• Home
  • Blogs
  • World Watch

All Blog Posts from World Watch

July 3, 2009 12:07 PM

Tackling the Summit in Moscow

Posted by Alexsei Kuznetzov
(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Hoping to revive the cooperative spirit of the early 1990s, Americans are coming to Russia to end a decade of mistrust.

President Barack Obama is expected in Moscow next week to discuss a wide range of issues with his counterpart Dmitry Medvedev and personally press the "reset" button on U.S.-Russia relations.

Hopes for a breakthrough are running high. Both sides have been unhappy about how low relations sank during the Putin-Bush era. Now, the two young presidents need to prove that cooperation on global issues is more than just words.

"Russia could be a partner, a country that would collaborate and make for better prospects for Obama's policies in both places, in Afghanistan and Iran," Dmitry Trenin of the Carnegie Moscow Center told CBS News. "Again, there is nothing more serious, nothing more important at this point for the administration than this."

Read full post…

Tags:
moscow russia summit washington Medvedev obama relations worldwatch start talks weapons
Topics:
World Watch
Share:
Digg
Yahoo! Buzz
July 2, 2009 7:22 AM

Syrian First Lady Wants to Meet Obamas

Posted by Sean Alfano
(AP )
Syria's first lady has put out the welcome mat for the Obamas, a further sign that the once frosty relations between the two nations is thawing.

In an interview with Britain's Sky News, Asma al Assad envisioned her husband, Bashar, and Barack Obama joining forces.

"The fact is President Obama is young," al Assad said, "and President Assad is also very young as well, so maybe it is time for these young leaders to make a difference in the world."

Read full post…

Tags:
syria ,
assad ,
obama
Topics:
World Watch
Share:
Digg
Yahoo! Buzz
July 2, 2009 5:47 AM

Iran Police Invent Interpol Probe In Neda Death

Posted by Tucker Reals
(AP Photo)
The International Police force, or Interpol, has denied a claim by Iran's police chief that it is seeking a doctor who witnessed the shooting death of 26-year-old "Neda."

Head of police Brig. Gen. Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam said, "Arash Hejazi is wanted by Interpol and Iran's Intelligence Ministry" in the murder of Neda, who's shooting fueled what were daily opposition rallies in the capital city of Tehran, according to a Wednesday report by Iran's Press TV, a state-run, English language network.

Speaking by phone to CBSNews.com Thursday morning from her office in Lyon, France, a spokesperson for Interpol flatly denied any involvement whatsoever in an investigation into Sultan's death.

Read full post…

Tags:
iran ,
neda ,
basij ,
interpol ,
shooting ,
election ,
cbsiran
Topics:
Iran
Share:
Digg
Yahoo! Buzz
July 1, 2009 7:38 PM

Marines Commence Counter-Insurgency Push In Southern Afghanistan

Posted by Ken Millstone
(CBS)
U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan have launched a major counter-insurgency mission in the country's Helmand Province, according to information released today by the Marines.

The operation is being conducted by about 4,000 Marines and U.S. Navy sailors along with 650 Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police forces. Two aviation brigades are also supporting the mission.

The goal of the operation, dubbed Operation Khanjar ("Strike of the Sword") is "to provide security for population centers along the Helmand River valley and connect local citizens with their legitimate government while establishing stable and secure conditions for national elections scheduled for August," according to a Marines press release.

"This is the start of the first big counter-insurgency operation launched by the Marines since they went into the south as part of the buildup ordered by President Obama," noted CBS News Pentagon correspondent David Martin.

Read full post…

Tags:
afghanistan ,
helmand province ,
marines ,
navy ,
taliban
Topics:
Afghanistan
Share:
Digg
Yahoo! Buzz
July 1, 2009 3:58 AM

Iran's One-Two Punch to Reset Reality

Posted by Tucker Reals
(AP Photo)
Iran's state-controlled media are waging an all-out propaganda assault to cast post-election unrest in the Islamic Republic as a futile attempt by "the West" to interfere.

It has been a classic one-two punch from Iran's hard-line rulers: first they hit on the streets with batons, tear gas and arrests of opposition leaders. Now, in the newspapers and television broadcasts, they're striking with their own version of the truth.

Read full post…

Tags:
iran ,
election ,
mousavi ,
ahmadinejad ,
democracy ,
media
Topics:
Iran
Share:
Digg
Yahoo! Buzz
June 30, 2009 10:34 AM

Chance to Transform Iran Slips Through Mousavi's Hands?

