U.S. drone program in Pakistan scaled back
ISLAMABAD – The United States has drastically scaled back the number of drone attacks against militants in Pakistan and limited strikes to high-value targets in response to growing criticism of the program in this country.
Those actions appear to have temporarily appeased Pakistan’s powerful generals, who publicly oppose the strikes, U.S. officials said.
Only 16 drone strikes have taken place in Pakistan so far this year, compared with a peak of 122 in 2010, 73 in 2011 and 48 in 2012, according to the New America Foundation, a U.S.-based think tank.
Toll passes 100,000 in civil war in Syria
DAMASCUS, Syria – The number of dead in Syria’s civil war has passed 100,000, the U.N. chief said Thursday, while calling for urgent talks on ending 2½ years of violence even as President Bashar Assad’s government criticized the United States as an unsuitable peace broker.
In the latest example of the relentless carnage, a car bomb killed at least 10 people and wounded 66 in a pro-regime, residential area near the capital.
All attempts to broker a political solution to the Syrian civil war have failed.
Associated Press
