Need to know: The Libyan rebels, aided by NATO airstrikes, are making progress - inch by inch. They have advanced the front several miles closer to Tripoli from the west, seizing a town that is seen as key in securing an important north-south road that would open the way to the capital. The rebel army took the town, al-Qawalish, from forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi after a six-hour firefight. In Afghanistan, another country where NATO is conducting war, an airstrike is believed to have killed at least 14 civilians, including eight children, according to local police. NATO, for its part, said four Taliban members had also been killed. The attack comes just one day after two children were reportedly killed in a separate attack in the southwest. Civilians along the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, meanwhile, are being forced to flee their homes as Pakistan shells the region continuously. Pakistan says it is attacking Taliban militants who are conducting cross border raids on Pakistani army and police posts. But some analysts think other motives may be at work. |
| Want to know: As South Sudan prepares to celebrate its first ever independence day on Saturday, the displaced people of troubled Abyei are finding little to be joyful about. The northern Sudan Armed Forces and allied Arab Misseriya tribesman invaded the border region last month, causing the mostly southern population to flee. More and more joined the exodus until about 100,000 people were moving southward on foot and in fear. Ongoing violence in Abyei is threatening a fragile piece brokered by north and south. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former chief of the International Monetary Fund who is battling a series of sexual assault accusations, says he will not plead guilty to even minor charges. After a month and a half of sordid headlines about Strauss-Kahn, politicians in Paris are becoming disgusted. They want to vomit. And they're saying so. On TV. Especially now that Tristane Banon, a journalist and writer, has added a new dimension to Strauss-Kahn's troubles, accusing him of raping her in 2002. |
| Dull but important: Syria has decided to postpone scheduled parliamentary elections. Syria's state-run news said this was to allow time for the public to absorb new legislation and consitutional amendments that would reform how political parties and elections work in the country. Such reforms have yet to actually take place, however, and it is more likely that the elections were postponed because of the massive protest movement calling for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad that has swept Syria. |
| Just because: As the case against The News of the World, a British tabloid accused of hacking the phones of murdered children and victims of terrorist attacks, among others, explodes, the ire of the country has begun to turn on Rupert Murdoch, the head of News Corporation, which owns the paper, among others. Members of the British parliament suggested that Murdoch's empire had become too politically entrenched and powerful. Murdoch, for example, is a big supporter of Prime Minister David Cameron, who has come to the media mogul's defense. |
| Wacky: Australia plans to crackdown on animal behavior. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Thursday ordered one of her lawmakers, Joel Fitzgibbon, to personally say sorry to deputy oppposition leader Julie Bishop, after he meowed at her during a debate on carbon tax. The incident, which occurred as Bishop was seconding a bid to censure the government's carbon plan, sent the parliament into an uproar. The culprit was not immediately known, but Fitzgibbon was soon outed by finger-pointing members of the opposition, before confessing. |
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