Ajit Solanki / AP

Indians walk past a shop named "Hitler" in Ahmedabad, India, on Wednesday.

The owner of an Indian men's clothing store whose name has sparked a row in Ahmedabad city in the western state of Gujarat said he only recently learned why the name Hitler would disturb people, the AFP news agency reported. 

"I didn't know how much the name would disturb people," Rajesh Shah told AFP. "It was only when the store opened I learned Hitler had killed six million people."

The store opened 10 days ago, boasting a storefront that spells out "Hitler" in big letters and a swastika as the dot on the "i."

"We had put up a cloth banner for over a month saying, 'Hitler opening shortly,' no one objected to the name then," Shah told The Times of India.

He added that to him Hitler was just the nickname given to his business partner's grandfather, who was known for his "strict nature."

"Frankly, till the time we applied for the trademark permission, I had only heard that Hitler was a strict man. It was only recently that we read about Hitler on the internet," Shah told The Times of India. 

Shah said he cannot afford to change the name after spending his money on the original branding effort, but said he'd be willing to change it if he were compensated. 

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The city's small Jewish community has condemned the name, AFP reported.

"In the city of Mahatma Gandhi and non-violence, how can anyone celebrate a person like Hitler who is known to have murdered millions of unarmed ordinary civilians?" Nikitin Contractor, convener of the Friends of Israel organization from Vadodara told The Times of India. 

"Youngsters need to be told of the atrocities that [Adolf] Hitler committed and the millions who were killed in gas chambers more than 70 years ago," he added.

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According to a BBC report, Hitler memorabilia has become a growing business in India, attracting particularly younger Indians. Many reportedly admire Hitler's discipline.

Prayag Thakkar, a 19-year-old student in Gujarat state, told the BBC: "I have idolized Hitler ever since I have had a sense of history. I admire his leadership qualities and his discipline."

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KCNA-KNS via AFP - Getty Images

This undated photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on July 27, 2012 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and his wife Ri Sol-Ju reacting after watching a performance by members of the Korean People's Internal Security Forces (KPISF) at Ponghwa Art Theatre in Pyongyang.

BEIJING -- Change in North Korea, and its potential impact on American interests in the Asia-Pacific, is likely to be on the agenda when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets Chinese leaders next month on her region-wide tour.

Is the hermit kingdom, with its nuclear weapons program and a “military-first policy” that prioritizes its 1.2 million-strong army, capable of social reform?

Or is the latest staged-managed imagery from Pyongyang—of a Swiss-educated young leader displaying a stylish wife, giving thumbs up to pop music and promising that the belt-tightening days are over—a sign of a new beginning for the impoverished and isolated nation?

The buzz about North Korea’s tantalizing hints of change has gained currency with the recent visit to China of Jang Song Thaek, the powerful uncle of the new North Korean leader Kim Jung Un, followed by reports that Kim himself is seeking to visit China next month.

China vowed greater support and investment in North Korea’s languishing China-style special economic zones, and urged Pyongyang to let “market” principles guide its moribund economy.

But while signs are pointing to change in Pyongyang, North Korean propaganda was denouncing as “hallucination” any talk of reform, denying that the new leadership is breaking with the past.

Authoritarian dictatorship
As a neighbor and ally, China is sensitive to any shift in Pyongyang’s policy directions that could impact China’s interests.  While Beijing provides Pyongyang with massive aid to prevent regime collapse that could cause regional instability, China is opposed to North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

“I think it’s not possible for Pyongyang to sacrifice its military-first and nuclear arms policies, and that in turn will limit all possibilities for reform,” observed Zhang Liangui, China’s top scholar on North Korea who graduated from Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang.

“I am not optimistic about reform because Kim Jun Un alone cannot decide, it will be decided by North Korea’s political system which prioritizes the army,” said Zhang, a professor of international strategic research at China’s central school for training communist party officials.

“There is low probability of significant change,” said Daniel Pinkston, Seoul-based senior analyst of the International Crisis Group.

KCNA via AFP - Getty Images

A file picture released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 28, 2011 shows Kim Jong-Un and his powerful uncle, Jang Song-Thaek, at the funeral of late leader Kim Jong-Il.

North Korea’s system is “structurally set up as an authoritarian dictatorship…as long as the Kim family is in power it will be extraordinarily difficult to renounce the legacy of his father and grandfather,” Pinkston told NBC News, explaining his group’s latest report analyzing the barriers to reform in North Korea’s militarized society.

Preventing a Gadhafi-like fate
“As long as the Kim family regime is in power, they will not surrender nuclear weapons.  But I do not see why this is an obstacle for reforms,” argued Andrei Lankov, a Seoul-based Russian scholar on North Korea who also attended Kim Il Sung University.

“They will keep their nuclear devices, five or ten of them, for the deterrence purposes, just to make sure that they will not suffer the sorry state of Colonel [Moammar] Gadhaf i—while reforming the country if they consider that reform suit their interest,” he told NBC News.

Lankov noted, however, the “destabilizing” effects of reform. ”Sadly, the conservatives might be correct and I will not be surprised if the reforms will bring about a sudden collapse of the North Korean state,” he said, alluding to the examples of East Germany and Tunisia.

“It is still possible to take steps toward the market without giving up the nuclear program, though you would have to limit military spending,” according to Daniel Sneider, associate director for research at the Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University.

But for Sneider, one issue is the challenge posed to Pyongyang’s legitimacy by South Korea. North Korea used to be more prosperous than the South due to pampering by China and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War.  But now, the North’s economy is barely three percent of the South’s, with half the population. The majority of North Koreans suffer from food shortages, according to UN reports.

“In the South, there is a wonderful example of a highly successful Korean market economy—the North claims to be morally superior and a purer Korean state, unpolluted by Western capitalism.  If they go down the road of market reform, that undermines a central plank of North Korean ideology,” Sneider said.

“The path of reform will be chosen by North Korea but China will certainly provide help,” said Lu Chao, director of North Korea Studies at the Academy of Social Sciences in Liaoning province, which shares a long border with North Korea.

Limited risk
Lu, who frequently meets with North Korean officials and businessmen from across the border, detects Pyongyang’s new focus on the economy.

“Kim Jung Un is focused on improving the quality of life, this can be seen in his visits to parks and artistic performances, in contrast with his father who prioritized the military,” Lu told NBC News.

“Some reforms are going on in the country, especially in agriculture,” he added, noting that farming reforms will pose “limited risks” to the regime.

For the International Crisis Group’s Pinkston, US policy should remain “deterrence and containment while being observant”.  

“The US should monitor, bilaterally and multilaterally, the situation in North Korea, maintain a strong deterrence and containment posture, but be willing, when the opportunity presents itself,  to engage North Korea if it changes its policy directions,” Pinkston said.

Clinton is scheduled to visit China Sept 4-5, before becoming the highest-ranking US official to visit East Timor, which gained independence from Indonesia in 2002.

She will later visit the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Vladivostok, eastern Russia.

NBC researchers Tianzhou Ye and Lorraine Liu contributed to this report. 

