Politics

U.S. Vice President Biden has reaffirmed a U.S. pledge to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year. Biden met top officials in Baghdad for the first time since Iraqi lawmakers agreed on a new government last year. Biden says he told the Iraqi government the U.S. is committed to meeting a status of forces agreement that calls for a full U.S. withdrawal this year.

Thousands of people have taken themselves to the streets of the Tunisian capital of Tunis today in order to demand the resignation President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Nationwide protests have erupted over the past month against unemployment, police brutality and government repression under Ben Ali’s twenty three years rule.

President Barack Obama signed a slew of bills into law during the lame-duck session of Congress, and was dubbed the “Comeback Kid” amid a flurry of fawning press reports.
In the hail of this surprise bipartisanship, though, the one issue over which Democrats and Republicans always agree, war, was completely ignored.

President Lula begins the last week of his presidency on Monday with various ribbon-cuttings and farewells throughout the country.
After his weekly Coffee with the President radio program today, he will inaugurate the new offices of the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development in the capital, where the last annual meeting of that organization will be held.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, now free on bail in the UK, believes his extradition to USA is politically impossible because he is at risk of being killed there.

Assange told The Guardian newspaper it would be unlikely for British authorities to hand him over to the United States if he has public support in the UK.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says he believes the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START-III) will be the cornerstone of the world’s security for the next decade.
“I also think that U.S. President, Barack Obama, did a good job when accomplishing the ratification of the START-III in the Senate,” Medvedev said at a Friday press conference.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange remains in a London jail after Swedish officials challenged a British court decision to release him on bail.
Julian Assange has been detained since last week, when he was arrested in London, United Kingdom, on an international warrant to face supposed sexual crime allegations in Sweden.

Critical negotiations are under way here in Cancun, under the auspices of the United Nations, to reverse human-induced global warming. This is the first major meeting since the failed Copenhagen summit last year, and it is happening at the end of the hottest decade on record. While the stakes are high, expectations are low, … read more.

The massive campaign of intimidation against WikiLeaks is sending a chill through free press advocates everywhere.

Legal experts say WikiLeaks has likely broken no laws. Yet top US politicians have called it a terrorist group and commentators have urged assassination of its staff. Avaaz is organizing a massive campaign to defend Wikileaks.

“World Unity Day”, 29 November 2010, was celebrated in Kathamandu’s Kevre District, in Panauti, where the call went out to the city’s population drawing attention to the need for unity wherever in the world. The slogan: “We wish Peace Force and Joy to all on this day calling for unity among people.” Flags, banners, and lots of school age children made the event very lively.