Geopolitics Weekly

China says video footage that purportedly shows Chinese security personnel violently beating Tibetans last year is "a lie". The video apparently shows protesters being beaten with sticks, and kicked and choked by China's security forces. The Tibetan government-in-exile says the footage shows China's "brutality".

a Chinese government official said many of the images and voices in the video had been pieced together from different sources. The video-sharing site YouTube has recently been blocked in China, which could be because the site had been carrying the contentious video.

The Tibetan government-in-exile says that about 220 Tibetans were killed and nearly 1,300 seriously injured following the unrest last year. The Chinese government says at least 18 civilians and one policeman were killed, mostly in riots in Lhasa on 14 March.

The Czech government lost a parliamentary vote of no confidence on Tuesday, suffering an embarrassing defeat midway through its presidency of the European Union and casting doubt on the country’s ability to shepherd the world’s biggest trading bloc during a time of economic crisis.

the Czech government of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek seemed to be collapsing more as a result of political infighting.

Mr. Topolanek said Tuesday that he would resign after the motion passed, 101 to 96, in the 200-seat lower house.

Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's next prime minister, was last night on the verge of forming a majority coalition after the Labour party agreed a last-minute deal to join his incoming government.

Netanyahu will be prime minister, with Lieberman as his foreign minister and Barak remaining as defence minister, where he was a key figure behind Israel's three-week war in Gaza.

Labour's central committee voted by 680 to 570 in favour of the deal, despite bitter divisions among the party hierarchy. Some at the meeting in Tel Aviv last night showed their frustration, shouting "disgrace" after the result was announced.Netanyahu already has Lieberman's Israel Our Home party on board, as well as the ultra-Orthodox Shas. Now with Labour he has a total of 66 seats - a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, Israel's parliament. However, it is unclear whether the seven Labour MPs who opposed Barak will accept the party's decision or rebel and refuse to support the government.

China's central bank has called for a new global reserve currency run by the International Monetary Fund to replace the US dollar.

China's central bank has called for a new global reserve currency run by the International Monetary Fund to replace the US dollar. Central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan did not explicitly mention the dollar, but said the crisis showed the dangers of relying on one currency. With the world's largest currency reserves of $2tn, China is the biggest holder of dollar assets. Its leaders have often complained about the dollar's volatility.

Mr Zhou said the dollar could eventually be replaced as the world's main reserve currency by the Special Drawing Right (SDR), which was created as a unit of account by the IMF in 1969. "The role of the SDR has not been put into full play, due to limitations on its allocation and the scope of its uses," he said. "However, it serves as the light in the tunnel for the reform of the international monetary system."

An aide to Japanese opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa has been charged with violating a political funds law, Japanese media has reported.

Japanese media said the charges put more pressure on Mr Ozawa to decide whether or not to resign. Before the scandal broke, Mr Ozawa was considered a likely victor in national elections which must be held this year.

Analysts had predicted Mr Ozawa stood his best chance ever of unseating the incumbent Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader, Prime Minister Taro Aso, in the coming elections. Such a victory would end almost 50 years of unbroken rule by the LDP, which is facing huge voter discontent amid worsening economic gloom.

Jacqui Smith said Whitehall needed "to enlist the widest possible range of support" as she unveiled a new UK terror strategy. The plans include training 60,000 workers in how to stay vigilant for terrorist activity and what to do in the event of an attack.

The strategy also warns nuclear weapons could fall into terrorist hands. It says the al-Qaeda leadership is likely to fragment, but the threat from those it inspires will remain.

Ms Smith said the "extremely broad-ranging" strategy would include ways of tackling radicalisation, supporting mainstream Muslim voices, preparing for the event of an attack and reaching out for support to the wider community.

The US and its European allies are ­preparing to plant a high-profile figure in the heart of the Kabul government in a direct challenge to the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, the Guardian has learned.The creation of a new chief executive or prime ministerial role is aimed at bypassing Karzai. In a further dilution of his power, it is proposed that money be diverted from the Kabul government to the provinces. Many US and European officials have become disillusioned with the extent of the corruption and incompetence in the Karzai government, but most now believe there are no credible alternatives, and predict the Afghan president will win re-election in August.

As well as watering down Karzai's personal authority by installing a senior official at the president's side capable of playing a more efficient executive role, the US and Europeans are seeking to channel resources to the provinces rather than to central government in Kabul.

The idea of a more dependable figure working alongside Karzai is one of the proposals to emerge from the White House review, completed last week. Obama, locked away at the presidental retreat Camp David, was due to make a final decision this weekend.Obama is expected to focus in public on overall strategy rather than the details, and, given its sensitivity, to skate over ­Karzai's new role. The main recommendation is for the Afghanistan objectives to be scaled back, and for Obama to sell the war to the US public as one to ensure the country cannot again be a base for al-Qaida and the Taliban, rather than the more ambitious aim of the Bush administration of trying to create a European-style democracy in Central Asia.Other recommendations include: increasing the number of Afghan troops from 65,000 to 230,000 as well as expanding the 80,000-strong police force; ­sending more US and European civilians to build up Afghanistan's infrastructure; and increased aid to Pakistan as part of a policy of trying to persuade it to tackle al-Qaida and Taliban elements.