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Banaras Khan / AFP - Getty Images, file

Pakistani volunteers carry the coffin of British aid worker Khalil Dale, before handing it over to Red Cross officials in Quetta on April 30.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said late Tuesday it was halting most aid programs in Pakistan due to fears over deteriorating security – a concern underscored early Wednesday when 19 soldiers and militants were killed in a clash at a military checkpoint.

The independent global aid agency, which rarely suspends its operations even in war zones, has worked in the country since the end of British colonial rule in 1947 - but was shaken by the discovery in April of the beheaded body of British doctor Khalil Rasjed Dale, one of its health workers.

It said it would carry on working in the country "but on a reduced scale," having already suspended operations in three of Pakistan's four provinces in May pending a security assessment.

Paul Castella, head of the ICRC delegation in Islamabad, said in a statement: "We are ready to continue helping people in need, such as the wounded and the physically disabled, provided working conditions for our staff are adequate. In the coming weeks, we will coordinate with the Pakistani authorities the resumption of health services as conditions permit, in particular the re-opening of our surgical hospital in Peshawar, which closed down after the murder of our colleague."

Aid workers become targets as Pakistan faces new humanitarian crisis

The statement said the ICRC's partnership with the Pakistan Red Crescent Society and support for physical rehabilitation services, notably in Peshawar and Muzaffarabad, will continue, as will the assistance provided by the ICRC for families seeking to restore and maintain contact with Pakistanis detained abroad.

The killing of an ICRC official in Quetta had seriously worried staff members of the organization about their security in Pakistan, particularly in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Dale, who converted to Islam, ran a health program in Quetta when he was kidnapped on January 5 while going home from work.

Slideshow: Pakistan: A nation in turmoil

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.

Launch slideshow

His body was found on April 29 with a note that said the ICRC’s failure to pay ransom was the reason for his killing.

Red Cross doctor found beheaded in Pakistan

Dale was the third foreigner beheaded in Pakistan, after Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002 and Polish geologist Piotr Stanczak in 2009.

The Pakistan Taliban have been fighting a bloody insurgency against the Pakistani state since the group was formed 2007, Reuters reported. It is close to al-Qaida and it claimed credit for a failed car bomb attempt in New York's Times Square in May 2010. 

Ex-ambassador: US, Pakistan should 'divorce'

Meanwhile at least 19 people - nine Pakistan Army soldiers and 10 militants – were killed and 16 others injured in clashes between the Pakistani security forces and militants at the remote mountainous Ghatsar area of Tiarza, South Waziristan, on Wednesday.

Senior military officials said dozens of militants had attacked military checkpoints located in the mountains on Tuesday night that led to heavy fighting in the area.

Pakistani Christians live in fear after girl's blasphemy arrest

"The militants attacked our checkpoints with heavy weapons last night,” said a senior Pakistani military official based in Wana, the main administrative city of South Waziristan tribal region.

“The soldiers retaliated and engaged the militants. Fighting is still going on in which nine soldiers lost their lives. The security forces had killed 10 militants and injured several others in the overnight clashes.”

South Waziristan, which is one of Pakistan's seven autonomous tribal regions, is mostly controlled by Pakistani militants, Afghan Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives making it difficult for the government and its armed forces to carry out their responsibilities.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Evert Elzinga / EPA

A site at Schiphol airport where an unexploded World War II bomb was found during excavation works on Wednesday.

Parts of Amsterdam's Schiphol international airport – one of Europe's busiest aviation hubs – were shut down Wednesday after workers found an undetonated bomb during routine construction work.

"This will most likely have an impact on flight routine at our airport and could lead to delays and cancellations," an airport official told NBC News.

Workers found the explosive device during construction work on a new hydrant system to be used for re-fueling aircraft.

Experts blow up 550-pound WWII bomb found in Munich

Schiphol is one of Europe's busiest airports and handles approximately 50 million passengers annually.

A statement on its website said: "The bomb squad is investigating at the moment. This may have implications for air traffic in the form of cancellations and delays."

The Brussels-based main European air traffic control agency, Eurocontrol, posted on Twitter that passengers could expect "major delays."

The find comes only a day after experts in Munich triggered a controlled explosion of a 550-pound American WWII bomb in the center of Munich.

"A bomb disposal team with experts is presently assessing the situation, which will determine how long we will need to keep the section of the terminal closed," Cora Koopstra, from the airport's "action team," told NBC News.

The device was discovered at "Pier C," the wing of the terminal used mainly by flights to and from the European Union's passport-free Schengen zone. The terminal is a busy hub for European travelers and those connecting to Schengen destinations from international flights such as those from the U.S.

During World War II, Nazi Germany used the airport as a base for air raids on Britain. In 1943, the airport was destroyed by allied fighter aircraft; 400 tons of U.S. bombs were dropped on the complex.

More world stories from NBC News:

• 'Superhuman' athletes burst onto world stage
• Red Cross halts most Pakistan aid in wake of beheading
• Unexploded WWII bomb disrupts Amsterdam airport
• Pakistani Christians live in fear after girl's blasphemy arrest
• 'A less polar pole': Arctic sea ice at record low
• Botched restoration turns Spanish church into tourist attraction

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

LONDON -- A battlefield explosion sends troops flying, a speeding car flips over on a highway, a "Murderball" player is knocked right out of his wheelchair, all set to a fierce Public Enemy soundtrack. 

"Forget everything you thought you knew about strength. Forget everything you thought you knew about humans. It's time to do battle. Meet the Superhumans."

That’s how British TV viewers are being introduced to this year’s Paralympic athletes by Channel 4, which is broadcasting the London 2012 Games. Its campaign is giving Superbowl ads a run for their money, going viral with more than 500,000 views on YouTube alone.

The hard-hitting ad is designed to jolt the public into a state of awareness and awe of what many of these disabled athletes have had to deal with just to stay alive, let alone compete at an elite level. It highlights that the competitors have overcome disabilities and disasters most of us cannot begin to imagine or will ever have to face. And that was before they became world-class competitors.

More coverage of the London Paralympics from Britain's ITV News

The campaign also aims to combat the impression that the Paralympics is essentially the "Olympics-lite." Among the sports the ad focuses on is wheelchair rugby -- which is so violent that it's been dubbed "Murderball." The sheer amount of full-force contact between players requires welders to be put on standby on the sideline to repair damaged wheelchairs.

The International Wheelchair Rugby Federation has championed the "Meet the Superhumans" campaign and comments posted on its Vimeo page illustrate the ad's power. "Now that's what I'm talking about, 'Thank you for letting me be myself.' Public Enemy never sounded better," one fan wrote. "It's a great soundtrack for our ... lives whether we're Olympians or not."

Channel 4

This ad campaign for Channel 4's Paralympic coverage has captured the imagination of many people in Britain.

The event was founded 1948 to help rehabilitate injured British veterans returning from the Second World War, though many Americans remain unaware that it exists. (There's also a tendency to confuse it with the Special Olympics, which is unrelated. Paralympic athletes compete despite impairments including amputations, blindness, cerebral palsy and mobility disabilities.) However, there are signs that 2012 will be its breakout year.

