3800 British troops leave Afghanistan

PRIME Minister David Cameron has announced that 3800 British troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of 2013.

Some 5000 will remain into 2014, Cameron told MPs.

The announcement comes after a lengthy video call on Tuesday between Cameron and US President Barack Obama.

There are some 60,000 US troops in Afghanistan.

Cameron said the decision reflects an increasing confidence in the Afghan National Security Forces.

"Our combat mission is drawing to a close, but our commitment to the Afghan people is long-term," said Defence Secretary Philip Hammond.

Since 2001, 433 British troops have died in Afghanistan.

Last month, France ended its combat operations in Afghanistan, pulling hundreds of troops from a base in a volatile region northeast of Kabul and fulfilling promises to end its combat role on a faster track than other NATO allies.

France has lost 88 troops in Afghanistan since late 2001.

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Russia parliament says no to US adoptions

RUSSIA'S lower house of parliament has given key support to a bill banning Americans from adopting children, resulting in a huge outcry from rights groups.

The bill, which came in retaliation for a US measure that punishes Russia for its rights record under President Vladimir Putin, was approved by 400 MPs in the 450-seat chamber.

Only four deputies voted against the bill while two parliamentarians in the Kremlin-controlled legislature abstained.

The bill now needs to be passed in the largely symbolic third reading on Friday before moving on to the upper house of parliament, which often gives unanimous approval to Kremlin-sponsored legislation.

Putin will then need to sign the bill before it enters into law, possibly as early as the start of next year.

The tough measure bans adoption of Russian children by US families, ends the bilateral adoption agreement between the two countries, and forbids US adoption agencies from working in the Russia.

With several dozen people protesting outside, police officers placed the Duma building under virtual lockdown, bringing reinforcements in anticipation of large rallies.

While Putin last week welcomed the parliament's decision to retaliate against the so-called Magnitsky Act, named in honour of a whistle-blowing lawyer who died in jail before going on trial, the Kremlin was more ambiguous about supporting the measure on Wednesday.

Putin's spokesman Sergei Peskov told state television that "the line of the executive branch of the government is more restrained" than that of the pro-Kremlin MPs in the Duma.

Speaking ahead of Putin's press conference on Thursday, which is also expected to address the bill, Peskov added however that "such a tough emotional reaction by Russian parliament members is quite understandable."

Unusually, several political heavyweights, including Education Minister Dmitry Livanov, opposed the bill, publicly saying that an "eye-for-an-eye logic" would put at risk children who fail to find adoptive parents in Russia.

Of the 3400 Russian children adopted by foreign families in 2011, 956 - nearly a third - were adopted by Americans, according to official figures. Eighty nine of those adopted were disabled children.

Although Russian adoptions have declined over the past five years due to increased regulations, Russia is still the third largest source of adoptions for the United States, according to official figures.

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Iraqi leader set for German hospital

KURDISH officials say Iraqi President Jalal Talabani will be flown to Germany for further treatment after suffering a stroke earlier this week.

Medical experts from Germany and other countries began arriving on Wednesday to assess the 79-year-old president's condition.

Talabani is a senior Kurdish leader and has been a symbol of unity in Iraq.

Firyad Rawndouzi, a senior member of Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, says the German team recommended he be moved, possibly as early as Thursday.

The head of the president's media office, Barazan Sheikh Othman, says he is expected to depart on Thursday or Friday.

Questions remain about the graveness of Talabani's illness. Hospital officials and his office have released few details to the public, though they say he is showing signs of improvement.

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Outrage grows in India over bus gang-rape

THE hours-long gang-rape and near-fatal beating of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi has triggered outrage and anger across the country as Indians demand action from authorities who have long ignored persistent violence and harassment against women.

In the streets and in parliament, calls rose for stringent and swift punishment against those attacking women, including a proposal to make rapists eligible for the death penalty. As the calls for action grew louder, two more gang-rapes were reported, including one in which the 10-year-old victim was killed.

"I feel it is sick what is happening across the country.It is totally sick, and it needs to stop," said Smitha, a 32-year-old protester who goes by only one name.

Thousands of demonstrators clogged the streets in front of New Delhi's police headquarters, protested near parliament and rallied outside a major university. Angry university students set up roadblocks across the city, causing massive traffic jams.

Hundreds rallied outside the home of the city's top elected official before police dispersed them with water cannons, a move that earned further condemnation from opposition leaders, who accused the government of being insensitive.

"We want to jolt people awake from the cozy comfort of their cars. We want people to feel the pain of what women go through every day," said Aditi Roy, a Delhi University student.

As protests raged in cities across India, at least two girls were gang-raped, with one of them killed.

Police on Wednesday fished out the body of a 10-year old girl from a canal in Bihar state's Saharsa district. Police superintendent Ajit Kumar Satyarthi said the girl had been gang-raped and killed and her body dumped in the canal. Police were investigating and a breakthrough was expected soon, Satyarthi said.

Elsewhere, a 14 -year old schoolgirl was in critical condition in Banka district of Bihar after she was raped by four men, said Jyoti Kumar, the district education officer.

The men have been identified, but police were yet to make any arrests, Kumar said.

Meanwhile, the 23-year-old victim of the first rape lay in critical condition in the hospital with severe internal injuries, doctors said.

Police said six men raped the woman and savagely beat her and her companion with iron rods on a bus driving around the city - passing through several police checkpoints - before stripping them and dumping them on the side of the road Sunday night.

Delhi police chief Neeraj Kumar said four men have been arrested and a search was underway for the other two.

