political news

The director of the CIA has conceded that the war in Afghanistan has been "harder and slower" than expected.

Speaking on US television Leon Panetta said while progress had been made in Afghanistan, serious problems with governance, corruption and the Taliban insurgency remained.

Mr Panetta's comments come as Gen David Petraeus takes over command of multinational forces in Afghanistan, following the sacking of Gen Stanley McChrystal.

Gen McChrystal was dismissed last week over critical comments about senior US officials.

Speaking to ABC This Week programme Mr Panetta insisted that "the fundamental key is whether the Afghans accept responsibility" for taking over the battle against the insurgency once foreign troops pull out of the country.

Drones defended

Mr Panetta defended CIA drone strikes on senior al-Qaeda of Taleban leaders in the region, saying that claims they violate international law are "dead wrong".

"We have a duty, we have a responsibility, to defend this country so that al-Qaeda never conducts that kind of attack again," he said.

Mr Panetta said that al-Qaida was probably at its weakest since the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US.

He said 50 to 100 militants were operating inside Afghanistan and the rest hiding along Pakistan's mountainous western border region.

"We are engaged in the most aggressive operations in the history of the CIA in that part of the world, and the result is that we are disrupting their leadership," Panetta told ABC television.

He said the US had not had good intelligence on Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts for years.

Mr Panetta said that the al-Qaeda network was finding new ways to try to attack the United States. Of greatest concern, he said, was al-Qaida's reliance on operatives without previous records or those living in the US.

US President Barack Obama has said North Korea must be "held to account" for the sinking of a South Korean warship.

He said he stood with South Korean leader Lee Myung-Bak, and condemned Pyongyang's "irresponsible behaviour".

His comments came shortly after the G8 group of industrialised nations meeting in Toronto condemned the sinking of the corvette Cheonan earlier this year.

North Korea has denied attacking the ship.

An international investigation concluded that it was sunk by a North Korean torpedo.

After meeting the South Korean leader on the sidelines of the summit, Mr Obama said: "There has to be consequences for such irresponsible behaviour."

The G8 leaders also criticised of North Korea - and Iran - over their nuclear activities, and they described the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip as "not sustainable".

And they admitted that the global financial crisis had compromised efforts to meet UN targets for reducing world poverty.

Canada is also hosting a summit of the wider G20 group of industrial and developing powers, which will will discuss the global economy and financial reform.

Thousands of demonstrators marched on the G20 summit on Saturday in what is being reported to have been a largely peacefully rally that saw outbreaks of violence on its edges. These saw groups of young men scuffle with riot police and set fire to at least two patrol cars.

Security concerns

In their final summit statement, the G8 - the US, Canada, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Japan - said: "We deplore the attack on 26 March that caused the sinking of the Republic of Korea's naval vessel, the Cheonan, resulting in tragic loss of 46 lives."

Noting that an international investigation had found that, despite its denials, Pyongyang was to blame for the attack that sank the warship, the statement adds: "We condemn, in this context, the attack which led to the sinking of the Cheonan.

"We demand that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea refrain from committing any attacks or threatening hostilities against the Republic of Korea."

Reuters news agency says the statement was not as strongly worded as some nations, including the United States, had hoped. It says Russia was said to have held out against stronger language.

The statement also expresses the G8 leaders' "gravest concern that the nuclear test and missile activities carried out by the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea have further generated increased tension in the region and beyond, and that there continues to exist a clear threat to international peace and security."

The document calls on Iran to carry out a "transparent dialogue" over its controversial nuclear programme.

"We are profoundly concerned by Iran's continued lack of transparency regarding its nuclear activities and its stated intention to continue and expand enriching uranium," it says.

The UN Security Council earlier this month approved a fourth round of sanctions against Tehran for failing to halt nuclear enrichment. The measures include tighter finance curbs and an expanded arms embargo, but not the crippling sanctions the US had wanted.

On Gaza, the communique says the G8 leaders "deeply regret" the loss of life and injuries in the aid flotilla that was stormed by Israeli commandos last month as it was approaching the Palestinian territory. Nine Turkish activists died on board the flotilla's main ship.

In a reference to the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory, which is controlled by Islamist group Hamas, it says: "We urge all parties to work together... to ensure the flow of humanitarian and commercial goods and persons, to and from Gaza. The current arrangements are not sustainable and must be changed."

China's President Hu Jintao has accepted an invitation for a state visit from US President Barack Obama, the White House has said.

The invitation was made on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Canada.

Officials from the two countries are to set a date for the state visit, Mr Hu's first to the US under President Obama.

The two countries have disagreed recently on currency exchange rates, trade and how to deal with Iran's nuclear programme.

China has agreed recently to let its currency float more freely from its previous peg to the US dollar, but many in the US say it is undervalued, giving China an unfair trade advantage.

"The president extended an invitation to President Hu to visit the United States on a state visit. President Hu accepted and the two sides will work out the timing," White House aide Jeffrey Bader said.

Mr Obama told Mr Hu that China's move to greater flexibility on its currency exchange was welcome and that "implementation of it was very important," Mr Bader said.

"The president stressed the need for balanced and sustainable growth and the role that China can play in achieving balanced and sustainable growth," he added.

A senior Indian army officer has been killed in a gun battle with separatist militants in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Colonel Neeraj Sood was "leading his troops" when he was gunned down by militants in Lolab area, the army said.

He is the highest ranking officer to be killed by militants in Kashmir in 2010.

