Mali Islamists 'buying child soldiers for £375'

Malian soldiers patrol near Kati military camp Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Rebel fighters, among them extremists with links to al-Qaeda, are "buying loyalty" among the local population by abolishing taxes and paying for fighters and wives in a country where more than half the people live on less than 80p a day.

Women bought as wives from their families for as little as £620 are frequently resold in a form of "enforced prostitution", said Ivan Simonovic, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, said after a fact-finding visit to the country.

There have been three public executions, eight amputations and two floggings, he added, and as well as bans on smoking and listening to music, women are now expected to cover their heads and their ability to work has been restricted.

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No More Bad Commanding Officers?

Navy photo / MCS 1st Class Hana'lei Shimana

Commanding any of the Navy's fleet of nearly 300 ships is the most challenging assignment the sea service has to offer.

The headline in the June 18 Navy Times that arrived in my mailbox screamed NO MORE BULLIES, DRUNKS, & PLAYBOYS. It went on to detail Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert’s “tough new rules” for screening for command.
In addition to mandatory attendance at the two-week Command Leadership School, the screening includes passing a written test, sitting through an oral board, and receiving an informal evaluation (360-degree assessment) from peers and subordinates. The command qualification and screening will be required of all new command officers (COs), both ashore and at sea, by June 4, 2013.
This mandate comes as a result of an increase in the number of commanding officers being relieved for cause, thus the “bullies, drunks, and playboys” reference in the headline. I guess those folks just never got around to reading Navy Regulations, 1990, which states:

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China-Japan Tensions Concern South Korea

SEOUL—South Korea's economy won't benefit from a prolonged breakdown in relations between Japan and China because it would damage increasingly interlinked trade in the region, Seoul's trade minister said.
A simmering diplomatic feud between Beijing and Tokyo heated up on Wednesday when top Chinese financial officials canceled plans to attend meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Japan. The dispute, over contested islands, has also hurt sales of Japanese cars in China.
South Korea's auto makers have in turn benefited from a jump in sales in China, but Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho said Seoul was not "sitting there and feeling happy."

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Islamists and activists clash in Egypt's Tahrir Square

CAIRO -- Critics and supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi clashed in Tahrir Square on Friday in a small but potent rally that sharpened the nation’s tensions over its political direction and the failure to bring loyalists of the former government to justice.
Followers of the Muslim Brotherhood and others supporting Morsi, the country’s first Islamist president, chided liberals and ransacked a stage set up by activists. Stones, bottles and gasoline bombs were hurled and two buses caught fire in the most intense hostilities between Islamists and secular activists in months.
The Health Ministry said that at least 110 people had been injured. The fighting cast a spotlight on a divided Egypt and highlighted the frustrations Islamists and liberals harbor over how little the Arab world’s most populous nation has improved since last year’s uprising that overthrew longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.

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Suspected U.S. drone strike kills 16 in Pakistan

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- A suspected U.S. drone strike killed 16 people and wounded six Thursday in one of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal regions, two officials said.

The attack, which included four missiles, targeted a compound on the border of Orakzai Agency and North Waziristan, a local government official and a military official said.

The compound belonged to Maulvi Shakirullah, a militant affiliated with the Haqqani network, the officials said.

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Russian Navy gets carbon fibre frigate

The Admiral Gorshkov (not to be confused with the INS Vikramaditya) frigate is the lead ship of Project 22350. Source: Nordsy.spb

The Russian navy’s first large ship made of carbon fibre will begin trials in the Barents Sea by the end of November. The Admiral Gorshkov (not to be confused with the INS Vikramaditya) frigate is the lead ship of Project 22350. A Russian Naval Command source told Izvestia that following the trials, the frigate would join the 14^th ASW Brigade of Russia’s Northern Fleet. The frigate has been built using stealth technology, with its superstructures made entirely of composite materials that absorb or semi-conduct radio waves to ensure invisibility to radars.

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BAE Systems, EADS End Merger Talks

Aerospace and defense giants BAE Systems BA.LN -1.38% PLC and European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. EAD.FR +5.29% on Wednesday called off their planned merger after the U.K., France and Germany failed to agree on how much influence they should have over the combined entity. The companies made no mention of any plans to revive the merger project at a later stage.
The decision brings to an end several months of increasingly frenetic negotiations on plans by the companies to create the world's biggest defense group by sales.
With BAE Systems and EADS quick to blame politicians for the deal's collapse, singling out intransigence in Berlin in particular, the merger's failure raises fresh questions on European governments' ability to set aside national interests regarding cross-border projects.

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