Afghan troop levels top agenda for Obama-Karzai talks

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• Afghan troop levels top agenda for Obama-Karzai talks
• Rights group warns Pakistan faces worsening sectarian violence
• India rape accused hunted victim, aimed to kill: police
• Turf war feared after Syrian rebel leader killed
• Evidence suggests Paris murders an internal PKK feud: Turkish PM
• U.S., Afghanistan discuss "last chapter" in war aims: Panetta
• China's new leader: harbinger of reform or another conservative?
• Mali asks for help after Islamists capture strategic town
• Syria denounces peace envoy who hinted Assad must go
• After Israel vote, austerity budget looms
• Greek gold mine savior to some, curse to others
• Cleric return jolts Pakistan politics before vote
• Turkey sees Kurdish feud behind Paris slayings
• Cubans eager to try new law easing travel rules
• Censorship row shows China's tight grip on media
• Death toll from Pakistan bombings rises to 120
• Mali seeks French help against extremists
• New Japan PM: China's island dispute moves 'wrong'
• UK military switching to Glock pistols
• Montreux Jazz Festival founder Claude Nobs dies
• Is Russia backing off its anti-US adoption ban?
• Can India and Pakistan ease tensions after recent flareup?
• Idle No More: Canada's indigenous 'Occupy' movement
• Critics of Likud's new vanguard say party has abandoned founder's ideals
• Afghanistan: Taliban may be 'weak,' but fear remains
• What was 'Mr.Google' doing in North Korea?
• Kurdish leader's murder in Paris threatens tentative Turkish-PKK peace deal

Afghan troop levels top agenda for Obama-Karzai talks Posted: 11 Jan 2013 12:04 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai will hold a critical round of talks on Friday that could help determine how fast the United States withdraws troops from Afghanistan and whether it leaves a residual force after 2014. Hosting Karzai at the White House, Obama faces the challenge of pressing ahead with his re-election pledge to continue winding down the long war in Afghanistan while preparing the Afghan government to prevent a slide back into chaos and a Taliban resurgence once most NATO forces are gone. ...

Rights group warns Pakistan faces worsening sectarian violence Posted: 10 Jan 2013 11:06 PM PST QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Violence against Pakistani Shia Muslims is rising and some communities are living in a state of siege, a human rights group said on Friday, warning that sectarian violence will only get worse a day after 114 people were killed in bombings. Most of the deaths were caused by twin attacks in the western city of Quetta, near the Afghan border, the worst violence against Shias in decades. "Last year was the bloodiest year for Shias in living memory," said Ali Dayan Hasan of Pakistan Human Rights Watch. ...

India rape accused hunted victim, aimed to kill: police Posted: 10 Jan 2013 10:04 PM PST NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The gang of men charged with the rape and murder of an Indian physiotherapy student deliberately tried to find a woman to rape and kill and ended the night with blood on their clothes, a police report seen by Reuters said. Five men, along with a teenager who says he is under 18, gathered for dinner at a dwelling in a south Delhi slum on the evening of December 16 and there hatched the plot to find a target, according to the dossier given to court by the prosecution. ...

Turf war feared after Syrian rebel leader killed Posted: 11 Jan 2013 12:01 AM PST AMMAN (Reuters) - The killing of a senior Islamist rebel commander near Syria's border with Turkey could indicate a turf war between armed groups that will hamper their struggle to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, sources told Reuters. Thaer al-Waqqas, northern commander of al-Farouq Brigades, one of Syria's largest rebel groups, was shot dead at a rebel-held position in the town of Sermin, a few kilometres from Turkey, early on Wednesday morning, rebel sources said. ...

Evidence suggests Paris murders an internal PKK feud: Turkish PM Posted: 11 Jan 2013 12:29 AM PST ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The execution-style killing in Paris of three Kurdish female activists, including a founder of the PKK militant group, appears to have been the result of an internal feud, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday. Sakine Cansiz, a founding member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and two fellow activists were found shot in the head early on Thursday in an attack which overshadowed peace moves between Turkey and the guerrillas. ...

