| |  | | | | | SHUTTING DOWN Feed My Inbox will be shutting down on January 10, 2013. To find an alternative service for email updates, visit this page. | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Former US president admitted to Houston hospital with family members remaining by his side, doctors say Former US president George HW Bush was in the intensive care unit of a Houston hospital and in a "guarded condition", family spokesman Jim McGrath said on Wednesday. "The president is alert and conversing with medical staff, and is surrounded by family," McGrath said in a statement. McGrath said Bush snr, 88, was admitted to intensive care on Sunday at Methodist Hospital "following a series of setbacks including a persistent fever". Doctors were cautiously optimistic about his treatment, McGrath added. No other details about his medical condition were provided, but McGrath said Bush was surrounded by family. Earlier on Wednesday, McGrath said a fever that kept Bush in the hospital over Christmas had got worse and that doctors had put him on a liquids-only diet. A bronchitis-like cough initially brought Bush to the hospital in late November. Bush, the 41st American president and a Republican, took office in 1989 and served one term in the White House before losing to Bill Clinton in 1992. The father of former president George W Bush, he led the US into war with Iraq in 1991 in Operation Desert Storm. He also served as a congressman, ambassador to the United Nations, envoy to China, CIA director and vice-president for two terms under Ronald Reagan.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Largest settlement in US history involving car defects must now be approved by a judge
The Toyota car company has agreed to pay over $1bn to settle claims that its cars could unintentionally accelerate out of control. A judge must approve Toyota's offer of $1.1bn (£683m) which was filed in a Californian court on Wednesday. Toyota was taken to court by owners of its cars who claimed there was an electronic fault in the acceleration system. Toyota said any accelerator problems were caused by driver error, pedals sticking or badly fitted mats. The settlement means Toyota does not admit blame and avoids a lengthy trial. The deal includes payments to customers as well as installation of a brake override system which prevents unintentional acceleration in about 3.25m vehicles. The terms include a $250m fund for former Toyota owners who sold vehicles at reduced prices because of adverse publicity, and a separate $250m fund for owners not eligible for the brake override system. Lawyers will receive $200m in fees and $27m in costs. Steve Berman, representing the car owners, said the settlement is the largest in American history involving car defects. Toyota has recalled more than 14m vehicles worldwide due to acceleration problems in several models and brake defects with the Prius hybrid.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Barack Obama cuts short holiday to tackle budget crisis as country faces breaching its $16.4tn debt limit US Treasury secretary Tim Geithner warned on Wednesday he would have to take "extraordinary measures" to avoid a default on the US's legal obligations as the country is set to breach its $16.4tn (£10.16tn) debt limit. In a letter to Congress, Geithner said the debt ceiling would be reached on 31 December and that the Treasury could raise $200bn (£124bn) to fund government spending as a stopgap measure. But he warned that the current impasse over the fiscal cliff budget crisis meant it was uncertain how long that money would last. "Under normal circumstances, that amount of headroom would last approximately two months. "However, given the significant uncertainty that now exists with regard to unresolved tax and spending policies for 2013, it is not possible to predict the effective duration of these measures," Geithner warned. In the two-paragraph letter Geithner also warned that "the extent to which the upcoming tax filing season will be delayed as a result of these unresolved policy questions is also uncertain." A similar row over increases in the debt ceiling in the summer of 2011 led to a historic downgrade of the US's credit rating and panic on stock markets around the world. The Treasury secretary's warning comes as Barack Obama prepared to cut short his Christmas holiday in Hawaii, with the intention of returning to Washington in the hope of restarting the stalled budget talks. Discussions with House speaker John Boehner collapsed last week after the top ranking Republican launched his own "Plan B" aimed at tackling the year-end budget crisis. But Boehner's plan also fell after members of his own party threatened to block any deal that would raise taxes. Boehner and other senior Republicans released a statement on Wednesday saying: "The lines of communication remain open, and we will continue to work with our colleagues to avert the largest tax hike in American history, and to address the underlying problem, which is spending." Obama is hoping to pass a stop-gap deal through the Senate, where he has some support from Republicans. The president wants to implement measures that would raise taxes on those earning over $250,000 (£155,000) while preserving most of the other tax cuts under threat, delaying spending cuts and extending unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed. Boehner said the Senate would have to make the first move before the House would commit to voting on any bill. He said two bills had already been put forward to tackle the crisis. "If the Senate will not approve and send them to the president to be signed into law in their current form, they must be amended and returned to the House. Once this has occurred, the House will then consider whether to accept the bills as amended, or to send them back to the Senate with additional amendments," he said. The Treasury said it can free up around $200bn (£124bn) by taking four "extraordinary measures." Nearly all the measures relate to peripheral investments that the Treasury makes in certain funds. In essence, the Treasury will act like an indebted consumer who stops running up his credit card when he already has more bills than he can pay. The result: the Treasury will not cut its debt, but only stop spending until its credit limit is raised again. Only Congress can raise the debt limit. The department took similar measures last year, when the US passed the debt ceiling limit in May and Congress didn't increase it again until August. The most remarkable of the extraordinary measures includes allowing the Treasury to redeem, or stop, any investments in two major pension funds. The first is the civil service retirement and disability fund. The CSRDF, as it is known, is a kind of pension fund that provides defined benefits (stock market-linked retirement incomes) to retired and disabled federal employees. The US Treasury puts about $6bn (£4bn)a month into the fund – not in cash, but in Treasury securities. The Treasury would either redeem some of those securities or suspend new payments. It could also choose to continue to make payments to the fund, but if the debt ceiling is not raised within two months, the Treasury would have to stop. The second major pension fund is the government securities investment fund, or G Fund, which is part of the federal employees' retirement system thrift savings plan. Like the CSRDF, the G Fund is invested in special securities. But, because the G Fund matures every day, the Treasury can immediately free up money by suspending the whole thing. Suspending the G Fund will do the most to make room for the Treasury, freeing up $156bn (£96bn) of the $200bn (£124bn) it's aiming for. After Congress raises the debt ceiling, the Treasury has to make up for all the payments it missed to the pension funds, so none of the employees will be hurt. The Treasury will also temporarily stop issuing state and local government securities or SLGS – bonds it created to help state and local governments reinvest any profits made from issuing regular municipal securities. Since state and local governments are not allowed to reinvest their profits in other, riskier kinds of investments, the Treasury gives them SLGS bonds as a way of holding their money safe. But stopping SGLS bonds won't cut the country's debt; it will only avoid adding to it. In its most minor move, the Treasury will stop contributing to the exchange stabilisation fund, which it uses to buy foreign currencies. The public debt of the US is increasing at about $100bn per month, the Treasury said.