Lance Anderson will be charged with murder after he shot both his wife and sister in the head. Anderson is being held without bail and, if convicted, faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole. Authorities allege Anderson fatally shot his very sick wife, Bertha Maxine Anderson, at their home, then took a cab to a nursing facility, where he shot his near-comatose sister, Lisa Nave. According to Los Angeles police, Anderson then placed the firearm on a nearby nightstand and calmly waited for officers to arrive in the nursing home’s courtyard.

Officer Paul Vernon of the Los Angeles Police Department said earlier this week that his detectives were still investigating motives behind the slayings. “I use the term ‘mercy killing’ in terms of describing a killing here because I want people to understand that this man did not randomly walk into a hospital to commit this crime,” Vernon said. “He knew his sister was there in a vegetative state.”

Iraqi Pipeline Attack

Eighteen people were murdered today near a gas pipeline outside the northeastern Iraqi town of Muqdadiya, when unidentified militants fired on them as they dug a trench to extend the pipeline. Ibrahem Aziz, who was wounded in the assault, told Reuters, “Three of them got out of a car and started firing on the workers inside and outside the trench.”

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack as of yet, but as 15 of those killed were Iranian workers and the pipeline is owned by an Iranian oil and gas company, officials believe militants from the Iraqi arm of al-Qaeda may be to blame.

Officials Change Drone Strike Story

Yemen’s official security committee confirmed yesterday’s drone strike, which killed 13 people, targeted a number of al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP) leaders. In a statement, the committee said, “inside the car, there were members and leaders who masterminded [attacks on] armed forces, police, and vital institutions.” This contradicts a statement yesterday from a Yemeni military official which said a U.S. drone mistook a motorcade heading to a wedding party in the central city of Radda, for an al-Qaeda convoy. He said tribesmen known to the villagers were among the dead.

Yesterday’s drone strike was the second in Yemen since the AQAP attack against Yemen’s military headquarters, which killed 56 people. Al-Qaeda said that attack was retribution for the U.S. drone strikes.

Iran Walks on JPA Talks

Iranian diplomats have walked away from landmark negotiations regarding the Iranian nuclear program due to an expansion of U.S. sanctions against Iran. Under the terms of the Joint Plan of Action, Iran agreed to halt parts of its nuclear enrichment program for six months in return for $7 billion in sanctions relief. The U.S. agreed not to unveil any new nuclear sanctions. The United States denies that blacklisting more companies and people accused of evading sanctions against Iran violates the deal reached in Geneva last month, with State Department spokesperson Marie Harf saying, “We have been very clear throughout the entire negotiating process with the Iranians that we were going to continue designations. They knew that.”

Still the Iranian delegation appears to disagree, saying that Washington had violated “the spirit” of the Geneva deal. Iranian diplomat Abbas Araqchi told journalists, “This is a game of double standards – it is not in accord with the talks we have had and it is against the spirit of the Geneva agreement.”

Weekend Read: In the Belly of the Beast

In 1906, Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle to shed light on “the inferno of exploitation” involved in the typical meat factory. Since then the meat industry has taken significant strides to prevent similar exposés. Paul Solotaroff details the work of some activists who’ve circumvented those efforts in Rolling Stone.

Mexican president President Enrique Peña Nieto is in the process of amending Mexico’s constitution to allow foreign investment to its state-owned oil corporation. The deal could bring in $20 billion in additional revenues, although the nationalist parties of the Mexican political system opposed the measure.

The Nieto administration claims the amendment is proposed with the intention of stimulating Mexico’s faltering oil production. Foreign investment could prod the Mexican oil industry into finding oil deep in the sea. However, Mexican oil has been autonomous since 1938. Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, a Mexican politician, says, “to all Mexicans, and we must not allow it to go private.”

Obama Panel Urges NSA Curbs

An Obama administration advisory panel has recommended safeguards against N.S.A. spying. The report, which has not been released but has been partially leaked, suggests that the N.S.A. should curb the collection of all Americans’ data and instead should pressure telecom companies to store data for a period longer than 18 months.

In response to requests to curb spying, Gen. Keith Alexander said that such a cutback would be naive. Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said, Our review is looking across the board at our intelligence gathering to ensure that as we gather intelligence, we are properly accounting for both the security of our citizens and our allies, and the privacy concerns shared by Americans and citizens around the world. We need to ensure that our intelligence resources are most effectively supporting our foreign policy and national security objectives — that we are more effectively weighing the risks and rewards of our activities.”

North Korea Executes Dictator’s Uncle

North Korea’s government executed Kim Jong Un’s uncle Jang Song Thaek, marking the first time that a member of the Kim family has ever been executed by North Korean authorities. The official explanation of his execution is that he was plotting a military coup, and reasons for his firing included womanizing, gambling, and alcoholism.

