The incident on November 3 saw US and Afghan troops call for air reinforcement as they engaged with Taliban forces hiding in civilian houses in a village in the volatile northern province.
Civilian men, women and children were “likely inside the buildings from which the Taliban were firing”, the report said. Two US forces and three Afghan commandos also died in the firing.
The civilian deaths sparked outrage at the time, with victims’ relatives parading the mutilated bodies of dead children piled into open trucks through the streets of Kunduz city.
“The investigation determined, regretfully, that 33 civilians were killed and 27 others wounded,” NATO’s Afghan mission Resolute Support said in a statement.
“To defend themselves and Afghan forces, US forces returned fire in self-defence at Taliban who were using civilian houses as firing positions,” the statement added.
“Regardless of the circumstances, I deeply regret the loss of innocent lives,” said General John Nicholson, commander of US forces – Afghanistan.
The United Nations has also launched an investigation, calling any loss of civilian life “unacceptable”, with its findings due to be released by the end of this month.
The carnage underscored worsening insecurity after the Taliban in October 2016 overran Kunduz city for the second time in a year, as NATO-backed Afghan forces struggle to rein in the insurgents.
Civilian casualties caused by NATO forces have been one of the most divisive issues in the 15-year battle against the insurgents, prompting strong public and government criticism.
Errant air strikes contributed to a 42% jump last year in casualties caused by pro-government forces compared to last year, according to the UN.

Similarity rank: 5.3

Sentiment rank: -47.4

© Source: http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/2017/01/12/US-Afghan-forces-killed-33-civilians-in-self-defence-NATO
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Rex Tillerson’s foreign policy doesn’t sound a lot like Donald Trump’s.
At his confirmation hearing Wednesday, the former Exxon Mobil CEO selected by Trump for secretary of state called Russia a “danger” and vowed to protect America’s European allies. He rejected the idea of an immigration ban on Muslims. He treaded softly on the human rights records of key U. S. partners like Saudi Arabia.
In the words of Sen. Bob Corker, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s GOP chairman, Tillerson “demonstrated that he’s very much in the mainstream of foreign policy thinking. ” But doing so forced the former Exxon Mobil CEO to break with a variety of the president-elect’s most iconoclastic statements on diplomacy and international security.
Again and again, Tillerson hewed more closely to longstanding, bipartisan positions on America’s role in the world, and who are its friends and foes.
That may help Tillerson win confirmation with senators who’ve expressed wariness about his extensive relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But it could leave him implementing a Trump foreign policy that looks little like the vision he outlined Wednesday.
A look at where Tillerson’s views didn’t quite match those of his would-be boss:
RUSSIA
Tillerson adopted a tough tone toward Moscow, apparently attempting to rebut the perception that he’s too close to Putin.
The Russian leader previously awarded Tillerson his country’s “Order of Friendship” following Exxon’s deals with Russia’s oil industry. But on Wednesday, Tillerson called Putin’s Russia a threat to the United States.
Whereas Trump as a candidate played down Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, arguing the population there was pro-Russian anyway, Tillerson said the annexation was illegal and amounted to “a taking of territory that was not theirs. ”