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Former South African president, who was treated for lung infection and gallstones, will continue receiving care at home Nelson Mandela has been discharged after 19 days in hospital during which he was treated for a lung infection and gallstones, the South African government said on Wednesday. "He will undergo home-based high care at his Houghton [Johannesburg] home until he recovers fully,'' said presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj in a statement. The former South African president, who is 94-years-old, was admitted on 8 December to a Pretoria hospital. It was the longest time he had spent in hospital since his release in 1990 from 27 years in prison. Maharaj, who was a political prisoner with Mandela in the 1970s, thanked the South African public and media for their prayers and good wishes and for respecting the elder statesman's privacy. "We request a continuation of the privacy in order to allow for the best possible conditions for full recovery,'' he said. Mandela was visited in hospital by his family and President Jacob Zuma on Christmas morning but no details were given of plans for his discharge. President Zuma said he was "in good spirits'' and looking "much better". Mandela has been admitted to hospital in Johannesburg and Pretoria three times in the past two years, including for an acute respiratory infection in January 2011. His eyes and lungs were damaged as a result of working in a limestone quarry on Robben Island, off Cape Town, where he spent 16 of his 27 years as a prisoner of the apartheid state. The Nobel Prize winner, who was president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, retired from public life in 2004. He was last seen in public in July 2010, during the closing ceremony of the World Cup. The US secretary of state Hillary Clinton paid a private visit to him in August. Mandela's current permanent home is in Qunu, a remote village in the Eastern Cape, where he spent much of his childhood. But no announcement has been made about whether he will be able to return there.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Minute-by-minute report: Can Liverpool breach the Premier League's most Scrooge-like defence? Find out with Simon Burnton
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Major retailers among the market fallers as traders fail to take seasonal cheer despite encouraging US housing data Retailers pulled stocks lower Wednesday as US markets reopened following the Christmas holiday. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 49 points to 13,090 as of noon. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell seven to 1,419 and the Nasdaq composite lost 19 to 2,993. Trading was quiet. European markets were still closed. Major US retailers fell following a glum report on US holiday sales. Macy's and Urban Outfitters lost 3%. Sears Holdings fell nearly 5%. The MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse report found that sales of electronics, clothing, jewelry and home goods increased just 0.7% in the two months before Christmas compared with the same period last year. That's well below the growth of 3 to 4% growth that analysts had expected and the worst performance since 2008, when spending shrank during the Great Recession. Last year sales climbed 4 to 5% during November and December, according to ShopperTrak. The disappointing holiday sales figures outweighed the latest hopeful indicator on the US housing market. Home prices rose in most major US cities in October compared with the same month a year ago, according to the latest Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller national home price index. Sales rose at the same time the supply of available homes declined. The index increased 4.3%, the largest year-over-year jump in two and a half years, when a homebuyer tax credit temporarily boosted sales. Retailers and other consumer discretionary stocks led the market lower. Macy's gave up $1.05 to $36.48, Target fell 73 cents to $58.81, Urban Outfitters fell $1.21 to $38.09 and Sears Holdings fell $1.80 to $38.47. Coach, the luxury handbag maker, sank $3.20 to $54.32, a decline of 6 %, the biggest in the S&P 500 index. Traders were also watching to see if a budget agreement materializes in Washington. President Barack Obama cut short his Christmas vacation in Hawaii and was returning to Washington later Wednesday to resume budget talks with Congressional Republicans. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note edged down to 1.75% from 1.77% Monday. Trading was closed Tuesday for the Christmas holiday. Oil prices rose. Benchmark crude gained $2.37 to $90.98 a barrel. Japanese stocks hit a nine-month high as a pro-business government prepared to assume leadership. The Nikkei 225 index surged 1.5% to 10,230.36. Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has put pressure on the Bank of Japan to raise its inflation target. The goal is to extricate the country from two decades of deflation, or declining prices, which has deadened the world's third-largest economy.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Fightback is launched after tens of thousands back demand for TV presenter to be expelled from US Following a groundswell of support in America for demands to expel Piers Morgan from the country and deport him back to the UK over his views on US gun controls, it seems that any return home for the chatshow host would not be greeted warmly by everyone. The White House has yet to respond to an online petition calling for the TV presenter to be marched to the nearest American exit, but it has not stopped UK citizens from launching a pre-emptive strike against any such move. The petition to "Keep Piers Morgan in the USA" had nearly 600 signatures by Wednesday night, far from the 25,000 signature threshold necessary to prompt a White House response. It was created in response to the petition "Deport British Citizen Piers Morgan for Attacking 2nd Amendment", which had attracted more than 73,000 supporters. "Kurt N" in Austin, Texas, created the petition following Morgan's repeated calls for increased US gun control in the wake of the Newtown shootings. On 14 December, the day of the primary school shooting, Morgan used his nightly broadcast to lambast the pro-gun lobby, shouting down John Lott, author of More Guns, Less Crime, in an angry exchange. In a subsequent blogpost on CNN.com, Morgan wrote: "The senseless killing has to stop," and called for a ban on high-powered assault rifles and high-capacity gun magazines. The former newspaper editor took to Twitter to ridicule the deportation petition as an attack on his first amendment rights in a number of posts over the weekend. On Christmas Day he had a simple message. "Merry Christmas! Even to those who want me deported," he tweeted. But it appears that others of a similar mind believe Morgan should remain in the US. Someone using the name "Janusz J" created the latest petition to keep him on the American side of the Atlantic. The petition is worded less passionately than the one calling for the Briton's deportation, reading: "We want to keep Piers Morgan in the USA. There are two very good reasons for this. Firstly, the first amendment. Second and the more important point. No one in the UK wants him back. Actually there is a third. It will be hilarious to see how loads of angry Americans react." Based loosely on a Downing Street equivalent, the White House petition site has been inundated by requests since its launch, with officials pledging that they will respond to petitions that pass the 25,000 signature threshold. The site does not say that users must be US citizens, meaning that if 25,000 Britons sign the petition to keep Morgan in the US, the White House is obliged to comment. Since the Newtown shootings, campaigns directed at both sides of the gun control debate have appeared on the site. A petition to support the National Rifle Association's National School Shield Program, which aims to have the gun lobby train security personnel in schools, had more than 16,000 signatures on Wednesday.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Minute-by-minute report: Can Villa bounce back from last weekend's mauling? Find out with Jacob Steinberg
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Minute-by-minute report: Lots of interesting things happened, most of them at Old Trafford, on a madcap afternoon of Boxing Day action
