Egyptian Government Fires Hundreds of Police Linked to Protester Deaths

Blood runs down the head of an Egyptian protester injured during clashes with riot police in Tahrir Square in Cairo. KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images(CAIRO, Egypt) -- After nearly a week of re-occupying Cairo's Tahrir Square with protest tents, Egyptians have won one of their key demands from the new military government.  Over 850 protestors died during the revolution and hundreds of others were injured, and now some in the police force suspected of taking part in the violence are paying the price.
       
Egypt's new government has fired nearly 700 top police officers in response to the public's growing anger that so few had been held accountable for harming protestors during the revolution.  Major-generals, colonels and brigadiers were let go, while 37 of them face charges of killing protestors. The Interior Minister promised they would stand trial.  

The move may help restore credibility to the unpopular police force, but it won't get protestors to leave Tahrir Square. They're still demanding reforms to the constitution, the dismantling of interior ministry and trials for corrupt officials.

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German Catholic Church to Investigate Sex Abuse

Franco Origlia/Getty Images(BERLIN) -- Catholic Church leaders in Germany are planning to initiate a comprehensive investigation into the reported sexual abuse of children by clergy, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Church leaders will work with a group of independent criminology researchers to conduct a "systemic, empirical" investigation that will help them understand how the cases of abuse happened and better handle any reports going forward, WSJ reports.  The probe will begin with an audit of the personnel files of priests and other staff from the past decade, according to Church officials.

The timing of the investigation should be noted.  Pope Benedict XVI is expected to visit his native Germany in September and will likely feel pressured to confront the Church's handling of sexual abuse.

In Ireland, Prime Minister Enda Kenny has criticized the Vatican for resisting the methods of civil law in handling reported abuse, according to British newspaper The Guardian.  Kenny received a detailed report Wednesday that abuse had taken place as recently as 2009, The New York Times reports.

Kenny hopes to see stricter laws that will make it more difficult -- even for the leaders within the Roman Catholic Church -- to sidestep legal obligation in reporting cases of child abuse.

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Japan Cheers Women's Soccer Team to World Cup Finals

JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images(FRANKFURT, Germany) -- The U.S. women's soccer team secured their spot in the finals with a win over France, while fans in Japan stayed up all night to watch their team advance over Sweden.

"After all we've been through...these women are giving us reason to hope," a fan for Japan says.

Team Japan's success has united a country in desperate need of something to cheer for. Four months after a massive tsunami and earthquake devasted the country's northeast coast, the Japanese continue to deal with daily radiation scares, aftershocks and political fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The women's national soccer team -- nicknamed "Nadeshiko," referring to the unadorned, clean beauty of a Japanese woman -- has dedicated each game to disaster victims in their home country, making the players unlikely heroes.  This will be Japan's first time to the finals, according to FIFA.

The U.S. and Japan face off on Sunday.

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Four Dead After Suicide Attack at Kandahar Mosque

Comstock/Thinkstock(KANDAHAR, Afghanistan) -- A suicide attacker Thursday targeted a mosque in Kandahar where people gathered to offer their condolences to Ahmad Wali Karzai, the assassinated head of the city's provincial council and half-brother to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Four people were reportedly killed in the attack, including the head of the religious council of Kandahar.

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Mitt Romney Addresses Troop Withdrawal, US-Israeli Relations

Darren McCollester/Getty Images(PORTSMOUTH, N.H.) -- Former Massachusetts governor and GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney commented on a variety of world topics Thursday during an event at the Portsmouth Rotary Club in New Hampshire.

Asked about troop withdrawal, Romney said that while he supports troop withdrawal in Iraq and Afghanistan, he would prefer the timetable to be established by the generals on the ground and not by politics in the U.S.

Referencing his meeting last week with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Romney said he was “impressed” by Cameron’s decision to wait until after the summer to withdraw his troops, a move made after following generals’ recommendations.  

“I think it makes sense for the President of the United States to listen first and foremost to those people in the field,” said Romney.

On Israel, Romney said that the country is our “best friend in the Middle East.”

“I would stand with Israel, I believe they are an ally with our effort against terror and an ally in our principles we espouse,” Romney said, before adding, “If I disagree with Bibi Netanyahu I’ll have that conversation in private and not in public.”

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China to US: Raise the Debt Ceiling

Stockbyte/Thinkstock(SHANGHAI) -- China has publicly joined the call for the U.S. to get its financial house in order.