Whereas Trump’s campaign team last summer softened language in the GOP platform calling for arming Ukraine, Tillerson said he would have recommended providing U. S. and allied defensive weapons, plus aerial surveillance, to the Ukrainians so they could protect their Russian border.
“The taking of Crimea was an act of force,” Tillerson said, adding that when Russia flexes its muscles, the U. S. must mount “a proportional show of force to indicate to Russia there will be no more taking of territory. ”
CAMPAIGN HACKING
Before Wednesday, Trump had spent weeks ridiculing the U. S. intelligence agencies’ accusations that Russia hacked and leaked emails, spread “fake news” and took other actions to interfere with the U. S. election.
Tillerson wasted no time in accepting the findings.
And he went further than Trump, conceding that it’s a “fair assumption” that the hacking couldn’t have taken place without Putin’s consent
Not Trump, who has repeatedly praised Putin’s leadership.
While he said at a news conference Wednesday that “I think it was Russia,” Trump sidestepped the question of Putin’s responsibility. Instead, he argued: “If Putin likes Donald Trump, guess what, folks? That’s called an asset, not a liability. ”
THE MUSLIM BAN
During the campaign, Trump called for a temporary ban on Muslims immigrating to the U. S. The proposal then evolved into a plan to halt immigration from an unspecified group of countries linked to terrorism. Yet Trump later suggested he was reconsidering the Muslim ban.
“I do not support a blanket type rejection of any particular group of people,” Tillerson said categorically in his hearings. He said the U. S. should “support those Muslim voices” that reject extremism and insisted Americans shouldn’t be scared of Muslims.
RAPISTS AND CRIMINALS
Trump started his presidential bid by taking aim south of the border, accusing Mexico of sending “rapists” and criminals with drugs into the U. S.
Asked about those sentiments, Tillerson said he would “never characterize an entire population with any single term at all. ”
Mexico and other Latin American nations are anxious about Trump’s campaign pledges to build a border wall and deport millions of immigrants illegally in the U. S.
Tillerson, by contrast, said he would engage closely with Mexico.
“Mexico is a longstanding neighbor and friend of this country,” he said.
DEFENDING ALLIES
Trump sent chills through much of Europe when he suggested the U. S. might not defend its NATO allies if they came under attack, unless they’d contributed enough to the alliance’s collective defense costs.
He later qualified his comments, while insisting the alliance’s future is dependent on other members paying their fair share.
Tillerson offered an ironclad commitment to NATO’s Article 5, which obligates the allies to treat an attack on one as an attack on all. If a NATO member is invaded, the oil man said, the U. S. would join other members in coming to its aid.
“The Article 5 commitment is inviolable, and the U. S. is going to stand behind that commitment,” Tillerson said.
SAUDI ARABIA
Trump used Saudi Arabia’s shoddy human rights record as a campaign cudgel against Hillary Clinton, pointedly asking why she wouldn’t “give back the money” her family foundation accepted from the kingdom.
He called out Saudi Arabia and other Mideast countries for violence against gays and women, and other human rights violations.
Tillerson played it more conservatively with a country that lies at the heart of the American security strategy for the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia doesn’t share American values, he said, but he said he would “need to have greater information” before declaring Saudi Arabia a human rights violator.
It was an answer that wasn’t well received by all the senators present. But it was, to use a turn of phrase, diplomatic.