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | In the latest in our series of interviews with newsmakers of 2012, Miriam Elder meets Yekaterina Samutsevich, one of the women whose punk protests as Pussy Riot electrified Russia One year ago, Yekaterina Samutsevich was riding a euphoric high. Moscow had exploded in an unexpected storm of protest, as tens of thousands took to the streets to show their anger at Vladimir Putin's upcoming return to the presidency. Samutsevich and a group of friends went to protest dutifully – and returned home to don balaclavas and bright dresses for a secretly planned performance by their anti-Kremlin punk band, Pussy Riot. "I had huge hopes," Samutsevich said wistfully as she recalled those days during an interview in a Moscow cafe. A year later, and although anger at Putin remains high, the spirit of protest that rocked the country has stalled. Also, two of Samutsevich's best friends are in prison, far from the capital, far from their family, and far from the Kremlin that put them there. The three band members – Samutsevich, Maria (Masha) Alyokhina and Nadezhda (Nadya) Tolokonnikova – rapidly shot to global prominence in the summer after performing an anti-Putin punk anthem in a Moscow cathedral. They were charged with "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" and sentenced to two years in prison. Two months later, Samutsevich was let out on appeal after taking on a new lawyer who argued she should be set free since she was kicked out of the church before the performance. She notes now with sadness that some accuse her of winning her freedom at the expense of her friends. Yet she feels no guilt – only the responsibility to speak for the friends who can't speak for themselves. "Now that I've been let out early, I can be here and free and speak in the name of the group," Samutsevich said. "We took part in the trial and only we saw it from inside. Now I can tell everyone about that. Unfortunately Nadya and Masha can't, since they're in jail." "More than anything, what many people didn't see during the trial were those moments when our 'right to defence' was violated," she said. "It's not that we were helpless, it was a situation of despair." "The trial was built in such a way that we couldn't defend ourselves," she said. "They didn't listen to us. We could have sat downstairs, where you wait till you're taken to the courtroom, and not go in at all and everything would've gone the same way. The fact that we took part physically [in the trial] didn't actually change anything." Her days are now filled with interviews, keeping Pussy Riot's message alive in the press. And then there are the endless court cases, requiring almost daily filing of documents, lawyer consultations, hearings. "Right now I'm just dealing entirely with the all the Pussy Riot court case, because it's not over," Samutsevich said. There is an appeal to the European court of human rights in Strasbourg. Samutsevich is also appealing against a ruling by a Moscow court in late November branding all of Pussy Riot's videos extremist. "I don't think it will all over be over soon," she said. "It will only be over when Nadya and Masha get out." In mid-December, Samutsevich had her first conversation with Tolokonnikova since she walked free in October – all previous requests were denied. "I asked how she was doing, how she's feeling – she said her headaches had started up again," Samutsevich said. Tolokonnikova spends her days sewing uniforms, including for prison and police officials, at a prison colony in the republic of Mordovia. "She's doing everything she can to get parole. And she said: don't stop, do everything to set me free. Of course, she wants to get out." Samutsevich said the authorities turned down her daily requests to speak to Alyokhina, who is serving her sentence in Perm. The desire to continue Pussy Riot's blend of art, music and protest still burns, but Samutsevich recognises that times have changed and she may no longer be able to continue. "I want to do art and continue what I was doing – but I can't say yet in what concrete form," she said. Of the three women who went on trial, Samutsevich is the only one with formal artistic training, having graduated from Rodchenko School of Photography and Multimedia in Moscow. She continues to meet the members of Pussy Riot who remain free and anonymous, including two who performed the punk prayer inside Christ the Saviour Cathedral but were, inexplicably, never arrested or tried. "The other girls have the desire [to continue]. We all have that desire," she said. Yet the fact that they are all now under the watchful eye of Russia's powerful security services means they cannot organise anything yet, she said. Samutsevich says she has even considered the possibility of never being able to perform again – in which case she would teach others how to follow in Pussy Riot's footsteps. No matter what, she says, she will continue fighting against Putin's regime. "Our trial was a political trial because our actions were political – we did political art," she said. "Because of that the authorities reacted, the system reacted. "But that doesn't mean that everything was decided right away, that there's no game or competition between the prosecution and the defence. We always had hope. But everything was done so we couldn't defend ourselves. "If you believe Putin has limitless power, against which it's impossible to do anything, then you get depressed," she said, of the group's desire to challenge the state during the trial and beyond. "You start to think that you have no other way, that from the start, when you make some sort of political gesture, especially in the realm of art, then from the start you'll go to jail, that you can do nothing against Putin, that no one will help you. It seems to me a harmful way of thinking. One needs to change one's thinking, you need to think, on the contrary, about fighting, about gathering strength for the struggle."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | High winds, tornadoes and icy conditions ground more than 300 flights and leave tens of thousands of families without power An enormous storm system that dumped snow and sleet on the US midwest and unleashed damaging tornadoes around the Deep South began punching its way toward the north-east on Wednesday, slowing holiday travel. Three deaths were reported. More than 325 flights around were canceled as of Wednesday morning, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com. Most were at airports in the path of the storm. Blizzard conditions were possible Wednesday for parts of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. By the end of the week, that snow was expected to move into the north-east. Rare winter tornadoes damaged buildings in Louisiana and Alabama. The storms left more than 100,000 in the region without power for a while, darkening Christmas celebrations. Thirty-four tornadoes were reported in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama during Tuesday's outbreak, the National Weather Service said. Camera footage captured the approach of the large funnel cloud in Mobile, Alabama, the biggest city hit by numerous twisters. The storms blew the roofs off homes, and several places saw flash flooding. A large section of the roof on the city's Trinity Episcopal Church was missing, said Scott Rye, a senior warden at the church. On Christmas Eve, the church with about 500 members was crowded for services. "Thank God this didn't happen last night," Rye said. On Tuesday, winds toppled a tree onto a pickup truck in Texas, killing the driver, and a 53-year-old Louisiana man was killed when a tree fell on his house. Icy roads were blamed for a 21-vehicle pileup in Oklahoma, and the Highway Patrol said a 28-year-old woman was killed in a crash. Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency, saying eight counties reported damages and some injuries. One likely tornado damaged a dozen homes and sent eight people to the hospital, none with life-threatening injuries, said Pearl River County emergency management agency director Danny Manley.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | High winds, tornadoes and icy conditions ground more than 300 flights and leave tens of thousands of families without power The death toll rose to six Wednesday from winter storms in the US midsection that pushed toward the north-east. More than 600 flights were cancelled in the storm's path. Two passengers in a car on a sleet-slickened Arkansas highway died when the vehicle crossed the center line and struck an SUV. In Oklahoma, the highway patrol said a 76-year-old woman died Tuesday when a truck crossed into oncoming traffic and hit the car she was in. The highway patrol earlier reported that a 28-year-old woman was killed in another crash. The storm's winds were also blamed Tuesday for toppling a tree onto a truck in Texas, killing the driver, and a tree onto a house in Louisiana, killing a man. More than 900 flights nationwide had been cancelled by near midday Wednesday, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.com. More cancellations were likely, with Washington, New York and Philadelphia expected to see the most problems.
