AP – Australia will contribute $100 million annually for three years beginning in 2015 toward the $4 billion a year cost of running the Afghan National Security Forces after they take responsibility for their country’s security. Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Defense Minister Stephen Smith said in a statement Wednesday they will take this commitment to the NATO and U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force summit in Chicago on Sunday and Monday. This follows Australia’s commitment to the Afghan National Army Trust Fund of $200 million over five years beginning in 2009-10. Read Article
Channel News Asia – Taiwan is arming more of its fleet with its new “carrier killer” anti-ship missiles as China conducts further sea trials of its first aircraft carrier, local media said Monday. Five of the Taiwanese navy’s eight Perry-class frigates have been armed with the supersonic Hsiung Feng (Brave Wind) III weapons, the Taipei-based China Times said. Some of its smaller patrol boats have also been equipped with the missiles, which are designed to cruise at a speed of Mach 2.0, or twice the speed of sound, with a range of up to 130 kilometres, the newspaper said. The defence ministry declined to comment on the report. The China Times said the navy plans to deploy 120 such missiles — dubbed “aircraft carrier killers” by their developer — in a project costing an estimated 12 billion Taiwan dollars (US$400 million). The missiles were first unveiled by Taiwan in August last year on the same day that China began sea trials for its first aircraft carrier, a reconditioned 1980s-era warship originally commissioned by the Soviet navy. Read Article
NY Times – Scientists who have studied a degenerative brain disease in athletes have found the same condition in combat veterans exposed to roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, concluding that such explosions injure the brain in ways strikingly similar to tackles and punches. The researchers also discovered what they believe is the mechanism by which explosions damage brain tissue and trigger the wasting disease, called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., by studying simulated explosions on mice. The animals developed evidence of the disease just two weeks after exposure to a single simulated blast, researchers found. Read article
PTI – Amid maritime disputes with countries like the Philippines over the resource rich islands in the South China Sea, China has put them under active three-dimensional surveillance. China has adopted three-dimensional (3D) visual management over 4,000 islands, a report by the Ministry of Land and Resources said Thursday. Three-dimensional visual information of these islands is collected via ground vehicles, airplanes and satellites. Also 2,851 islands have been put under aviation monitoring and surveillance, and 45 islands along baseline points of China’s territorial waters are under ground watch, the report said. All the historical data of Chinese islands have been processed and put into a database to strengthen island management, the report said. The government last year also released its first list of uninhabited islands available for development in the country, the report said. Read Article
Iraq may have fallen from the attention of most news outlet’s, but the war that commenced in 2003 is still very much ongoing. To read our archive of over 1,000 Iraq related stories CLICK HERE
CBC – At least 72 civilians, a third of them under the age of 18, were killed by NATO airstrikes, according to a report released Monday by Human Rights Watch — one of the most extensive investigations into the issue. The New York-based advocacy group called on the Western alliance to acknowledge the casualties and compensate survivors. Read Article
Reuters – Explosives planted on a bicycle killed nine people in the relatively peaceful Faryab province of northern Afghanistan on Monday, including a provincial council member, police said, amid an increase in violence across the country. The attack came a day after gunmen shot dead a top Afghan peace negotiator in the capital Kabul, dealing another blow to the country’s attempts to negotiate a deal with the Taliban as a means to ending the war. The Taliban denied involvement. Police said the remote-controlled bomb killed eight civilians and council member Amanullah Shahabzai as they sat in front of a pharmacy in the Ghormach district of Faryab. Read Article
Guardian – Nato air strikes killed 72 civilians in Libya last year, Human Rights Watch has said, accusing the western alliance of failing to acknowledge the scope of collateral damage it caused during the campaign that helped to oust Muammar Gaddafi. In a report based on investigations at bombing sites during and after the conflict, the New York-based HRW said Nato strikes killed 20 women and 24 children. It called on the alliance to compensate civilian victims and investigate attacks that may have been unlawful. Read Article
CNN – hree NATO service members were killed Saturday during attacks in Afghanistan, while a fourth died of noncombat-related injuries, according to the International Security Assistance Force. A roadside bomb took the life of one service member in the southern part of the country, while two others were killed in the same region when two attackers wearing Afghan Police uniforms turned their weapons on NATO troops. Read Article
BBC – At least 30 people – including 23 soldiers – have died in heavy overnight clashes in the central Syrian city of Rastan, according to activists. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens of others were wounded in the city, in the restive Homs province. Three troop carriers were destroyed in fighting, the UK-based group said. If confirmed, the attack would be one of the deadliest suffered by security forces in the 14-month-long uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. Read Article
Reuters – One policeman dies and four are wounded after a man wearing an explosives belt attacks a police checkpoint in the Iraqi capital. Sunita Rappai reports.