London-bound veterans push Paralympics back to battlefield roots

The success of the London 2012 Olympic Games has sparked a spike in public interest in Britain. Ticket sales have wildly exceeded expectations, with organizers saying 2.3 million tickets have already been sold, which is more than any other Paralympic Games in history. There's a high demand for the 200,000 remaining tickets, which will be made available in batches online.

Soccer superstar David Beckham is serving as an ambassador to the Games and Prince William and Kate Middleton are expected to attend Wednesday night's Opening Ceremony.

Team USA features 20 military veterans and active duty service members, including some wounded at war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Among them is U.S. Army 82nd Airborne paratrooper Centra "Ce-Ce" Mazyck, who was paralyzed when her parachute got tangled with another in 2003. Doctors said she'd never walk again but Maczyk refused to listen. And she has proved them wrong.

"I wasn't hearing it. In my heart, in my soul, I knew I could walk," Mazyck told NBC News. "To this day, I am walking."

The South Carolina-based mother of one is now engaged to be married but admits shes also deeply "in love" with her javelin.

'Very fortunate'
U.S. Navy Lt. Bradley Snyder was blinded by a bomb while rushing to the aid of two fellow soldiers in Afghanistan.

His training regimen had him swimming 4,000 yards a day at his local pool in Baltimore. He is due to compete on the one-year anniversary of his injury. 

Slideshow: Blinded warrior has visions of gold

Lt. Brad Snyder lost his sight in an IED explosion in Afghanistan last year. The Navy officer will once again represent the U.S., this time at the London 2012 Paralympics in September.

Launch slideshow

"I knew I was very fortunate to be in that hospital bed and not in a coffin in the ground," Snyder said. "I'm going to show people that I'm not going to let this beat me. I'm not going to let blindness build a brick wall around me. I am going to find a way forward."

From darkness to gold: Blinded Navy swimmer set to race at Paralympics

South African double amputee and sprinter Oscar Pistorius, who has been nicknamed the "Blade Runner," will compete in the Paralympics after making history by running in the 400-meter event at the Olympics.

Pistorius is likely to face tough competition from Team USA, including a 25-year-old rocket scientist Jerome Singleton and the 22-year-old Blake Leeper.

Pistorius, a four-time Paralympic gold medealist, will carry the flag for South Africa at Wednesday's Opening Ceremony. Coldplay will perform at the Closing Ceremony on September 9.

"I believe these Games are going to change peoples' mindsets about disabilities," Pistorius told Reuters. "In the last two to three years I've seen a shift. For many years people have shunned disability, but I don't have anything in life I'm not able to do. I don't think of my disability, I think of my ability."

Sixteen countries are competing for the first time. Among them, Haiti will make its debut with two athletes competing in track and field.

British broadcaster Channel 4 will show 150 hours of programming and about 350 hours more online and across three temporary on-demand channel.

The International Paralympic Committee predicts that, adding together viewers on each of the 11 days of competition, the total audience figure for the London Paralympics will reach 4 billion.

It said that four years ago in Beijing, a total overall audience of around 3.8 billion in 80 countries watched the 2008 Paralympics - including a total of 1.4 billion viewings in China across 11 days, 670 million in Japan and 439 million in Germany. Calculating figures in that way means individual viewers are counted several times.

More coverage of the London Paralympics from NBC News

The daughter of the founder of the Paralympics told NBC News that the record-breaking ticket sales and interest in the London event would have made her father "immensely proud."

Eva Loeffler said Ludwig "Poppa" Guttmann – a neurologist who pioneered the rehabilitation of paralyzed Second World War service members at a hospital near London – would have been "extremely pleased" at how the Games had captured the public imagination.

The 79-year-old said it was "very appropriate, in a way" that so many veterans from the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts were taking part in this year's event. "Helping the military wounded was where it all began, after all," she said.

London 2012: Who were the real winners, losers?

Guttman, who fled Germany in 1933 after being persecuted by Hitler's Nazi regime, challenged medical orthodoxy at Stoke Mandeville hospital, north–west of London, by encouraging patients to play sports rather than accept their paralysis.

Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

The Agitos symbol of the Parlaympics has replaced the Olympic rings on London's iconic Tower Bridge.

When London hosted the Summer Olympics in 1948, he created the Stoke Mandeville Games involving just 16 competitors. In the years that followed, he built his competition into the parallel Paralympic Games.

This year's event will feature 4,200 athletes from 166 teams competing in 20 sports.

Although Guttman died in 1980, Loeffler has continued his work, becoming a key figure in disabled sport – and has accepted an honorary role as mayor of the Paralympic Athletes' Village at the Olympic Park in East London.

'Second-class citizens': Wheelchair user's fury at Paralympics over seating

One of Guttman's dreams was that disabled athletes would ultimately compete alongside their able-bodied counterparts – a wish that came true last month with Pistorius' historic participation at the Olympics.

"He would have regarded that as a great moment, I'm sure," Loeffler said.

How to watch the Paralympics from the U.S.

• The International Paralympic Committee will live stream more than 780 hours of events.
• NBC Sports Network will air one-hour highlight shows on September 4, 5, 6, and 11. All NBC and NBC Sports Network Paralympic highlight shows and specials will re-air on Universal Sports Network and www.UniversalSports.com.
  Check your local listings for channel info.
• NBC will broadcast a 90-minute special from 2-3:30 p.m. ET on September 16.
• The United States Olympic Committee has created a YouTube channel dedicated to the Games.
• The U.S. Paralympic Team will also provide in-depth coverage of Team USA on its website.

More London 2012 coverage from NBC News:

• Olympic medalists beginning to rake in gold
• From javelins to light fixtures: Olympic sell-off begins
• Restaurateur claims Games cost her business $140k
• Brazilians party in London as focus shifts to Rio 2016
• Will Olympics drive UK's couch potatoes to extinction?
• Olympic jokers: Queen has 'a laugh,' empires compete
• Who'll win gold for partying? Olympians let hair down

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NBC News' Alastair Jamieson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Odd Andersen / AFP - Getty Images file

Ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat says goodbye to well-wishers as he boards a Jordanian army helicopter at dawn at the Muqatta, his West Bank offices in Ramallah, Oct. 29, 2004.

Following allegations by his widow that the late Palestinian leader might have been poisoned, a French court has opened an inquiry into the 2004 death of Yasser Arafat, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Arafat died at age 75 in a Paris military hospital in November 2004, a month after being flown, seriously ill, from his battered headquarters in Ramallah, where he had been effectively confined by Israel for more than 2-1/2 years.

According to the BBC, medical records stated Arafat had a massive stroke resulting from a blood disorder caused by an unknown infection. Many Palestinians, however, still believe the leader was poisoned by Israel, the BBC said, adding that some also believe the late leader had AIDS.

Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for the Palestinian Authority, welcomed the inquiry. However, he said the Arab League would also call at the United Nations for an international investigation into the death of Arafat, who led Palestinians' campaign to create a state through years of war and peace.

Israeli court throws out family's lawsuit over death of US activist Rachel Corrie

Allegations of foul play have long surrounded Arafat's demise after French doctors who treated him in his final days said they could not establish the cause of death.

