Pakistan bans for 12 hour access to Twitter for "blasphemy"

Pakistan banned access to Twitter yesterday because of a material "blasphemous," said a Pakistani leader, and normal service was restored after 12 hours. The Government did not specify which users or messages led to the ban on the microblogging site or by which was again allowed to use so quickly.   Any depiction of the prophet Muhammad is considered anti-Islamic and blasphemous by Muslims, who constitute the overwhelming majority of the population in Pakistan. Pakistan blocked access to Facebook in May 2010 for about two weeks because people made ​​a drawing of Mohammed. Twitter, YouTube and about 1 000 other sites were also blocked by its alleged blasphemous content. The Association of Internet Service Providers in Pakistan said it had asked its members Twitter block indefinitely, but the government gave no reason.   Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, active user of Twitter, said on its website on Sunday night called on Prime Minister to end the ban. "I spoke with Prime Minister and informed him how you feel people before the ban. Prime Minister ordered the reopening of Twitter, "tweeted Malik. 

NATO decides to Afghanistan strategy The use of combat troops is to end in 2013

Everything is going according to plan! This is the message of the NATO summit to withdraw from Afghanistan. France also wants to continue to work hard, even if the combat troops return to their homeland as soon as 2012. The armed forces will remain after 2014, stationed in the Hindu Kush, then with a new UN mandate. The goal is clear: By the end of 2014, the use of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan are finished. In Chicago, the 28 NATO countries agreed with the other 22 States that participate in the Force, as the retreat should be organized. U.S. President Barack Obama announced that should pass until the summer of 2013, all combat troops to the ISAF their responsibilities to the Afghan army and police. By 2014, the foreign troops, the Afghan army will advise and train only. Emergency, but the ISAF is able to end 2014 and still struggling even to ward off attacks by the Taliban or insurgents, said the ISAF commander in Afghanistan, U.S. Gen. John Allen. And NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said: The objective was the war in Afghanistan and stay there to take their terrorist safe haven. "From Afghanistan must never again go out attacks on other nations," Obama made it clear at the beginning of the second day of the Summit again.

Afghanistan needs help until at least 2024

Even after 2014, so keep an anti-terrorism unit under the leadership of the United States in Afghanistan. The extent and exact order has not yet been decided. The American and the Afghan government have signed a partnership agreement. U.S. President Obama reiterated that the agreement runs until 2024.  So long to the ISAF states finance the personnel costs for the Afghan security forces, the Afghan capital, after deducting the share estimated at around 3.6 billion dollars per year.At least half of this sum will pay the United States. Germany wants to participate with 195 million U.S. dollars annually. The Chancellor Angela Merkel had promised Afghan President Hamid Karzai. NATO Secretary General Rasmussen expected in Chicago more concrete commitments by States which are not members of NATO. The actual donor conference, which will also decide on the financing of the civil construction will, in July in Tokyo.

USA withdraws from 23,000 soldiers

ISAF's commander-Allen believes that can be deducted up to the September 2012 about 23 000 American soldiers. Currently the U.S. has stationed about 90,000 troops in Afghanistan. They thus represent the lion's share of the ISAF force, which includes a total of 129 000 men and women. Germany, after the USA and the UK's third-largest troop contributor. The Bundeswehr is currently with 4900 soldiers in northern Afghanistan deployment. After 2014, according to initial estimates from diplomatic circles, probably 1,000 troops remain in Afghanistan to train Afghan soldiers and advise.

Army needs new mandate

The Bundeswehr is responsible for safeguarding the important northern supply route through Uzbekistan and deduction. Therefore it is quite a long time must remain in place until other nations are removed via the northern route. Federal Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in Chicago, with Uzbekistan will just negotiated an agreement. Ammunition and tracked vehicles but should not be transported via the northern route.He announced that the parliament would next year a new mandate for the Bundeswehr mission in Afghanistan from 2015 to decide. The further mission in Afghanistan should run on the basis of a clear legal mandate of the United Nations under the leadership of NATO, de Maiziere. "However, there will be no combat troops anymore, only units in order to protect the trainers."

"Alliance does not fray"

Although France withdraws its combat troops already this year, it will continue to remain engaged in the ISAF. The dispute with France, NATO has largely been settled. Other troops were announced as planned by 2014 as planned to withdraw their troops, said the defense minister.