"We hope that the U.S. government adopts responsible policies and measures to guarantee the interests of investors," Hong Lei, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Thursday, according to the New York Times. Lei had been asked about a warning from Moody’s that the credit rating agency was prepared to review the U.S. AAA status.

China, a major U.S. creditor, owns more than $1 trillion of U.S. government debt. A Chinese rating agency also warned that it was considering a downgrade of the U.S. government credit rating.

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UN Welcomes South Sudan as Newest Member

Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, Sudan's United Nations Ambassador, speaks before the UN General Assembly after the body voted to admit the newly formed nation of South Sudan to the UN on July 14, 2011 at UN headquarters in New York. STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The United Nations General Assembly, following up on the unanimous recommendation of the Security Council, has voted to make South Sudan its 193rd and newest member.

The oil rich nation has seen an uptick in violence this year, forcing the UN to establish two peacekeeping missions within the past month.

South Sudan is the first new UN member since Montenegro in 2006.

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UN Reports Record Levels of Violence, Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan

ABC News(KABUL, Afghanistan) -- Despite headline-grabbing claims by soon-to-be CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus last week that insurgent attacks in Afghanistan have decreased, the United Nations said on Thursday that the war there has never been more violent, with a 30 percent increase in security incidents in the first half of 2011 compared to the first half of 2010.

The U.N. also said that more civilians are dying than at any point since the war in Afghanistan began -- up 15 percent over already record-breaking levels last year.

The vast majority of civilian deaths and injuries are caused by insurgents, and increasingly, NATO forces are causing a lower percentage, continuing a trend that began under Gen. Stanley McChrystal's watch.  McChrystal was the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan before Gen. Petraeus.

But the data is still sobering for the U.S., which is desperate for Afghans to feel safer and, therefore, perceive the tide of the war is turning.

"The mounting toll of civilian casualties in the first six months of 2011 represents a deepening entrenchment of violence in the everyday lives of Afghans," the U.N.'s report says.  "With responsibility for security transitioning from international military forces to Afghan forces in several parts of the country in July, violence rose as Anti-Government Elements sought to demonstrate that Afghan security forces could not manage security on their own."

The increase in violence, according to the U.N., is mainly a result of record levels of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and more complex and effective suicide attacks.

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US Receiving 'Contradictory Signals' on Gadhafi's Exit from Libya

Salah Malkawi/ Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Addressing claims by French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé that Moammar Gadhafi emissaries are looking to negotiate the longtime leader’s departure from Libya, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said there’s no definitive proof he’s ready to leave.

“We are still getting contradictory signals from Col. Gadhafi's camp,” Clinton told reporters Wednesday at a press conference with her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

Still, she seemed optimistic it would happen eventually.

“Although neither of us can predict to you the exact day or hour that Gadhafi will leave power, we do understand and agree that his days are numbered,” she said.

Russia has had an envoy in Libya in recent weeks to take Gadhafi’s temperature about a deal.  On Wednesday, Lavrov also seemed optimistic but said even less on the matter.

“We have different channels -- official and not very official channels -- to work through to create conditions for this process,” Lavrov said through an interpreter.

“I think that the whole set of the measures being taken by NATO members and Russia and the region countries as well, and also African Union, whose initiatives we support, will lead to an agreement to reach a cease-fire and to start negotiations.  There is no other way to solve this issue, as any other issue in the modern world,” he added.

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Afghan President Names Replacement for Assassinated Half Brother

SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images(KANDAHAR, Afghanistan) -- Grieving Afghan President Hamid Karzai wasted no time in nominating another family member to take the place of his half-brother Ahmed Wali Karzai, the head of Kandahar’s provincial council, who was assassinated by his bodyguard on Tuesday.

Wali Karzai was considered one of the most influential men in southern Afghanistan, as both a power broker and accused drug lord who nonetheless was a crucial member of President Karzai's administration.

The president was visibly shaken Wednesday as he said goodbye to his half-brother at the graveyard in Karz, where his father -- who was killed by the Taliban in 1999 -- is also buried.  Thousands attended the funeral.

Afterward, Shah Wali Karzai was nominated by President Karzai as the elder of the family and leader of his Populzai tribe.  The gesture was seen as one to consolidate the president's power in Kandahar as well as unite the various tribes against the Taliban.

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