The U.S. Congress never declared war on Afghanistan, a country where more than 1,000 U.S. troops -- and thousands of Afghan civilians --have died since President Bush ordered the invasion and occupation of that country in 2001.The vague authorization that Bush received to pursue the perpetrators of the September 11, 2001, which was treated by Democrats and Republicans alike as justification for the incursion into Afghanistan is now more than eight years old -- and during that time all of the facts on the ground in Afghanistan and most of the facts internationally have changed.Yet, the occupation continues. Indeed, the U.S. troop presence is escalating toward 100,000, even as other countries -- including, most recently, the Netherlands -- prepare to exit Afghanistan.By any reasonable reading of the Constitution -- which rests the warmaking power with the Congress, along with the sole power to appropriate money to that use so long as expenditure does not last "for a longer term than two years" -- it is high time for members of the House and Senate to debate whether this undeclared, yet seemingly endless, war should continue.Unfortunately, only a brave minority of House members take the Constitution seriously -John Nichols/The Nation

This Thursday, March 11, Congress will hold two separate hearings at the Armed Services Committees of the House and Senate.In the morning, the Senate committee will hear the Pentagon's Under Secretary for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, Ashton Carter, and another Pentagon official talk about the hugely problematic F-35 "Joint Strike Fighter." In the afternoon, Carter and other top officials will testify to the House committee on how they are managing he Pentagon's thoroughly broken weapons acquisition system.If these hearings go anything like they usually do, the committees will hear stale bathwater from Under Secretary Carter at both hearings.Everything, he will say, is under control; he's fixing a few minor problems on the F-35 and he is the cutting edge of reform of the Pentagon's weapons buying system.What rubbish this will be.There are fundamental and widespread problems in the design and acquisition of the F-35 that remain unaddressed by Carter's sloppily applied band-aids, and the Pentagon's acquisition system continues to hurtle down the road of ruin at ever increasing cost.Both of these problems are only a part of the malaise in our decaying armed forces.Rarely does a government department write its own swan song as clearly, and without apology -Winslow T. Wheeler/CounterPunch

In hindsight, Wednesday's United States House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing over "The Google Predicament" may well prove to be one of the many grains of sand which are slowly eroding the conventional logic that has kept America and China engaged for most of the past several decades.On the whole, the testimony and congressional statements appear to suggest we are fast approaching a rebalancing act between the two countries.Such a moment might change little in the way of formal policies and promulgated laws, but it will have significant impact on the politics and philosophies of engagement between Beijing and Washington.The relationship between the US and China is being tested now as it has not been in 30 years, if ever.Literally every front is being strained, with the net effect being that many politicians, policymakers and even average Americans are beginning to wrestle with whether it makes sense to be in a relationship with China at all.From China's perspective, this was not a friendly hearing -Benjamin A Shobert/Asia Times

The two-day visit by India's National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon to Kabul last week took place in the immediate context of the lethal terrorist strike on Indians in Kabul on February 26, but it underscored the need for a comprehensive rethink on Delhi's Afghanistan policy.No doubt, India's policy is at a crossroads.Assumptions behind the establishment thinking in Delhi in the recent years are fast withering amid the evolving situation in Afghanistan and India's growing security concerns.On the one hand, Delhi was complacent about its influence in Kabul outstripping Islamabad's and too confident that it rather than Pakistan was the "natural ally" to the US in the fight against terrorism.There was initially some uneasiness that the Afghan government led by President Hamid Karzai was seeking reconciliation with the insurgent groups. But more worrisome for Delhi is the fact Karzai has begun seeking help from Pakistan -M K Bhadrakumar/Asia Times

Pakistan's powerful spy chief, who's important to the domestic campaign against Islamic extremists and his country's co-operation with the U.S.-led coalition in neighboring Afghanistan, will remain in office for another year, the government announced Wednesday.Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha was due to retire later this month as the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, and his additional year could help cement Islamabad's increasingly tough position against militants and improving relationship with the U.S.The decision signals that a similar extension probably will be granted to the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, who's scheduled to retire before the end of this year.American officials have lobbied for the extensions for Kayani and Pasha, whose cooperation with the U.S. military and the CIA they praise, and who senior American officials think now recognize the danger that Afghan and Pakistani Taliban groups pose to nuclear-armed Pakistan.The West and Pakistan finally appear to be cooperating more closely, although both sides maintain their suspicions of each other -Saeed Shah/McClatchy Newspapers

