Iraq gets ready for life after America
Next year will be the first since 2003 with no US troops in Baghdad. But are Iraqis ready to go it alone?
As the last US troops begin to leave Iraq so that all are out by the end of the year, what sort of Iraq do they leave behind them? Does the American departure mean that Iraq might revert to turmoil or even civil war?
US officials are seeking to avoid any suggestion this is a military retreat. They even prefer to avoid the use of the word "withdrawal" and term the final pull-out of a US army that once numbered 170,000 men in 550 bases as a "reposturing" of forces.
Iraq remains an extraordinarily dangerous country. Since the US invasion eight-and-a-half years ago, scarcely a day has passed when an Iraqi has not been killed or wounded. Casualties may be much less than at their peak of 3,000 dead a month in 2006, but they are by no means negligible.
Syria crisis: Assad regime forces issue 72-hour deadline for end to protests in Homs
Syrian forces encircling the city of Homs have issued a 72-hour ultimatum for all protests against President Bashar al-Assad to stop, or a new offensive will begin.
By Ruth Sherlock in Beirut
The warning came as the regime's troops massed outside the city, apparently preparing for a major operation. Homs has been a centre of unrest since the onset of demonstrations against Mr Assad in March. The biggest protests have traditionally taken place on Fridays, the day of prayer in the Muslim world, when the mosques fill with worshippers.
On Friday, the security forces tried to curb the unrest by issuing an explicit threat. "We have been given 72 hours to stop protesting, or they are going to hit us hard," said an opposition activist in Homs going by the name Abu Rami.
COP17: Talks stumble toward uncertain end
MARLOWE HOOD DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA - Dec 10 2011 07:15
More than 120 ministers spread across half-a-dozen meetings were still receiving new text to review at 3am, hours after the 12-day conference under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was to have ended.
"The concern now is that time is extremely short," said European Union climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard, who has spearheaded a drive to forge a legally binding climate agreement by 2015 covering the world's major carbon polluters.
"We still have a lot of text that is not there. It is very difficult to discuss one piece without the other, because in the end the things are interconnected," she told journalists.
"We still have a lot of text that is not there. It is very difficult to discuss one piece without the other, because in the end the things are interconnected," she told journalists.
AMRI directors to appear in court as toll reaches 90
A day after India saw its worst hospital fire, the AMRI hospital Annexe 1 building on Saturday stood like a ghost building with pieces of glasspanes and stone slaps strewn all around, soot and blood stained floors, the smell of death and smoke still in the air and fire brigade personnel on guard — a grim reminder of the holocaust.
The two other blocks, which usually bustle with patients, doctors, and their relatives and were untouched by the deadly fire, sported a deserted look with most of those admitted having been shifted elsewhere by their family members. The devastating fire that broke out early on Friday in the well-known hospital in South Kolkata’s middle class Dhakuria neighbourhood killed 90 and injured over 50. The injured, many of them battling for life, were moved to other city hospitals.
Meanwhile, of the 87 bodies that were taken to the morgue of the state-run SSKM hospital, about six km from the hospital, 85 have been identified and will be handed over to their grief-stricken relatives.
Bid for peace accord with China backfires on Taiwan's president
Democratic Taiwan supports closer trade and economic ties with China, analysts say, but many prefer the political status quo.
Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou’s proposal for a peace accord with long-time rival China has set him back in the polls of a tough election race as it kindles fears of an unwelcome change to the status quo.
During his reelection campaign ahead of January's vote, the president has repeatedly hyped talks over the next 10 years of a first-ever deal with China to pledge not to fight with force. But the prospect of a formal peace deal has backfired on Mr. Ma and his Nationalist Party, reframing debate in the local media just as centrist voters prepare to pick a candidate.
The main opposition party claims a peace accord would be a sellout of self-ruled Taiwan to China. The public supports closer trade and economic ties with China, analysts on the island say, but many prefer the political status quo to preserve their hard-fought democracy.
German Vision Prevails as Leaders Agree on Fiscal Pact
Europe’s worst financial crisis in generations is forging a new European Union, pushing Britain to the sidelines and creating a more integrated, fiscally disciplined core of nations under the auspices of a resurgent Germany.
Exactly 20 years to the day after European leaders signed the treaty that led to the creation of the European Union and the eurocurrency, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany persuaded every current member of the union except Britain to endorse a new agreement calling for tighter regional oversight of government spending. The accord, approved at a summit meeting in Brussels early on Friday, would allow the European Court of Justice to strike down a member’s laws if they violate fiscal discipline.
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