50 Taliban killed
NATO and Afghan troops clashed with Taliban insurgents and called in airstrikes, killing at least 50 suspected militants and dozens of civilians, Kandahar officials and villagers said Friday. The fighting started Thursday, said Gereshk district chief Abdul Manaf Khan. The airstrikes killed 50 Taliban and 28 civilians, Khan said, citing villagers’ reports. He said the bodies already have been buried, and the fighting continued Friday.
China passes new regulation
China’s premier ordered increased vigilance over food and drug safety Friday as the Cabinet announced a new regulation that mandates stronger supervision and outlines hefty punishments for makers of dangerous goods. The twin actions highlighted the leadership’s focus on winning back international confidence in its exports, which have been found to contain potentially dangerous levels of chemicals and toxins.
More Internet regulations
Kazakhstan and Georgia are among countries imposing excessive restrictions on how people use the Internet, a new report says, warning that regulations are having a chilling effect on freedom of expression. Miklos Haraszti, who heads the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s media freedom office, said about two dozen countries practice censorship, and others have adopted needlessly restrictive legislation and government policy.
Gorbachev: U.S. makes mistakes
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Friday laid the blame for the current low in Russia’s relations with the West squarely on Washington, accusing the U.S. of making major mistakes that have thrown the world into a period of “global disarray.” Gorbachev traced the roots of the chill with the West to the collapse of the Soviet Union, which, he said, put Washington in an empire-building mood.
AND FINALLY …
Britons take a little off the top
Against all odds, they outlasted the manufacturers of buggies by about a century, but now it appears the days of the wigmakers are numbered. Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales Nicholas Phillips has decided that judges and lawyers in civil cases no longer will wear wigs and wing collars in the courtroom. The ceremonial dress, adopted in the late 17th Century, now will be worn only during criminal proceedings.
