the world

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned last year in a leaked classified memo that donors in Saudi Arabia were the "most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide. .

While the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) takes seriously the threat of terrorism within Saudi Arabia, it has been an ongoing challenge to persuade Saudi officials to treat terrorist financing emanating from Saudi Arabia as a strategic priority," she wrote. more

Caning as a form of judicial punishment in Malaysia has reached "epidemic" proportions and should be banned, according to a human rights group.

Blows administered to the body with a long cane are a legal punishment for more than 60 offences in the country.

Amnesty International claims at least 10,000 prisoners and 6,000 refugees are caned there each year. Across Malaysia, government officials regularly tear into the flesh of prisoners with rattan canes travelling up to 160km/h. The cane shreds the victim's naked skin, turns the fatty tissue into pulp, and leaves permanent scars that extend all the way to muscle fibres," Amnesty says in a report on the practice .read more

South Korea has begun a series of major live fire exercises in disputed waters off the west coast, despite warnings from the North against conducting them.

It comes as Japan and the US are also conducting major joint military drills.

Tension has been high on the peninsula since North Korea shelled a disputed South Korean island last month, killing four South Koreans.more info

Several UK sites are listed, including cable locations, satellite sites and BAE Systems plants.

This is probably the most controversial document yet from the Wikileaks organisation.

The definition of US national security reveal is broad and all embracing.

In addition to obvious pieces of strategic infrastructure like communications hubs, gas pipelines and so on, it contains, amongst other things, a cobalt mine in Congo, an anti-snake venom factory in Australia and an insulin plant in Denmark.more

f the US sees itself as waging a "global war on terror" then this represents a global directory of the key installations and facilities - many of them medical or industrial - that are seen as being of vital importance to Washington

Brazilian soldiers deployed to some of Rio de Janeiro's most violent neighbourhoods during an operation aimed at driving out drug-traffickers are to take on peacekeeping duties there.

Earlier, politicians and pundits demanded the resignation of some officials for their failure to quell the inferno that killed mainly prison officer trainees who were going to evacuate 500 inmates to safety from a jail on the edge of the forest.

The flames also engulfed 12,000 acres of woodland, destroyed millions of trees and gutted dozens of homes.
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The Carbon War Room, an independent venture, wants to see an efficiency rating on every ocean going vessel to help clean up the industry.

It is the first of many industries being targeted by the group who believe climate change can be solved through business rather than government summits.
Ministers from 190 countries are into their second week of negotiations in Cancun, Mexico with no sign of a global deal.
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