President Barack Obama has said that the US must have an "exit strategy" in Afghanistan, even as Washington sends more troops to fight Taleban militants.

Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, told the BBC: "In the past, the United States government stove-piped it, they had an Afghan policy and a Pakistan policy. We have to integrate the two and I hope the rest of the world will join us in that effort." Mr Holbrooke said Taleban sanctuaries in Pakistan's tribal areas along the Afghan border were the primary problem for Kabul.

"What we're looking for is a comprehensive strategy [for Afghanistan]," President Obama told the CBS programme 60 Minutes on Sunday.

In the past few weeks, however, things have suddenly accelerated as the king has moved to show the ultraconservative Saudi religious establishment quite literally who's boss. He sacked the head of the feared religious police and the minister of justice, appointed Nora al-Fayez as deputy education minister, making her the highest-ranking female official in the country's history, and moved to equalize the education of women and men under the direction of a favored son-in-law who has been preparing for years to modernize the nation's school system

Born into the crumbling palaces of desert tribes in 1923 (the precise date was not recorded), he now rules one of the richest countries on earth. When Abdullah was a child, his father had not yet finished his conquests on the Arabian Peninsula or founded the nation-state that bears the family name.The boy was 6 when his mother died, and as her only son he felt he had to take care of his younger sisters even then. "He had a tough childhood," says Abdullah's daughter Princess Adelah. "He took on a lot of responsibility from the time he was very young." The children grew up amid rebellion and insurrection, with their father's rule threatened by the intolerant Wahhabi Brotherhood that had helped bring him to power.As a grown man, Abdullah witnessed the oil boom and the corrosive effects of spectacular greed—and more fanaticism, more insurrection, including the bloody siege of the Great Mosque in Mecca in 1979. There were dangerous intrigues within the family, too. When Abdel Aziz died in 1953, the succession passed to his son Saud, who was deposed in 1964 by his half-brother Faisal, who was murdered years later by a nephew. When Fahd took the crown in 1982, Abdullah became crown prince, and after Fahd suffered a stroke in 1995, he became acting king.

He brought a powerful sense of desert tradition to the job. His mother was from the powerful Shammar tribe that extends from Saudi territory deep into Iraq, Syria and Jordan, and before being named crown prince he had been head of the Saudi National Guard, a force made up of tribal levies from all over the country. He was immersed in Bedouin culture—the same traditional Saudi values that frame the world as Abdullah sees it. "You do not see him being more lenient with his family than with the National Guard," Princess Adelah told NEWSWEEK. "He is very straightforward, very honest, and hates injustice." Ambassador Fraker sees him as "someone who in many ways is a throwback to that desert-warrior ethos where men stand by their word, they look each other straight in the eye and they apply a code of honor."

America has signalled a radical new initiative to bring the Taliban into the Afghan political process as part of growing efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution to the war in Afghanistan.The US ambassador to Kabul told the Observer that America would be prepared to discuss the establishment of a political party, or even election candidates representing the Taliban, as part of a political strategy that would sit alongside reinforced military efforts to end the increasingly intractable conflict.

Other ideas being discussed include changing the Afghan constitution as part of potential negotiations, taking senior Taliban figures off UN blacklists to establish dialogue and possible prisoner releases.

William Wood, the outgoing US ambassador to Afghanistan, told the Observer that "insurgencies, like all wars... end when there is an agreement". He said while the US saw "no way there could be power-sharing or an enclave" for the Taliban, "there is room for discussion on the formation of political parties [or] running... for elections. That is very different from shooting your way into power." The key requirement would be respect for the constitution, Wood added.

An investigation by a group of former Israeli soldiers has uncovered new evidence of the military's conduct during the assault on Gaza two months ago. According to the group Breaking the Silence, the witness statements of the 15 soldiers who have come forward to describe their concerns over Operation Cast Lead appear to corroborate claims of random killings and vandalism carried out during the operation made by a separate group of anonymous servicemen during a seminar at a military college.

"This is not a military that we recognise," said Mikhael Manekin, one of the former soldiers involved with the group. "This is in a different category to things we have seen before. We have spoken to a lot of different people who served in different places in Gaza, including officers. We are not talking about some units being more aggressive than others, but underlying policy. So much so that we are talking to soldiers who said that they were having to restrain the orders given."

Manekin described how soldiers had reported their units being specifically warned by officers not to discuss what they had seen and done in Gaza.

The US is prepared to back Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to be the next secretary general of Nato, US and alliance sources say.

