Gang Rape Protests Continue In Indian Capital

NEW DELHI — Authorities have sealed off a high-security zone in the Indian capital for a second day to put an end to a week of demonstrations against the brutal gang-rape of a woman on a moving bus.

Rwanda genocide: Verdict due for female former minister

Hundreds of thousands of people died in the genocide

Judges at the UN-backed court for Rwanda are to hand down a verdict for one of the first women charged with genocide before an international court.

Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, 65, was a government minister in 1994 in Rwanda when 800,000 people - mostly from the Tutsi ethnic group - were killed.
Along with four former local officials and her own son, she is accused of organising massacres as well as the rape of women and girls.
She denies all the charges.
Rape charges Mrs Nyiramasuhuko was Rwanda's minister for family and women's development at the time of the genocide.
The prosecution at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) accuses her of taking part in the government decision to create militias throughout the country. Their mission was to wipe out the Tutsi population as fast as possible.

Nebraska Nuclear Threat: As Predictable as Fukushima

Nuclear accidents - like oil spills and financial meltdowns - happen because big companies push to make more money by cutting every safety measure in the books. The accident at Fukushima was predictable. Likewise, the potential problem at the Fort Calhoun reactor in Nebraska was predictable. (For background, see this and this.) As Ketv reported in March: Fort Calhoun's nuclear power plant is one of three reactors across the country that federal regulators said they are most concerned about. *** Last year, federal regulators questioned the station's flood protection protocol. NRC officials said they felt the Omaha Public Power District should do more than sandbagging in the event of major flooding along the Missouri river.

The Destabilization of Syria and the Broader Middle East War

What is unfolding in Syria is an armed insurrection supported covertly by foreign powers including the US, Turkey and Israel.  

Armed insurgents belonging to Islamist organizations have crossed the border from Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. The US State Department has confirmed that it is supporting the insurgency.

Misrata: One day in Libya's rebel stronghold where calm gives way to chaos

Doctors treat an injured rebel fighter at a field hospital near Misrata's western front line. Photograph: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters

The sun is shining in Misrata on Friday morning, and in Tripoli Street they're selling souvenirs. On a trestle table, little flags, buttons and hats emblazoned in the Libyan tricolour – red, black and green – provide an island of brightness in the blasted grey landscape of pulverised buildings and wrecked tanks that is now downtown Misrata. "We're a business-minded city," says Ali, a slim young trader in a long brown robe.
Indeed they are. With the enemy now pushed back beyond artillery range, this battered city is shaking itself back to life. Squads of boys too young to fight are out tidying the streets, painting white lines along the highways and manufacturing souvenirs.

Mexico anti-drug convoy crosses border to accuse US

Marchers carried signs saying "we are tired of your war" and "we want peace"

A "peace caravan" which has spent a week travelling through Mexico to protest against drugs-related violence has crossed the border in the US.

Mexican poet Javier Sicilia, who led the convoy, said the US bore a "grave responsibility" for failing to tackle the drugs crisis.
He told supporters in El Paso, Texas that US citizens who used drugs were also partly to blame for the violence.
Mexico's drugs gangs are battling for control of the lucrative US market.

Syrian unrest: Troops move into Jisr al-Shughour

Troops have been in the area of Jisr al-Shughour for several days

Syrian government forces have advanced into the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour, state media say, as part of a widespread government crackdown.

Witnesses reported an attack using tanks and helicopter gunships, after an early-morning bombardment.
The government says it is trying to restore order after it claimed 120 security personnel had been killed.
But residents say the dead were killed after a mutiny and fighting between the security forces.
The government advance sent more people fleeing towards the Turkish border, to join thousands who have already crossed.