Afghan Terrain, Weather Present Challenges
(CBS)
All Blog Posts from World Watch
Read all 'World Watch' posts in World Watch
December 11, 2009 1:06 PM CBS News correspondent Terry McCarthy recently accompanied the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on a trip to Afghanistan and Iraq.
December 9, 2009 12:42 PM
Gates: What Winning in Afghanistan Looks Like
Secretary Gates came to Kabul with one main mission: to light a fire under th Afghans to accelerate training of their army, as U.S. troops are due to start leaving in 18 months.
December 8, 2009 4:12 PM
Shifting Ice and Economy in Greenland
This story was filed by CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips.
Johannes Mathaussen could give Indiana Jones whip lessons. When I first saw him he had parked his dogsled off the side of the trail and was containing his restless dog team by snapping 20 feet of stretched seal-gut alternately to the left and right of them.
(CBS)
December 4, 2009 7:26 PM
U.N. Prosecutor on War Crimes in Darfur
At the U.N. today, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo spoke with CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk on war crimes and the Court's work in Darfur, the Sudan, as well as on the preliminary investigation that he is conducting as to whether war crimes have been committed in Afghanistan involving American soldiers. Mr. Moreno Ocampo also discussed the possibility of U.S. membership in the Court. December 4, 2009
December 4, 2009 5:30 AM 
A former grocery store worker is facing charges of criminal damage over cell phone video allegedly showed him licking raw chickens before placing them back on shelves in England, according to the BBC.
The brief BBC report says Adeel Ayub, 30, is also accused of slashing co-workers coats and smashing eggs in his bizarre workplace transgressions of 2005.
He is due in court on Dec. 15.
Alleged U.K. Chicken-Licker Due in Court
(iStockphoto)
The brief BBC report says Adeel Ayub, 30, is also accused of slashing co-workers coats and smashing eggs in his bizarre workplace transgressions of 2005.
He is due in court on Dec. 15.
November 30, 2009 8:44 AM 
He's been compared to the Tom Hanks character in "The Terminal" by news media the world over, but Feng Zhenghu had never heard of the Hollywood blockbuster until a supporter recently brought him a portable DVD player and a copy of the 2004 Steven Spielberg movie.
"I feel my life is a lot harder than the character's," the 55-year-old Chinese human rights activist tells CBS News. "The movie is a romantic comedy, and my story is more of a tragedy."
Since Nov. 4, Feng has been an unusual fixture at the bustling Narita International Airport outside Tokyo. While the Hanks character became trapped at a JFK terminal when his native country was wiped off the map following a coup, Feng is a Chinese citizen with a valid Japanese visa. He refuses to pass through immigration checkpoints to enter Japan for a simple reason — he wants to go home.
Feng Zhenghu: Changing China from Terminal 1
(CBS)
"I feel my life is a lot harder than the character's," the 55-year-old Chinese human rights activist tells CBS News. "The movie is a romantic comedy, and my story is more of a tragedy."
Since Nov. 4, Feng has been an unusual fixture at the bustling Narita International Airport outside Tokyo. While the Hanks character became trapped at a JFK terminal when his native country was wiped off the map following a coup, Feng is a Chinese citizen with a valid Japanese visa. He refuses to pass through immigration checkpoints to enter Japan for a simple reason — he wants to go home.
November 23, 2009 5:18 PM 
On Monday, Damascus-based Hamas poured cold water on any imminent deal for the release of an Israeli soldier captured more than three years ago, saying it was still premature to trumpet a happy ending.
Talk of a possible deal has moved to center stage with Israeli media saying that a Hamas delegation was heading to Cairo to discuss the latest list of prisoners Israel is prepared to release in a swap for Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit. Israeli President Shimon Peres heightened speculation after his talks with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Sunday, when he spoke of "real progress" in the negotiations.
"The brouhaha in the media talking about being close to reach an agreement on prisoner exchange deal is purely Israeli leaks designed to influence the feelings of our children, prisoners and their families and to try to pressure and influence on the process of indirect negotiations carried out through the German intermediary," a Hamas statement said. "Hamas will continue its efforts through the competent authority to overcome the obstacles set by the Israeli enemy in the way of completion of exchange … Although we hope to reach an honorable deal for our people as soon as possible, would like to emphasize that it is premature to talk about specific results … or close a deal."
Israeli newspapers said Hamas representatives had already crossed into Egypt from Gaza to meet the German mediator to debate a possible deal for the release of Shalit, captured by Hamas in a 2006 raid near the Israel-Gaza border. The militants tunneled into Israel and attacked an Israeli army outpost, killing two other soldiers.
Israeli Prisoner Swap Hits Snag
(AP)
Talk of a possible deal has moved to center stage with Israeli media saying that a Hamas delegation was heading to Cairo to discuss the latest list of prisoners Israel is prepared to release in a swap for Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit. Israeli President Shimon Peres heightened speculation after his talks with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Sunday, when he spoke of "real progress" in the negotiations.