Many Arabs suspect Israel of being behind his decline, and the case returned to the headlines last month when a Swiss institute said it had discovered high levels of the radioactive element polonium-210 on Arafat's clothing supplied by his widow, Suha.

That substance was found to have killed former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.

Suha asked a court in the Paris suburb of Nanterre to open a murder investigation following the revelations publicized in a July documentary broadcast by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera satellite TV channel.

For Palestinian farmer, a constant reminder of Israeli occupation

However, the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne said that symptoms described in Arafat's medical reports were not consistent with polonium-210 and conclusions could not be drawn as to whether he had been poisoned.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said he hoped the French inquiry would reveal more on the circumstances of Arafat's death.

"This does not pertain to us. The complaint lodged by Suha Arafat with the French police does not address Israel or anyone in particular," he said.

"If the French justice system has decided to open an investigation, we hope that it will shed light on this matter."

'False Zionist alleged tragedy': Hamas slams Palestinian official for visiting Holocaust site

Erekat said a Palestinian committee investigating the death would continue its work. "We welcome the (French) decision," he said.

"We believe our political and medical team is working in parallel (with the French inquiry). At the same time the Arab League has now formed a committee which will call for an international investigation through the U.N. Security Council."

According to the BBC, Erekat said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had officially requested President Francois Hollande's assistance in this inquiry.

"We hope there will be a serious investigation to reveal the whole truth, in addition to an international investigation to identify all the parties involved in Arafat's martyrdom," Erekat said, according to the BBC.

'Premeditated murder'
A lawyer for Suha Arafat told Europe 1 radio that the French court was correct in recognizing its jurisdiction to investigate the case, since Arafat died in France.

"The tests done in Switzerland showed that Mr. Arafat, in all likelihood, died through poisoning," said the lawyer, Marc Bonnant. "This hypothesis must be proved, and if that's the case, then it's premeditated murder."

Suha Arafat has said her suspicions were raised when the hospital where her husband was treated acknowledged that it had destroyed his blood and urine samples.

The Palestinian Authority plans to exhume Arafat's body from a limestone mausoleum in Ramallah for an autopsy, and Tunisia has called for a ministerial meeting of the Arab League to discuss his death.

Arafat became the first president of the Palestinian Authority in 1996.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Ashwini Bhatia/AP

An exile Tibetan places candles on a sculpture known as Tibetan martyr's wall, during a candlelit vigil earlier this month in Dharmsala, India, in solidarity with Tibetans.

The number of Tibetans who have set themselves on fire in protest at Chinese rule of their homeland has topped 50 after two teenagers burned to death in a southwestern corner of the country, a rights group said.

The pair, one an 18-year-old monk and the other a 17-year-old former monk, died on Monday after setting themselves on fire outside the Kirti monastery in Ngaba, a heavily Tibetan part of Sichuan province, the London-based Free Tibet group said.

An eyewitness account quoted by Radio Free Asia described the pair shouting “Ki! Ki!,” a Tibetan battle cry.

Their protest brings to 51 the number of Tibetans who have set themselves alight since 2009, when the burnings first began, according to a Free Tibet statement dated August 27.

At least half of them are believed by rights groups to have died, while scores of other Tibetans have been reported detained by security forces after protests that follow the burnings.

Amid unrest, China bans travel to Tibet

"Free Tibet has grave concerns for the well being of the hundreds of Tibetans who we know are in detention following protests," Free Tibet Director Stephanie Brigden said.

Calls seeking comment to the government in Ngaba, known as Aba in Chinese, were not answered.

China has branded the self-immolators "terrorists" and criminals, and has blamed the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Dalai Lama, for inciting them.

Beijing considers the Dalai Lama a separatist, while he says he merely seeks greater autonomy for his Himalayan homeland, and denies supporting violence.

Report: Hundreds detained after Tibet self-immolations

Activists say China tramples on religious freedom and culture in Tibet, which has been ruled with an iron rod by the Chinese since 1950. China rejects such criticism, saying its rule ended serfdom and brought development to a backward area.

The self-immolations came two days after a nun in a nearby region staged a protest alone to challenge Beijing’s rule, according ti Radio Free Asia. The nun was detained and taken away.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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• 'A less polar pole': Arctic sea ice at record low
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Updated at 6:56 p.m. ET: MAINZ, Germany -- Nearly 3,000 residents were evacuated from the heart of Munich after construction workers found an undetonated, 550-pound World War II bomb.

The evacuation, which affected several blocks in the busy party district of Schwabing, was ordered by local officials as a routine security measure.

Citing the dapd news agency, The Associated Press reported that explosives experts detonated the remains of the bomb on Tuesday night. Burning debris from the controlled explosion reportedly caused fires in several nearby buildings that had been evacuated.

On Monday night, experts from the Munich bomb disposal squad determined that the explosives were not equipped with a “normal mechanism,” but a chemical, delayed-action detonator.

"It is an extremely dangerous device," Roman Leitow, a Munich fire department spokesman told NBC News.

“A specialist is presently trying to defuse the bomb with his team,” he added.

Leave immediately
Fire department officials went from door-to-door to enforce the evacuation, after fire trucks had passed through the streets, instructing residents with loudspeaker announcements to leave their homes immediately.

Marc Mueller / EPA

Diethard Posorski, of the bomb disposal team, stands next to an unexploded WW II bomb which was found at a construction site in Munich, Germany, Monday.

Experts from Munich fire department spent most of Monday night shielding the bomb with sand, bales of straw and other insulating material, which would catch shrapnel and muffle the shock wave in case of an uncontrolled explosion.

Most of the evacuated residents spent the night with friends and family, but about 600 were brought to one of the three temporary shelters set up by in nearby schools by rescue teams. Red Cross workers handed out blankets and drinks.

Massive WWII bomb successfully defused

During World War II, Allied forces dropped nearly 2 million tons of bombs on Germany and experts estimate that between 5 to 15 percent of the bombs did not explode.

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Fernando Vergara / AP

During a televised speech on Monday, Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos says that his government had held exploratory talks with rebels of the the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombia's government is seeking peace with the country's biggest rebel group, the FARC, and could consider also holding talks with a second guerrilla movement to end five decades of war, the country's president said on Monday. 

"(W)e have had exploratory conversations with the FARC to seek an end to the conflict," President Juan Manuel Santos said in a televised address from the presidential palace, confirming weeks of swirling rumors that his government had started behind-the-scenes discussions.

A successful peace agreement with the rebels would secure Santos a place in history as the leader who ended a conflict that has killed tens of thousands over the years and left the Andean nation's reputation in tatters. 

Santos also said his government would learn from the mistakes of so many previous leaders who tried but failed to clinch a lasting cease-fire with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. 

He said that the military would continue its operations "throughout every centimeter" of Colombia while talks continued. Santos did not provide further details, but said he would reveal more about the talks in the coming days. 

The president has said he would consider peace talks with the FARC only if he was certain the drug-funded group would negotiate in good faith. The last peace effort ended in shambles. 

