FBI to help investigate leak of documents on Afghan war

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has called in the FBI to help with the inquiry into the leaking of more than 90,000 classified military records.

The documents, published online on Sunday, give details of the Afghan war.

Mr Gates said they were potentially dangerous for US troops and allies, and an “aggressive investigation” would determine how the leaks occurred.

The Wikileaks website, which posted the documents, said they had been compiled by a variety of US units in 2004-09.

“The battlefield consequences of the release of these documents are potentially severe and dangerous for our troops, our allies and Afghan partners, and may well damage our relationships and reputation in that key part of the world,” Mr Gates told reporters on Thursday.

He said intelligence sources and methods, as well as military tactics could “become known to our adversaries”.

Mr Gates added that he had called FBI director Robert Muller on Wednesday and “asked for the FBI’s assistance in our investigation as a partner”.
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Venezuela leader Hugo Chavez severs ties with Colombia

Venezuela has broken off diplomatic relations with Colombia.

In the latest turn for the worse in the strained relations between the two countries, the Venezuelan government ordered Colombian diplomats to leave by Sunday.

President Hugo Chavez said he had “no choice” after Colombia accused Venezuela of being a haven for guerrillas – a charge he denies.

He said that he was acting “out of dignity” in severing ties.

He also ordered the military to be on maximum alert on Venezuela’s border with Colombia.

President Chavez made his announcement shortly after a meeting of the Organisation of American States (OAS) in Washington, at which Colombia presented videos, maps and photos to show that Marxist Farc and ELN rebels have bases in Venezuela.

The Colombian Ambassador to the OAS, Luis Alfonso Hoyos, said the material was clear evidence that some 1,500 Colombian rebels were sheltering at numerous camps inside Venezuela.
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U.N., North Korea to discuss sinking of South Korean ship

(CNN) — North Korea has agreed to hold talks Friday with the U.S.-led U.N. Command on the peninsula over the sinking of a South Korean warship.

It will be the second meeting between the two parties since the March attack on the Cheonan, which killed 46 South Korean sailors. An international investigation blamed North Korea for the sinking.

Officers from both sides will meet in Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. The talks are designed to set the stage for higher-level discussions on the contentious naval incident.

The demilitarized zone was created as part of the armistice signed between North and South Korea in 1953 that halted fighting in the Korean War, but the war has never officially ended.

The United Nations and North Korea began occasional meetings between generals — “general officer talks” — at Panmunjom in 1998 in an effort to lessen tensions. There have been 17 such meetings so far.

Earlier this month, the United Nations formally condemned the sinking of the Cheonan but did not specifically name North Korea.
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‘No question’ of Chad arresting Sudan President Bashir

Omar al-Bashir was greeted warmly by his Chadian counterpart in Ndjamena

Chad’s government has said there can be no question of the Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir, being arrested during his current visit to the country.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has said Mr Bashir should be detained on charges of genocide and war crimes.

Chad recognises the ICC, but a minister insisted that it was a sovereign state which did not depend on the injunctions of international organisations.

Mr Bashir, who denies the charges, is attending a meeting of a regional bloc.

It is the first time he has set foot in a country which is an ICC member since he was first indicted in 2009.

The charges relate to the conflict in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, which the UN estimates has cost the lives of 300,000 people and displaced a further 2.7 million.
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The law of the weed

California, ever a global leader in cannabis matters, may forge ahead again

IN 1971 a group of teenagers in San Rafael, north of San Francisco, started meeting after school, at 4:20PM, to get high. The habit spread, and 420 became code for fun time among potheads worldwide. Ever since, California has remained in the vanguard of global cannabis culture. Oaksterdam University in Oakland is today unique in the world as a sort of Aristotelian lyceum for the study of all aspects—horticultural, scientific, historical—of the weed.

Legally, California has also been a pioneer, at least within America. In 1996 it was the first state to allow marijuana to be grown and consumed for medicinal purposes. Since then, 13 states and the District of Columbia have followed, and others are considering it. But this year California may set a more fundamental, and global, precedent. It may become the first jurisdiction in the world to legalise, regulate and tax the consumption, production and distribution of marijuana.

Other Western countries—from Argentina to Belgium and Portugal—have liberalised their marijuana laws in recent decades. Some places, such as the Netherlands and parts of Australia, have in effect decriminalised the use of cannabis. But no country has yet gone all the way.
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US Supreme Court extends gun rights

The US Supreme Court has restricted the rights of state and city governments to enforce controls on gun ownership.