Posted by Elizabeth Palmer
(AP Photo)
The pictures of determined Iranian protesters no longer lead our newscasts, but the protesters haven't given up.

Every day, somehow, some way, (mostly) young people try to gather and march. Yesterday, there was a brave effort to form a human chain along the length of Vali Asr, Tehran's main north-south avenue.

Here is what happened in the words of someone who was there:

“Beseiged by Basij. I have never seen so many thugs in one street. I am not exaggerating when I say that for every three to five civilians, there was one paramilitary, militia or storm trooper."

“The sidewalks were quite crowded but as soon as more than five people tried to huddle, the groups were broken up. In downtown and midtown (toward the southern end of Vali Asr) I heard people tried to walk in unison but they were beaten by batons and clubs."

Read full post…

Tags:
iran ,
cbsiran ,
mousavi
Topics:
Iran
Share:
Digg
Yahoo! Buzz
June 30, 2009 10:32 AM

China Journal: My 4 Days in Quarantine

Posted by CBSNews.com
Upon Her Arrival in Beijing, CBS News' Asia Bureau Chief Marsha Cooke Discovers the Surreal World of Swine Flu Response:

(CBS/Marsha Cooke)
My first-hand encounter with flu, fear and the limitations of life as a foreigner in China came at 8:45 pm on June 16. That's when an interminable flight from New York to Beijing, China came to an end, and a long strange chapter in a surreal Chinese quarantine hospital began.

There was little reason to suspect what was coming, when hazmat health teams boarded the plane and pointed mini-temperature guns at our foreheads. My initial reading was fine, but as I passed through the health check inside the airport I realized: Not so fast, Cookie . . .

I am asked to step aside; my temperature is scanned at 37.5. In the Celsius system, normal is 37. Suddenly I was a flag-waving, flu-carrying health threat. I am escorted to a holding pen. Eventually I am told, "You are going to a hospital. We are getting your luggage."

Read full post…

Tags:
asia bureau china beijing swine flu outbreak influenza flu quarantine hospital hazmat
Topics:
World Watch
Share:
Digg
Yahoo! Buzz
June 30, 2009 8:55 AM

US Commander: Iraqi Forces Will Be Tested

Posted by Tucker Reals
(AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
The senior U.S. combat commander in Iraq told CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick on the eve of the U.S. urban withdrawal that the country's police and military face a tough fight from a still-viable insurgency, but they're up to the challenge.

Lt. General Charles Jacoby, who spoke to McCormick by phone from Baghdad, said the recent surge in attacks across Iraq, and particularly in the capital, was foreseeable.

"I think that the testing of the Iraqi security forces will go on for some time," he predicted, warning that there are still combatants scattered across the country.

Read full post…

Tags:
iraq ,
troops ,
soldiers ,
war ,
baghdad ,
withdrawal
Topics:
World Watch
Share:
Digg
Yahoo! Buzz
June 29, 2009 8:55 AM

Iran: "New Revelations" In Neda Shooting

Posted by Tucker Reals
(AP Photo)
Iran's state-run TV station is reporting "new revelations" in the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 26-year-old music student who's death fueled the opposition movement and swept across Internet social networks as an emblem of Iranian resistance.

According to the report by Press TV, Neda was killed "in an ally away from the scene of clashes."

The network quoted the man who allegedly drove her to hospital as saying her death appeared to be "highly suspicious," as there were no police, Basij militia, or any other Iranian security forces nearby.

Read full post…

Tags:
neda ,
iran ,
election ,
ahmadinejad ,
shooting ,
khamenei
Topics:
World Watch
Share:
Digg
Yahoo! Buzz
June 29, 2009 6:02 AM

9 Afghan Cops, Including Chief, Killed In Kandahar

Posted by Fazul Rahim
(AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
At least nine Afghan police have been killed in an apparent shootout with private Afghan security contractors at a government office in Kandahar. The provincial police chief and head of the criminal investigations department were among the dead, according to a local official.

Ahmad Wali Karzai, head of Kandahar provincial council, said a group of Afghan contractors who provide security for foreign troops stationed in the country's volatile south forced their way into the office of the provincial attorney general Monday morning.

Read full post…

Tags:
afghanistan ,
taliban ,
security contractor ,
war ,
kandahar ,
karzai
Topics:
World Watch
Share:
Digg
Yahoo! Buzz

About World Watch

Extra reporting, analysis and more from CBS foreign desks across the globe.

Add to your favorite news reader
google
yahoo
msn
  • MOST POPULAR
  • Viewed
  • Commented