The parties in Angela Merkel's increasingly embattled government were struggling to digest their worst popularity rating in nearly a decade yesterday, less than six months after the German Chancellor had described her ruling alliance of conservatives and liberals as the country's "dream" coalition.The damning appraisal came from the Forsa poll group, which found that a massive 84 per cent of Germans thought that Ms Merkel's coalition partners were locked in perpetual dispute.Only 8 per cent believed that the government showed unity of purpose.The popularity of Ms Merkel's conservatives has sunk two points to 33 per cent, while that of her liberal Free Democrat coalition partners has fallen to a mere 8 per cent.Stern magazine, on whose behalf the poll was conducted, concluded: "The two parties used to be regarded as natural partners, but their popularity has now sunk to its lowest level in nine years." Ms Merkel has herself been the target of mounting criticism since forming her new coalition last year, on matters from her leadership to her judgement.Ms Merkel has clearly sensed that her coalition with the liberals has failed to produce the dream-team results she expected six months ago -Tony Paterson/Independent UK

Much of Greece ground to a halt today as public and private sector unions called another general strike in opposition to tough government austerity measures and proposed pension reforms aimed at restoring fiscal order for the battered economy.Traffic stopped moving around the centre of Athens with streets closed off as an estimated 20,000 demonstrators holding banners and chanting slogans marched towards the parliament building in Syntagma square.There were separate mass demonstrations in the northern city of Thessaloniki.More than two million workers of the five million strong Greek workforce have walked off the job after a 24-hour nationwide general strike by ADEDY, the 800,000-strong civil servants’ union, was joined by the larger General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), which represents about two million workers in the private sector.The mood was tense in parts of the capital as several hundred demonstrators aligned to anarchist or extreme leftist groups also took to the streets.There was also a news blackout from Greek media after the strike received backing from the national journalists' union.Unions are opposed to a series of austerity measures, including pay and bonus cuts, a hiring freeze for public sector workers, as well as tax hikes and plans to reform the country’s ailing social security system, which calls for workers to work longer and receive reduced pensions -Philip Pangalos/London Times UK

Ukraine's new president, Viktor Yanukovych, today completed his takeover of power by forming a new government and appointing his close ally Mykola Azarov – a dour figure likened to Gordon Brown – as prime minister.In the final nail in the coffin of the Orange Revolution, Ukraine's parliament voted for a new coalition led by Yanukovych's pro-presidential bloc, the Party of Regions.The vote followed the collapse last week of the coalition headed by Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine's Orange prime minister.Today's vote in the finely balanced Rada or parliament follows a change in the law by Yanukovych on coalition formation – allowing deputies to support a coalition individually rather than as a political bloc. Yanukovych defeated Tymoshenko in February's presidential election.Yanukovych's move ends the acrimonious standoff between president and prime minister that has characterised Ukraine's chaotic politics over the past five years, after Tymoshenko fell out with Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's former Orange president.Yanukovych and Azarov, by contrast, are close allies -Luke Harding/Guardian UK

Early results from Iraq's election show a coalition headed by the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, leading in two southern Shia provinces.The first preliminary results to be released by the electoral commission showed Maliki leading in Najaf and Babil provinces, south of Baghdad.Results from the rest of the country are still being counted after the election on Sunday.Although Maliki was expected to lead in the Shia-dominated south, the results foreshadow a victory for the prime minister in an area where he was opposed by hardline religious parties with close ties to Iran.In an effort to cast himself as an inclusive leader for all Iraqis, Maliki left the main Shia coalition last year to create the State of Law alliance, which includes some Sunni groups.In Babil province, Maliki's political bloc won about 42% of the estimated 160,870 votes that have been counted so far.In neighbouring Najaf province, al-Maliki's win was even stronger – about 47% of the ballot count of 116,600 votes -Martin Chulov/Guardian UK

After several weeks of silence, the Wall Street Journal editorial page has apparently decided to stand by its man, Ahmed Chalabi, despite all the new charges by Gen. Ray Odierno regarding his collusion with Iran — charges, that, incidentally, were echoed as recently as this weekend by neo-con hero Gen. David Petraeus in his interview with Fareed Zakaria on CNN’s ‘GPS’.Thus, on Friday last week, the Journal permitted Chalabi himself to reassure his fans here in an op-ed that he is indeed working to achieve a “new strategic partnership” with the U.S. and complain yet again (as he and his supporters — like Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith — have since they left office) about the foolishness of Washington imposing an “occupation” on Iraq (instead of presumably handing him and his Iraqi National Congress outright control immediately after the 2003 invasion).The Journal followed Chalabi’s op-ed the next day in its weekend edition with another op-ed, entitled “Coming to Terms with Iraqi Democracy,” by Bartle Bull.The essay is an extended defense of de-Baathification -Jim Lobe/IPS

Conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera takes office as Chile's new president on Thursday, tasked with rebuilding the country after one of the worst earthquakes ever recorded killed hundreds of people less than two weeks ago.Chileans hope the Harvard-trained economist can use his renowned business skills to help one of Latin America's most stable economies rebound from the quake.Even though mines were mostly unscathed in the world's top copper producer, the quake seriously damaged key wine, fish and paper pulp industries near the epicenter in south-central Chile.To fund reconstruction, the new leader is likely to issue international bonds and dip into the country's copper savings.Fellow conservatives President Alan Garcia of Peru and Alvaro Uribe of Colombia were scheduled to attend the inauguration along with leftist leaders such as Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and Bolivia's Evo Morales.Bachelet, a pediatrician-turned-politician, is leaving office with a record high 84 percent approval rating even after criticism of delays in government aid for victims

A new battle over illegal immigration is rapidly shaping up in the nation's capital.Supporters of comprehensive immigration reform are demanding immediate legislative action from the Obama administration with a planned mass demonstration in Washington scheduled for March 21, billed as "March for America: Change Takes Courage." Meanwhile, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have been meeting with the White House to reintroduce immigration legislation.The bipartisan effort is reminiscent of twice-failed attempts by Sens. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., during the administration of President George W. Bush.Yet, Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, does not expect any comprehensive immigration reform legislation to be pushed by the Obama administration in Congress this year.In a controversial move that recalls the effort to create a Real ID national identity card and the current E-Verify system, Schumer and Graham have announced their intention to create a biometric national ID card that workers would need to present to employers to demonstrate their legal status to work.Krikorian considers this a ruse -Jerome R. Corsi/WorldNetDaily

Democratic appropriators in the Senate and House are fighting over a ban on earmarks to for-profit companies, throwing a wrench in a House attempt to burnish its ethics record before the midterm elections.Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), the chairman of the Senate’s Appropriations Committee, slammed House Appropriations Chairman David Obey’s (D-Wis.) moratorium on earmarks to for-profit companies mere hours after Obey announced it on Wednesday.Inouye’s decision puts House Democratic leaders in an awkward position and could create a protracted fight over the fiscal 2011 spending bills. The prospect of an intra-party battle between the two chambers on earmark reform also could delay the approval of appropriations bills until after the November elections. Obey and Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), the newly named chairman of the Appropriations Defense subcommittee, touted their proposal as a huge reform.During a closed-door caucus briefing about the issue, Obey pledged to take on Inouye, according to a Democratic aide who attended the meeting. “He said he would fight the Senate tooth and nail on this,” the staffer said -Susan Crabtree & Roxana Tiron/The Hill

With Democratic Congressional leaders and the White House struggling on Wednesday to finalize the details of major health care legislation, House Democrats were desperately trying to prevent another of President Obama’s top legislative priorities – an ambitious overhaul of student loan programs – from becoming a casualty of the health care battle.But Democrats in the Senate, where the private student lending industry has strong allies, predicted on Wednesday night that the education bill would not be part of an expedited budget measure containing the final revisions to the health care legislation.Some Democrats said that such a move would stall the student loan changes at a minimum for several months, and perhaps kill the overhaul altogether.the education bill is strongly opposed by some Senate Democrats, particularly those in states where for-profit student lenders are major employers. In a letter to the majority leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, six Democrats said they disliked the president’s proposal -David M. Herzenhorn/NY Times

The House of Representatives rejected a resolution Wednesday that called on President Barack Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by year's end.However, the 65 to 356 vote highlighted the willingness of liberal Democrats to abandon the president on a major issue even as important votes loom on health care, and signaled that many in his party are weary of waging war.Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, introduced the resolution, with the backing of other liberals who are angry with Obama for doubling down in Afghanistan after assuming what they thought was an anti-war posture during the 2008 presidential campaign. (mainstream news coverage, like this article, was minimal, slanted, and ignored the Constitutional issue of undeclared war) -William Douglas/McClatchy Newspapers

The Justice Department and Senate investigators are broadening their inquiries into Sen. John Ensign’s sex scandal, sources told POLITICO, amid a new report appearing to show additional, previously undisclosed, efforts by the Nevada Republican to land a job for the aggrieved husband of his former mistress. The FBI began initial interviews with key players in the Ensign scandal in January, weeks after the Senate Ethics Committee began issuing subpoenas in the case. Sources say the Justice Department investigation remains in an information-gathering phase, but it is moving swiftly and could soon turn into a full-fledged inquiry that would put further strain on the embattled senator’s political career.The heightened pace of the inquiries comes amid a New York Times report Wednesday night disclosing new e-mails from 2008 showing that Ensign urged a Las Vegas firm to hire his former top Senate aide Doug Hampton as its lobbyist -Manu Raju/Politico

