U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan on rise for 2013
By ,
The CIA has opened the year with a flurry of drone strikes in Pakistan, pounding Taliban targets along the country’s tribal belt at a time when the Obama administration is preparing to disclose its plans for pulling most U.S. forces out of neighboring Afghanistan.
A strike Thursday in North Waziristan was the seventh in 10 days, marking a major escalation in the pace of attacks. Drone attacks had slipped in frequency to fewer than one per week last year.
Current and former U.S. intelligence officials attributed the increased tempo to a sense of urgency surrounding expectations that President Obama will soon order a drawdown that could leave Afghanistan with fewer than 6,000 U.S. troops after 2014. The strikes are seen as a way to weaken adversaries of the Afghan government before the withdrawal and serve notice that the United States will still be able to launch attacks.
One of UsWomen Left Behind on India's March to Modernity
An Essay by Kishwar Desai
In the past few weeks, something has happened in India that we never thought possible: We have seen an unprecedented show of solidarity and anger over the horrific gang rape of a 23-year old woman, who later died of her injuries. The brutal killing of this nameless student -- an ambitious young woman from a small town who worked hard to train as a physiotherapist and was a role model to her two younger brothers -- moves us because she was one of us, a sister, a daughter and a wife.
CONFLICT
Mali president seeks foreign help to oust rebel forces
Mali's president has appealed to France for military help hours after Islamist rebels seized control of the strategic central town of Konna. The UN Security Council has held an emergency meeting to discuss the crisis.
France's UN Ambassador Gerard Araud confirmed on Thursday that Mali's interim President Dioncounda Traore had written to French President Francois Hollande and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealing for military assistance to combat rapidly advancing rebel forces.
Araud said France, Mali's former colonial power, would outline its position on the request on Friday.
Al Qaeda-linked rebels claimed to have driven government forces out of the central city of Konna on Thursday in their push south towards the capital Bamako.
Censorship battle captivates Chinese students
January 11, 2013
John Garnaut
CHINESE students are rekindling an interest in politics thanks to a series of epic scandals and the advent of social media.
Students at an elite Shanghai high school told Fairfax Media they were cautiously following news of a rare journalists' rebellion at the newspaper Southern Weekend via microblog accounts, despite frenetic online censorship and fiery propaganda edicts.
And they are taking sides ahead of the ''trial of the century'', featuring maverick politician Bo Xilai, which authorities have signalled will begin soon.
Bo's family had received in-principle official approval to hire a high-profile lawyer, Shen Zhigeng, said a source close to the matter, and Xinhua news agency announced on Wednesday night that his file has been handed over to the judicial system.
Middle East
Jan 11, 2013
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THE ROVING EYE
Syria: A jihadi paradise
By Pepe Escobar
So Bashar al-Assad hath martially spoken - for the first time in seven months - predictably blaming the Syrian civil war on "terrorists" and "Western puppets".
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, he of the former "zero problems with our neighbors" policy, commented that Assad only reads the reports of his secret services. C'mon, Ahmet; Bashar may be no Stephen Hawking, but he's certainly getting his black holes right.
Assad, moreover, has a plan: a national dialogue leading to a national charter - to be submitted to a referendum - and then an enlarged government and a general amnesty.
Hugo Chavez: Continuity or crisis as swearing-in delayed?
For President Hugo Chavez's supporters, 10 January was supposed to be a party, a celebration of his 14 years in power in Venezuela, with the promise of more to come. But the guest of honour will not be there.
Earlier this week, the Venezuelan government confirmed what many had long suspected: President Chavez is too ill to be sworn in to office.
He remains in Cuba, recovering from major cancer surgery and has not been seen in public for a month.
But in the pro-Chavez neighbourhood of San Agustin in Caracas, community leaders say it is business as usual.
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