Blizzard conditions were possible Wednesday for parts of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. Thirty-four tornadoes were reported in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama during Tuesday's outbreak, the National Weather Service said. The storms left more than 100,000 in the region without power for a while, darkening Christmas celebrations. Camera footage captured the approach of the large funnel cloud in Mobile, Alabama, the biggest city hit by numerous twisters. A large section of the roof on the city's Trinity Episcopal Church was missing, said Scott Rye, a senior warden at the church. On Christmas Eve, the church with about 500 members was crowded for services. "Thank God this didn't happen last night," Rye said.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Minute-by-minute report: Follow the goals as they go in around the UK with Simon Burnton
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Minute-by-minute report: Gareth Bale scored a wonderful hat-trick to move Tottenham and hand Aston Villa another crushing defeat
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Abe also promises to revive economy with aggressive monetary easing and big fiscal spending to halt deflation The new Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has promised to battle deflation and a strong yen, and bolster ties with the United States as he kicked off a second administration committed to reviving the economy while coping with a rising China. A hawk on security matters, Abe, 58, has promised aggressive monetary easing by the Bank of Japan and big fiscal spending by the debt-laden government to revese deflation and weaken the yen to make Japanese exports more competitive. Critics worry, however, that he will pay too little heed to reforms needed to generate growth despite an ageing, shrinking population and reform a creaking social welfare system. The grandson of a former prime minister, Abe has staged a stunning comeback five years after abruptly resigning as premier in the wake of a one-year term troubled partly by scandals in his cabinet and public outrage over lost pension records. "With the strength of my entire cabinet, I will implement bold monetary policy, flexible fiscal policy and a growth strategy that encourages private investment, and with these three policy pillars, achieve results," Abe told a news conference after parliament voted him in as Japan's seventh prime minister in six years. Abe's long-dominant Liberal Democratic party (LDP) surged back to power in this month's election, three years after a crushing defeat at the hands of the novice Democratic party of Japan. Abe appointed a cabinet of close allies who share his conservative views in key posts, but leavened the line-up with LDP rivals to provide ballast and fend off criticism of cronyism that dogged his first administration. Former prime minister Taro Aso, 72, was named finance minister and also received the financial services portfolio. Ex-trade and industry minister Akira Amari becomes minister for economic revival, heading a new panel tasked with coming up with growth strategies such as deregulation. Policy veteran Toshimitsu Motegi, as trade minister, will be tasked with formulating energy policy in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year. Loyal Abe backer Yoshihide Suga was appointed chief cabinet secretary, a key post combining the job of top government spokesman with responsibility for coordinating among ministries. Others who share Abe's agenda to revise the pacifist constitution and rewrite Japan's wartime history with a less apologetic tone were also given posts, including conservative lawmaker Hakubun Shimomura as education minister. "These are really LDP right-wingers and close friends of Abe," said Sophia University professor Koichi Nakano. "It really doesn't look very fresh at all." Fiscal hawk Sadakazu Tanigaki, whom Abe replaced as LDP leader in September, becomes justice minister while two rivals who ran unsuccessfully in that party race - Yoshimasa Hayashi and Nobuteru Ishihara - got the agriculture and environment/nuclear crisis portfolios respectively. Business leaders welcomed the new cabinet, but the biggest corporate lobby, Keidanren, urged the government to take part in the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, Kyodo news agency said. The LDP has been wary of the pact given the political clout of the heavily protected farm sector. The yen has weakened about 9.8% against the dollar since Abe was elected LDP leader in September. On Wednesday, it hit a 20-month low of 85.38 yen against the dollar on expectations of aggressive monetary policy easing. Abe has threatened to revise a law guaranteeing the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) independence if it refuses to set a 2% inflation target. BOJ minutes released on Wednesday showed the central bank was already pondering policy options in November, concerned about looming risks to the economy. The BOJ stood pat at its November rate review meeting, but eased this month in response to intensifying pressure from Abe. Abe also promised during the election campaign to take a tough stance in territorial rows with China and South Korea over separate chains of tiny islands, while placing priority on strengthening Japan's alliance with the United States. On Wednesday, he repeated his resolve to strengthen ties with Washington and his intention to protect "the people's lives, Japanese territory and its beautiful oceans". China expressed hope that Abe's cabinet would work with Beijing to improve ties, but reiterated that the disputed isles were its territory. "We hope Japan works with China with sincerity and makes real efforts to solve relevant problems through dialogue and negotiations," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hua Chunying told a news conference in Beijing. Abe named low-profile lawmakers to the foreign and defence portfolios. Itsunori Onodera, 52, who was senior vice foreign minister in Abe's first cabinet, becomes defence minister while Fumio Kishida, 55, a former state minister for issues related to Okinawa island – host to the bulk of US forces in Japan – was appointed to the top diplomatic post. Unlike many others in the cabinet, Kishida has an image as something of a diplomatic dove. Abe, who hails from a wealthy political family, made his first overseas visit to China to repair chilly ties when he took office in 2006, but has said his first trip this time will be to the United States. He may, however, put contentious issues that could upset key trade partner China and fellow-US ally South Korea on the backburner to concentrate on boosting the economy, now in its fourth recession since 2000, ahead of an election for parliament's upper house in July. The LDP and its small ally, the New Komeito party, won a two-thirds majority in the 480-seat lower house in the 16 December election. That allows the lower house to enact bills rejected by the upper house, where the LDP-led block lacks a majority. But the process is cumbersome, so the LDP is keen to win a majority in the upper house to end the parliamentary deadlock that has plagued successive governments since 2007. "Trust in our party has not yet been fully restored and I feel we are still viewed with critically by the people, so I want to get results as soon as possible to restore trust," Abe told the news conference.