Friday, February 22, 2013

AP: "The cradle of the Arab Spring is increasingly looking like the birthplace of jihadists"

FP

Top News: The southern Indian city of Hyderabad was hit on Thursday by a double bombing that killed at least 13 people in a busy shopping area. The bombs were planted on bicycles and detonated about ten minutes apart. On Twitter, Prime Minister Manmohan Sing wrote, "This is a dastardly attack, the guilty will not go unpunished." It was India's first major terrorist bombing since 2011.
The Associated Press reports that police are focusing on a group known as the Indian Mujahideen, which is thought to have links with militants in neighboring Pakistan. The Pakistani foreign ministry also condemned the attack.
The blasts came two days after government security agencies sent out an advisory urging states to tighten security in the wake of the recent executions of convicted terrorists Ajmal Kasab and Mohammed Afzal Guru. Kasab had been the long surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attack while Guru, a Kashmiri, was convicted of playing a role in the 2001 attack on Parliament that killed 14 people.
Egypt: President Mohamed Morsi has called for parliamentary elections to begin on April 27. The vote will be held in four staged ending in late June.

Europe
  • The European Commission says the eurozone recession will persist into 2013.
  • Britain convicted three men for a 2005 bombing plot in Birmingham.
  • The U.S. ambassador to Russia warned Moscow officials against exploiting the death of an adopted child in Texas.
Middle East
  • The opposition Syrian National Coalition says President Bashar al-Assad cannot be a party to any peace settlement.
  • Tunisia's president has asked the country's former interior minister to form a government.
  • A new IAEA report found that Iran is speeding up its production of enriched uranium while also capping its fuel stockpiles.
Africa
  • Iran has denied allegations that it organized a spy cell in Nigeria.
  • France's defense ministry says Malian troops, assisted by French soldiers, killed 15 Islamist insurgents in Gao.
  • Rwanda admitted it is holding more than 280 army deserters on an island in Lake Kivu.
Asia
Americas
  • Judges have ordered former Haitian leader Jean-Claude Duvalier to appear in court to face human rights charges.
  • The United Nations rejected a compensation claim from Haiti over the cholera outbreak that killed nearly 8,000 people.
  • Guatemala is investigating reports that the infamous Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman may be dead.

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