Colombia 'milestone' as FARC frees captives after over a decade

In response to a Reuters interview published on Monday with the head of the nation's second biggest rebel group, Santos said the National Liberation Army, known as the ELN, could also be involved in the peace talks. 

"Today the ELN has expressed, via an international news agency, its interest in participating in conversations to put an end to the violence," the president said in his brief speech. 

"I tell that group that, within the same framework, they too can be part of the effort to end the conflict." 

'People's army'?
The FARC, which calls itself "the people's army" defending peasant rights, has battled about a dozen governments since appearing in 1964, when its founder, Manuel Marulanda, and 48 rebels fought off thousands of troops in jungle hide-outs. 

The group has faced its biggest setbacks in recent years as U.S.-trained special forces use sophisticated technology and spy networks to track the leaders. 

Jaime Saldarriaga / Reuters, file

A member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) runs during a battle with the Colombian army in the mountains of Jambalo, in the province of Cauca, on July 12. Cauca province -- known colloquially to soldiers as Cauca-kistan for the intensity of combat there -- has been one of the hottest regions of the conflict and it is a strategic area for the production and transport of cocaine.

A string of defeats began in 2008 with a cross-border military raid into Ecuador that killed its second in command. Marulanda died of a heart attack weeks later and was replaced by Alfonso Cano, who was later killed too. 

But there has been a recent uptick in violence. Attacks on oil industry installations have jumped 40 percent over the last year, while violent clashes between troops and indigenous protesters led to withering criticism of Santos for not protecting the soldiers. 

Six people were killed, including two children, in a FARC bomb attack in central Meta province on Sunday.

Political future for rebels?
Details of the talks are still being worked out, the source said, but the negotiations could take place in Cuba or Norway. President Barack Obama is aware of the process and is in agreement, the Reuters source said. 

According to Colombian newspaper El Espectador, among the central issues going into the talks will be whether the FARC will be granted a political role, whether lands lost during the fighting will be returned to farmers, whether the rebels will lay down their arms, and whether rebel leaders will be subject to extradition.

Notorious druglord arrested, headed to US 

In 1988 former President Andres Pastrana ceded the FARC a safe haven the size of Switzerland to promote talks. The rebels took advantage of the breathing space to train fighters, build more than 25 airstrips to fly drug shipments, and set up prison camps to hold its hostages. 

A Colombian intelligence source told Reuters earlier that as part of the deal to hold talks, Santos had agreed FARC rebels would not be extradited to any other country to stand trial. 

(Link to Spanish-language article in El Espectador)

Colombia's congress passed a constitutional reform in June that set the legal basis for eventual peace with the rebels. The reform prohibits guerrilla leaders accused of crimes against humanity from holding political office. 

Guarded hope
News of the latest peace effort was met with guarded hope among Colombians. 

"Honestly, full peace is probably never possible. Of course it would be good ... but really, an end to the war? I think an end to the world will happen first," said Maria Eugenia Martinez as she sold cigarettes in an upscale Bogota neighborhood. 

Colombians dismantle police post in protest at FARC clashes

Santos discussed the peace process during talks in Havana with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuba's former leader Fidel Castro before the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia earlier this year, the intelligence source said. 

In a recent interview with Reuters, Santos said he would only start a peace process "with a high probability of success. I would not start a process to fail." 

News of the talks had already angered Santos' predecessor, Alvaro Uribe, who has slammed Santos for wanting "peace at any cost" and allowing the rebels to rearm and regroup. 

Explosion in Bogota kills at least two and injures former interior minister

Santos, a former defense minister, won election in 2010 by a landslide, pledging to cut unemployment and continue Uribe's hard line security policies, while fostering economic growth and reducing poverty. 

While much of the world struggles to shore up fiscal accounts, Colombia's financial management, buoyant economy and security advances have helped shield its economy from too much fallout from the international financial crisis. 

Once an outcast for most foreign companies, the Andean nation has become a magnet for investment as a U.S.-backed offensive against the FARC sharply reduced the number of kidnappings and murders. The nation was rewarded last year with an investment grade from three major credit-rating agencies. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Ilyas Sheikh / EPA

Pakistani Christian minority members carry placards for the release of a Christian girl, Rimsha Masih -- arrested on charges of blasphemy -- during a protest in Faisalabad, Pakistan, Monday.

ISLAMABAD -- Margrett Ghafoor, a Christian teacher in majority-Muslim Pakistan, says her lesson for the children she teaches has always been the same.

"My message is for everyone to broaden their minds, and ignore petty matters," says the 53-year-old mother of two. "Let's live together in peace."

Ghafoor has always felt free and safe when attending church services and practicing her religion, despite living in a country where at least 95 percent of the population is Muslim.

But her Christian community in Rawalpindi -- a sprawling suburb of the capital city of Islamabad -- has been anything but peaceful since the Aug. 16 arrest of a young Christian girl named Rimsha Masih.

Rimsha was jailed under the country's strict blasphemy laws for allegedly burning pages from a book containing Muslim scripture. She is currently in police custody, being examined by medical and psychological professionals.

There have been conflicting reports on Rimsha’s age and her mental state. Some media have said she suffers from Down syndrome and is aged 11. Her lawyer Masih's lawyer, Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, reportedly said Tuesday that a medical board had determined she was between 13 and 14 and that her mental state did not correspond with her age. However, he said that it was “not clear whether that meant she was mentally impaired.”

Farooq Naeem / AFP - Getty Images

Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, the lawyer of a Christian girl accused of blasphemy, talks with the media after a court hearing in Islamabad Tuesday.

Fears for children's future
Ghafoor, one of 6,000 Christians living in this neighborhood, said the case has sent ripples of tension and insecurity through her community. She is now concerned about what her 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son may face in a divided community pushed further apart by the case.

"I am worried about the future of my children if this situation persists," Ghafoor. "And I am very worried even if she [Rimsha] is released, she is not safe here."

Following Rimsha's arrest, news of her alleged crime spread rapidly through the local Muslim community.

Pakistani girl reportedly arrested for blasphemy

People enraged by the accusations gathered at the police station, demanding the girl be turned over to them, so she could be burned alive.

Islamabad Police Inspector-General Bani Amin said officials were "concerned about her safety," after "800 people gathered to block the road."

He said Rimsha has been kept in "protective custody, for her own safety."

There is precedent in Pakistan for the sort of extrajudicial killing Rimsha appears to have narrowly escaped.

In June of this year, a man in Bahawalpur, in Punjab province, was accused of burning a copy of the Quran.

He was arrested and held by police, but thousands of angry people attacked the police station, overwhelming local authorities. The mob reportedly dragged the man to the spot where the alleged crime occurred, beat him, and killed him by setting him on fire.

Pakistan's colonial-era blasphemy laws forbid damaging or defiling a place of worship, defiling the Quran, or defaming the prophet Muhammad; the charges carry a possible death sentence.

Slideshow: Pakistan: A nation in turmoil

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.

Launch slideshow

Christian activist Xavier William, president of Life for All-Pakistan, has met with Rimsha and is in touch with her family and local authorities.

