NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Globe
1 Sex abuse: Addressing revulsion at the widespread sexual abuse of boys by powerful Afghan commanders, President Ashraf Ghani pledged on Wednesday that his government would do what it could to stamp out a practice that is pervasive among many wealthy and prominent men in his country. Ghani was unambiguous in his condemnation of the practice, calling it “unacceptable” and saying that pedophiles would be prosecuted no matter who they were. The phenomenon has been well documented by human rights groups, journalists and others for years. But even more problematic for Ghani is that many of the perpetrators are commanders in the Afghan security forces, militia leaders or other powerful men who back the government. The Taliban, in contrast, banned the practice when they were in power.
2 Soldier killed: A service member with the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan has been killed as a result of an insurgent attack near the large American base at Bagram near Kabul, the coalition said Wednesday. The soldier’s name and nationality were not released. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place Tuesday night. Insurgents fired at least one rocket at the base, and coalition soldiers began patrolling the surrounding area in search of launch sites, according to the Afghan police chief for the Bagram area, Col. Masoom Khan. That patrol soon came under attack, the colonel said.
3 Terrorism sentence: Two men found guilty of plotting to derail a passenger train in Canada with support from al Qaeda were sentenced Wednesday to life in prison. Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser must serve a minimum of 10 years before becoming eligible for parole on their life sentences. A jury in Toronto convicted Esseghaier earlier this year of planning to derail a Via train heading from New York to Toronto and four other terror-related charges. Jaser was found guilty of conspiring to commit murder in support of terrorism and two other charges.
4 Deadly attack: Somali police say two Polish citizens were among the five people killed in a suicide car bombing at Somalia’s presidential palace in Mogadishu on Monday. The blast was claimed by the Islamic extremists of al-Shabab. It targeted Somali soldiers guarding the compound and a vehicle carrying foreign officials. Poland’s foreign ministry confirmed the death of one Polish citizen doing humanitarian and business work in Somalia.
5 Military sale: Two French warships originally built for Russia, but not delivered because of the crisis in Ukraine, will be sold to Egypt instead, the French government announced Wednesday. President François Hollande told reporters in Brussels, where he was attending a European Union summit meeting, that French negotiators had “unwound the contract we had with Russia on good terms, respectful of Russia and not suffering any penalty for France,” and that he and his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, had “agreed on the price and conditions” of a sale to Egypt on Tuesday.