The execution is likely to cause a rift in the dictatorship. Many individuals supported Mr. Jang, and they are likely to face retribution in the coming months.

GOP Obstructs Nominees

The Senate has been moving at a slow pace as G.O.P. senators obstruct nominees in the wake of the Democrats’ decision to set the voting threshold at 51 rather than 61, as the previous rules stated. Republicans have been using every method available to delay the Senate nomination hearings.

Meanwhile, Sen. Harry Reid threatened to keep the Senate in session until Christmas Eve if necessary. As of Friday, neither party showed the willingness to budge even an inch.

North Korea has executed Kim Jong-un’s uncle, Jang Song-thaek, for treason after a military tribunal found him guilty four days after his arrest, which was broadcast by the country’s television. KCNA, North Korea’s official news agency, described Jang as a “traitor for all ages” who confessed to plotting a military coup against Kim Jong-un, as well as a host of other crimes including the peddling of pornography. The text also said Jang was “worse than a dog” and “despicable human scum”. His fall from grace is spectacular given that he was widely seen as the architect of Kim’s rise to power following the death of the late leader Kim Jong-il. “They are using this opportunity to scapegoat Uncle Jang by relegating responsibility for all policy failures”, said Leonid Petrov of the Australian National University in an interview to the Guardian newspaper. His execution has caused discomfort in South Korea, where the government has called an emergency session of its security council, fearing further instability in the north.

Belgian Senate Votes in Favour of Euthanasia for Children

The Belgian Senate has voted 50-17 in favour of extending its euthanasia law to terminally-ill children, a measure widely condemned by the country’s religious leaders. The law will allow for children to be euthanised if they are suffering a terminal illness, in great pain and with no recourse to treatment. It also says the patient must be fully conscious of what euthanasia is and that the request must be approved by parents and the medical team responsible for treatment. “There is no age for suffering and, next to that, it’s very important that we have a legal framework for the doctors who are confronted with this demand today and for the minors, for the capable minors, who are suffering today, and who I think should have the freedom to choose how they cope with their suffering”, said Senator Jean-Jacques de Gucht, one of the proponents of the measure.

Ireland Exits Eurozone Bailout

The Republic of Ireland announced on Friday that it was the first eurozone member to successfully complete the conditions stipulated by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, exiting the financial bailout first entered into in 2008. “This isn’t the end of the road. This is a very significant milestone on the road”, said Irish Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, adding that the country could not afford to “go mad again”. He also said that, despite exiting the bailout, the government would continue to pursue austerity measures until it could lower its deficit. Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that the exit was an important moment for Ireland and that the benefits of the measures taken so far would eventually filter down to the country’s most hard-pressed families.

UK Rejects EU Directive on Prisoners’ Right to Vote

British Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed to “clip the wings” of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), who has repeatedly ruled that the UK’s ban on prisoner voting is against European Law. “If Parliament decides that prisoners should not get the vote then I think they damn well shouldn’t. It should be a national decision taken by our Parliament”, said Cameron during a visit to a tea factory in Stockton-on-Tees on Friday. A bill which offers MPs a range of options, including the maintenance of the ban on prisoner voting, will be introduced in parliament early next year. It is expected that the ban will kept in effect by the governing coalition, which is also expected to scrap a piece of legislation binding the EU to the ECHR’s rulings.

L’exécution au Bangladesh du mollah Abdul Quader, 65 ans, du parti islamiste d’opposition Jamaat-e-Islami, a déclenché une vague de manifestations violentes. Le mollah a été pendu aujourd’hui à Dhaka, après que le maintien, par la Cour Suprême, de la sentence d’exécution qui le frappait : il a été condamné à mort pour des crimes de guerre commis pendant la guerre d’indépendance de 1971. Trois millions de personnes étaient mortes et 200 000 femmes avaient été violées durant cette période.

Des membres ou sympathisants du parti Jamaat-e-Islami ont fait explosé des bombes dans des stations de train et bloqué des routes. Deux activistes du parti au pouvoir, la Ligue Awami, ont été tués ; une autre personne est morte lors d’affrontements entre la police et des soutiens du parti Jamaat-e-Islami.

Tunisie : Accord trouvé entre le parti au pouvoir et l’opposition

En Tunisie, le parti islamique modéré au pouvoir et les partis d’opposition ont trouvé un accord pour nommer un Premier Ministre qui conduira un gouvernement intérimaire jusqu’à la tenue des prochaines élections.