He described the girl as an "unable to communicate," and "in a state of shock," when they first met immediately after her arrest.

"Keeping in mind her mental state, and the fact that she's a minor, I am more concerned about her health right now and her safety," William said. "Because if she gets released then again there will be a threat to her life."

Solitary confinement
Last year, William's organization carried out a study across 13 jails in Punjab province, interviewing 93 prisoners accused of blasphemy. The report found that the majority are kept in solitary confinement "for their own protection, due to the very real threat to their lives from other inmates and prison guards."

The report concluded that no one accused and convicted of blasphemy had ever been executed under Pakistani law, but added that "hundreds of Christians who have been charged with blasphemy have died, many in suspicious circumstances in jails and at the hands of extremist armed attackers."

Christian woman faces death for insulting Islam

More disturbingly, the study found that the blasphemy laws were often used to settle personal scores. The mere accusation produces such a fierce reaction that an accused person stands little chance of being cleared.

"The use of the blasphemy law has become a quick way of resolving disputes arising from business rivalry, honor disputes, disputes over money and property," the report said.

The majority of those accused of blasphemy in Pakistan are actually Muslims who belong to various Muslim sects.

In one case featured in the report, an 85-year old Muslim man in Faisalabad named Haq Nawaz claimed he was falsely implicated in a blasphemy case by a Muslim neighbor to whom he refused to hand over a government-allocated plot of land. Nawaz was accused in January of 2011, and remains in jail awaiting court proceedings.

In another case, a 54-year-old Muslim resident of Jhelum named Muhammad Ashraf claimed he was accused of blasphemy after demanding a cousin repay money he borrowed to build his home. The cousin, he said, was unable to pay and "a scuffle ensued." Ashraf found himself jailed on blasphemy charges in September 2010. He was sentenced to death in March 2011, and his appeal is pending.

William said that while the reaction to blasphemy accusations -- as seen in Rimsha's community -- has become "routine" in recent months, this wasn't always the case.

"If you look at the cases two or three years back, we didn't see such reactions," William said. "Now we see society is becoming more and more intolerant, and such incidents are increasing at an alarming rate. There is an extreme mindset, and the intolerance is increasing. People are not open to talk about it."

Despite this and the flurry of international headlines about Rimsha's case, Pakistan's leaders stop short of calling for reform.

President takes 'notice'
President Asif Ali Zardari took "notice" of her case last week, requesting an official investigation and report. A joint group of Muslim and Christian clerics announced on Monday they had formed a committee to investigate her case.

Pakistan's leading cleric also called Monday for the Supreme Court to take up Rimsha's case, noting that the "blasphemy law is not wrong, its application and implementation are wrong."

Those in Pakistan who have publicly spoken out about the need to reform the blasphemy laws have faced harassment, threats, and death.

Former Punjab Governor Salman Taseer spoke often about his vision for a "progressive" and "liberal" Pakistan.

He took up the case of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman accused under the blasphemy laws of allegedly insulting Muhammad. He was gunned down by one of his own bodyguards in the parking lot of an upscale shopping area in January 2011. The man who shot him claimed he did so because Taseer was a "blasphemer."

Pakistani gets death for liberal governor's murder

After Taseer's death, Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti -- the only Christian Cabinet member -- publicly vowed to continue his efforts to reform the blasphemy law despite receiving death threats.

In March 2011, as he was traveling through a residential area in Islamabad, gunmen ambushed his car in broad daylight, killing Bhatti in a hail of gunfire.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Sherry Rehman said it was important for Pakistan's leaders to continue to speak up, to "protect people vulnerable to the misuse of such laws, and continue to seek to amend them."

Rehman, a former member of parliament, has received numerous death threats after introducing legislation to reform the blasphemy laws in 2010. Religious groups have also called for her dismissal and some Muslim leaders issued fatwas against her.

'Fit to be killed'
A conservative cleric vilified her as an "infidel," a "blasphemer," and claimed she was "fit to be killed."

Rehman was forced to abandon her efforts at reform when government leaders gave in to conservative pressure, but she maintains that Pakistan's leaders must continue to speak out for all their citizens and for the sake of the country's future.

"Extremist advances, the security challenge, the [former president] Zia [ul Haq] years' toxic legacy has led to a climate where even speaking about such laws is seen as a challenge to reactionary forces," Rehman said. "But we have to protect our minorities, and rebuild an inclusive Pakistan. We don't have a choice."

NBC News

Naveed Bhatti, a 26-year-old teacher, condemned the "brutality" of the way Rimsha has been dealt with.

Back in the Islamabad area’s Christian community, people are in disbelief at the treatment of Rimsha.

They expressed concern for their own security and hers, regardless of how her case turns out.

Naveed Bhatti, a 26-year-old teacher, condemned the "brutality" of the way Rimsha had been dealt with.

"The message of Jesus is peace and fraternity. It does not impart on us to desecrate the Quran," Bhatti said. "When I preach anything about the Bible now, I'm worried my family will be insecure and face allegations of blasphemy."

Justin Javed Bachan, who also serves as General Secretary with the Pakistan Christian Action Committee, said the community was deeply concerned for Rimsha's safety.

"Even if she is released, anything can happen to her," he says. "Her survival in Pakistan seems very difficult."

Bachan, a married banker and father of two, said he and others feel "depressed" because of their vulnerability.

"Any time, blasphemy law can be imposed on us," Bachan said. "I have met with the Christian community in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. They are all worried because they can fall victim to it at any time."

Farah Masih, 20, a manager for a non-governmental organization, echoed that concern, saying she could just as easily, "be another Rimsha."

NBC News

Christian teacher Margrett Ghafoor with her teenage daughter, Alina.

Margrett Ghafoor's teenage daughter, Alina, is around the same age as Rimsha. She attends school nearby, with both Christian and Muslims students. She said she had never had a problem with her Muslim school friends and expressed the hope that she never does.

"I treat them as Christians, and they treat me as Muslims," she said, repeating lessons learned from her mother. "We should all stay together."

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Reuters, file

U.S. citizen Rachel Corrie, 23, speaks through a megaphone to an Israeli army bulldozer on the day she was killed in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on March 16, 2003.

HAIFA, Israel -- An Israeli court rejected on Tuesday accusations that Israel was at fault over the death of American activist Rachel Corrie, who was crushed by an army bulldozer during a 2003 pro-Palestinian demonstration in Gaza.

Corrie's family had accused Israel of intentionally and unlawfully killing their 23-year-old daughter, launching a civil case in the northern Israeli city of Haifa after a military investigation had cleared the army of wrongdoing.

In a ruling read out to the court, judge Oded Gershon called Corrie's death a "regrettable accident," but said the state was not responsible because the incident had occurred during what he termed a war-time situation.

At the time of her death, during a Palestinian uprising, Corrie was protesting against Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

"I reject the suit," the judge said. "There is no justification to demand the state pay any damages."

He added that the soldiers had done their utmost to keep people away from the site. "She (Corrie) did not distance herself from the area, as any thinking person would have done."

