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Letter to the editor

Prime minister demands more Afghan help

By Times Wires
Published January 31, 2008

CANADA

Prime Minister Stephen Harper told President Bush on Wednesday that Canada will end its military mission in Afghanistan if another NATO country does not put 1,000 soldiers in the dangerous south, officials said in Toronto. Harper's Conservative government is under pressure to withdraw its 2,500 troops from Kandahar province, the former Taliban stronghold, after the deaths of 78 Canadian soldiers and a diplomat. The mission is set to expire in 2009 without an extension by Canadian lawmakers.

UNITED NATIONS

Report tallies cost of climate change

Global warming could cost the world up to $20-trillion over two decades for cleaner energy sources and do the most harm to people who can least afford to adapt, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon warns in a new report. Ban's report provides an overview of U.N. climate efforts to help the 192-nation General Assembly prepare for a key two-day climate debate in mid February. That debate is intended to shape U.N. policy on climate change.

Pakistan

Ex-chief justice rails at Musharraf

Pakistan's deposed chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, sharply criticized President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday. A letter from Chaudhry to Western officials lambasted Musharraf for squashing Pakistan's independent judiciary and illegally detaining him and his family, and noted that the Supreme Court had not had a chance to rule on whether it was legal for Musharraf to run for re-election in December.

Australia

Aborigines will get an apology

New Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will apologize for past mistreatment of the country's Aboriginal minority when Parliament convenes next month, addressing an issue that has blighted race relations in Australia for years. In a measure of the importance Rudd attaches to the issue, the apology will be the first item of business for the new government when Parliament convenes Feb. 13, the federal minister for indigenous affairs said Wednesday.

Cuba

Raul Castro gets highest vote total

Acting President Raul Castro - not his older brother Fidel - was the top vote-getter in Cuban parliamentary elections, according to official results Wednesday. Raul Castro received 99.4 percent of votes cast in the family's base of Santiago in eastern Cuba - a percentage point more than Fidel Castro got. Both brothers easily won re-election to the rubber-stamp legislature known as the National Assembly of Popular Power, as did all of the 614 candidates presented to voters on Jan. 20.

Iran: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech Wednesday that Iran would produce nuclear energy by next year. The U.N. Security Council is considering imposing new sanctions on Iran because of its refusal to halt uranium enrichment activities.

Venezuela: Four gunmen arrested after a tense daylong hostage standoff at a bank are leaders of a gang that allegedly stole $18,600 from another bank two weeks ago, a federal police commissioner said Wednesday.

Times wires

[Last modified January 31, 2008, 06:47:31]