In This Edition

 

Pakistanis stage demonstrations across the country protesting against the US and NATO's airstrike on Pakistani military checkpoint that killed 24 people.

 

Iranian diplomats expelled from London in retaliation for attacks on British compounds in Tehran arrive home.

 

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta calls on Israel to take diplomatic steps to address the growing isolation in the Middle East.

 

Two giant pandas are leaving their home in southwest China and being sent as gifts to Scotland.

 

 

Hot Issue Reports

 

Pakistanis stage anti-US protests following killing of soldiers

Pakistanis have staged demonstrations across various cities in protest against the United States and NATO following a recent airstrike on Pakistani soil that killed 24 people.

 

In Karachi, around a thousand people took to the streets to vent their fury.

 

Protesters chanted, "Whoever is a friend of the United States is a traitor to this land," while others burned an American flag.

 

In the capital Islamabad, hundreds of activists of various religious and political backgrounds took part in the protest.

Mulana Hafeez, a local party leader, says Pakistan should cease relations with the United States.

 

"The Pakistani government should close down airspace with America and expel the ambassador. The US embassy should close down. This is our reaction. The Pakistani government should cut down relations."

 

Last week's bombing of two Pakistani border checkpoints by American aircraft left two dozen soldiers dead and sparked a major crisis in relations between Washington and Islamabad.

 

NATO and the U.S. have expressed regret but rejected Pakistani descriptions of the incident as a deliberate act of aggression.

 

 

Investigation of NATO attack on Pak underway: Pentagon

The Pentagon says last weekend's NATO airstrike against northwest Pakistan's military checkpoint was part of a "military engagement."

 

U.S. Military spokesman Captain John Kirby briefed the press that the Pentagon has "expressed remorse and regret for the loss of life" but stopped short of apologizing for the NATO airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

 

"In this case, this was clearly a military engagement. It is under investigation, and we are going to let that investigation proceed, and we are going to go from there."

 

The attack prompted Islamabad to close several border gates, a move that will seriously impact the United States' ability to deliver supplies to troops in Afghanistan.

 

Kirby said there had been no "appreciable impact" on the US' ability to operate inside Afghanistan, but acknowledged that it had only been several days since the gates had been closed.

 

Prior to the incident, half of all supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan were transported into the country via Pakistani border crossings.

 

U.S. Defense Sec laments Israel's growing isolation in the Middle East

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has called on Israel to take diplomatic steps to address what he described as its growing isolation in the Middle East.

 

Panetta made the remarks at a Brookings Institution forum in Washington. He stressed U.S. efforts to bolster regional stability and to safeguard Israel's security.

 

"Israel, too, has a responsibility to pursue these shared goals -- to build regional support for Israel and the United States' security objectives."

 

But he adds that the importance of strong diplomacy cannot be overestimated.

 

"I believe security is dependent on a strong military but it is also dependent on strong diplomacy. And unfortunately, over the past year, we've seen Israel's isolation from its traditional security partners in the region grow."

 

Panetta also lamented the moribund peace process between Israel and Palestine.

 

Panetta's comments echoes remarks he made on a visit to Israel in October, his first since taking over as defense secretary in September.

 

Israel's relations with Turkey has worsened since last year when Israeli commandos boarded an aid flotilla challenging a naval blockade of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, killing nine Turks in ensuing clashes.

 

Israel is also closely watching developments in Egypt, where the country's new rulers may be more susceptible to widespread anti-Israeli sentiment than it was under ousted president, Hosni Mubarak.

 

 

Surveillance footage of alleged recent assassination attempt on Iraqi PM

Iraqi military spokesman Qassim al-Moussawi says an explosion last Monday in the Green Zone, a protected area in central Baghdad, was an assassination attempt against Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki.

 

"Military intelligence suggests that the car was trying to get into the Parliament parking lot to park there and wait for the arrival of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki to target him."

 

Al-Moussawi says an attacker was able to get a vehicle carrying about 20 kilograms of explosives into the Green Zone and then tried to join a convoy of other vehicles going into the parliament grounds.

 

But at a checkpoint leading into the parliament compound, guards prevented the driver from going any farther because he did not have proper authorisation.

 

The driver then drove to a parking area just opposite the parliament entrance where many lawmakers or their staff park, and the vehicle exploded seconds later.

 

Al-Moussawi says members from an extremist group have confessed that the bomb was supposed to go off when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visited the parliament during an upcoming session.

 

Green Zone in central Baghdad is the most protected area in Iraq and houses the US Embassy, the Iraqi parliament and the homes of many Iraqi government officials.

 

Iranian diplomats expelled from Britain arrive in Tehran

Iranian diplomats expelled from London in retaliation for attacks on British compounds in Tehran have arrived home, sealing Iran's most serious diplomatic rift with the West in decades.