The House Democratic campaign chief said Wednesday the ethics committee has ended an investigation of former Rep. Eric Massa, but the freshman's alleged harassment of his staff members - with possible sexual overtones - could spell continuing trouble for the party.Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the campaign chairman, acknowledged that the end of an investigation into the New York Democrat's possible rule-breaking may not end the matter. "When he resigned his seat, clearly the complaints filed with the ethics committee went away," Van Hollen said on an ABC News webcast.He quickly added, "There may be other forums" for staff members who complained about Massa to pursue the matter.Republicans are increasingly making an issue of the ethical conduct of Democrats, mindful that Republican ethical misconduct was one reason the GOP lost control of the House in the 2006 elections

Last Monday, the Supreme Court declined to review a case brought on behalf of seven men in Guantánamo whose release into the United States was ordered by a US judge 17 months ago.The men in question are Uighurs, Muslims from China’s Xinjiang province, and the ruling ordering them to be rehoused in the US was made in October 2008 by Judge Ricardo Urbina.In light of the Supreme Court’s June 2008 ruling, in Boumediene v. Bush, granting the Guantánamo prisoners habeas corpus rights, the government had suffered a humiliating court defeat, and had then abandoned all pretense that the Uighurs — sold to US forces after fleeing a settlement in which they had been living in Afghanistan — were “enemy combatants.” It had long been apparent to the Bush administration that the men had only one enemy — the Chinese government — and the government had also accepted that it could not repatriate them, because they would face torture or other ill-treatment, and so, for many years, the State Department had been obliged to try to find new homes for them in other countries.Quite how these problems will be resolved is at present unclear -Andy Worthington

Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, head of MI5 throughout most of the years of the so-called war on terror, insisted yesterday she had not known that Khalid Shiekh Mohammed was being waterboarded.In a response to the appeal court's judgment that MI5 officers had a "dubious record" on torture, she sought to blame the US and maintained that only after she retired in 2007 did she discover that the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks had been waterboarded 160 times. "The Americans were very keen that people like us did not discover what they were doing," she said.Critics, though, said it was stretching credulity to claim surprise.MI5 and MI6 have made no secret of their assumption that some of the information they get from foreign countries may have been extracted by torture, even though they say they take this into account when assessing it -Ian Cobain & Richard Norton-Taylor/Guardian UK

The claim on Wednesday from the former head of MI5, Eliza Manningham-Buller, that the US hid from the UK security services the torture they were meting out to the Muslim men they had labelled terrorists, comes as a bit of surprise.In a lecture given in the Palace of Westminster, she related: "I said to my staff, 'Why is he [Khalid Sheikh Mohammed] talking?' because our experience of Irish prisoners and terrorists was that they never said anything … "They said the Americans say he is very proud of his achievements when questioned about it. It wasn't actually until after I retired that I read that, in fact, he had been waterboarded 160 times." She went on to claim that "The Americans were very keen that people like us did not discover what they were doing." It did not require a high degree of James Bond-style espionage for MI5 to realise – much earlier than she says it did – that Guantánamo and other US sites were places where torture was practised.Before her retirement in 2007, then, all that Manningham-Buller needed to have been doing was read a decent newspaper or use a web search -Vikram Dodd/Guardian UK

Don't believe Benjamin Netanyahu for one moment when he says he "never knew." The Jerusalem planning committee is only too aware of what the bosses want, and the government has decided to step up construction in greater Jerusalem.Dispossession and taking possession, kicking out and moving in - that's what it's all about.Over the years, a streamlined and generously lubricated machine has evolved, one that makes it possible to take solace in the building of Jerusalem (in the phrase used to console mourners) and to take pride - but also to take cover - behind a facade of disingenuousness and disowning. Yesterday, it was convenient to disown.No pretext is more dismal than "bad timing." Ehud Barak immediately put out a press release about the "harmful timing of the publication." As if there were a proper time for provocations.If the announcement of the 1,600 planned housing units had come before Joe Biden's trip, they would have said it was aimed at sabotaging the visit, and if it happened after he left, they would have said Biden himself was in on the secret -Yossi Sarid/Haaretz IL

