AFGHANISTAN - NATO: NATO's top official say at least 25 countries will send about 7,000 additional forces to Afghanistan next year.
Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen made the announcement Friday
after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on the
second day of a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.
He said the additional troops will have "a powerful effect on the ground."
Clinton met Friday with the ministers and the secretary general to
brief them on U.S. President Barack Obama's revamped war strategy.
GUINEA - SHOOTING: Guinea is tightening security Friday, one day after the country's military leader was wounded in an attack by his own soldiers.
Local human rights officials say military leader Captain Moussa Dadis
Camara was shot in a dispute with his aide de camp Lieutenant Aboubacar
Sidiki Diakite, known as Toumba.
They say Toumba freed a member of the presidential guard who had been
arrested with nine others for their role in the massacre of opposition
demonstrators two months ago. When Captain Camara went to Toumba's base
to investigate, he was shot.
PAKISTAN - VIOLENCE: Pakistani officials say gunmen have attacked a mosque near the
country's military headquarters in Rawalpindi, killing at least 35
people and wounding many more.
Police say suicide bombers threw grenades and opened fire before
blowing themselves up at the mosque after Friday morning prayers.
Security workers cordoned off the scene while ambulances rushed to take victims to the hospital.
It is the latest in a series of attacks that have rocked Pakistan since
the government launched an offensive against al-Qaida and the Taliban
in the northwest region bordering Afghanistan.
BURMA - SUU KYI: Burma's Supreme Court has agreed to hear opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi's appeal against her conviction of violating the terms of her house
arrest.
In an announcement posted on it notice board Friday, the high court
said it will hear the Nobel Peace laureate's appeal on December 21.
Aung San Suu Kyi was convicted in August for giving shelter to an
American man who swam uninvited to her lakeside Rangoon house in May.
She was sentenced to an additional 18 months of house arrest. Serving
the extra time would prevent her from participating in next year's
elections.
SOMALIA - BOMBING: The Somali Islamist group al-Shabab has denied any involvement in a suicide bombing in Mogadishu Thursday that killed at least 22 people, including three government ministers. A spokesman for the group instead blamed Somalia's transitional government, saying he believed the deadly attack was related to government infighting. Somali officials had accused the rebel group of involvement in the suicide attack that struck during a university graduation ceremony at the Shamo Hotel Thursday. The bomber was disguised as a women wearing an an abaya (cloak).
RUSSIA - US: Russia's Foreign Ministry says Russia and the U.S. are close to reaching a deal to replace an expiring nuclear arms treaty.
The ministry said in a statement Friday that "intensive work" on preparing for the signing are coming to an end.
U.S. and Russian negotiators in Geneva have been working on an arms
deal to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as
START, which expires Saturday.
The new treaty would make even deeper cuts in U.S. and Russian nuclear
arms arsenals and the systems needed to launch those weapons.
NEPAL - EVEREST - CABINET: Nepal's Prime Minister (Madhav Kumar Nepal) and 22 of his cabinet members flew to a site near Everest base camp for a cabinet meeting intended to draw attention to the effects of global warming on the Himalayan mountains. The ministers donned oxygen masks and heavy coats and traveled by helicopter to the meeting site more than 5,000 meters above sea level and in the shadow of the the world's highest peak. The meeting comes just ahead of the world summit on climate change next week in Copenhagen.
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