skeptical that Washington would consider a complete withdrawal. Since the videoconference, a full military pullout from Afghanistan like the one from Iraq had been transformed from a " worst-case scenario " to an option " under serious consideration in Washington and Kabul ". US officials, when asked about the report, pointed reporters to a comment by Ben Rhodes, the deputy White House national security adviser, who said in January that the " zero option " of leaving no troops behind is " an option that we would consider ". The comment still stands, officials said. A senior Obama administration official said: " All options remain on the table but a decision is far from made." Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi also said there had been no decisions on the pace and scale of a US withdrawal, and similar scenarios had circulated in the past.
Europe A journalist who wrote about alleged human rights abuses was shot dead in Russia ' s violence-plagued North Caucasus province of Dagestan on Tuesday. Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev, who had received death threats and survived an apparent assassination attempt in January, was killed by gunshots fired into his car by an unknown attacker near his home on the outskirts of Dagestan ' s capital, Makhachkala. The killing underscored the risks faced by reporters who challenge the authorities in mostly Muslim Dagestan, which is plagued by corruption and an Islamist insurgency. Akhmednabiyev was the 17th journalist to be killed or die in suspicious circumstances in Dagestan since 1993, according to the Caucasian Knot website he worked for as a correspondent for seven years. He also worked at the weekly Novoye Delo. " This was clearly a targeted killing," said Grigory Shvedov, editor of the Moscow-based Caucasian Knot, adding that Akhmednabiyev was killed at the same spot where he survived an attack in January when three bullets missed him. Akhmednabiyev had reported on abductions and other abuses rights campaigners say security forces commit in the name of the fight against Islamist extremism. Shvedov said Akhmednabiyev had raised hackles by reporting on public calls for the resignation of a district chief in Dagestan and on the alleged persecution of Muslims deemed extremist by government officials and police. In 2009, Akhmednabiyev ' s name was on a list of people including lawyers, journalists and activists that was distributed on leaflets In Makhachkala. The leaflets said those listed would be targeted as revenge for the deaths of security forces and civilians, suggesting the anonymous authors suspected them of backing Islamist militants. Another journalist on the list, Gadzhimurad Kamalov, founder of Chernovik, a newspaper that reported on police abuses and other human rights violations, was shot dead in December 2011.
Turkish police fired teargas and water cannons on Monday at protesters who tried to defy a closure order and enter Gezi Park. The park was only open for a few hours after Istanbul ' s governor allowed people back in, following often violent
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