U.S., Afghanistan discuss "last chapter" in war aims: Panetta Posted: 10 Jan 2013 05:00 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Afghan President Hamid Karzai discussed on Thursday the "last chapter" in building a sovereign Afghanistan that can provide its own security, including the nature of U.S. involvement after combat troops withdraw in 2014. Panetta said he and Karzai made "very good progress" on the issues they discussed, but he declined to say whether they had agreed on the size of any residual U.S. force that would remain in Afghanistan to do counterterrorism operations and training once combat troops withdraw. ...

China's new leader: harbinger of reform or another conservative? Posted: 10 Jan 2013 03:02 PM PST BEIJING (Reuters) - When Xi Jinping became the new leader of China's Communist Party two months ago, hopes were high for reform in the giant nation. But despite what appears to be sensitive handling of a strike by journalists and a challenge to Beijing's tight control of the press, signs of change seem tentative. Xi's commitment to reform, or lack of it, will come into sharper focus over the next few months, in particular after he officially assumes the presidency in March at a session of the National People's Congress, the country's rubber-stamp parliament. ...

Mali asks for help after Islamists capture strategic town Posted: 10 Jan 2013 07:36 PM PST BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali asked for military help from France after residents of the strategic northern town of Konna said Islamist rebels drove out the Malian army on Thursday, the fiercest fighting since militants took control of the country's north nine months ago. The fall of Konna, about 600 km (375 miles) northeast of the capital Bamako, was a major setback to government forces, which said earlier on Thursday they were making headway against the alliance of al Qaeda-linked rebels. The U.N. ...

Syria denounces peace envoy who hinted Assad must go Posted: 10 Jan 2013 11:59 PM PST BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria denounced international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi as "flagrantly biased" on Thursday, casting doubt on how long the U.N.-Arab League mediator can pursue his peace mission. The Syrian Foreign Ministry was responding to remarks by Brahimi a day earlier in which he ruled out a role for President Bashar al-Assad in a transitional government and effectively called for the Baathist leader to quit. "In Syria... ...

After Israel vote, austerity budget looms Posted: 10 Jan 2013 09:03 PM PST TEL AVIV (Reuters) - In the heated debates on war and peace that have marked campaigning for this month's parliamentary election in Israel, it is easy to forget the vote was triggered by a more workaday problem - the budget. Ending the deadlock over an austerity package that forced him to dissolve his coalition prematurely will be a priority for Benjamin Netanyahu after the January 22 ballot, which polls predict will give the right-wing prime minister a new term in office. ...

Greek gold mine savior to some, curse to others Posted: 10 Jan 2013 11:43 PM PST IERISSOS, Greece (AP) — Barbed wire cuts across woodland patrolled by dozens of private security guards. Burly and stony-faced, they demand identity cards from anyone trying to pass through, and order cameras to be put away.

Cleric return jolts Pakistan politics before vote Posted: 10 Jan 2013 11:31 PM PST LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — To his supporters, Tahir-ul-Qadri is a savior of Pakistan's fragile democracy who will right the country ahead of elections expected to take place this spring. To his detractors, he is a shady religious figure bent on derailing the vote, possibly at the behest of the country's powerful military.

Turkey sees Kurdish feud behind Paris slayings Posted: 11 Jan 2013 12:54 AM PST ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish prime minister says the fact that a code was needed to get into a Paris building where three Kurdish activists were found dead suggests that the slayings were the result of a feud among Kurdish rebels.

Cubans eager to try new law easing travel rules Posted: 11 Jan 2013 12:02 AM PST HAVANA (AP) — Ana Liliam Garcia has never left Cuba but she hopes that will soon change, excitedly talking of her desire to meet her many relatives in Florida, and perhaps even Mickey Mouse.

