THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012
PAGE 3A
NEWS OF THE WORLD
Associated Press
ASIA
Taliban takes responsibility for explosions in Kabul two hours after Obama visit
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Smoke billows out from a compound after it was attacked by militants in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday. Taliban insurgents attacked a compound housing foreigners in the Afghan capital, killing seven people.
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban struck back less than two hours after President Barack Obama left Afghanistan on Wednesday, targeting a foreigners' housing compound with a suicide car bomb and militants disguised as women in an assault that killed at least seven people.
It was the second major assault in Kabul in less than three weeks and highlighted the Taliban's continued ability to strike in the heavily guarded capital even when security had been tightened for Obama's visit and Wednesday's anniversary of the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan.
Obama arrived at Bagram Air Field late Tuesday, then traveled to Kabul by helicopter for a meeting with President Hamid Karzai in which they signed an agreement governing the U.S. presence after combat troops withdraw in 2014. Later, back at the base, he was surrounded by U.S. troops, shaking every hand. He then gave a speech broadcast to Americans back home, before ending his lightning visit just before 4:30 a.m.
"We broke the Taliban's momentum. We've built strong Afghan security forces. We devastated al-Qaida's leadership, taking out over 20 of their top 30 leaders." he said.
He also said that "the tide has turned" over the last three years.
But the violence that erupted about 90 minutes after his departure was a stark reminder of the difficult task still ahead for Afghan troops as they work to secure their country after U.S. and other foreign troops end their combat mission following nearly a decade at war.
The deal signed with Karzai does not commit the United States to any specific troop presence or spending. But it does allow the U.S. to potentially keep troops in Afghanistan through 2024 for two specific purposes; continued training of Afghan forces and targeted operations against al-Qaida.
The United States also promises to seek money from Congress every year to support Afghanistan.
The attack began with a suicide car bomb near the gate of the privately guarded compound, which sits on Jalabad road — one of the main thoroughfares out of the city, Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said.
Kabul Deputy Police Chief Daoud Amin said those killed in the blast included four people in a station wagon that was driving past the area, a passer-by and a Nepalese security guard. He didn't have the identity of the seventh person killed. The Interior Ministry said 17 other people were wounded, many Afghan children on
their way to school.
Explosions and guntire shook the city for hours as Afghan soldiers rushed to the scene and battled the attackers.
A Western official who had been briefed on the assault said the attackers had breached the perimeter defense, around the compound's parking areas, but had not gotten past a secondary security gate that protects the actual living areas. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the in-
The area appeared to have calmed down by about 10 a.m. NATO said all the attackers had been killed.
The fundamentalist Islamic movement later announced that its annual "spring offensive" would begin Thursday. The offensive comes every year as the snows melt, making both travel and fighting easier as the Taliban try to retake lost territory and intimidate the Afghan government.
Islamist fighters in southwest Mali penalize citizens for breaking religious laws
BAMAKO, Mali — In one town in northern Mali a man has been whipped for drinking alcohol. In another, pictures of unveiled women have been torn down. In a third, traditional music is no longer heard in the streets.
While government soldiers were fighting each other this week for control of the capital in Mali's southwest corner, Islamist fighters were asserting control
over the Texas-sized northern half of the country. The Islamists, some of whom are foreigners, are imposing strict religious law, setting up a possible showdown with Tuareg nationalist rebels who say they want a secular state and who seized northern Mali in March alongside the Islamists. The two groups were once allies might soon be turning their guns on each other.
AFRICA
Residents of the three biggest towns in the north say the Islamist fighters seem to be elbowing aside the Tuareg nationalists and are stronger on the ground.
On Monday in the city of Gao, two men caught smoking hashish were given 30 lashes in front of the police station, according to Hama Dada Toure, a teacher in Gao. One man who had allegedly beaten his pregnant wife was given 10 lashes
and ordered to pay her.
NORTH AMERICA
Toure said a flexible tree branch is used in the whippings, the blows delivered with less than full force. The last to be punished that day in Gao were two men had been fighting. One man had been cut in the fight and the other was told that when the injured man recovered he would be able to inflict the exact same cut on his enemy.
HAVANA — After controlling the comings and goings of its people for five decades, communist Cuba appears on the verge of a momentous decision to lift many travel restrictions. One senior official says a "radical and profound" change is weeks away.
Cuban government looks at the possibility of reversing travel laws
The comment by Parliament Chief Ricardo Alarcon has residents, exiles and policymakers abuzz with speculation that the much-hated exit visa could be a thing of the past, even if Raul Castro's government continues to limit the travel of doctors, scientists, military personnel and others in sensitive roles to prevent a brain drain.
Other top Cuban officials have cautioned against over-excitement, leaving islanders and Cuba experts to wonder how far Havana's leaders are willing to go.
In the past 18 months, Castro has removed prohibitions on some private enterprise, legalized real estate and car sales, and allowed compatriots to hire employees, ideas that were long anathema to the government's Marxist underpinnings.
EUROPE
Hungarian parliament votes former lawmaker to incumbent presidency
BUDAPEST, Hungary — The Hungarian parliament chose a close ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban to be country's new president Wednesday, guaranteeing that his conservative Fidesz party will be able to pass laws at will without interference.
Janos Ader, a European Parliament lawmaker, was elected to a
five-year term by a vote of 262-40. Ader replaces Pal Schmitt, who resigned last month after Hungary's Semmelweis University trimmed his
his doctoral degree over charges that he had plagiarized his 1992 thesis.
Ader
The choice is sure to fan increasing tensions between Budapest and the European Union. The EU and civil rights groups fear that Orban
and Fidesz are engaged in a power grab that restricts basic freedoms and civil rights in Hungary, an EU member.
Ader fanned those fears, addressing parliament in a speech peppered with nationalist imagery after taking the oath of office Wednesday.
"I say to the people of the neighboring countries, and to our allies in the European Union and NATO, we offer them friendship and respect — which also means that we expect the same respect and friendship back." Ader said. "The homeland before all else!"
While Hungary's presidency is largely ceremonial, the head of state has the power to send bills back to Parliament for reconsideration or refer them to the Constitutional Court. Ader, an ally of Orban for nearly a quarter century, is expected to follow his predecessor's example of signing into law every bill that crosses his desk.