In the wake of Burhanuddin Rabbani’s assassination, Afghan President Hamid Karzai says trying to talk peace with the Taliban is futile, that the real power behind the insurgents is Pakistan, and that Afghanistan’s best option is to negotiate with Islamabad.
Heavy fighting is reported between the Syrian army and opposition activists in central Homs province, as anti-government protests continue. In Rastan, seven soldiers and police were reportedly killed battling troops who have defected to the opposition.
A military court in Bahrain sentenced a group of medical staff to up to 15 years in prison for treating anti-government protesters. Dr. Fatima Hadji told the BBC she was beaten in custody and threatened with rape before being released on bail.
US-born purported al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in a drone strike in the Yemeni province of Jawf. The American Civil Liberties Union said the killing was part of a US counter-terrorism program that “violates both US and international law.”
In defiance of pressure from the European Union, Russia and Turkey as well as Arab states, Israel insists it intends to go ahead with the newly announced construction of 1,100 Jewish homes in Gilo on annexed land close to East Jerusalem.
Thousands marched in cities across Bulgaria to demand a government crackdown on the country's Roma minority after a young man was killed in a hit-and-run accident by an apparent associate of a local self-proclaimed "Gypsy King."
Bolivia’s Interior Minister Sacha Llorenti became the latest cabinet member to resign in the wake of National Police repression of an indigenous protest march in the eastern Amazonian rainforest region of the country.
Local authorities in Peru’s southern region of Tacna called for a halt in protests to give the government time to meet demands that a permit for expanded mining operations be dropped—but pledge a general strike next week if demands are not met.
Police in Mexico’s resort city of Acapulco found five decomposing human heads left in a sack outside a primary school. The city’s schools have been closed since last month with teachers on strike in response to extortion threats from criminal gangs.
In the worst violence in occupied Western Sahara this year, ongoing clashes sparked by a soccer match have left seven dead, pitting ethnic Sahrawi supporters of the home team against Moroccan settlers who supported the visiting team from near Casablanca.
The sentencing of a woman to 10 lashes for driving a car shows the scale of gender discrimination in Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International said. The sentence comes after the monarchy announced that women will be granted the vote in local polls.
Bolivian Defense Minister Cecilia ChacĂłn resigned in protest the day after National Police used tear gas and mass arrests to halt a cross-country march by indigenous protesters in the Amazonian department of Beni.
