CONFLICT
US: total withdrawal from Afghanistan possible
A top American security adviser has said the possibility of US troops leaving Afghanistan altogether after 2014 should not be discounted. The comments come just before crucial talks between Kabul and Washington.
Washington does not rule out completely withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan after 2014, the White House said Tuesday. The comments came just days before Afghan President Hamid Karzai were due to engage in important security talks with President Barack Obama in Washington.
Obama's deputy national security advisor, Ben Rhodes, when quizzed on what decision would be taken on the fate of US troops in the war-torn Central Asian country after December 2014, said: "We wouldn't rule out any option."
Rhodes also added that a deal on the matter needed to be closed by November and that Friday's meeting between Karzai and Obama "is an opportunity for the two presidents to meet during a critical time in the negotiations."
Bahrain upholds dissenters' sentences
January 9, 2013
Kareem Fahim
CAIRO: A court in Bahrain has upheld prison sentences for 13 of the country's most prominent dissidents, in a decision that government opponents offered as evidence the monarchy was ignoring calls to negotiate a political solution that could quiet a nearly two-year-old uprising.
The decision ends all appeals for the dissidents, who were sentenced to between five years and life in prison for their leadership roles in the revolt that began in February 2011, according to a colleague of one of the jailed opposition members.
The 13 are part of a group of 20 opposition leaders who were sentenced by a military tribunal on charges that included trying to overthrow the government. Other dissidents were sentenced in absentia.
Nearly 1-million needy blocked from aid in Sudan
The UN has blamed the Sudanese government and rebels for blocking all humanitarian aid where more than 900 000 people need help.
The director of the United Nations' humanitarian operations John Ging said a year-long effort to get access to South Kordofan and Blue Nile states has failed because of a lack of "political will" by the government and the rebels who are allied with guerrilla forces that eventually came to power in South Sudan.
"The humanitarian status of these people is truly appalling," Ging told reporters after briefing the Security Council.
"If we don't find a solution to this, then the inevitable consequence is more people will die, more needless humanitarian suffering will occur and more displacement into South Sudan and Ethiopia."
A losing battle for Venezuela's opposition?
The opposition sent a letter to the OAS arguing that the government will violate the Constitution if Chávez is not sworn in on Thursday. But many Venezuelans see this as taking advantage of Chávez's health.
Yesterday the [leading opposition party, the] Mesa de la Unidad, sent a letter (see El Universal article here) to the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) arguing that the government will be violating the Constitution if Chávez is not sworn in on Thursday, Jan. 10. As I said yesterday, I think that is true. Even with a re-elected president, one term ends and another begins at clearly specified moments, and being sworn-in is not a formality.
However, within Venezuela, this will be a losing battle for the opposition in two ways. If it goes to the Constitutional Chamber of the Tribunal Supremo de Justicia the government will undoubtedly get a ruling in its favor. More importantly, in the court of public opinion, this is an issue without legs. Venezuelans tend to think about democracy in substantive, not formal terms.
CES 2013: Can Japan’s tech firms reverse their losses
Japan's leading consumer tech firms have a lot riding on jumbo-sized ultra-high definition TVs, a new energy efficient screen technology, water resistant smartphones and a revamped smart TV interface.
Sony, Panasonic and Sharp saw their stocks plunge to 30-year lows in 2012 after racking up huge losses.
This financial year only Sony forecasts a return to profit. By contrast Panasonic predicts it will sink 765bn yen ($9.6 billion; £6bn) deeper into the red - for context that's on a par with power company Tepco's loss after the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown - while Sharp has said there is "material doubt" about its survival.
Tentative Deal Reported in Chinese Censorship Dispute
By EDWARD WONG and CHRIS BUCKLEY
Published: January 8, 2013
GUANGZHOU, China — A tentative agreement to defuse a newsroom strike by Chinese journalists over censorship controls in this southeastern provincial capital had been reached by early Wednesday, and some reporters working for Southern Weekend, the newspaper at the heart of the dispute, were told that the paper would publish as usual on Thursday, one journalist in the newsroom said.
“The paper is coming out tomorrow, and the propaganda department is going to hold a meeting with staff about this tomorrow,” said the journalist, who spoke Wednesday on the condition of anonymity. Several other reporters said that details of the agreement remained murky Wednesday morning, and that the deal could fall apart.
Protests over censorship at Southern Weekend, one of China’s most liberal newspapers, had descended into ideological confrontation on Tuesday, pitting advocates of free speech against supporters of Communist Party control, who wielded red flags and portraits of Mao Zedong.
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