Despite a decline in violence in Kashmir in recent years, there are fears that militants are trying to regroup in the region.

Hundreds of thousands of Indian troops are based in Kashmir to fight a two decade-old insurgency against Indian rule.

A spokesman for the Indian army said the operations against militants, launched by Col Sood before he was killed, is still on in the forested areas of Lolab, north of the capital, Srinagar.

It is not clear whether the militants have suffered any casualties in the clashes.

Spain's parliament has ratified labour reforms designed to bring down high unemployment.

Measures include promoting youth employment and cutting the cost of firing workers, which critics say makes employers reluctant to hire more staff.

Changes to the labour law follow spending cuts introduced last month in a bid to cut the large budget deficit.

Spain's two main unions have called a general strike on 29 September in protest at the tough economic measures.

Only members of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist Party voted in favour of the labour reforms.

Members of the two biggest opposition parties, the Popular Party (PP) and Catalan nationalist party (CIU), abstained and eight deputies voted against the moves.

Spain's unemployment rate of 20% is the highest in the eurozone.

Some economists have laid the blame on the cost of firing workers which encourages the use of temporary contracts that have few benefits and rights.

Workers on full contracts are entitled to severance pay of as much as 45 days per year worked, one of the highest levels in Europe.

Under the reforms this would be cut to 33 days for some contracts.

Labour Minister Celestino Corbacho told parliament that more than eight million workers who are either unemployed or on temporary contracts "will directly benefit" from the reform plan.

He said it would increase flexibility for companies without reducing job security, "promoting stable employment instead of uncertainty".

The labour reforms can still be amended in parliament over the coming months.

"Labour reform is necessary but this is not labour reform, it is the reform of (job) dismissals," said PP spokeswoman Soraya Saenz de Santamaria.

"We intend to enhance it with our amendments," she said.

Spain's high unemployment and large budget deficit had prompted speculation that it might be seeking a Greek-style bailout.

But the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, calmed those fears during a recent visit to Madrid saying Spain was taking the right measures for economic stability.

The UN secretary general has set up a panel to look into alleged human rights abuses during the final stages of Sri Lanka's civil war in 2009.

Ban Ki-moon's spokesman said the three-man panel would advise on how to deal with alleged perpetrators.

The UN says more than 7,000 civilians died in the last five months of the conflict between the Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels.

Rights groups accuse both sides of war crimes - a claim which has been denied.

The rights groups have produced what they say is photographic and video evidence of the army executing Tamil rebels, and testimony of indiscriminate bombing of civilians.

The insurgents are accused of using civilians as human shields and killing those who tried to leave the conflict zone.

The 37-year conflict ended last year with the defeat of the Tamil Tigers. The UN estimates 100,000 people were killed.

'Vague' mandate

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said that the UN panel would be chaired by former Indonesian attorney general Marzuki Darusman.

The other two members are South African human rights lawyer Yasmin Sooka and Steven Ratner, a US international law expert.

Mr Nesirky said the three men "will advise him [Mr Ban] on the issue of accountability with regard to any alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during the final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka".

However, the panel is not an investigative body and its mandate is vague, which reflects the extreme sensitivity of the subject, says the BBC's Barbara Plett at the UN headquarters in New York.

Neither the UN Security Council nor the UN's Human Rights Council has called for an inquiry, and the panel may be a way for the secretary general to keep up the pressure for accountability, our correspondent adds.

The authorities in Colombo have strongly rejected persistent allegations of human rights abuses.

They have established their own investigation, and have lashed out at Mr Ban's decision.

Spain is taking the right measures for economic stability, the head of the International Monetary Fund has said.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn said he was "confident" Spain's economy would recover and called on all Spaniards to back the government's austerity work.

He was speaking after a meeting in Madrid with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Mr Zapatero had earlier denied his government was seeking an IMF bailout, but markets have been nervous.

Mr Zapatero said on Thursday that Spain's economy was solid and solvent, and the visit by Dominique Strauss-Kahn was a scheduled one.

'Determination'

Mr Strauss-Kahn said all the measures being put in place by the Spanish government were "clearly being done for the benefit of the economy".

"I am really confident in the medium and long-term prospects for the Spanish economy, providing the efforts that have to be made will be made," he added.

He specifically praised continuing efforts to liberalise the Spanish labour market, saying they went in "the right direction".

Mr Zapatero said that during the meeting he had conveyed to Mr Strauss-Kahn "the determination of the Spanish government to implement and to make effective every single one of these reforms that we have launched".

Nervous markets

Mr Zapatero's government recently introduced a package of spending cuts and a reform of the labour market in an attempt to persuade nervous financial markets that Spain's finances are under control.

However, that's a difficult task, as after the crisis in Greece, the financial markets have been concerned that Spain could be the next country to require outside financial assistance.

As a result, Spain is having to pay record rates to sell its debt, and this week a senior banker revealed that Spanish financial institutions are struggling to get funding on international markets.

Spain is now promising to publish the results of what are known as "stress tests" on its banks, to prove that any fears of their failure are unfounded.

The country is still reeling from the collapse of the construction sector, has a budget deficit of 11%, and one in five workers is unemployed.

To help reduce the jobless count, the Spanish government wishes to liberalise labour laws that currently deter Spanish firms from taking on full-time staff because of the difficulty of making redundancies.

However, this has already faced strong opposition from unions, who are threatening to hold a general strike in September.