Grim reports ahead of Afghan review
Aljazeera English
Last Modified: 16 Dec 2010 03:14 GMT
As Barack Obama, the US president, prepares to release a review of military strategy in Afghanistan, two classified US intelligence reports on the region have offered a pessimistic view of the chances of success.
The intelligence assessments, the New York Times newspaper reported on Wednesday, would seem at odds with claims from the defence department and White officials that US and NATO troops are making progress against the Taliban.
The National Intelligence Estimates (NIE), represent the consensus view of 16 domestic intelligence agencies without military input and are intended for congressional committees.
Julian Assange bail decision made by UK authorities, not Sweden
Vikram Dodd, crime correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 15 December 2010 20.55 GMT
The decision to have Julian Assange sent to a London jail and kept there was taken by the British authorities and not by prosecutors in Sweden, as previously thought, the Guardian has learned.
The Crown Prosecution Service will go to the high court tomorrow to seek the reversal of a decision to free the WikiLeaks founder on bail, made yesterday by a judge at City of Westminster magistrates court.
U.N. Security Council ends key Iraq sanctions
By Paul Richter and Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times
December 15, 2010, 4:15 p.m.
Reporting from Washington and Baghdad —
The U.N. Security Council voted Wednesday to lift key sanctions on Iraq, in a major step to restore the nation to the international standing it had before Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
The council lifted restrictions aimed at preventing Iraq from developing weapons of mass destruction, opening the way for Baghdad to eventually build civilian nuclear plants. It also ordered the dismantling next June of the U.N. programs that since 1995 have given foreign powers control over how Iraq has spent its huge oil revenue.
Coalition wields axe over Christmas as 100,000 jobs to go by spring
Patrick Butler and Polly Curtis
The Guardian, Thursday 16 December 2010
At least 100,000 [British]public servants will receive grim news over the Christmas holidays or soon after as councils, police forces and other public services race to meet a deadline of 1 January to formally announce job cuts.
This comes on top of the 33,000 drop in public sector jobs over the three months to October that was detailed yesterday in official unemployment data and is likely to lead to a torrent of "at risk" warning letters hitting doormats across the country in the next few weeks.
Chinese agency 'sold disabled workers into slave labour'
Tania Branigan in Beijing
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 14 December 2010 15.59 GMT
An alleged trafficker sold workers with learning disabilities as slave labour to a factory grinding rocks into powder for building materials, Chinese media claimed today.
Eleven labourers, eight with learning disabilities, endured three years of gruelling physical labour with no pay, inadequate food and appalling living conditions, newspaper reports alleged.
Wang Li, 40, from Heilongjiang province, told the Xinjiang Metropolitan newspaper he tried to escape twice but failed and was beaten.
Arabs rule out new peace talks
Aljazeera English
Last Modified: 16 Dec 2010 01:12 GMT
Arab foreign ministers have said there will be no more negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis unless the United States makes a "serious offer" for resolving the conflict.
The US last week abandoned attempts to persuade Israel to freeze settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
AFGHANISTAN: Taliban accused of forcing farmers to grow opium poppyinstead of saffron
Borzou Daragahi and Aimal Yaqoubi in Kabul
LA times
December 15, 2010 | 7:28 am
It is as pricey as precious metals or illicit drugs, and in some kitchens it is increasingly becoming even more valued. Saffron, a spice that grows in Afghanistan, could be a solution for farmers who want to make ends meet without growing poppy flowers that can be turned into opium and heroin that enrich and empower drug barons.
But this week, the spokesman for the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan spoke of a "disturbing trend" in western portion of the country: The Taliban is forcing farmers to stop growing the savory spice and switch to more nefarious crops.
Red Cross paints grim Afghan picture before review
By Jonathon Burch
Reuters
KABUL | Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:25pm EST
Worsening violence across Afghanistan is making it harder than at any time in three decades for aid groups to reach people in need, the Red Cross said on Wednesday, a day before Washington reveals a major strategy review.
"The proliferation of armed groups threatens the ability of humanitarian organisations to access those in need. Access for the ICRC has over the last 30 years never been as poor," Reto Stocker, head of the ICRC in Afghanistan, told a news conference.
The group rarely makes public comments about its work. |
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