Selon un accord obtenu par l’Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (U.G.T.T.), le parti islamiste modéré au pouvoir, Ennahda, a accepté de démissionné une fois un accord trouvé sur le nouveau Premier Ministre, une date pour les élections, et une nouvelle constitution.

Le gouvernement doit annoncer le nom du nouveau Premier Ministre le 14 décembre.

Cet accord ouvre la voie à une transition plus apaisée vers un régime démocratique alors que le déficit du pays et l’assassinat de deux dirigeants de l’opposition, plus tôt dans l’année, ont accru la pression pour trouver un accord en raison de l’inquiétude des bailleurs de fonds internationaux.

L’Ukraine va amnistier les manifestants

Le Président ukrainien Viktor Yanukovich a annoncé que les manifestants qui sont actuellement en prison vont être libérés, répondant à une demande-clé de l’opposition. Il a déclaré que les manifestants allaient être amnistiés et qu’il allait proposer une table ronde aux opposants.

Depuis fin novembre, la capitale ukrainienne a vu se multiplier les manifestations où des centaines de milliers de personnes ont défilé dans la rue. L’opposition a accepté l’offre de pourparlers faite par Yanukovitch. Elle avait dans un premier temps déclaré qu’elle refusait toute négociation. Elle a toutefois appelé à une autre manifestation dimanche.

Des douzaines de manifestants ont été blessés lors de la répression par les forces de l’ordre.

Thaïlande : L’opposition veut 12 mois pour mener à bien les réformes

Le leader de l’opposition en Thaïlande, Suthep Thaugsuban, un juriste qui a démissionné du Parlement pour rejoindre les manifestations, a déclaré que la Première Ministre devait soit démissionner soit être chassée du pouvoir, et que son mouvement aurait besoin d’un an pour mener à bien les réformes.

La Première Ministre Yingluck Shinawatra a appelé à des élections anticipées le 2 février pour mettre fin aux manifestations, mais Suthep Thaugsuban, qui sait que des élections conduiraient à une victoire probable des partisans de Shinawatra et de son frère Taksin, en exil à l’étranger, mais accusé d’avoir toujours la main sur les politiques menées, souhaite la mise en place d’un “conseil du peuple” non élu.

The weather in Egypt took a turn for the worse yesterday, and local media are reporting that Cairo received its first snow in over 100 years. The cold spell has hit other parts of the Middle East as well, delighting some and making conditions considerably more difficult for  others, such as the thousands of Palestinian, Iraqi and Syrian refugees who are currently living in tents or temporary dwellings. The cold weather in Cairo is expected to continue until Saturday.

Car Bomb Kills Police Officer

A car bomb exploded yesterday near a police camp in Ismailiya, killing one police officer and injuring at least 35 other people. An anonymous source reported that he heard heavy gunfire coming from the area around the blast after the bomb exploded. Ismailiya is located in the restive northern Sinai peninsula, an area which has witnessed an uptick in militant attacks on police and army officers since former President Mohamed Morsi was ousted from office in early July. The Egyptian military is cracking down on the region and has arrested hundreds of people over the last few months; despite this, 10 soldiers died last month in a similar style of attack.

Foreign Policy lists Egyptian Satirist, Human Rights Activists Among Year’s Top Thinkers

Foreign Policy Magazine has chosen Egyptian human rights activists Heba Morayef  and Hossam Bahget and political satirist Bassem Youssef as three of the year’s top 100 global thinkers. Heba Morayef is the director of Egypt’s Human Rights Watch office and Hossam Bahget directs the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. In a statement on their website, the magazine explained their choices, saying “since Egypt’s 2011 revolution, national politics have devolved into a choice between the Egyptian Army and the Muslim Brotherhood. But pioneering activists like Hossam Bahget and Heba Morayef haven’t stopped reminding Egyptians that their uprising was supposed to be about so much more: the protection of civil liberties and social and economic justice.” The magazine also praised Youssef for supporting a moderate middle ground amidst the current political rhetoric.

Egypt-Cyprus Negotiations

Cyprus’ President Nicos Anastiades met with Egypt’s interim president Adli Mansour today to develop plans for closer diplomatic relations, including a shared project to prospect for natural gas reserves in the Mediterranean between the two countries. The push for closer relations comes not long after Egypt expelled Turkey’s ambassador because it was angry over remarks that the Turkish president Recep Tayipp Erdogan made, calling for better treatment of the political opposition and the deposed President Morsi. Greece and Turkey hotly contest the ownership of the island of Cyprus, and have been in open conflict over their competing land claims since the 1970s.

Weekend Read

Sarah Carr discusses the political environment in Egypt during these “strange and maudlin days” in her latest piece for the independent news website Mada Masr.