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | US president is to leave family in Hawaii to return to Washington days before fiscal cliff deadline The decision by Barack Obama to cut short his Christmas break and return to Washington to make a final effort to solve the fiscal cliff crisis demonstrates just how significant the issue is for the US – and arguably the rest of the world. The White House said on Wednesday the president would leave his family behind in Hawaii as he attempts to reanimate stalled negotiations that are being closely watched around the world before the year-end deadline. Without a fix – even a quick one – tax rates will rise across the board as $110bn (£68bn) in spending cuts are imposed and 2 million people lose their long-term unemployment benefits. Economists have warned that this could be powerful enough to push the US back into recession – and much of the world with it – in 2013. As US politicians prepared to return to work on Thursday Starbucks's chief executive, Howard Schultz, was asking employees in its 120 Washington DC area stores to write "Come Together" on coffee cups when serving customers to highlight the need for a deal which will set the tone for the world's economies next year . For now there is no specific bill on the schedule of either the US Senate or House of Representatives although aides for both the Democrats and the Republicans have said they expect some kind of deal to be brokered by the end of the week. But with so little time left few analysts now expect anything more than a "patch" solution and for the real argument to continue into the new year. US stock markets were only marginally higher on Wednesday, cheered by positive news on the housing market, but analysts are expecting a sell-off if a deal is not reached soon. The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), business leaders and economists have all warned that failure to find a resolution threatens the US's fragile economic recovery. The collapse of talks with the Republican House leader, John Boehner, has forced Obama to turn to the Senate in the hopes of passing a deal. Obama said last week that he would like a temporary extension of tax cuts for all those earning less than $250,000 and an extension on unemployment benefits while Congress continues to debate an end to the impasse. Several leading Republican Senators including Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas and Georgia's Johnny Isakson have called for a patch solution and compromise. But even in the Democrat-controlled Senate, Obama faces stiff opposition. House Republicans have rejected a plan that would have left tax rates in place for all but those with incomes above $1m. Boehner's own plan was brought down by a bloc of conservatives ruling out any tax increases whatsoever. To win approval in the Republican-controlled House, Obama would need a rare bipartisan vote with at least 26 Republicans joining all 191 Democrats in the vote. But according to a new Gallop poll Americans' optimism that Congress will reach a budget agreement before 1 January has waned over the past week. Fifty percent now believe a deal will be reached and 48% are doubtful, a change from the previous three weeks, when the solid majority of Americans were generally confident leaders would find a solution. The rest of the world is watching.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Passengers say injury toll 'could have been much worse' after two were killed and 11 hurt in Christmas Day crash-landing Survivors of a plane crash-landing in Burma on Christmas Day have told of their escape, as the airline said it had found the plane's black box and was investigating the accident, which killed two people. Details of the crash remain unclear, though Air Bagan and officials have blamed heavy fog. Two died and 11 were injured, including four foreigners, when the plan crashed into a rice paddy field and burst into flames. The ageing Fokker 100 jet was carrying 71 people, including 48 foreigners, from Rangoon via Mandalay to Heho airport, which is the gateway to the popular tourist destination Inle Lake. "We felt the first bump, then a few big bumps and then [started] sliding very fast," said Anna Bartsch, a 31-year-old Australian advertising executive. Her boyfriend, Stuart Benson, said the landing was like a rollercoaster ride. The plane came to a stop and they felt relief and then panic. Bartsch said: "In my window I saw the flames, and it was hot and we knew straight away we didn't have much time to get out." Passengers rushed up the aisle to the front door, which was initially stuck shut, she said. "We didn't know then that the wings had come off." The door was quickly forced open and passengers raced from the plane, some in shock and some suffering smoke inhalation. Once on safe ground, Bartsch said, she saw the pilot and co-pilot with bloodied faces and other people with serious burns. "It's amazing that the injuries were not more serious," she said. "It could have been much worse." Air Bagan said the plane's black box would be sent to Singapore for analysis. "The plane hit electrical cables about a mile from Heho airport as it descended and landed in rice fields," it said. Burma's information ministry said the pilot mistook a road near the airport for the runway. It was unclear if the plane made its crash-landing on the road or the rice field. All fatalities were Burmese citizens, including a man who was riding a motorcycle where the plane came down and a tour guide on board the plane. There were earlier reports of an 11-year-old child also among the dead. The accident has raised concerns about the safety standards of Burma's overburdened airlines as foreign visitors have flocked to the country, which is emerging from half a century of military rule. Air Bagan is one of half a dozen private airlines that fly domestic routes in Burma. It is a unit of Htoo Trading Company, which is owned by the business tycoon Tay Za.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Egypt's president make divisive new charter legally binding shortly after referendum result showing more than 60% support Egypt's controversial new constitution has been signed into law by President Mohammed Morsi, a day after he announced it had been approved by a large majority in a referendum that his opponents claim was marked by widespread irregularities. Critics say the new constitution, which was hurriedly drafted by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and its Salafist allies, is undemocratic and too Islamist, and that it could allow clerics to intervene in the lawmaking process and leave minority groups without proper legal protection. Results of the two-part referendum, announced on Tuesday, showed that an overwhelming 63.8% of Egyptians had approved the text, paving the way for a parliamentary elections in about two months. The result is the Islamists' third straight electoral victory since the country's former autocratic leader, Hosni Mubarak, was toppled last year. The referendum passed, however, on a low turnout of 32.9% of Egypt's 52 million eligible voters, amid allegations – rejected by Mori's supporters – that "fake judges" had supervised some of the polling. In a news conference on Tuesday night, Sami Abu al-Maati, the head of the country's electoral commission, rejected claims by the largely secular opposition that the vote had been rigged. According to a spokesman for Egypt's presidency, Morsi signed the decree, making the constitution legally binding late on Tuesday night. Although the new legal framework was supposed to be the cornerstone of the country's transition to democracy, its drafting has been deeply divisive. A number of key groups, including Coptic Christians and secular liberals, withdrew from the drafting process, saying it had been hijacked by the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies. For his part, Morsi has tried to argue that adopting the text quickly was crucial to ending a protracted period of turmoil and uncertainty in Egypt that had badly damaged the country's economy. Hours before the referendum result was announced, the authorities imposed a ban on