The news at a glance...International

last updated 8 January 2015

Benghazi, Libya

Suspect in U.S. attack: The FBI has questioned a Libyan man in connection with September’s attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, which killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. A U.S. official told CNN that Faraj al-Shibli, a member of the al Qaida–linked Libyan Islamist Fighting Group, was in Libyan custody, but it was not clear whether he played a major role in the attack and there was not enough evidence to issue a U.S. arrest warrant. In Washington, congressional Republicans have threatened to delay confirmation of Deborah Jones, President Obama’s nominee to succeed Stevens, unless the White House answers more questions about the response to the attack.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Was poison gas used? The Syrian government and rebel forces are blaming each other for an alleged chemical attack on a northern village. Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad said the rebels fired a chemical rocket at a government-controlled neighborhood in Aleppo province, killing 25. Rebels said the rocket was an errant strike by the regime. “We don’t even have ammunition for our Kalashnikovs,” said rebel commander Abdul Jabbar al-Okaidi. The U.S. said there was no evidence that chemical weapons were used at all, while Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said it was “apparently clear” that they were; he didn’t say by which side. President Obama has called the use of chemical weapons a red line that could trigger U.S. military intervention in the conflict.

Baghdad

10 years of bombs: Al Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for a wave of bombings on the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion this week, killing at least 65 people in the country’s deadliest day this year. The nearly 20 attacks, most of them on Shiite targets in and around Baghdad, injured more than 240 people. “What has reached you on Tuesday is just the first drop of rain, and a first phase, for by God’s will, after this we will have our revenge,” the Sunni terrorist group said in a statement posted on a jihadist website. Bombings have risen sharply amid growing sectarian tensions, as Sunnis charge that Iraq’s Shiite government is engaging in political oppression. The U.S. pulled its last troops out at the end of 2011.

Karachi, Pakistan

Arrest in Pearl beheading: Pakistani officials have arrested a man in connection with the 2002 beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Qari Abdul Hayee is suspected of arranging the kidnapping in Karachi of Pearl, who was working on a story about Pakistani militants. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks who is in U.S. custody at Guantánamo and was repeatedly waterboarded, has confessed to beheading him, and his hands appear to be holding the knife in the video of the execution, which was posted online. In the chilling footage, Pearl says, “My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish. I am Jewish,” before his throat is cut.

Agra, India

Tourists fear rape: Just days after a Swiss tourist was gang-raped in front of her husband at an Indian campsite, a British tourist jumped off a hotel balcony in Agra to escape the advances of the hotel owner. The woman said the owner banged on her door, offering an early-morning “free massage,” and when she refused to open it, he came back with a security guard to force the door open. The woman injured her leg; the hotelier was arrested. Five other men are in custody and have confessed to the rape of the Swiss woman. A bill mandating harsher punishments for rapists, including the death penalty, passed the lower house of parliament this week.

Beijing

Bring your own chopsticks: A Chinese legislator who heads a forestry company says the country is cutting down too many trees just to make disposable chopsticks. Bai Guangxin said 20 million trees are felled a year to produce 80 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks. “We must change our consumption habits and encourage people to carry their own tableware,” he said. Bai said that people should use metal or plastic reusable chopsticks, but the British press picked up the story last week and reported that the Chinese government was advocating a switch to knives and forks. The error caused a furor on Weibo, the Chinese social media site, which lit up with complaints about “more crappy British Anglo media propaganda.”

Seoul

Cyberattack: Computer networks at major South Korean banks and TV stations crashed at the same time this week, disabling ATMs and raising suspicions that North Korea had launched a cyberattack. “We do not rule out the possibility of North Korea being involved, but it’s premature to say so,” said a Defense Ministry spokesman. The attack on South Korean networks didn’t affect government websites or any important infrastructure, but it did alarm people and inconvenience businesses. Some computers had files deleted. North Korea, which recently canceled the armistice with South Korea and cut off a hotline between the two countries, is believed to have hacker schools where the nation’s top math students are trained in cyberwarfare.