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will not enter indirect peace talks with Israel as planned, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said overnight Wednesday, due to the approval of plans to build 1,600 housing units in Ramat Shlomo in east Jerusalem. “The Palestinian president has decided that he does not intend to enter negotiations at this stage,” Moussa said at a press conference in Cairo.A senior PA official in Ramallah had said Wednesday that the PA would resume talks with Israel in the coming days, despite the threats and strong condemnations coming from Ramallah.The official’s comments came after visiting US Vice President Joe Biden condemned the plan for the second time in 24 hours, this time standing in Ramallah next to Abbas.The Arab League on Wednesday night recommended withdrawing support for indirect talks between Palestinians and Israelis due to the Ramat Shlomo announcement.The league’s Arab Peace Initiative committee called for a meeting of Arab foreign ministers to reconsider their support for the talks they extended on March 3 -Jerusalem Post IL

President Obama's attempts to ram health- care reform through an increasingly reluctant Congress are starting to resemble a really eventful episode of "The Sopranos." Whether or not you believe former Rep. Eric Massa's bizarre accusations of locker-room confrontations and conspiracies to drive him from office, there is no doubt that the Obama administration and its congressional allies are willing to use every trick in the book to get this bill passed.They've already bought votes with pork and special deals -- the "Louisiana purchase" ($300 million to bolster that state's Medicaid program, which swayed Sen. Mary Landrieu); the "Cornhusker kickback" ($100 million to Medicaid there, sweetening the pot for Sen. Ben Nelson), and Florida's "Gator Aid" (a Medicare deal potentially worth $5 billion, a hefty price for Sen. Bill Nelson's vote).Plus the millions for Connecticut hospitals, Montana asbestos abatement and so on.Nor were the Obamans willing to let a little thing like election laws stand in the way.And, of course, there has been an unprecedented willingness to ignore congressional rules -- from the failure to appoint a "conference committee" to negotiate differences between the House and Senate bills, to their current plans to use the reconciliation process to bypass a Republican filibuster.Expect the tactics to get even dirtier now -Michael Tanner/NY Post

The Harper government sought Tuesday to fend off a new trade threat from U.S. lawmakers pushing legislation to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement.The anti-NAFTA bill, which has 28 Democratic and Republican sponsors, comes only a month after Canada and the U.S. reached a deal to end a protracted dispute over Buy American provisions in the $787 billion economic stimulus package.With U.S. midterm elections coming in November and the American economy still losing jobs, the legislation could portend another wave of protectionist sentiment on Capitol Hill.At issue is legislation introduced last week in the House of Representatives by Representative Gene Taylor, a Mississippi Democrat who cited America's near-10-per-cent unemployment rate as the motivation for trying to kill the trade agreement involving Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.Taylor, a member of the influential Blue Dog caucus of conservative Democrats, is a 10-term congressman who voted against passage of NAFTA in 1993.He blames the treaty for a 29 per cent drop in U.S. manufacturing employment over the ensuing 17 years -Sheldon Alberts/Montreal Gazette CA

Even as government receipts posted a rare increase in February, soaring outlays pushed the country's year-to-date deficit up to a record $651.60 billion.The government's fiscal 2010 year-to-date deficit is up 10.5% from fiscal year 2009.The government in February alone ran its largest ever monthly deficit—$221 billion, the U.S. Treasury said in releasing its monthly budget statement Wednesday.The government in February 2009 ran a budget deficit of nearly $194 billion. "The budget balance has deteriorated sharply over the past 2 years with outlays rising rapidly—mainly due to the government's various stimulus programs--and revenues shrinking—both because of the weak economy and the various tax cuts meant to stimulate the economy," Steven A. Wood, an economist with Insight Economics, wrote in a client note.February 2010 marks the seventeenth consecutive month in which the U.S. has posted a budget deficit. The country has posted a budget deficit for 43 of the last 56 Februarys.Still, the government saw its monthly receipts in February increase on a year-over-year basis for the first time in nearly two years.The U.S. spent $16.1 billion last month to service its debt, nearly twice the $8.5 billion spent on veterans' benefits and an amount equivalent to about 5% of February's total outlays -Meena Thiruvengadam & Jeff Bater/Wall Street Journal