The current secretary general, Dutch diplomat Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, steps down at the end of July. Mr Rasmussen, Denmark's premier since 2001, is already reported to have the backing of France, Germany and the UK.

Mr Rasmussen is a strong supporter of Nato's mission in Afghanistan, sending a contingent of 750 Danish troops

Thousands of Italians have marched through Naples in one of the largest anti-mafia protests of recent years. Police said 100,000 people gathered for the protest, held annually on the first day of spring.

They called for more police action against mafia clans, who have killed more than 900 people in recent decades.

Organised crime in Italy is dominated by four mafia clans: Sicily's Cosa Nostra; the Camorra around Naples; Calabria's 'Ndrangheta; and the Sacra Corona Unita, in Puglia. The Italian authorities have hit the Cosa Nostra hard in recent years, says the BBC's Mark Duff in Milan, but other groups maintain their grip and have seen their influence spread. The global economic downturn has also thrown up fresh money-making opportunities for the mafia - such as lending cash to credit-starved businessmen.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has unveiled a series of measures to offset falling oil revenues that account for about 50% of the national budget. He proposed to cut the 2009 budget by 6.7% and increase sales taxes. Mr Chavez also pledged salary cuts for senior public officials, but a 20% rise in the minimum wage.

His announcement came shortly after the government had sent army to take control of the country's key airports and sea ports.

"We are preparing a decree to eliminate luxury costs - the acquiring of executive vehicles, redecorating, real estate, new headquarters, promotional material and unnecessary publicity, corporate gifts."

Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany says he will stand down, as his government's popularity plummets amid the global financial crisis.

Badly hit by the global credit crisis, Hungary received a $25.1bn (£17bn) IMF-led loan last October.

"I hear that I am the obstacle to the co-operation required for changes, for a stable governing majority and the responsible behaviour of the opposition," he was quoted as saying on Saturday by Reuters news agency. "I hope it is this way, that it is only me that is the obstacle, because if so, then I am eliminating this obstacle now. "I propose that we form a new government under a new prime minister."

Until the last few minutes of his history-making appearance on Jay Leno's Tonight Show, the president seemed to be on track for a political victory, mixing personable good humour with a seriousness appropriate to the times. But then one ill-considered crack about his bowling score of 129 - "It was like the Special Olympics or something," Obama said - sent the White House once again into a mode that is becoming increasingly familiar: damage control.

The remark was a rare failure of Obama's legendary televisual poise, but it was the second time in a week that his powers of communication had failed him. At a White House ceremony with Irish taoiseach Brian Cowen on Tuesday, a teleprompter mix-up caused him to thank himself for hosting himself, drawing attention to what critics say is an overreliance on prepared texts.

He is trying to convince the Labour Party to join, correspondents say. If he fails to do so, they say, he will be forced to form a narrow coalition with hard-line Israeli parties. The two-week extension sets 3 April as Mr Netanyahu's new deadline.

But Mr Netanyahu has also been seeking the support of the centrist Kadima party. If Kadima also joins the coalition line-up, party leader and current Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni could keep her position, although talks have so far proved inconclusive. Ms Livni has demanded Mr Netanyahu sign up to a two-state solution with the Palestinians before she joins the government.

If Kadima sees through its stated intention to lead the opposition, Likud is expected to try to bring in smaller hard-line parties like Jewish Home, National Union and United Torah Judaism. That would give it a solid right-wing majority of 65 in the 120-seat parliament.

A new row over French protectionism has broken out, as EU leaders hold a summit in Brussels on the economic crisis. It followed the news that carmaker Renault was moving some production from Slovenia to create 400 jobs in France. The European Commission said it would seek urgent clarification. It comes only weeks after the EU agreed France could give state aid to its carmakers.

The BBC's Oana Lungescu in Brussels says the row over Renault could not have come at a worse moment for the EU, just as its leaders are calling on the US and others to tackle the global crisis by avoiding all forms of protectionism.

The argument erupted after French industry minister Luc Chatel told French radio that Renault would relocate part of its production from Slovenia to a plant at Flins, near Paris, creating 400 jobs there. A Renault spokeswoman said the company intended to increase production both in Slovenia and France and the shift was intended to meet a shortfall in capacity at its Slovenian plant. It denied the move was linked to a pledge to keep jobs in France in exchange for state aid. But EU competition commission Neelie Kroes told the BBC she was highly surprised and was seeking urgent clarification from the French authorities. Ms Kroes said she had received a pledge from Mr Chatel just a few weeks ago that an $8bn state bail-out for carmakers would not be linked to moving jobs to France, our correspondent reports.

North Korea has confirmed the arrest of two female US journalists, saying they were detained for illegally entering North Korean territory.

The news came after the North restored a cross-border military hotline with South Korea severed earlier this month. The North also indicated it will reopen a border crossing which links the South with a joint Korean industrial zone, just inside the North.

There have been conflicting reports about where the women were detained. South Korean reports have suggested they were on Chinese territory.