Greater Middle East

ISIS insurgency escalates in Sinai Peninsula

Several were killed and a mosque reportedly destroyed as Egyptian security forces battled militants of the ISIS-aligned Ansar Bait al-Maqdis in the Sinai Peninsula.

Watching the Shadows

Key provisions of Patriot Act expire

Key provisions of the USA Patriot Act allowing "Bulk Data Collection" and  "Roving Wiretaps" expired after a late Senate vote failed to establish an extension.

Greater Middle East

US tilt to Assad undermining drive against ISIS

Syrian rebels are turning down Washington's offer of training to fight ISIS, because the State Department is imposing the stipulation that it not be used to fight Assad.

Afghanistan

Pakistan: women disenfranchised, persecuted

In a deal with village elders, women are being denied the vote in northwest Pakistan's local elections—as clerics call for military action against "immodest" dress.

Africa

Uganda: displaced villagers protest land-grab

Villagers forcibly relocated by Uganda's government during the war with the Lord's Resistance Army now find that their traditional lands have been eclosed as private game reserves.

Greater Middle East

ISIS blows up Syrian prison at Palmyra

ISIS militants blew up the Tadmur prison complex at Palmyra—a move protested by Syria's civil resistance as destroying evidence of the Assad regime's crimes there.

Syria

US drops Cuba from terrorism list

The US government formally removed Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism as a step toward restoring full diplomatic relations. Cuba had been listed since 1982.

Greater Middle East

Egypt: court acquits officer in torture death

An Egyptian court acquitted a police officer accused of torturing to death an Islamist militant arrested over a deadly church bombing in the prelude to Mubarak's ouster.

The Andes

Peru: one dead in Nazca iron mine strike

One was killed at some 200 injured when police fired on striking miners blocking a highway near the Shougang Hierro iron mine in Peru's coastal province of Nazca.