Daily News Channel
Welcome to democracy, Afghan style. An incumbent president and 38 challengers, including two women, are vying for the votes of 17 million registered Afghans against a backdrop of war, graft, poverty and illiteracy. More than 3,000 donkeys, 3,000 cars and three helicopters will traverse harsh terrain to carry voting materials to remote polling stations
Iran has released a French academic from prison, though it’s not clear when Clotilde Reiss can return home, French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office announced Sunday. Reiss, 24, is the second French woman facing charges as part of mass trials in Iran who was released on bond.
The exact cause of the 11-hour riot that broke out Aug.
Iran’s influential parliament speaker has called for an investigation into allegations that post-election detainees were raped while in custody, state-run media said. Ali Larijani said that a special parliamentary panel “had carried out investigations into the situation in [Iranian] jails and the treatment of detainees and it should also look into whether jail rape allegations are true or false,” Press TV reported, citing Tabnak, a Web site associated with opposition politician Mohsen Rezaie. Meanwhile, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry, the government body that keeps tabs on political dissenters, warned the media against revealing what it called “classified data” after reports Monday that Ahmadinejad had purged four senior intelligence officials, according to Press TV.
There is growing concern that local militias now allied with the U.S. are turning their guns on each other as the U.S.
George Sodini, the man who killed three women and wounded nine others before killing himself Tuesday at a Pennsylvania fitness center, showed in his writings typical characteristics of a mass murderer, experts say. “What distinguishes the mass murderer who takes his own life afterwards from the person who just commits suicide is the externalization of blame,” said James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University professor and author of six books on mass murder.
One year after Russian tanks rolled into the former Soviet republic of Georgia, the conflict that erupted over a breakaway territory continues to stoke tensions in the region, with repercussions around the world. Earlier this month, Georgia and the Russian-backed enclave of South Ossetia accuse each other of violating a cease-fire that ended the brief conflict.
The man who shot three women dead in a Pennsylvania gym before killing himself this week posted at least two videos on YouTube last year, apparently referring to a desire for a girlfriend in both. George Sodini, 48, gave a tour of his house in one clip, his camera briefly panning across a book called “Date Young Women” in his living room. “The couch and chairs, they match.
The intruders wore masks and carried guns. They went door to door, through the narrow and dusty alleyways, asking if there were any Christians inside. When the terrified faces inside replied yes, they poured chemicals on the small, redbrick homes of Episcopalians and Evangelicals, setting them ablaze.
With riot police out in force on the streets of Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the oath of office Wednesday and began a second term as Iran’s president. Ahmadinejad, 52, was formally sworn in before Iran’s parliament as security forces guarded the building and the streets nearby in anticipation of possible protests.