 

About 150 supporters waiting with flower necklaces had gathered at Tehran airport to give the roughly two dozen diplomats and their families a hero's welcome.

 

A student demonstrator spoke on the condition of anonymity.

 

"We have come here to welcome the ambassador of Iran from the UK. We are very happy that they have returned. We don't need an Iranian embassy there."

 

But the Iranian government, apparently opposed to any high-profile display that could worsen the fallout, took the diplomats off unseen from a backdoor.

 

The storming of the British Embassy and residential complex earlier this week has deepened Iran's isolation, which has grown over the decade-long standoff with the West over its nuclear programme.

 

Germany, France and the Netherlands have recalled their ambassadors, and Italy and Spain summoned Iranian envoys to condemn the attacks.

 

It amounted to the most serious diplomatic fallout with the West since the 1979 takeover of the US Embassy after the Islamic Revolution.

 

Iran's relations with Britain have become increasingly strained in recent months, largely due to tensions over Tehran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a key component of its nuclear programme.

 

Egypt announces initial election results

Egypt's election commission has announced an initial parliament election results, saying voters cast ballots in the highest turnout in the country's modern history.

 

The voting was the first of three rounds for about 30 percent of the 498 seats in the People's Assembly, the lower house.

Abdel-Mooaez Ibrahim, head of the High Election Commission, described the turnout as "the highest since the time of pharaohs."

 

"The total number of voters in these elections is 13, 614, 525 and the total who voted in this election is 8,449,115. So, the percentage of eligible voters who took part is 62 percent. This is the highest since the time of pharaohs in Egypt".

But many voters fear that the political parties are only motivated by their self-interest.

 

Atef Dawoud is worried about factions emerging in Egyptian politics.

 

"How we can hold a fair election at this time unless something tricky happens? I think deals have been done. This would divide Egyptians into factions. After this election, rifts could erupt between Muslims and Christians."

 

The election is the first of its kind since uprisings ousted long-serving Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in February.

 

Three more rounds before March will elect the less powerful upper house.

 

Chavez opens summit of Latin America and Caribbean leaders; roundtable

Heads of state and ministers representing 33 Latin American and Caribbean nations are now attending a two-day summit in Caracas, Venezuela.

 

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is hosting the meeting of a new regional bloc: the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

 

Chavez says he hopes it acts as a counterweight to US and Canada and put an end to Washington's hegemonic influence in the American continent.

 

"The then president, it was 1823, James Monroe launched this thesis: America for the Americans. Already before that, US president Thomas Jefferson had said the destiny of the US would be to swallow one by one all the old Spanish colonies. This is how the US were born. It is in their nature. Let's hope they change someday."

 

The summit is Chavez's international debut after months of cancer treatment that forced him to postpone the meeting originally scheduled for July.

 

The 33-nation bloc includes every country in Latin America and the Caribbean.

 

Unlike the Washington-based Organisation of American States, or OAS, it will have Cuba as a full member and will exclude the US and Canada.

 

US unemployment lowest in over two years

The U.S. Labor Department says the country's unemployment rate is down to 8.6 percent in November, the lowest in two-and-a-half years.

 

Figures indicate the U.S. added 120-thousand jobs last month.

 

President Barack Obama welcomed the news and encouraged Congress to extend a tax cut that applies to 160 million Americans but is set to expire at year's end.

 

"We need to keep that growth going. Right now, that means Congress needs to extend the payroll tax cut for working Americans for another year. Congress needs to renew unemployment insurance for Americans who are still out there pounding the pavement looking for work. Failure to take either of these steps would be a significant blow to our economy."

 

Unemployment was 9 percent in October and had been stuck near or above that level since mid-2008.

 

But even with the recent gains, analysts say the U.S. economy is not close to replacing jobs lost in the recession.

 

Employers began shedding workers in February 2008 and cut nearly 8.7 million jobs for the next 25 months.

The economy has just regained about 2.5 million jobs.

 

Honda recalls 300-thousand vehicles for airbag problems

Japanese automaker Honda has announced a recall of 304-thousand vehicles globally for airbags that may inflate with too much pressure during crashes.

 

The air bags send metal and plastic pieces flying and could cause injuries or deaths.

 

Honda says so far, there have been 20 accidents related to this problem, including two deaths in the United States in 2009. It says the cause of the problem was the use of incorrect material in the chemical used to deploy air bags.

 

Ali al-Saffar, chief automotive analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, says the recall has not come at a good moment for Honda.

 

"At a time when South Korean manufacturers are on the up, and Honda is losing market share, particularly in the United States, where it has fallen from ten-and-a-half percent to nine percent this year, it just compounds some of its miseries really."

 

The latest recall is an expansion of recalls for the same problem in 2008, which were carried out again in 2009 as well as last year.