Oliver Weiken / EPA

Rachel Corrie's parents Craig and Cindy and her sister Sarah, left, are seen prior to the announcement of the verdict at the Haifa district court on Tuesday.

Mom: 'I am hurt'
Corrie's death made her a symbol of the uprising, and while her family battled through the courts to establish who was responsible for her killing, her story was dramatized on stage in a dozen countries and told in the book "Let Me Stand Alone."

"I am hurt," Corrie's mother, Cindy, told reporters after the verdict was read.

Corrie's mother Cindy told a news conference after the court's decision that the bulldozer personnel had the "ability" and also an "obligation" to have seen that her daughter was in its path.

NBC station KING5: 'Rachel Corrie' aid ship boarded by Israelis

She said she hoped the lawsuit would help change Israel's policies regarding the demolition of Palestinian houses.

Cindy Corrie said that previously a senior Israeli soldier had said there were "no civilians in war."

"Rachel was in Gaza because there were and are civilians there, those who have rights and deserve protection," she added. "Rachel's right to life and dignity were violated by the actions of the Israeli military."

She said her daughter was a "rich thinker and a beautiful person" from "Olympia, Washington, USA," her voice breaking as she spoke.

The family's attorney, Hussein Abu Hussein, said that the court's decision was so close to the Israeli government's position that the state's lawyers could have written it themselves, according to The Jerusalem Post.

The U.K.'s Guardian newspaper reported that Corrie was with a group of international activists acting as human shields against the demolition of Palestinian houses.

"She was standing on top of a pile of earth," fellow activist and eyewitness Richard Purssell, from Brighton, U.K., said at the time, according to the Guardian. "The driver cannot have failed to see her. As the blade pushed the pile, the earth rose up. Rachel slid down the pile. It looks as if her foot got caught. The driver didn't slow down; he just ran over her. Then he reversed the bulldozer back over her again."

Few Israelis showed much sympathy for Corrie's death, which took place at the height of the uprising in which thousands of Palestinians were killed and hundreds of Israelis died in suicide bombings.

Getty Images / Getty Images, file

Rachel Corrie speaks during an interview with MBC Saudi Arabia television on March 14, 2003 in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza strip.

Corrie was from Olympia, Washington, and was a volunteer with the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement.

Senior U.S. officials criticized the original military investigation into the case, saying it had been neither thorough nor credible. But the judge said the inquiry had been appropriate and pinned no blame on the army.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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The amount of summer sea ice in the Arctic has reached a record low in three decades of satellite data, scientists reported Tuesday, with one of them describing recent warm years there as creating a "less polar pole." The decline was expected to continue for at least several more days before cold weather sets in and creates new ice through fall and winter.

The area of Arctic waters covered by sea ice was measured at 1.58 million square miles on Sunday, the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) reported. That's below the previous record low of 1.61 million square miles set on Sept. 18, 2007, and in line with earlier expectations for the season.

"Including this year, the six lowest extents in the satellite record have occurred in the last six years," the center noted on its website.

"Parts of the Arctic have become like a giant Slushee this time of year" due to thinning ice, Walt Meier, a scientist at the center, told reporters.

That thinner ice also explains how a storm in early August made a significant impact in speeding up the decline this month, Meier said.

At NASA, which helps with the satellite data, scientist Claire Parkinson said the trend has been "strongly downward."

This visualization shows the extent of Arctic sea ice on Aug. 26, 2012, the smallest area in three decades of satellite records. The yellow line shows the average minimum summer ice coverage from 1979 to 2010.

The 2007 decrease "stunned" researchers since it was so large compared to previous years, she said, and "this year it's plummeting" further.

It's not just sea ice in summer that's been weakened, she added. "No matter what month you're in, it's less ice than it used to be decades ago," she said.

The researchers added that manmade emissions tied to global warming offer the best explanation for the decline.

Ted Scambos, a senior NSIDC researcher, told NBC News that no one weather pattern explains the downward trend. "Greenhouse gasses are the only consistent explanation for a persistently warming Arctic," he added.

"The Arctic was our refrigerator," he said, but the warmer weather of the last five or six years have meant "a less polar pole."

Scambos said the Arctic system is too variable to guarantee that each future year would show a decline, but over time he expects the decline to continue. "I think we can expect further declines to new records," he said, "and eventually, an ice-free North Pole."

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Updated at 6:54 p.m. ET: WASHINGTON - The U.S. military on Monday dealt out punishment to six Army soldiers for burning Qurans at Bagram Air Base that ignited deadly protest in Afghanistan, and to three Marines for their roles in urinating on Taliban corpses.

Watch World News videos on NBCNews.com 

The Army handed out administrative discipline to four officers and two non-commissioned officers for the Quran burning but found no ill intent on the part of the soldiers so none will face criminal charges.  

The administrative punishment, however, will likely result in the end of their military careers.

The investigation against one sailor was dropped when it was determined he was simply ordered to drive the truck with the material to the burn site at the base.

The burning of the Muslim holy books in February sparked weeks of protests that led to 30 Afghan deaths. U.S. officials said at the time the books were mistakenly sent along with garbage for disposal after detainees had written messages in them.

The investigation found up to 100 Qurans and other religious materials were burned in the incinerator at Bagram Air Field on Feb. 20. 

An Army report released on the incident Monday shed new light on what happened that day.

Report: 5 soldiers involved in Quran burning

Members of the Military Police and Theater Intelligence Team had discovered that Bagram detainees were using library books to pass notes and messages. One interpreter determined that 60 percent to 75 percent of the books contained extremist content. So, soldiers were ordered to remove the books as contraband. In all, about 2,000 books, including Qurans and other religious material, were set to be destroyed. 

An Afghan National Army soldier and and interpreter warned the troops not to dispose of the religious texts, but soldiers took some 100 books to the burn pit anyway.

A local man who worked at the burn pit discovered the Qurans and other texts were burning. He grabbed a front-end loader and doused the entire burn pit to extinguish the flames.

An angry crowd of Afghans gathered around the U.S. service members who drove the truck to the burn pit and were burning the material. The U.S. soldiers all fled.

"I absolutely reject any suggestion that those involved acted with any malicious intent to disrespect the Quran or defame the faith of Islam," an investigator wrote. "Ultimately, this was a tragic incident (that) resulted from a lack of cross-talk between leaders and commanders, a lack of senior involvement in giving clear guidance in a complex operation” and “distrust among our service members and our partners.”  

Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

Hoshang Hashimi / AP

More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

Launch slideshow

In the other case, a statement from the Marine Corps said the three Marines received the punishment for "violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for their role in the desecration and filming of deceased Taliban that became public in January 2012."

As part of a plea deal, three Marines pleaded guilty and will receive a permanent mark on their records that will impact any future promotions and re-enlistments.

Six more Marines are still awaiting their punishments in the urination incident, which was recorded on video. It was announced, however, that two officers will be charged with creating a command climate that led to acts of bad behavior, the Marine Corps said. It was unclear what disciplinary action the four other non-commissioned officers will face.

The three Marines were all members of the Third Battalion, Second Marine Regiment or in units that were attached to the "3/2" during their deployment. Their names were not released. 

