Drone Strikes Reveal Uncomfortable Truth: U.S. Is Often Unsure About Who Will Die
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Barack Obama inherited two ugly, intractable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when he became president and set to work to end them. But a third, more covert war he made his own, escalating drone strikes in Pakistan and expanding them to Yemen and Somalia.
The drone’s vaunted capability for pinpoint killing appealed to a president intrigued by a new technology and determined to try to keep the United States out of new quagmires. Aides said Mr. Obama liked the idea of picking off dangerous terrorists a few at a time, without endangering American lives or risking the yearslong bloodshed of conventional war.
“Let’s kill the people who are trying to kill us,” he often told aides.
By most accounts, hundreds of dangerous militants have, indeed, been killed by drones, including some high-ranking Qaeda figures. But for six years, when the heavy cloak of secrecy has occasionally been breached, the results of some strikes have often turned out to be deeply troubling.One Hundred Years of Silence: Turks Slowly Take Stock of Armenian Genocide
By Ralf Hoppe
Officially, discussion of the Armenian genocide is taboo in Turkey, even 100 years after the crimes. But the issue is becoming harder for the country to suppress and many Turks are rediscovering their long-lost Armenian identities.
A church like that can help a person, says Armen. It can help them from giving up hope -- and that is indeed something.
The city is located in southeastern Turkey, deep in the Anatolian mountain region. Diyarbakir is gray, loud and lackluster. But it does have one special landmark -- the stylishly restored St. Giragos Church, located in the Old Town, a labyrinth of crumbling homes and alleys that reverberate with children's shouts as they kick around a soccer ball.
Bali nine prisoner 'speechless' over Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran executions
April 24, 2015 - 1:11PM
Jewel Topsfield, Tom Allard
One of the Bali nine members sentenced to life imprisonment over the foiled attempt to smuggle heroin into Australia says he is "speechless" about the imminent deaths of co-conspirators Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
I am terrified. Terrified for their situation, distraught for their loved ones and agonisingly certain I will be next.Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen
"Speechless. Really, really, really sad," Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen told Fairfax Media from Malang prison in East Java, where he is incarcerated with fellow Bali nine drug mule Martin Stephens.
Chan and Sukumaran are expected to be killed within days after the Indonesian government summoned the Australian embassy for a meeting on the penal island of Nusakambangan, where the executions by firing squad will take place.
Italy launches anti-terrorism operation against al-Qaeda-linked group
Updated 0924 GMT (1624 HKT) April 24, 2015
Italian State Police announced Friday that they had launched a "vast anti-terrorism operation" against an international organization associated with al Qaeda.
Police have carried out raids in seven provinces, including against the alleged headquarters in Sardegna, on the island of Sardinia, in what they described in a statement as a first-of-its-kind operation.
Some of those expected to be arrested are suspected of having been involved in a market massacre in Pakistan in 2009, a police spokesman said. Others are believed to have provided logistical support to Osama Bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader who was killed in an American operation in Pakistan in 2011, the spokesman said.
Hubble Space Telescope celebrated 25 years on
During 25 years of service, Hubble has captured remarkable images of space, allowing scientists to look back in time.
From helping to determine the age of the universe to proving the existence of black holes, the $2.5bn Hubble Space Telescope has been a hugely powerful tool of scientific discovery.
Friday marks 25 years since the telescope was first launched.
It was not the first space telescope, but when it was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990, it carried onboard an unprecedented array of instruments: a 2.4-metre mirror and four main sensors designed to capture ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared light.
It was not the first space telescope, but when it was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990, it carried onboard an unprecedented array of instruments: a 2.4-metre mirror and four main sensors designed to capture ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared light.
Putting the telescope above the distortion of Earth's atmosphere gave it the ability to take very high-resolution images without the interference of background light.
"I like to describe the atmosphere being something like looking through an old stained glass window," said Dr Nancy Grace Roman, the first chief astronomer at NASA.
"The glass has defects in it and that sort of keeps you from getting a sharp picture, and the atmosphere also has defects."
Month-long protest over Peru copper mine claims first life
Twelve other protesters were wounded when police opened fire on a demonstration against the Mexican-owned project.
LIMA, PERU — Mourners carried a coffin holding a 61-year-old farmer through the streets of a southern Peru port city Thursday after the man became the first fatality of a monthlong protest against a Mexican-owned copper mining project.
Agriculture Minister Juan Manuel Benites, the chief government negotiator in the dispute, said the widening protest against the Tia Maria project put at risk Peru's reputation as a top foreign INVESTMENT
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Farmer Victoriano Huayna was killed Wednesday and 12 other protesters were wounded when police opened fire on a demonstration, authorities said.
A forensic exam determined a bullet killed Huayna, said a local doctor who agreed to reveal the information only if not quoted by name for reasons of personal security. The other 12 were wounded by shotgun pellets, local health director Walter Vera said. He said six were hospitalized and six treated and released.
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