Need to know: New security fears in Kandahar replace the old ones. In a further strike against the authorities there, the mayor of Kandahar was killed in his office on Wednesday when a suicide bomber detonated explosives hidden in his turban. He was the second senior official killed this month after the leader of the Kandahar provincial council, Ahmed Wali Karzai, a half brother of President Hamid Karzai, was assassinated in his compound by a close associate on July 12. Is Al Qaeda close to collapse? The U.S. is sending mixed messages. Intelligence officials told The Washington Post today that they believe the militant network's traditional core has been so badly shaken by the death of Osama bin Laden and years of CIA drone attacks that it may soon collapse. However, Al Qaeda in Pakistan is not the same as Al Qaeda in Yemen, where the group is said to be gaining traction. Also, the U.S. State Dept. issued a warning this week to remain a "high level of vigilance" over the possibility of Al Qaeda attacks against U.S. interests in many regions. |
| Want to know: You may never have heard of them, but Muslim separatists in southern Thailand have killed nearly 5,000 people in their fight to break free from "Siamese occupation." Killings occur at a daily clip. Ethnic Thais have fled en masse. The hardened core that remain have assembled all-Buddhist militias composed of men and women, teens and the elderly. Their temples, a favored jihadi target, have become fortresses ringed with sandbags and razor wire. Buddhists in arms take on the Asia's bloodiest insurgency. Check out GlobalPost's five-part, multimedia series. The latest sign of social unrest on China carries with it an eerie echo of Tunisia's uprising. Thousands of people gathered on the streets of Anshun in Guizhou province in southern China on Tuesday afternoon, throwing stones at police and overturning a government vehicle after officials had apparently beat to death a disabled fruit vendor, according to state media. Mohamed Bouazizi, a fruit vendor in Tunisia, became the icon of the country's uprising in January after he lit himself on fire in protest for being mistreated. Xinhua news agency said around 30 protesters and 10 police officers were injured. It's hard to say whether riots are becoming more common in China, but authorities get nervous at the slightest trace of dissent. Earlier this month, a court in the southern export hub of Guangdong province jailed 11 people for their roles in riots that hit a city there in June. Watch video . |
| Dull but important: It's not looking good for the U.S. in debt default land. Tuesday night's announcement that the vote on Speaker of the House John Boehner's plan to raise the debt limit would be postponed is a significant setback in negotiations, with only days until the Aug. 2 deadline set by the Obama administration. As Obama scrambles for a Plan B, the gridlock has dragged global stocks down, particularly in Europe. |
| Just because: The long list for the prestigious Booker Prize has been announced with literary darlings Alan Hollinghurst and Julian Barnes making the cut. The short list is due out in September. |
| Strange but true: Can't turn down the Black Sabbath? You're not alone, and there is hope. In Sweden, a headbanger has succeeded in having his heavy metal music obsession declared an addiction that requires state disability benefits. Roger Tullgren, 42, who works as a dishwasher in southern Sweden, said his heavy metal addiction caused him to attend nearly 300 concerts last year that left him unable to hold down a job. We was forced to go on welfare, and three psychologists have agreed it's about time he stopped being discriminated against. His new part-time job as a dishwasher at a restaurant in the city of Hassleholm will be supplemented by disability benefits. |
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