Musa Qala offensive
Afghan and NATO forces have encircled the Taliban-held city of Musa Qala in the restive southern province of Helmand. Taliban forces have held the city for much of the year after it was vacated by British troops as part of a deal struck with local tribal elders. A strategically important city, Musa Qala is also thought to straddle some of the most major opium smuggling routes in Afghanistan.
Recent reports suggest that Afghan troops have entered the town, but NATO military officials deny that the town has been retaken already.
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Pakistan's main opposition parties, the Pakistan Peoples Party under the helm of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif's faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, have agreed to participate in January elections. Earlier, Sharif had threatened to boycott elections when his nomination was revoked by the electoral commission because of unresolved charges against the former prime minister related to the time of his overthrow by Pervez Musharraf in 1999.
A suicide bomber struck a bus carrying children of air force officers near a northern Pakistani army base, wounding five of them.
Torture scandal bubbles in DC
In 2002, a bipartisan group of four Congressmen, including current House majority leader Nancy Pelosi, was secretly briefed by the CIA on its "enhanced" techniques for the interrogation of possible terrorist suspects. The group proceeded to suggest that the techniques outlined by the CIA - which included the notorious practice of "waterboarding" - were not "tough enough". The revelation of this meeting has only added fuel to the fire of controversy raging in DC currently around the CIA's attempt to cover up its use of torture.
The New York Times profiles Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., the CIA operative who is thought to have presided over the destruction of hundreds of hours of videotaped interrogations of suspects when he was head of the CIA's "clandestine" unit.
Red carpet for Muammar in France
Many French politicians and public intellectuals are up in arms over the red-carpet visit of Libyan Muammar Gaddafi to Paris. Branded a "terrorist" by many for his track-record of supporting hostage-taking and bombing around the Mediterranean, Africa and Europe, Gaddafi arrives in Paris from a summit of African and European leaders in Lisbon where he suggested that it was understandable that the poor and weak turned to terrorism. Despite the rhetoric, Paris and Tripoli have cemented strategic and commercial ties recently, including agreeing to the construction of a French nuclear reactor in Libya.
Crude bomb kills girl in Gujarat
A crude bomb in a municipal dust bin in the western Indian state of Gujarat killed one girl. Police have yet to blame any group for the explosion in a state which has seen extensive communal violence.
Kurds: pawns of a debate
With over two thousand Kurdish refugees pack a football stadium in the town of Kirkuk, the people of the northern Iraqi province of Tamim (of which Kirkuk is the capital) are being turned into the pawns of a much larger political debate. Under Saddam Hussein, Arabs were actively moved into the oil-rich area, while in recent years, Kurdish authorities have been ordering Kurds to move into the region at the expense of Arabs. The Turkmen minority group also claims ownership of the province. A controversial referendum on the fate of Tamim and its relationship to the Iraqi state - essentially, a debate about who control Tamim's oil - has driven politics to a standstill in the north of Iraq and in the corridors and halls of Baghdad.
Sheth Jerjis and Kani Xulam debate the future of Kirkuk (or Kerkuk) on terrorism.openDemocracy.
China to develop Iranian oil field
The Chinese company Sinopec has agreed to invest and develop the Yadavaran oil-field in Iran. The oil-field is expected to produce over 300,000 barrels of crude per day.
British sun setting in Iraq
In a surprise visit to the last remaining British base in Iraq, Prime Minister Gordon Brown told troops he expected military control in southern Iraq to be fully handed over to Iraqis within two weeks. The number of British troops in the country will be halved by next year to 2,500.
Drug politics in Palestine
Hamas officials have torched a $4 million find of cannabis and cocaine in Gaza. Both Hamas and Fatah have blamed each other for the trafficking of drugs through the besieged Gaza Strip.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel claims that racist incidents targeting Muslim and Christian Arabs in Israel have increased by 26% in the last year.