Similarity rank: 5.3

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© Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article126056289.html
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A year ago Sunday, 130 people were killed in terror attacks across Paris. The Bataclan theatre, which reopened over the weekend, saw the worst of…
The federal prosecutor’s office said Thursday the suspect, identified only as Farid K, was accused of providing fake documents which were used in the preparation of the attacks. He was charged with taking part in the activities of a terrorist group and held in custody.
Another suspect, Meryem E. B., was charged with falsification of documents but released.
Seven attackers were killed the night of the Nov. 13 attacks and two others died in a police raid five days later. One key player – Salah Abdeslam – escaped and was arrested four months later in Belgium. Other members of the network survived, plotting violence from Belgium and Syria or Iraq.

Similarity rank: 7.5

Sentiment rank: -6.2

© Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/belgium-charges-new-suspects-november-2015-paris-terror-attacks/
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Donald Trump has held his first news conference in five months, with nine days to go before he takes the oath and assumes power at the White House.
While his fury at the allegations concerning his ties to Russia made the headlines, there was plenty more covered.
So what did we learn?
His sons, Donald and Eric, will run the Trump Organization, Mr Trump said in a long-awaited announcement concerning his business interests.
His lawyer Sheri Dillon also said:
She said that to avoid him breaking the constitution’s “emoluments clause” which bans government officials from taking money from foreign governments, he would donate foreign payments to the Treasury.
But the head of the Office of Government Ethics launched a scathing attack on the move, saying it does not go far enough to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Other ethics experts seem to agree.
The BBC’s Anthony Zurcher: Mr Trump has spent his entire life building his business empire, and he seems reluctant to let it go entirely, ethical concerns notwithstanding. While he says he’s stepping away from the business, his decision not to relinquish ownership and his only transfer management to his children will likely not satisfy many of his critics.
Trump hands over business empire to sons
The president-elect suggested the US intelligence agencies are to blame for the unsubstantiated allegations that he paid for Russian prostitutes and fostered close relations between his campaign team and the Kremlin.
“I think it was disgraceful, disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake out there… That’s something that Nazi Germany would have done. ”
The top US spy, James Clapper, later hit back, saying the leak was not from the US intelligence community.
AZ: Wednesday was only the latest broadside Mr Trump has fired against a US intelligence community that he believes is trying to undermine the legitimacy of the presidency. His targets feel threatened as well, so this is far from the final exchange.
Angry Trump blasts ‘fake news disgrace’
He went further than he has before in identifying Russia as the culprit behind hacks of Democratic Party emails, but still carried a caveat.
“As far as hacking, I think it’s Russia. But we also get hacked by other countries and other people. ”
AZ: While Mr Trump was finally willing to acknowledge Russian involvement in 2016 election hacking, he still couched criticism in terms of a larger problem that involves other nations, like China. Mr Trump clearly feels much more comfortable criticising China than he does Vladimir Putin and Russia.
Mr Trump said he plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as soon as his health secretary pick is confirmed.
That could be the same week, the same day or even the same hour, he said.
But it’s not clear whether the Republican party will be able to rally around a new plan.
AZ: While Mr Trump has set a tight timeline for repeal and replacement of Obamacare, it will be a heavy lift for a Congress that still is uncertain on what it should do – or the political fallout it could suffer for doing it.
Can Obamacare be repealed?
The man who launched his presidential campaign with the condemnation of Mexican immigrants as criminals shows no signs of wavering in his plan to build wall on the southern border.
AZ: For Mr Trump, it’s not a matter of if Mexico is going to pay for the border wall (not fence, he emphasised), it’s when – and he predicts it will happen in less than a year.
“There will be a major border tax on these companies that are leaving and getting away with murder. And if our politicians had what it takes, they would have done this years ago. And you’d have millions more workers right now in the United States. ”
AZ: Now we know a bit more about how he will try to foot the bill for the wall – through a tax, which might be easier than asking the Mexican government to cough up a cheque.
Asked about filling the vacancy on the Supreme Court, he said he has a list of 20 and will put one of them up within his first two weeks.
“It will be a decision which I very strongly believe in. I think it’s one of the reasons I got elected. ”
AZ: While the Supreme Court wasn’t a top issue for many American voters, it was likely an important factor in keeping evangelical conservatives in Mr Trump’s column. His pick will likely reward their faith.
“We have to get our drug industry coming back,” he said.
We need to “create new bidding procedures for the drug industry, because they’re getting away with murder,” he added.
After the press conference, Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders expressed his full agreement.
“Pharma does get away with murder. Literally murder. People die because they can’t get the prescription drugs they need. ”
AZ: Talking about using the power of government negotiation to reduce drug prices is a regular talking point for Democrats, but Mr Trump’s interest in taking on big pharmaceutical companies probably comes as a bit of a shock to his Republican colleagues.
Mr Trump cracked a joke when he said he could not have done some of the more salacious things alleged in the intelligence dossier.
“Does anyone believe that story? I’m a germophobe, by the way. ”
It has long been part of media folklore that he is averse to physical contact and once passed hand-sanitiser to journalists.
AZ: Back when Mr Trump was giving regular press conferences, his answers were frequently peppered with quirky non-sequiturs or comments that would never come out of the mouth of a traditional politician. It seems like President Trump will stick to that script.
“I was in Russia years ago, with the Miss Universe contest, which did very well – Moscow, the Moscow area did very, very well.
“And I told many people, ‘Be careful, because you don’t wanna see yourself on television. Cameras all over the place.'”
AZ: While Mr Trump may have a soft spot for Vladimir Putin and Russia, comments like this aren’t going to get him a post-election job on the Russian tourism board.

Similarity rank: 7.4

Sentiment rank: 3.3

© Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38588878
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