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One non-commissioned officer pleaded guilty to having violated a general order by wrongfully posing for an unofficial photograph with human casualties and urinating on the body of a deceased Taliban soldier, which conduct was prejudicial to good order and discipline.

Another non-commissioned officer pleaded guilty to wrongfully posing for an unofficial photograph with human casualties and wrongfully video recording the incident. 

A staff non-commissioned officer pleaded guilty to failing to report the mistreatment of human casualties by other Marines and making a false official statement to a Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigator about the his knowledge of the video.

The incident took place during a counter-insurgency operation near Sandala, Musa Qala District in Helmand Province, Afghanistan around July 27, 2011. 

According to The Wall Street Journal, officials in Afghanistan were bracing for public demonstrations over what might be viewed as lenient punishment of the troops.

Related stories:

• Report: 5 soldiers involved in Quran burning
• Afghan clerics demand trial of Quran burners at US base
• 'Deplorable': U.S. defense chief condemns urinating Marines video
• Extreme war stresses to blame in Marine urination video?

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An Afghan soldier shot and killed two American soldiers on Monday during a dispute in Laghman province in Afghanistan. The Afghan soldier was then shot and killed by U.S. forces.

"ISAF troops returned fire, killing the ANA (Afghan National Army) soldier who committed the attack,'' the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said in a statement.

A senior military official in Kabul strongly disputes an Afghan military account which claims the two Americans were killed accidentally when the Afghan tripped on his weapon, which discharged and struck the U.S. servicemen. “The Afghan account is tortured beyond belief and total bull****,” the official told NBC News.

The deaths in Laghman brought the number of foreign soldiers killed this month to 12, prompting NATO to increase security against insider attacks, including requiring soldiers to carry loaded weapons at all times on base.

The deaths also come a week after U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Martin Dempsey visited Kabul to talk about rogue shootings and urge Afghan officials to take tougher preventative action.

Taliban behead 17 civilians after 'late-night dance and music party'

There have been 33 insider attacks so far this year that have led to 42 coalition deaths. That is a sharp increase from 2011, when, during the whole year, 35 coalition troops were killed in such attacks, 24 of whom were American.

In all, 73 Americans have been killed by so-called “friendly forces” in the nearly 11-year war, with more than half occurring in the past eight months.

Afghanistan's government said on Wednesday it would re-examine the files of 350,000 soldiers and police to help curb rogue shootings of NATO personnel, but accused "foreign spies" of instigating the attacks.

Afghan sources: Top Haqqani militant commander killed

The killings, many of which have been claimed by the Taliban as evidence of insurgent reach and infiltration, have eroded trust between the NATO-Afghan allies and are complicating plans for transition to Afghan security within two years.

NATO commanders have played down the threat of infiltration, blaming most of the shootings on stress or personal differences between Afghans and their Western advisers that ended at the point of a gun, a frequent occurrence in Afghanistan.

But the U.S. general leading NATO forces in Afghanistan acknowledged last Thursday that the Taliban could be traced to more insider attacks than previously acknowledged, accounting for about a quarter of the cases.

US deaths in Afghanistan hit 2,000 in 'forgotten' war

The Afghan government agreed after Dempsey's visit to improve the vetting of army and police recruits by requiring stronger guarantors, a more stringent test questionnaire and biometric data on all would-be and existing personnel.

More undercover intelligence officers would be recruited and placed in Afghan security forces to keep an eye on soldiers and police, while security force members with families in neighboring countries would be heavily scrutinized for possible relations or exposure to cross-border insurgents.

But President Hamid Karzai's spokesman also said the number of attacks was also relatively small given the presence of 120,000 foreign troops among 350,000 Afghan security forces.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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ROME -- Up to 100 Sardinian coal miners who say they see a future in clean energy have armed themselves with hundreds of pounds of explosives and barricaded themselves nearly 438 yards underground to put pressure on the Italian government to protect the mine's survival.

The miners, from a 460-strong workforce, seized 772 pounds of company explosives and locked themselves inside the Carbosulcis mine -- the country's only coal mine -- west of Cagliari overnight on Monday, one of them said, ahead of a government meeting this week to discuss the pit's future.

"We are worried that the mine may close. We are afraid for our jobs," Sandro Mereu, 54, a miner who has worked there for 28 years told Reuters.

"We are prepared to stay here until we hear a response from the government that secures the future of the mine. We will stay here indefinitely," Mereu told Reuters by telephone. 

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According to The Associated Press, miners at the mine told Sky TG24 TV that they wanted the government and Parliament to quickly approve funding for a project to capture and store underground carbon dioxide that otherwise would add to polluting greenhouse gases. 

The miners want the mine to be diversified into a combined mining and carbon capture site to protect its future. 

Carbosulcis was estimated to have 600 million metric tons of coal reserves in 2006 but has struggled to stay productive. It was previously occupied in 1984, 1993 and 1995, when protesting workers stayed in a tunnel for 100 days.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Updated 10:15 a.m. ET: BEIJING -- A man ripped a Japanese flag from a car carrying Japan's ambassador in Beijing on Monday, triggering a protest from Tokyo in the latest flare-up of a territorial row that provoked the worst anti-Japanese protests in years.

The Japanese embassy issued a statement saying the ambassador, Uichiro Niwa, was unhurt in the incident. It said two other vehicles forced his car to stop and a man got out, broke off the Japanese flag and ran off with it.

But Japan's Foreign Ministry later said the flag had been snatched after the ambassador's car had become stuck in a traffic jam. A ministry spokesman said it would be too strong to describe the incident as an attack.

Both Japanese accounts said no one was injured and the car was otherwise undamaged.

Much at stake for US as tensions rise in troubled China Seas

The embassy said it had "filed a strong protest with the Chinese Foreign Ministry." It said that in response a senior ministry official called the incident "extremely regrettable" and pledged efforts to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens and businesses in China.

The incident occurred amid heightened tensions over disputed islands since mid-August, when the Japanese coast guard detained Chinese activists who sailed from Hong Kong and landed on the islands. Anti-Japanese demonstrations have taken place in Chinese cities over the past two weekends.

Disputed islands
The uninhabited islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China have long been a source of friction between Tokyo and Beijing and competing territorial claims to the islets and surrounding fishing areas and potentially rich gas deposits.

Tokyo also remains locked in a dispute with South Korea over another contested island chain.

In a symbolic, but rare gesture the Japanese parliament on Friday passed two resolutions asserting Japan's sovereignty over both island chains, calling Seoul's control over one of them a "illegal occupation" that should end soon.

The resolutions prompted rebukes from Seoul and Beijing.

Japanese nationalists land on island claimed by China

But in an effort to avert a further flare-up, the Japanese government on Monday refused to let Tokyo metropolitan authorities land on the islands claimed by Japan and China.

Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara has proposed buying the islands from their private Japanese owners and has sought permission to send a team of officials to survey the land.

Despite close economic ties, bitter memories of Japanese militarism run deep in China and South Korea. The territorial disputes show how the region has failed to resolve differences nearly seven decades after the end of World War Two.

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