Reuters – Militants clash in Lebanon leaving three dead and sparking fears of more sectarian strife between Alawite and Sunni Muslims. Andrew Raven reports.
BBC – A senior Afghan peace negotiator has been shot dead in Kabul, officials say. Arsala Rahmani was a key member of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, which leads Afghan efforts to make peace with the Taliban. Correspondents say his death is a major blow to President Hamid Karzai as Mr Rahmani was key in reaching out to Taliban commanders. Read Article
Mail Online – Two British servicemen have been murdered by rogue Afghan policemen as they guarded a public meeting. It is thought the two gunmen went berserk during the meeting, or ‘shura’, in Helmand province and opened fire with semi-automatic rifles. One of the attackers was shot dead by a British-trained Afghan policeman, while the second was wounded and fled. Read Article
AP – A gunman shot dead a top member of the Afghan peace council Sunday in Kabul, police said. The assassination strikes another blow to efforts to negotiate a political resolution to the decade-long war. Arsala Rahmani, a former Taliban official turned Afghan peace negotiator, was in his vehicle when he was killed by an unknown attacker in another vehicle at an intersection in the west part of the city, according to Mohammad Zahir, head of the Kabul police department’s criminal investigation division. Read Article
BBC – Heavy fighting broke out in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo when a deadline expired for army mutineers to surrender. Thousands of Congolese villagers fled over the Ugandan border overnight, officials in Uganda told the BBC. Last weekend, the army gave the hundreds of fighters who defected last month five days to turn themselves in. They are loyal to Bosco Ntaganda, who is known as the “Terminator” and wanted by the ICC for alleged war crimes. The International Criminal Court accuses Gen Ntaganda of recruiting child soldiers for the same rebel group as Thomas Lubanga, who in March became the first person to be convicted by the court of war crimes. Read Article
BBC – A video posted online in the name of an Islamist group, al-Nusra Front, says it carried out two bomb attacks in the Syrian capital Damascus on Thursday. The attacks took place near a military intelligence building during the morning rush hour, killing 55 people. Opposition activists have accused the regime of orchestrating the explosions. The al-Nusra Front emerged in January and has said it was behind previous attacks, including one in March on a police HQ and airforce Intelligence. The video says the bombings were in response to attacks on civilian areas by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Read Article
Reuters – Activists say Syrian troops backed by tanks shot dead seven civilians when they overran a rebellious Sunni Muslim village west of Hama. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.
Reuters – Two apparent U.S. drone attacks killed at least 10 suspected al Qaeda-linked militants in Yemen on Saturday, while Yemeni government forces killed 15 others in a new offensive against insurgents, local and military officials said. U.S. officials said this week they had thwarted a plot by the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to arm a suicide bomber with a non-metallic device, an upgraded version of the “underwear bomb” carried onto an airliner on Christmas Day 2009. Read Article
BBC – The US State Department says the shipment will help Bahrain “maintain its external defence capabilities.” Arms sales were frozen last year after the Bahraini government suppressed pro-democracy demonstrations. Amnesty International says 60 people have been killed since the protests began in February 2011. Read article
Press TV – Somalia’s al-Shabab fighters say a US assassination drone attack has left at least 38 people dead and dozens of others wounded in the Horn of Africa state, Press TV reports. The airstrike is said to have taken place in Somalia’s southwestern district of Badade, a Press TV correspondent reported. The US military uses remote-controlled drones in Somalia for reconnaissance operations and targeted killings. Read Article
Reuters – A new missile interceptor designed to protect allies from a possible attack by Iran or North Korea, passes its latest test with flying colors, the U.S. military says. Deborah Gembara reports.
Dawn – Pakistan carried out a successful test firing of a short-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile on Thursday, the military said. The launch of the Hatf III, which has a range of up to 290 kilometres and can also carry conventional warheads, came at the end of a field training exercise, a military statement said. Two weeks ago Pakistan test-fired an intermediate range ballistic missile, seen as a response to India’s launch of its new long-range Agni V, capable of hitting targets anywhere in China. Read Article
AFP – An Afghan soldier opened fire on NATO troops in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, killing an American and leaving two others wounded, officials said. The death brings to 20 the number of NATO soldiers killed by Afghan colleagues in at least 15 separate attacks so far this year. The shootings have forced US-led troops to step up security and fanned tensions between Western soldiers and the Afghan security forces they are supposed to be training to take responsibility for the country by 2014. “An Afghan army soldier turned his weapon against US soldiers inside an Afghan-US military base in Kunar province, killing one US soldier and injuring two others,” said provincial police chief Ewaz Mohammad Naziri. Read Article
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