Syria's Kobani
Kurdish fighters have captured a vital zone in the Syrian border town of Kobani after fierce clashes against "Islamic State" militants, a monitoring group says. They were backed by US-led airstrikes.
Kurdish forces fighting jihadist militants from the "Islamic State" (IS) group have seized a vital district housing security and government facilities in the northern Syrian town of Kobani, an activist group said on Monday.
"The People's Protection Units (YPG) fighting the jihadists (IS) for nearly four months have full control of the security district, " the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Kurdish fighters now control 80 percent of the strategic border town, known in Arabic as Ayn al-Arab, the Observatory said. It added that the Kurds had been supported by at least three airstrikes carried out by a US-led coalition against IS.
Organized crime in Latin America: What to expect in 2015
Drug trafficking and extortion are expected to increase in Colombia as the government and FARC continue peace talks, and relationships between Guatemalan and Mexican drug gangs could strengthen.
Latin America is the most dangerous region in the world in terms of homicides and 2015 is unlikely to see that change. Below we list seven of the nations the Insight Crime believes are the most vulnerable to transnational organized crime in 2015.
Venezuela
This nation is at greatest risk of a significant increase in organized crime and greater threats to citizen security in 2015. The Chavista regime is crumbling, beset by internal divisions and economic woes. If oil prices continue at current levels, (at time of writing the price of a barrel of Brent crude, an international marker, was under $65), then Venezuela simply cannot pay its bills. Morgan Stanley predicted that Brent would average $70 a barrel in 2015, which if true means there is no relief in sight.
Jordan's prince to seek FIFA presidency
Jordan's Prince Ali bin Al Hussein will seek the presidency of FIFA, saying it's time for soccer's governing body to get back to focusing on the sport.
"The headlines should be about football, the beautiful sport, not about FIFA," the prince tweeted Tuesday.
FIFA has been been heavily criticized following allegations of corruption over its bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Russia was awarded the 2018 World Cup and Qatar the event for 2022.
A FIFA investigation found no wrongdoing in the process.
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