 

The Tokyo-based automaker says the recall now covers a total of about two million vehicles worldwide.

 

Two giant pandas to stay in Scotland for ten years as gift

Two giant pandas will leave their home in southwest China and be sent as gifts to zookeepers in Scotland.

 

Tian Tian and Yang Guang, whose names mean Sweetie and Sunshine in English, will make the trip by plane on Sunday.

The eight-year-old pair has been raised at the Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center in Ya'an, Sichuan Province.　　

 

Xie Hao, a keeper at the center, has known them both since they were young.

 

"Tian Tian is a female panda, so she is relatively shy and much more aware of her surroundings. So perhaps she will need longer to acclimatize to the new environment. Yang Guang is livelier, likes to be close to people, and is used to having lots of people around. He may get used to it faster."　

 

The pandas will be kept at Edinburgh Zoo for a ten-year period, after which they and any babies they have will return to China.

 

Since the 1950s, China has given pandas to other nations as gestures of goodwill in what has come to be known as panda diplomacy.

 

China gave its first pair of giant pandas to Britain in 1974.

 

Mexico suffers worst drought in 70 years

Mexico is suffering its worst drought in at least 70 years with some 1.7 million farm animals dead and more than 2 million acres of crops withered.

 

Five states in northern Mexico have borne the brunt of the disaster.

 

Miguel Alonso, Governor of Zacatecas, says the situation there is serious.

 

"The situation on the Zacatecas fields is really grave. Farmers find it impossible to produce even their own food."

The government is loading water to 2.5 million people living in villages scattered across the northern states. Authorities are also providing food for poor farmers who have lost all their crops.

 

The drought started last fall with the arrival of the La Nina weather system that causes below-normal rainfall.

 

CRI marks 70th Anniversary

China's state-run broadcaster China Radio International (CRI) marked its 70th founding anniversary on Saturday at a high-profile ceremony in Beijing.

 

With the highest number of language services among international broadcasters, CRI now determines to make it a leading multi-media organization in the world. Wei Tong has more.

 

The celebratory event at the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing drew the attendance of more than 700 people, including senior publicity officials, foreign ambassadors and foreign audience representatives.

 

Liu Yunshan, head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, made remarks at the ceremony. He praised CRI as a driving force in overseas broadcasting, and called on CRI to accelerate the establishment of a modern international media group.

 

"China Radio International, as the main force in China's overseas broadcasting, should revolve around the central task of the party and state. It should well depict China's economic development and people's lives. Meanwhile, CRI should vividly demonstrate the essence and unique glamour of the Chinese culture and continuously deepen the understanding of the world about China and its development path."

 

CRI's history traces back to December 3rd, 1941, when the then Yan'an New China Broadcasting Station launched its first service in Japanese.

 

CRI now boasts the greatest number of language services among international media around the globe. It disseminates information in 61 languages via a wide range of means, including radio, television, newspapers, internet and mobile phones.

 

CRI listeners from across the globe have sent their best wishes to their beloved radio.

 

"I listen to China radio on AM radio in my town of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. And I listen every day and I want to send my best wishes to the Chinese people on the 70th anniversary of China Radio International."

 

"Happy birthday to China Radio International! We're delighted that listeners in Japan can get a good understanding about China's politics, economy and culture through CRI."

 

While speaking at the ceremony, CRI Director-General Wang Gengnian, vowed to further the achievement of the media organization.

 

"At present, China Radio International stands at an important point in its development. We should speed up the pace of building it a modern and comprehensive international media. Also we must continuously improve our communication skills and come up with more programs so as to open a new chapter of CRI."

 

Several foreign dignitaries, including Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Italian President Giorgio Napolitano have sent congratulatory letters for the event.

 

China Daily: New Power Rates Will Lower Electricity Use

 

China's National Development and Reform Commission will raise electricity rates for nonresidential users and implement a three-tier residential pricing system based on higher fees for those who consume more electricity.

 

An editorial in "China Daily" praised the move and said it expects the policy to help with the country's efforts to address climate change. It goes on to say the new three-tier pricing system means that the 5 percent of residential users who consume the most electricity will be charged the highest price, while rates will remain the same for some 80 percent of consumers. It also notes that the policy will give consumers with financial difficulties 10 to 15 kilowatts of free electricity each month.

 

The editorial continues that the proposed pricing system ultimately will be an effective way to reduce the financial burden on most residential electricity users by increasing power prices as well as decrease the country's demand for energy.

 

The editorial expects that higher fees for residential consumers who consume a lot of electricity will encourage them to reduce their energy use. It points out that the policy also will be in line with China's efforts to address climate change and protect the environment.

 

In conclusion, the editorial says local governments should make good practical plans to ensure the new pricing system works effectively so that consumers who use excessive amounts of power pay more for their "un-green" lifestyles.