International Headlines October 6

India has signed a nuclear energy deal with France, AFP reports.  After India used its civilian nuclear program to develop an atom bomb in 1974, other countries were banned from selling nuclear technology and equipment to India.  With this signing, India is now free to purchase nuclear reactors and fuel to power the country of 1.1 billion people, possibly leading to a reduced global demand for gas and oil.  Nuclear power advocates, including French President Nicholas Sarkozy, say that the installation of nuclear plants as a clean energy source could help reduce pollution and fight global warming. 

 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHGR) released a statement reporting that 20,000 Pakistani refugees fled to Afghanistan to escape the fighting between Pakistani troops and militants opposed to the Pakistan and Afghanistan governments, Reuters reports.  As many as 500,000 people were displaced by the fighting, with the majority seeking shelter with relatives outside of the northwestern Bajur tribal agency, which is generally in the control of the militants.

 

A coded cable from the French deputy ambassador in Afghanistan was leaked to Le Canard Enchainé, a weekly French newspaper, The New York Times reports.  This transmission not only quotes the British ambassador to Afghanistan, Sherard Cowper-Coles, as saying the NATO campaign against the Taliban will fail, but also that the best solution for Afghanistan is government by an “acceptable dictator.” British officials say the comments were taken out of context and distorted, and French officials criticized the leak, saying it could put French soldiers in Afghanistan at risk.

 

A seven-year-old boy in Alice Springs, Australia, was caught after breaking into a central Australian zoo and feeding several other zoo reptiles to Terry, the zoo’s 440 pound saltwater crocodile, The Guardian reveals.  A total of 13 animals were killed, some fed to the crocodile while still alive, and some beaten to death by the boy with a rock.  Under Australian law, the boy cannot be criminally charged, but the zoo plans to file a lawsuit against the child’s parents.

 

In a move likely to anger China, the U.S. government has informed Congress of its plans to sell $6 billion dollars worth of weapons and arms to Taiwan, BBC News reports. Taiwan views itself as an independant, democratic nation, while China views the island as Chinese territory. As the U.S. tries to maintain congenial relations with China, they say that the sale of weapons to Taiwan will not affect the balance of military power in the area. 

 

University of Toronto’s Citizen Group has found evidence that Internet censors have been spying on TOM-Skype users in China, triggered by keywords concerning Taiwan or Tibeten independence, Falun Gong, and Communist Party opposition, The New York Times reports. The popular VoiP service now finds itself lumped into the same group of internet companies such as Yahoo!, Google, and Microsoft, all of which have been criticized by human-rights groups for cooperating with China’s strict Internet censors. Skype has admitted to the breach in the text filter and is addressing the situation with TOM, its Chinese partner firm.