Censorship row shows China's tight grip on media Posted: 11 Jan 2013 12:31 AM PST GUANGZHOU, China (AP) — China's new Communist Party leaders want to appear more open, but they're not about to give up control of the media. That's the lesson of a dustup involving an influential newspaper whose staff briefly rebelled against especially heavy-handed censorship.

Death toll from Pakistan bombings rises to 120 Posted: 11 Jan 2013 12:52 AM PST QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — The death toll from a series of deadly bombings across Pakistan rose Friday to 120, police said, marking one of the deadliest days the country has seen in years.

Mali seeks French help against extremists Posted: 10 Jan 2013 06:37 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Mali's president asked France for help Thursday to counter an offensive by extremist and terrorist groups who control the northern half of the country and are heading south.

New Japan PM: China's island dispute moves 'wrong' Posted: 10 Jan 2013 09:31 PM PST TOKYO (AP) — Reaffirming his hawkish stance on China, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday that Japan will not negotiate with Beijing over a contested cluster of uninhabited islands, and that China was "wrong" for allowing violent protests over the territorial dispute.

UK military switching to Glock pistols Posted: 10 Jan 2013 09:36 PM PST LONDON (AP) — Britain's army is bidding goodbye to the Browning pistol it's used for more than 40 years, opting for faster and lighter Glock 17 pistols for its secondary sidearm.

Montreux Jazz Festival founder Claude Nobs dies Posted: 10 Jan 2013 10:08 PM PST GENEVA (AP) — Claude Nobs, the founder and general manager of the Montreux Jazz Festival, whose passion for music and artistry introduced generations of legendary musicians to international audiences on the Swiss stage, has died. He was 76.

Is Russia backing off its anti-US adoption ban? Posted: 10 Jan 2013 11:26 AM PST The Kremlin appeared to backtrack Thursday, just a little bit, on a controversial new law banning all US adoptions of Russian orphans that has triggered stormy public opposition and rare open criticism from members of Vladimir Putin's own government.

Can India and Pakistan ease tensions after recent flareup? Posted: 10 Jan 2013 02:26 PM PST Tensions between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan increased Thursday as Pakistan reported that another one of its soldiers was killed by Indian troops. This is the fourth death reported in the past five days along the along the 415-mile long Line of Control (LoC) that divides the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region between the two countries.

Idle No More: Canada's indigenous 'Occupy' movement Posted: 10 Jan 2013 01:35 PM PST Canada's First Nations peoples and their supporters have been loudly protesting federal legislation that, they say, strips protections from dozens of Canada's lakes and waterways and ignores the government's treaty obligations to its indigenous inhabitants. Since November, dozens of demonstrations, blockades, and flash mob-style circle dances have sprung up across the country. Youth- and women-led, the social-media savvy Idle No More movement is being compared to last year's Occupy protests and is gaining international attention and momentum.

Critics of Likud's new vanguard say party has abandoned founder's ideals Posted: 10 Jan 2013 11:37 AM PST Few Israelis today remember that until 1966, Arab citizens of the Jewish state were under army rule and needed permits from the local military governor to travel outside their home towns for work, study, or medical care. Even fewer know that a key figure in bringing an end to this less than democratic system was Menachem Begin, the fiery founder of the right-wing opposition Herut party, predecessor of today's Likud party headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Afghanistan: Taliban may be 'weak,' but fear remains Posted: 10 Jan 2013 10:39 AM PST The television is always tuned to the news channel at the police station in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan.

What was 'Mr.Google' doing in North Korea? Posted: 10 Jan 2013 07:25 AM PST Google Chairman Eric Schmidt wrapped up four days in North Korea today after glimpsing the state of technology in one of the world's most closed societies, leaving observers wondering what he had accomplished.

Kurdish leader's murder in Paris threatens tentative Turkish-PKK peace deal Posted: 10 Jan 2013 05:57 AM PST • A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

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