"The brouhaha in the media talking about being close to reach an agreement on prisoner exchange deal is purely Israeli leaks designed to influence the feelings of our children, prisoners and their families and to try to pressure and influence on the process of indirect negotiations carried out through the German intermediary," a Hamas statement said. "Hamas will continue its efforts through the competent authority to overcome the obstacles set by the Israeli enemy in the way of completion of exchange … Although we hope to reach an honorable deal for our people as soon as possible, would like to emphasize that it is premature to talk about specific results … or close a deal."
Israeli newspapers said Hamas representatives had already crossed into Egypt from Gaza to meet the German mediator to debate a possible deal for the release of Shalit, captured by Hamas in a 2006 raid near the Israel-Gaza border. The militants tunneled into Israel and attacked an Israeli army outpost, killing two other soldiers.
November 20, 2009 9:42 AM 
Eight years after a U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, the country ranks as the worst place to be born, according to a United Nations report.
The United Nation's Children's Fund, better known as UNICEF, says Afghanistan has the highest infant mortality rate in the world with 257 deaths per 1,000 live births, and 70 percent of Afghans have access to clean water.
UNICEF: Afghanistan Worst Place to Be Born
(AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)
The United Nation's Children's Fund, better known as UNICEF, says Afghanistan has the highest infant mortality rate in the world with 257 deaths per 1,000 live births, and 70 percent of Afghans have access to clean water.
November 11, 2009 9:17 PM 
Ever since Raul Castro became Cuba’s President in February 2008, people—at home and abroad—have been waiting for changes that would improve living conditions on the island. But the changes have been slow coming and there are indications that when they do take place they might not be the ones hoped for.
For three days this week, the official Communist Party daily, Granma, has front-paged statements made in the 1970s and 80s by former President Fidel Castro. They are all variations on the same theme: too many people being employed to do too little, and low productivity as the bane of the economy. He also warned that at some point there would be more university graduates than openings in their fields and that students should view their degrees as an honor but not necessarily as a ticket to a professional career.
Castro’s statement printed last Tuesday focused on “inflated” payrolls. Inside the same newspaper was an article announcing that the Ministry of Agriculture would be cutting thousands of bureaucratic jobs. Twenty-six percent of their employees - 89,000 people - it said, were office workers resulting in an “excess of unproductive personnel.”
Cubans fear that similar layoffs will come in many other sectors of the economy and that Granma’s publication of Fidel Castro’s views—if dated—on the issue are rather like trying to put the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” on what are bound to be unpopular if necessary measures taken by his younger brother Raul.
Cubans Worry as Economy Suffers
(AP Photo/Javier Galeano)
For three days this week, the official Communist Party daily, Granma, has front-paged statements made in the 1970s and 80s by former President Fidel Castro. They are all variations on the same theme: too many people being employed to do too little, and low productivity as the bane of the economy. He also warned that at some point there would be more university graduates than openings in their fields and that students should view their degrees as an honor but not necessarily as a ticket to a professional career.
Castro’s statement printed last Tuesday focused on “inflated” payrolls. Inside the same newspaper was an article announcing that the Ministry of Agriculture would be cutting thousands of bureaucratic jobs. Twenty-six percent of their employees - 89,000 people - it said, were office workers resulting in an “excess of unproductive personnel.”
Cubans fear that similar layoffs will come in many other sectors of the economy and that Granma’s publication of Fidel Castro’s views—if dated—on the issue are rather like trying to put the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” on what are bound to be unpopular if necessary measures taken by his younger brother Raul.
November 10, 2009 8:52 AM 
Turkey's president has sought to allay Western fears that his country — NATO's only majority-Muslim member — is shifting its affinity from Washington and Europe toward Iran.
Increasing closeness between Turkish leaders and Iran, and Turkey's quest for better ties in the broader Muslim world, have fueled concerns in the West that this key U.S. ally is moving gradually to the East.
But Turkey's president used a speech Monday at the opening of an Islamic nations' summit in Istanbul to try and ease worried Western minds.
President Abdullah Gul told the Organization for the Islamic Conference's Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) that Turkey's foreign policy maneuvers in the West and in the East are "complementary to each other, not contradictory."
Turkey Denies Policy Shift Toward Iran
(AP Photo/Murad Sezer)
Increasing closeness between Turkish leaders and Iran, and Turkey's quest for better ties in the broader Muslim world, have fueled concerns in the West that this key U.S. ally is moving gradually to the East.
But Turkey's president used a speech Monday at the opening of an Islamic nations' summit in Istanbul to try and ease worried Western minds.
President Abdullah Gul told the Organization for the Islamic Conference's Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) that Turkey's foreign policy maneuvers in the West and in the East are "complementary to each other, not contradictory."