travelling in or out of the country with more than $10,000 (£6,200) in foreign currency, a move apparently intended to halt capital flight. The rules were introduced after some Egyptians began withdrawing their savings from banks in fear of tougher currency restrictions. After the announcement that the new constitution had been signed into law, Morsi moved quickly to swear in new members of the country's shura council – the upper house of parliament – which he protected from dissolution by decree last month. The council currently includes 270 members, 90 of whom were appointed by Morsi on Monday, and will have legislative authority until a new lower house of parliament is elected. The Islamist-dominated council is expected to draft a law regulating the forthcoming parliamentary elections. Other items on the agenda may include laws on protests and the media. Top of the agenda, however, will be the country's economic woes. The government has begun a series of meetings with business people, trade unions, non-governmental organisations and other groups to convince them of the need for tax increases and spending cuts to resolve the financial crisis. "The government calls on the people not to worry about the country's economy," the parliamentary affairs minister, Mohamed Mahsoub, said in a speech to the council. "We are not facing an economic problem but a political one, and it is affecting the economic situation. We therefore urge all groups, opponents and brothers, to achieve wide reconciliation and consensus." Morsi will address the council on Saturday in a speech that is likely to be dominated by economic policy.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Egypt's president make divisive new charter legally binding shortly after referendum result showing more than 60% support Egypt's controversial new constitution has been signed into law by President Mohamed Morsi a day after he announced it had been approved by a large majority in a referendum that his opponents claim was marked by widespread irregularities. Critics say Morsi has pushed through the new constitution, hurriedly drafted by his Muslim Brotherhood and its Salafist allies. They say it is undemocratic and too Islamist, and that it could allow clerics to intervene in the lawmaking process and leave minority groups without proper legal protection. Results of the two-part referendum, announced on Tuesday, showed that an overwhelming 63.8% of Egyptians had approved the text, paving the way for a parliamentary elections in about two months. The result is the Islamists' third straight electoral victory since the country's former autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak was toppled last year. The referendum passed, however, on a low turnout of 32.9% of Egypt's 52 million eligible voters, amid allegations - rejected by Mori's supporters- that "fake judges" had supervised some of the polling. In a news conference on Tuesday night, Sami Abu Al Maati, the head of the country's electoral commission, rejected claims by the largely secular opposition that the vote had been rigged. According to a spokesman for Egypt's presidency, Morsi signed the decree, making the constitution legally binding late on Tuesday night. Although the new legal framework was supposed to be the cornerstone of the country's transition to democracy, its drafting has been deeply divisive. A number of key groups, including Coptic Christians and secular liberals, withdrew from the drafting process, saying it had been hijacked by the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies. For his part, Morsi has tried to argue that adopting the text quickly was crucial to ending a protracted period of turmoil and uncertainty in Egypt that had badly damaged the country's economy. Hours before the referendum result was announced, the authorities imposed a new ban on travelling in or out of the country with more than $10,000 (£6,200) in foreign currency, a move apparently intended to halt capital flight. The rules were introduced after some Egyptians began withdrawing their savings from banks in fear of tougher currency restrictions. After the announcement that the new constitution had beensigned into law, Morsi moved quickly to swear in new members of the country's Shura Council, or upper house of parliament, which he protected from dissolution by decree last month. The council currently includes 270 members, 90 of whom were appointed by Morsi on Monday, and will have legislative authority until a new lower house of parliament is elected. The Islamist-dominated council is expected to draft a law regulating the upcoming parliamentary elections. Other items on the agenda may include laws on protests and the media. Top of the agenda, however, will be the country's economic woes. The government has begun a series of meetings with businessmen, trade unions, NGOs and other groups to persuade them of the need for tax increases and spending cuts to resolve the financial crisis. "The government calls on the people not to worry about the country's economy," the parliamentary affairs minister, Mohamed Mahsoub, said in a speech to the council. "We are not facing an economic problem but a political one, and it is affecting the economic situation. We therefore urge all groups, opponents and brothers, to achieve wide reconciliation and consensus." Morsi will address the council on Saturday in a speech likely to be dominated by economic policy.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Major General Abdelaziz Jassim al-Shalal says army has 'committed massacres against an unarmed population' The head of Syria's military police has defected from the army and declared allegiance to the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. Major General Abdelaziz Jassim al-Shalal was shown making a statement confirming his defection in a video broadcast on al-Arabiya TV late on Tuesday, saying he was joining "the people's revolution". The defection came as a delegation of Syrian officials headed to Moscow on Wednesday to discuss proposals for ending the conflict following talks with the UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi in Damascus this week. Wearing his uniform with a red insignia on the shoulder, Shalal spoke from a desk in a room in an undisclosed location. Some rebel sources said he had fled to Turkey. It was not clear when Shalal changed sides. "The army has destroyed cities and villages and has committed massacres against an unarmed population that took to the streets to demand freedom," he said. "Long live free Syria." The defection will be a blow to morale for Assad's forces, which are hitting back at a string of rebel advances across the country. It follows the defections of dozens of other generals since Syria's crisis began in March 2011. In July Brigadier General Manaf Tlass was the first member of Assad's inner circle to break ranks and join the opposition. Shalal, however, is one of the most senior, and held a top post at the time he left. In his statement he said the army had been "derailed from its basic mission of protecting the people and … become a gang for killing and destruction". He accused the military of "destroying cities and villages and committing massacres against our innocent people who came out to demand freedom". Thousands of Syrian soldiers have defected over the past 21 months and many of them are now fighting against government forces. Many have cited attacks on civilians as the reason they switched sides. A Syrian security source confirmed Shalal's defection but played down its significance. "Shalal did defect but he was due to retire in a month and he only defected to play hero," the source said. A group of Syrian foreign ministry officials headed to Moscow to discuss proposals apparently made by Brahimi. The