Lawmakers working to craft a new comprehensive immigration bill have settled on a way to prevent employers from hiring illegal immigrants: a national biometric identification card all American workers would eventually be required to obtain.Under the potentially controversial plan still taking shape in the Senate, all legal U.S. workers, including citizens and immigrants, would be issued an ID card with embedded information, such as fingerprints, to tie the card to the worker.The ID card plan is one of several steps advocates of an immigration overhaul are taking to address concerns that have defeated similar bills in the past.The uphill effort to pass a bill is being led by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), who plan to meet with President Barack Obama as soon as this week to update him on their work.An administration official said the White House had no position on the biometric card. "It is fundamentally a massive invasion of people's privacy," said Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. "We're not only talking about fingerprinting every American, treating ordinary Americans like criminals in order to work.We're also talking about a card that would quickly spread from work to voting to travel to pretty much every aspect of American life that requires identification." -Laura Meckler/Wall Street Journal

Islamabad's tardiness in naming a finance minister to succeed Shaukat Tarin, who resigned on February 23 to pursue his own business interests, may delay the release of US$1.2 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), part of a bailout package agree in November 2008. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have failed to agree on the appointment of Tarin's replacement despite a warning from the finance ministry that the absence of a minister with the right credentials could delay the release of the IMF funds, according to Business Recorder.The name of Tarin's successor needs to be incorporated in papers to be circulated to IMF directors for a meeting on March 24 to obtain approval for the release of the $1.2 billion. Gilani on Tuesday told a meeting of the cabinet's Economic Coordination Committee that Pakistan's economy was heading towards stability and progress, with important targets achieved over the past two years.But while the prime minister, who last chaired an EEC meeting in October, 2008, praised Tarin for his work, he gave no indication when a successor would be appointed -Syed Fazl-e-Haider/Asia Times

Nigerian police say 49 people are to be charged with murder after communal violence left scores of villagers dead.Most of those facing charges are Muslims from the Fulani group, police spokesman Mohammed Lerama told the BBC.The number of those arrested since the killings near the city of Jos has risen to 200, he said.Police say 109 people - thought to be mostly Christians - died in Sunday's bloodshed. Earlier reports put the toll at more than 500.The violence followed sectarian killings near Jos in January that left more than 300 dead, most of them believed to be Muslims.Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has sacked the country's national security adviser, Sarki Mukhtar, in an apparent response to the killings.But the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said the villages should have been properly protected after the January killings.The head of the northern area of Nigeria's Christian Association has said he believed mercenaries were involved -BBC

Burma's military government is to force Aung San Suu Kyi's political party to expel her if it wants to participate in the upcoming election, under the terms of a new law announced today.The political parties registration law, published in official newspapers, requires the National League for Democracy (NLD) and other parties to re-register within 60 days with a new election commission.It prohibits anyone convicted by a court from joining a political party, and instructs parties to expel members who are "not in conformity with the qualification to be members of a party". Parties that do not register automatically cease to exist, the law says.The Nobel peace prize winner, who has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention, was convicted last August of violating the terms of her house arrest by briefly sheltering an American who swam uninvited to her lakeside residence. She was sentenced to a new term of house arrest that is due to end in November.The sentence was seen as a way to keep Aung San Suu Kyi locked up during the election campaign. Last month, the supreme court dismissed her latest appeal for freedom.The new election law was immediately criticised by the NLD and by the US and Britain -Guardian UK

Initial results from Iraq's national election are likely to be released by Thursday, Iraqi and U.N. officials said on Wednesday, as further signs emerged of a strong showing for Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.The Iraqi National Alliance (INA), a largely Shi'ite group that is challenging Maliki's bid to win a second term, told a news conference that according to their informal tallies the prime minister was ahead in at least 10 of Iraq's 18 provinces.A decisive victory by any political coalition is unlikely in an election Iraqis hope will bring a measure of stability after years of sectarian warfare as U.S. troops prepare to pull out. Negotiations to form a new government could take months.Final results may require several more weeks. "Tomorrow afternoon we will start publishing the preliminary election results on our screen.And we will continue to do that as we finish counting and checking the votes," said Faraj al-Haidari, Iraq's top electoral official

Ahmed Chalabi and Ali al Lami, the men responsible for the purge of hundreds of candidates with Baathist links from the Iraqi elections, said they are taking the country’s Independent Higher Electoral Commission to court in a bid to have votes for 55 candidates voided.Mr Chalabi and Mr al Lami dominate the controversial Accountability and Justice Commission, in charge of the country’s de-Baathification process, which handed down an order to ban 511 candidates just weeks before the election.Fifty-five out of the 58 candidates who replaced the hundreds removed from ballot papers in the purge in late January are also “subject to de-Baathification” – listed in the commission’s database of individuals with links to the party, said Mr al Lami, the executive director of the commission.But the IHEC still plans to count votes for the 58 replacement candidates to the party list, he said, a move that the men oppose -Loveday Morris/The National AE

