This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com.

Ethnic and political violence kills 34 in two days in Karachi, Pakistan

Ethnic violence and politically-motivated targeted killings have left at least 34 people dead in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi in the past 24 hours and paralyzed life in the city. Armed groups controlled by criminal gangs and supported by the country’s main political parties are responsible for the violence. The city has been brought to a standstill by the ongoing violence, which has seen scores of vehicles and shops being set ablaze by supporters of the two rival ethnic groups. Local media reported that at least 339 people were killed in the city last month alone. RTT

UN Security Council deeply divided over resolution condemning Syria

The massive slaughter of Syria’s unarmed civilians by president Bashar al-Assad’s army, which continued on Tuesday, has resulted in a deeply divided United Nations Security Council, as it considers a resolution condemning Syria. Western nations want to condemn Syria and impose new sanctions, but it’s opposed by Russia, China, India, South Africa and Lebanon. Lebanon is right next door to Syria, and is receiving Syrian refugees, so Lebanon officials do not want to anger Assad. Russia says that it doesn’t now want to open the door to military action, after what happened in Libya: “We are very strongly against, and have taken a very strong and clear position – thankfully supported by a number of members of the Security Council – that to go down the Libyan road would have dramatic and catastrophic consequences for Syria and for the region,” said Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin. And of course China is opposed to any such resolution, since they conduct their own massacres against Tibetans and Uighurs. Jerusalem Post

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) expands to international terror

The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist group was originally created by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate in 1993 to serve as the primary militia fighting against Indian forces in the disputed regions of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). Although now banned, LeT has conducted a number of terrorist assaults in India, including the horrific Mumbai assault in November, 2008. Despite being established as a Kashmiri militant group, LeT has always defined its objectives in local and regional terms. Specifically, the group articulates a twofold ideological and operational agenda that aims to exploit ethno-religious tension in Kashmir in order to trigger a wider religious revolution across the Indian state. However, LeT has gone beyond regional terrorism, and is now at the forefront of indoctrinating, training and deploying militants with so-called “clean skins” to carry out terrorist attacks in the West and/or their country of origin. Jamestown

Iraq’s leaders agree to have U.S. forces in Iraq after December

American forces are scheduled to be completely gone from Iraq by December 31 of this year, but after a four-hour meeting that ended early Wednesday morning between Iraq’s government and U.S. officials, agreement was reached to begin negotiations about leaving U.S. forces in Iraq on a training mission. Most political leaders, with the major exception of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, favor the training mission. CNN

Central Falls, R.I., declares bankruptcy on pension costs

Central Falls, Rhode Island, whose motto is “a city with a bright future,” declared bankruptcy on Monday, after retired police officers and firefighters refused to accept cuts in pensions and benefits. The pension rates were granted to public sector unions during the halcyon days of the 1960s when the city was flourishing. But the economy began to decline in the 1970s with the departure of textile manufacturers. Central Falls is the fifth American community to enter bankruptcy this year, but additional muncipal bankruptcies are expected. Bloomberg

Lebanon will file a U.N. complaint against Israel over border incident

Lebanon will file a complaint Wednesday against Israel at the U.N. after Israel’s army and Lebanon’s army exchanged gunfire on Monday. Lebanon claims that Israel’s army unit crossed the “blue line” separating the two countries, but Israel denies this. Daily Star (Lebanon)