The US’s highest court ruled by 5-4 that a ban on handgun ownership in the city of Chicago was unconstitutional.

Justices said the US Constitution protected the right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defence.

The ruling could potentially change laws on gun ownership in many of the 50 US states.

Debate over the exact meaning of the constitutional right to keep and bear arms has raged for years in the US.

The amendment reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”

Two years ago, the court ruled a ban on handguns in Washington DC was unconstitutional – declaring that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to possess guns, at least for purposes of self-defence in the home.
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Help them to help themselves

The EU should not just hector China about universal values but encourage it to follow its own laws

THE European press has been filled with reports of the Universal Expo in Shanghai. They make for chirpy reading. The Spanish are offering Chinese visitors tortillas at their pavilion. In the Belgian pavilion (shared with the European Union), freshly made chocolates are being handed out every 20 minutes, drawing terrific crowds. France’s efforts have included a mock mass wedding for Chinese couples, who received a “Romantic Wedding” certificate and invitations to visit France in person.

The message is clear enough. This is not Europe as a shining city on the hill, a beacon of democracy and supranational co-operation. This is Europe as a nice place to shop and go on holiday. To be fair, the EU’s (rather small) stand in Shanghai talks about climate change and human rights. But such values are absent from European press reporting: the buzz is all about luring Chinese tourists and investment to recession-hit Europe.

This marks a rapid shift. Until recently European leaders visiting China felt obliged to speak out on human rights. A decade ago, a diplomat recalls, European investment in China was routinely linked to the appointment of a foreign general manager. Now, he notes: “the Chinese are buying Volvo.” Five years ago, Euro-boosters still argued that the EU—a peaceable club with an enviable social model and a lucrative internal market—was uniquely positioned to make China a “responsible stakeholder” and an ally in a multipolar world order.
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G20 summit agrees on deficit cuts by 2013

Leaders at the G20 summit in Canada have agreed to cut national budget deficits without stunting economic growth.

Summit host Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the group’s richest members should halve their deficits within three years.

Correspondents note that every major G20 country had already committed to that target before the summit.

Proposals for a global levy on banks have been dropped, Mr Harper said.

Instead, that will be left to individual countries.

Mr Harper also said government debt, as a proportion of the economy, “should be at least stabilised or on a downward trend by 2016″.

He added: “All leaders recognise that fiscal consolidation is not an end in itself. There will be a continued role for ongoing stimulus in the short term as we develop the framework for strong sustainable and balanced growth.”
Renminbi row

Speaking to reporters after the summit, US President Barack Obama said tighter regulations, including bigger capital requirements for banks, would be addressed at the next G20 summit in Seoul, South Korea, in November.
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Australia has first woman PM as Gillard topples Rudd

Australia’s Julia Gillard has become the country’s first female prime minister after former PM Kevin Rudd stood aside from a party ballot.

The change in the leadership of the ruling Labor Party comes just months ahead of a general election.

Correspondents say Mr Rudd did not stand in the vote, knowing he would suffer an embarrassing defeat.

The Labor Party has suffered a sharp drop in support in recent opinion polls.

Ms Gillard’s swearing in as prime minister will be a formality.

“I feel very honoured, I will be making a full statement very shortly,” she told reporters after emerging from the party vote at Parliament House in Canberra.

A party spokesman said Ms Gillard had stood unopposed at a vote of the Labor Party’s 112 members of parliament at a meeting on Thursday morning.
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US Afghan commander Stanley McChrystal fired by Obama

The commander of multinational forces in Afghanistan, Gen Stanley McChrystal, has been dismissed by US President Barack Obama after critical comments about senior administration officials.

He will be replaced by Gen David Petraeus, who led the “surge” in Iraq.

Mr Obama insisted it was “a change in personnel but not a change in policy”.

In a profile in Rolling Stone magazine, Gen McChrystal and aides were quoted as making disparaging remarks about Mr Obama and senior colleagues.

Gen McChrystal himself described the period last year when President Obama was slowly moving towards the approval of the deployment of thousands more US soldiers to Afghanistan as “painful”.

And referring to a key Oval Office meeting between Mr Obama and Gen McChrystal a year ago, an aide of Gen McChrystal said the president “didn’t seem very engaged. The boss [Gen McChrystal] was pretty disappointed”.
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