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Defense Secretary Robert Gates traded barbs on Wednesday during briefly overlapping visits to Afghanistan, where Washington has troops at war but Tehran has growing clout.Ahmadinejad, who arrived as Gates was wrapping up a three-day visit, told a news conference alongside Afghan President Hamid Karzai that U.S. and Western troops would never defeat terrorism by waging war in Afghanistan.Gates said earlier in the week Iran was playing a "double game" in Afghanistan by being friendly to the government while trying to undermine the United States.He said on Wednesday he had passed those concerns on to Karzai.Tehran blames Western military intervention in Afghanistan for causing instability and Ahmadinejad turned Gates' earlier comment around. "Why is it that those who say they want to fight terrorism are never successful? I think it is because they are the ones who are playing a double game," Ahmadinejad said. "They are the ones who set the terrorists on their course and now they say: 'Now we want to fight them'. Well they cannot, it is impossible.What are you even doing in this area? You are from 10,000 km over there.Your country is on the other side of the world.What are you doing here?"

Iran and Israel appear to be spoiling for a fight, going by recent belligerent statements emanating from several regional capitals.Military movement on the ground is also lending credence to the idea that the mutual loathing and major ideological differences between the two countries could lead to a vortex of violence capable of sucking the entire region into a new war.The Israeli media has reported that Syria, considered an Iranian proxy, has been transferring advanced weapons, of the type which it dared not to hand over before, to the Shia resistance organisation Hezbollah in Lebanon.A senior researcher for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) told the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, that Syria had crossed a red line.The Iranian leadership has likewise warned of Israeli aggression. Last week Ahmadinejad opined that Israel was planning to attack Syria and Lebanon and vowed that Iran would stand by them.Furthermore, senior Iranian, Syrian and Hezbollah officials have all recently commented extensively on the likelihood of a war with Israel -Mel Frykberg/IPS

Israel on Tuesday revealed plans to build a further 1,600 housing units in a Jewish settlement in occupied East Jerusalem, a move Washington was quick to condemn for its impact on US-backed peace talks.The Israeli decision coincided with a visit by Joe Biden, the US vice-president and the country’s most senior official to travel to Israel since Barack Obama took office last year.It also came a day after the Palestinian Authority dropped opposition to a new round of indirect peace talks with Israel – a promise that may be in doubt. “The substance and timing of the announcement ... is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now,” Mr Biden said in condemning Israel’s move. “We must build an atmosphere to support negotiations, not complicate them.” George Mitchell, the US envoy to the Middle East, had announced on Monday that both parties were ready for a round of “proximity” talks – indirect negotiations conducted through him and other US officials.After the settlements announcement, Mr Biden arrived 90 minutes late for dinner with Mr Netanyahu -Tobias Buck & Daniel Dombey/Financial Times UK

Fitch Ratings has delivered a serious blow to the credibility of the Government's budget plans, warning that Britain risks a loss of investor confidence and erosion of its AAA rating unless it maps out clear austerity measures.Brian Coulton, the agency's head of sovereign ratings, said the UK has seen "the most rapid rise in the ratio of public debt to GDP of any AAA-rated country" and is courting fate with its leisurely plan to halve the deficit by the middle of the decade. "It is frankly too slow, a pedestrian pace.Why the UK thinks it has more time than other countries , we're not sure.This needs to be reoriented." A string of European states are stepping up the pace of retrenchment, aiming to cut deficits to 3pc of GDP within three years.The risk is that Britain will soon stick out like a sore thumb, left behind with a shockingly large deficit long after such loose fiscal policy can be justified as a crisis measure.The UK deficit this year is 12.6pc of GDP, the highest among G10 states.Separately, Fitch said it is too early to judge whether Greece can deliver on EU austerity demands once the social and political pain begins in earnest -Ambrose Evans-Pritchard/Telegraph UK

Only a few short weeks after introducing his so-called “Dietary Supplement Safety Act,” Republican Senator John McCain was already feeling the heat – so much so that, like Custer at the Little Big Horn, he felt compelled to dismount his high horse and defend his hugely mistaken foray into hostile Native territory.Short of ammunition and evidently just as shy on literacy, Johnny McCain issued a Senate Floor Statement that accused his opponents of the very faults he himself is displaying.It is sad enough that Senators in Washington, D.C. rarely read other Senators’ bills before voting on them, but when they do not even read their own, or worse do not even understand what they have read of their own, then it is long past time for that politician to perhaps take that overdue remedial reading course. (internal link to Part 2) -Scott Tips, JD/NewsWithViews

