Tim Whewell

USS Nimitz

Iranians build an American aircraft carrier, sort of

Global Scan

Is Iran expecting relations with the US to go south again? US officials say Iran is building a replica of the aircraft carrier the USS Nimitz — seemingly as a propaganda ploy. An imam who spoke for al-Qaeda after 9/11 says he became the terrorist organization’s spokesman by accident. And the pope breaks with Italy’s mafia, in today’s Global Scan.

A chilling picture of members of the Anti-Balaka militia in the Central African Republic pretending to behead a comrade. The Anti-Balaka is an extremist Christian group accused of massacring Muslims in the Central African Republic.

The story of this church tells so much about the ethnic cleansing going on in the CAR

Conflict & Justice

The Hama Massacre: 30 Years Later

Arab League Mission Ends in Syria Amid Bloodshed

UN Condemns Egypt as Protests Enter Fifth Day

The World

Explosive export

Global Politics

20 years ago, on the eve of the Velvet Revolution, Communist Czechoslovakia churned out tractors, Skoda cars, and Semtex. The explosive is still being manufactured in the Czech Republic and only there. The BBC’s Tim Whewell explores the legacy of Semtex.