Three climbers die on the descent of Everest

Three climbers, a German, a Canadian and Korean descent have died while attempting Mount Everest, 8,850 meters, as reported by the Nepalese authorities today. Eberhard Schaaf, 61, from Germany, died on Saturday as it descended with the Eco Everest Expedition, which is responsible for removing accumulated waste on the mountain. The company director Asia Trekking, Ang Tshering, explained that "Schaaf died in the south summit of Sagarmatha due to altitude sickness," referring to the Nepali name for Everest. This peak reaches up to 8,747 meters. Tshering said that the family and the German Embassy in Nepal have been informed. "If the family wants to get back the body will try, but it is very difficult to do from that altitude," said. The Nepalese-born Canadian Shriya Shah, 32, and Korean, Song Won Bin, also died this weekend, as reported by Nepalese Tourism Minister, Gyanendra Shrestha. Around 3,700 people have climbed Mount Everest since New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953 consiguiesen it. At least 236 people have died on its slopes.Currently, some 300 climbers are scattered in different camps waiting for good weather to start the climb before the next rainy season begins and all the climbers are evacuated from the Nepal Himalaya.

Dispute between U.S. and Pakistan to dominate NATO summit

The disputes between the United States and Pakistan on the supply routes for U.S. troops in Afghanistan threaten to take over the summit of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization North) in Chicago, whose main objective is to plan the withdrawal of Western forces country in Central Asia. Washington and Islamabad failed to reach an agreement on the conditions required by the Pakistanis. Nearly months, Pakistan has closed the roads of the country to the Americans after U.S. air strikes mataremm troops in the country. This is just one of many logistical issues that should hinder the way the Western military alliance withdraw its troops and equipment in Afghanistan. In Chicago, more than 50 nations began to argue, on Monday, to close down more than ten years of war. Right in the opening of the meeting, U.S. President Barack Obama, said a U.S. role in the transition. "When the Afghans take control, not leave them alone," he said. The secretary general of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has confirmed plans to pass control of combat missions to Afghan forces by mid-2013 and Western troops end their combat role in the country until the end of 2014. In addition to representatives of 28 countries belonging to NATO, the meeting includes the presidents of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai and Pakistan's Asif Ali Zardari. The Pakistani leader met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday, but the meeting produced no results on the reopening of supply routes.

Requirements

Among the Pakistani demands to reopen the routes are a public apology, a policy review of air attacks with unmanned aircraft (drones) and a considerable increase in the rate of $ 250 paid by each military vehicle crossing the border. The U.S. Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, said before the summit that it was "unlikely" that the U.S. would pay a higher rate for transit. Obama made mention of the international aid that the U.S. millionaire pay annually to Pakistan in bargaining for the support of the country in the region and ruled out a bilateral meeting with Zardari. In his statement at the opening of the summit, NATO has limited himself to saying that "continues to work with Pakistan to reopen the lines of communication as soon as possible." "The countries of the region, particularly Pakistan, have important roles to ensure a lasting peace, stability and security in Afghanistan and to facilitate the entire process of transition," the statement added.

Costs

Another issue that should impact the withdrawal process and transition costs are. Some countries, including USA, Australia, Britain and Germany, expressed interest to contribute to an international fund to help Afghan forces after leaving NATO. The expectation is that Washington pays half of the $ 4 billion a year estimated to cover the passage of military control. France has already announced it will withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and the new president, Francois Hollande, made it clear that the decision "is not negotiable because it is a matter of French sovereignty." More than ten years after the U.S. toppled the Taliban, violence continues to rise in Afghanistan and in accordance with the UN, the number of deaths reached a record 3,031 in 2011.

Al-Qaeda claims authorship of the attack in Yemen

The terrorist network Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attack which left, according to official sources, at least 96 soldiers dead and 100 wounded in Sanaa, Yemen's capital. The soldiers were victims of a suicide attack against an army unit. There are suspicions that the death toll is higher. According to reports, a suicide bomber, probably the source iemita, dressed in military uniform, broke out among the soldiers preparing for a parade in the Plaza de Sabiine, in celebration of 22 anniversary of the unification between North and South Yemen. The Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed, who was at the scene of the explosion, escaped unharmed, officials said. The Yemeni president, Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, was expected in the military ceremony. Suicide bombing occurs ten days after an army offensive against Al Qaeda in the province of Abyan, southern Yemen, where a year ago the rebels have taken control of several towns and cities. Over the past three months, the attack was first considered severe in Sanaa. Since taking office in February, the current president has pledged to fight the action of Al Qaeda in the country in an attempt to regain control of the government of the cities located to the south. It is estimated that at least 213 people, including 147 al Qaeda fighters, have died since the offensive began. Until the elections of February, Yemen was under intense domestic dispute. Pressured by the international community, the then President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was in power for nearly three decades, announced his departure. In Yemen, the presidential term is seven years, but in recent years, every vote, Saleh was re-elected. In recent days, there was a series of protests against his government and Hadi was eventually elected three months ago.