Having studied and written about the global elite for 33 years, and in particular the Trilateral Commission, I still may have been misled by an elaborate system of smoke and mirrors.In 1973, when the Trilateral Commission was founded by Zbigniew Brzezinski and David Rockefeller, they claimed as their goal to create a "New International Economic Order." Through the filter of my economics background, I interpreted this (as did everyone else) to mean some sort of reshuffling of the existing economic system that would benefit the hedonistic interests of the global elite.While the process of globalization has born this out to some extent, there were always unanswered questions.The light bulbs started to flash on for me last year when studying global currencies.The Harvard International Review published “A New Currency” in 2004 that stated: “For those keen to slow global warming, the most effective actions are in the creation of strong national carbon currencies.” -Patrick Wood/NewsWithViews

Productive, private-sector jobs – the lifeblood of a sound economy – are under assault by politicians in the United States and Western Europe, who have unwittingly taken a number of steps that make future job losses a foregone conclusion.The Obama Administration is actually leading the US in the opposite direction.By raising taxes on business owners, monopolizing credit, and increasing business regulations at a frightening pace, current policy is turning the employment landscape into a rather sterile promontory. Meanwhile, the media has selectively focused on the recently passed jobs bill, which includes meager tax-credits for new job hires.If this bill has any effect, it will be to encourage cash-strapped entrepreneurs to make hiring decisions that are unjustified by current business activity.In reality, employment’s future is being decided in the credit markets.In fairness, the seeds of job destruction in America were sown years before Obama rose to power.The only realistic solution is to shrink government and remove subsidies and guarantees to big business -John Browne/Euro Pacific Capital

President Barack Obama made a renewed push for a long-stalled climate and energy bill Tuesday, urging lawmakers at a White House meeting to pass a comprehensive bill this year.Fourteen senators from both parties — including several who remain undecided on the climate bill — met for more than an hour with Obama, four Cabinet members and White House energy adviser Carol Browner.White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama wants a comprehensive bill that includes a cap on emissions of pollution blamed for global warming. "The president's strong belief is that in order to transition ourselves away from our dependence on foreign oil and into a clean-energy economy, that we need a strong incentive to do that," Gibbs said.A bill sponsored by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., aims to cut emissions of pollution-causing greenhouse gases by 17 percent by 2020.The bill would abandon a broad "cap-and-trade" approach to reducing carbon pollution. Instead it would apply different carbon controls to different sectors of the economy

A coalition of organizations led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce plans to spend as much as $1 million a day on advertisements designed to pressure lawmakers to vote "no" on health-care legislation.The campaign will last about 10 days and cost between $4 million and $10 million, said Bruce Josten, the Chamber's top lobbyist.The ad will start on cable television and then run in 17 states served by moderate and conservative Democrats, he said.Separately, the health-insurance industry lobby America's Health Insurance Plans launched a $1 million-plus ad campaign on national cable TV.Proposed premium increases by insurers, in particular, have come under fire from President Obama in recent days as he tries to rally public support for the biggest changes to U.S. health care in 45 years.Business groups say the Democratic legislation will hurt companies by adding taxes and requirements while failing to control medical costs.Josten said the ads will target House Democrats who voted "no" on the original legislation or voted "yes with reluctance." "We don't believe Washington got the message, so we're calling on viewers to tell Congress to stop this bill," Josten said -Seattle Times

Tales about the White House's hot-tempered, foul-mouthed chief of staff are legion, from Rahm Emanuel's mailing of a dead fish to a pollster to a lawmaker's accusation that Mr. Emanuel berated him over a vote in the shower at the congressional gym.Mixing mockery and scorn, the Obama administration Tuesday dismissed new accusations about Mr. Emanuel from Rep. Eric Massa, a freshman New York Democrat who has formally resigned his seat amid a growing ethics scandal and charges of sexual misconduct involving his staff.Top White House officials made it clear that President Obama is standing behind his combative chief of staff as the best person to shepherd his agenda through Congress - something Mr. Emanuel knows a thing or two about as a former congressman from Chicago and one-time head of the House Democrats' campaign arm.Regardless of their veracity, Mr. Massa's bizarre accusations provide the latest headlines about Mr. Emanuel, whose behind-the-scenes wrangling has fueled journalistic speculation about divisions within the West Wing.A slew of stories have speculated on the former Clinton White House aide's relationship with the Chicago-based political team that carried Mr. Obama on his successful 2008 presidential quest -Kara Rowland/Washington Times