deputy foreign minister, Faisal Makdad, and an aide will sound out Russian officials on the details of meetings with Brahimi, a Syrian security source said. A Lebanese official close to Assad's government said Syrian officials were upbeat after talks with the UN-Arab League envoy, who met the Syrian foreign minister, Walid Moualem, on Tuesday and Assad himself the day before. "There is a new mood now and something good is happening," the official said, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. "Of course now they [Syrian officials] want to meet with their allies to discuss these new developments." More than 44,000 Syrians have died in the revolt against four decades of Assad family rule, a conflict that began with peaceful protests and which has descended into civil war. Brahimi is in Syria for a week of talks with government officials and some dissidents, but has so far said nothing about any new proposals or developments. Earlier in December he held tripartite meetings between Russia, Syria's main arms supplier and an Assad ally, and the United States, which has thrown its weight behind the opposition. While both sides said they wanted a political settlement, neither changed their stance on Assad. Brahimi's previous proposal centred on a transitional government which left open Assad's future role, something which became a sticking point between the government, the opposition and foreign powers backing different sides. The latest moves emerged as a video posted on Wednesday claimed government shelling in the northern Syrian province of Raqqa had killed about 20 people, at least eight of them children,. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published a video showing rows of the blood-stained bodies laid out on blankets. The sound of crying relatives could be heard in the background. It was unclear when the attack in the village of al-Qahtania happened.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Attacker kills three Afghan civilians and security guard at base in Khost province used by Nato troops and CIA A suicide bomber driving a minibus full of explosives has attacked a base in eastern Afghanistan used by Nato troops and CIA operatives, killing three Afghan civilians and a security guard and injuring at least seven others. The attacker struck when his vehicle was detained at a checkpoint a short distance from the east gate of the base in Khost province, also known to locals as "the old airport", the deputy provincial governor Abdul Waheed Patan told the Guardian. "The security people stopped the bus at the checkpoint, but he kept going for a few more metres then detonated the explosives," Patan said by phone from Khost. "Two drivers who bring passengers from town to the area near the base, one civilian passerby and one security guard were killed." The provincial police chief, General Abdul Qayoum Bakaizoi, confirmed the attack had happened at around 8am near one of two main gates to Forward Operating Base (FOB) Chapman. The attack came almost exactly three years after a much more devastating suicide bomber hit US intelligence officers operating out of FOB Chapman. A Jordanian doctor and militant posing as a double agent, he killed the station chief and six other CIA employees as well as a Jordanian intelligence official. The assault on 30 December 2009 was the deadliest on the CIA in more than two decades, and the second worst in the agency's history. In contrast, the Boxing Day attacker did not make it inside FOB Chapman, and no foreign soldiers were killed in the attack, a spokesman for the Nato-led coalition said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing by text message and email, saying they had targeted dozens of Afghans working for foreign forces. Patan blamed militants who had crossed over from nearby Pakistan. "We have 184km [114 miles] of border with Pakistan. The main problem is that we have no border control so people can just come across." Khost is one of the most dangerous provinces in Afghanistan, a stronghold of the Haqqani network, perhaps the most ruthless and tightly organised of the militant groups that nominally defer to Taliban leadership of the insurgency. The attack comes just two days after a policewoman shot dead a US adviser in police headquarters in Kabul, the latest in a string of insider shootings by Afghan police and soldiers of the foreigners meant to be mentoring or fighting alongside them. The interior ministry spokesman said the shooter was an Iranian national, who had married an Afghan and years ago got fake papers that allowed her to live and work in Afghanistan. She had displayed "unstable behaviour" and investigators had discovered no links to the Taliban. The insurgents, who very rarely use female combatants, denied any role in the killing. • Mokhtar Amiri contributed reporting
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Bill containing measure is approved by Russian parliament and now goes to president, who can either sign it or turn it down The upper chamber of Russia's parliament has voted unanimously in favour of a measure banning Americans from adopting Russian children. It now goes to the president, Vladimir Putin, to sign or turn down. The bill is one part of a larger measure by MPs retaliating against a recently signed US law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators. Some senior government officials, including the foreign minister, have spoken against the bill, arguing that it would be in violation of Russia's constitution and international obligations. Several people protesting against the bill were detained outside the Federation Council on Wednesday morning. Critics of the bill say it victimises orphans by depriving them of an opportunity to escape often dismal Russian orphanages. There are about 740,000 children without parental custody in Russia.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | News of defection comes as activists say 20 people, including eight children, have been killed by shelling in north of country The head of Syria's military police has defected from the army and declared allegiance to the uprising against the president, Bashar al-Assad, according to a video and a Syrian security source. The news came as government shelling in the northern province of Raqqa killed about 20 people, at least eight of them children, according to a video posted by activists on Wednesday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published a video showing rows of the blood-stained bodies laid out on blankets. The sound of crying relatives could be heard in the background. The shelling hit the province's al-Qahtania village, but it was unclear when the attack happened. The high-level defection, while not a strategically significant development in the 21-month-old conflict, will be a blow to morale for Assad's forces, which are hitting back at a string of rebel advances across the country. "I am General Abdelaziz Jassim al-Shalal, head of the military police. I have defected because of the deviation of the army from its primary duty of protecting the country and its transformation into gangs of killing and destruction," the officer said in a video published on YouTube. A Syrian security source confirmed the defection but played down its significance. "Shalal did defect but he was due to retire in a month and he only defected to play hero," the source said. Wearing a camouflage uniform with red officer insignia on the shoulder, Shalal spoke from a desk in a room in an undisclosed location. Some rebel sources said he had fled to Turkey. It was not clear when Shalal had changed sides. "The army has destroyed cities and villages and has committed massacres against an unarmed population that took to the streets to demand freedom," he said. "Long live free Syria."
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | A vehicle driven by a suicide bomber exploded at the gate of a US military base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing the attacker and three Afghans, Afghan police said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Police said a local guard who questioned the driver at the gate of Camp Chapman was killed along with two civilians and the assailant. The camp is located next to the airport of the capital of Khost province, which borders Pakistan. Chapman and nearby Camp Salerno had been frequently targeted by militants in the past, but violent incidents have decreased considerably in recent months. A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in an email that the bomber targeted Afghan police manning the gate and Afghans working for the Americans entering the base. He claimed high casualties were inflicted. Nato operates with more than 100,000 troops in the country, including 66,000 American forces. It is handing most combat operations over to the Afghans in preparation for a pullout from the country in 2014. Militant groups, including the Taliban, rarely face Nato troops head-on and rely mainly on roadside bombs and suicide attacks. Nato forces and foreign civilians increasingly have been attacked by rogue Afghan military and police, eroding trust between the allies. On Tuesday the interior ministry said a policewoman who killed an American contractor in Kabul a day earlier was a native Iranian who came to Afghanistan and displayed "unstable behaviour" but had no known links to militants. The policewoman, identified as Sergeant Nargas, shot 49-year-old Joseph Griffin, of Mansfield, Georgia, on Monday, the first such shooting by a woman in the spate of insider attacks. Nargas walked into a heavily guarded compound in the heart of Kabul, confronted Griffin and shot him once with her pistol. The US-based security firm DynCorp International said on its website that Griffin was a US military veteran who had previously worked with law enforcement agencies in the United States. In Kabul he was under contract to the Nato military command to advise the Afghan police force. The ministry spokesman, Sediq Sediqi, told a news conference that Nargas, who uses one name like many in the country, was born in Tehran where she married an Afghan. She moved to the country 10 years ago after her husband obtained fake documents enabling her to live and work there. A mother of four in her early 30s, she joined the police five years ago, held various positions and had a clean record, he said. Sediqi produced an Iranian passport that he said was found at her home. No militant group has claimed responsibility for the killing. The chief investigator of the case, Police General Mohammad Zahir, said that during interrogation the policewoman said she had plans to kill either the Kabul governor, city police chief or Zahir himself, but when she realised that penetrating the last security cordons to reach them would be too difficult, she saw "a foreigner" and turned her weapon on him. There have been 60 insider attacks this year against foreign military and civilian personnel, compared to 21 in 2011. This surge presents another looming security issue as Nato prepares to pull out almost all of its forces by 2014, putting the war against the Taliban and other militant groups largely in the hands of the Afghans. More than 50 Afghan members of the government's security forces also died this year in attacks by their own colleagues. The Taliban claims such incidents reflect a growing popular opposition to the foreign military presence and the Kabul government.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | A vehicle driven by a suicide bomber exploded at the gate of a major US military base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing the attacker and three Afghans, Afghan police said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Police General Abdul Qayum Baqizai said a local guard who questioned the vehicle driver at the gate of Camp Chapman was killed along with two civilians and the assailant. The camp is located next to the airport of the capital of Khost province, which borders Pakistan. Chapman and nearby Camp Salerno had been frequently targeted by militants in the past, but violent incidents have decreased considerably in recent months. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an email that the bomber targeted Afghan police manning the gate and Afghans working for the Americans entering the base. He claimed high casualties were inflicted. Nato operates with more than 100,000 troops in the country, including 66,000 American forces. It is handing most combat operations over to the Afghans in preparation for a pullout from the country in 2014. Militant groups, including the Taliban, rarely face Nato troops head-on and rely mainly on roadside bombs and suicide attacks. Nato forces and foreign civilians have also been increasingly attacked by rogue Afghan military and police, eroding trust between the allies. On Tuesday, the interior ministry said a policewoman who killed an American contractor in Kabul a day earlier was a native Iranian who came to Afghanistan and displayed "unstable behaviour" but had no known links to militants. The policewoman, identified as Sergeant Nargas, shot 49-year-old Joseph Griffin, of Mansfield, Georgia, on Monday, in the first such shooting by a woman in the spate of insider attacks. Nargas walked into a heavily-guarded compound in the heart of Kabul, confronted Griffin and shot him once with her pistol. The US-based security firm DynCorp International said on its website that Griffin was a US military veteran who earlier worked with law enforcement agencies in the United States. In Kabul, he was under contract to the Nato military command to advise the Afghan police force. The ministry spokesman, Sediq Sediqi, told a news conference that Nargas, who uses one name like many in the country, was born in Tehran, where she married an Afghan. She moved to the country 10 years ago, after her husband obtained fake documents enabling her to live and work there. A mother of four in her early 30s, she joined the police five years ago, held various positions and had a clean record, he said. Sediqi produced an Iranian passport that he said was found at her home. No militant group has claimed responsibility for the killing. The chief investigator of the case, Police General Mohammad Zahir, said that during interrogation, the policewoman said she had plans to kill either the Kabul governor, city police chief or Zahir himself, but when she realised that penetrating the last security cordons to reach them would be too difficult, she saw "a foreigner" and turned her weapon on him. There have been 60 insider attacks this year against foreign military and civilian personnel, compared to 21 in 2011. This surge presents another looming security issue as Nato prepares to pull out almost all of its forces by 2014, putting the war against the Taliban and other militant groups largely in the hands of the Afghans. More than 50 Afghan members of the government's security forces also have died this year in attacks by their own colleagues. The Taliban claims such incidents reflect a growing popular opposition to the foreign military presence and the Kabul government.
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