Rapes in India remain drastically underreported. In many cases, families do not report rapes due to the stigma that follows the victim and her family. In other instances, families may decide not to report a rape out of frustration with the long delays in court and harassment at the hands of the police. Police themselves are reluctant to register cases of rape and domestic violence in order to keep down crime figures or to elicit a bribe from the victim.

In a sign of the protesters' fury, Khushi Pattanaik, a student, said death was too easy a punishment for the rapists, they should instead be castrated and forced to suffer as their victim did.

"It should be made public so that you see it, you feel it and you also live with i. The kind of shame and guilt," she said.

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US stocks mainly lower

US stocks have drifted mostly lower in early trade as investors eye Washington's budget impasse amid a looming deadline.

In the first 30 minutes of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 9.82 points (0.07 per cent) at 13,341.14.

The broad-market S&P 500 lost 2.73 (0.19 per cent) to 1444.10, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite dipped 3.81 points (0.113 per cent) at 3050.93.

The markets were watching President Barack Obama and top Republican John Boehner in their effort to avert the so-called fiscal cliff of tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect in January, but differences remain.

Experts say failure to reach a deal could drag the world's biggest economy back into recession.

On Tuesday, the Dow gained 0.87 per cent, the S&P 500 climbed 1.15 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.46 per cent.

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Dictator's daughter new SKorea president

SOUTH Korea has elected its first female president, handing a slim but historic victory to conservative ruling party candidate Park Geun-Hye, daughter of the country's former military ruler.

As leader of Asia's fourth-largest economy, Park, 60, will face numerous challenges, handling a belligerent North Korea, a slowing economy and soaring welfare costs in one of the world's most rapidly ageing societies.

With 85 per cent of the national vote counted, Park had an insurmountable lead of 51.6 per cent to 48 per cent over her liberal rival, Moon Jae-In of the main opposition party.

The election was largely fought on domestic economic issues, with both candidates offering similar policies as they went in search of centrist voters beyond their conservative and liberal bases.

Park had pushed a message of "economic democratisation" - a campaign buzzword about reducing the social disparities thrown up by rapid economic development - and promised to create new jobs and increase welfare spending.

"I will be a president who fulfils in every way the promises I made to the people," Park told cheering, flag-waving supporters at an open-air victory celebration in central Seoul.

However she had been far more cautious than Moon about the need to rein in the power of the giant family-run conglomerates, or "chaebol", that dominate the national economy.

On North Korea, Park has promised a dual policy of greater engagement and "robust deterrence", and held out the prospect of a summit with the North's young leader Kim Jong-Un, who came to power a year ago.

She also signalled a willingness to resume the humanitarian aid to Pyongyang suspended by current President Lee Myung-Bak.

But she will be restricted by hawkish forces in her New Frontier Party as well as an international community intent on punishing North Korea for its long-range rocket launch last week.

To some extent Wednesday's election was seen as a referendum on the legacy of Park's father, Park Chung-Hee.

More than three decades after he was assassinated, Park remains one of modern Korea's most polarising figures - admired for dragging the country out of poverty and reviled for his ruthless suppression of dissent during 18 years of military rule.

He was shot dead by his spy chief in 1979. Park's mother had been killed five years earlier by a pro-North Korea gunman aiming for her father.

In an effort at reconciliation, Park publicly acknowledged the excesses of her father's regime during her campaign and apologised to the families of its victims.

"I believe that it is an unchanging value of democracy that ends cannot justify the means in politics," she said.

Despite freezing temperatures that hovered around -10 Celsius, the election was marked by a high turnout of nearly 76 per cent, compared to 63 per cent in the 2007 presidential poll.

It was a bitter defeat for Moon, 59, the son of North Korean refugees and a former human rights lawyer who was once jailed for protesting against Park Chung-Hee's rule.

"I feel so sorry and guilty that I have failed to accomplish my historic mission to open a new era of politics," Moon told reporters outside his Seoul residence.

"I humbly accept the outcome of the election," he added

Park, 60, never married and has no children - a fact that makes her popular with voters tired of corruption scandals surrounding their first families.

A female president will be a huge change for a country that the World Economic Forum recently ranked 108th out of 135 countries in terms of gender equality - one place below the United Arab Emirates and just above Kuwait.

"I can't even describe how happy I am right now. I feel like crying," said Cha In-Hong, a 57-year-old office worker.

"Park Geun-Hye has married our nation. Now she will go on her honeymoon to the Blue House to begin governing," Cha said.

Park's presidential inauguration will be held on February 25.

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Minogue and Donovan on stage for duet

KYLIE Minogue and Jason Donovan will end more than two decades of anticipation in London this week when they team up on stage for the first live performance of their number one hit, Especially For You.

The former Ramsay Street sweethearts will be the centrepiece of Friday night's Hit Factory Live concert in the English capital as they present their much-loved duet.

Concert organisers this week revealed Minogue's involvement, having previously advertised only a "very special guest".

"The Hit Factory audience are in for a very special treat as Kylie Minogue is confirmed to bring the show to an unforgettable end by performing with Jason (Donovan) on Especially For You," a statement said.

"They last performed it together in 1989."

The concert celebrates the work of songwriting and production team Stock Aitken Waterman, which penned several hits including Especially For You.

Released in November 1988 - after Minogue had left the cast of Neighbours where she played the part of Charlene alongside Donovan's character Scott - the single achieved prolonged chart success in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, along with other European countries.

A spokeswoman for Hit Factory confirmed the pair has never performed the song live, although Minogue has included the tune in some of her tours and sang the duet with Kermit the Frog for a TV special in 2001.

Minogue and Donovan's reunion was initially scheduled for July but the outdoor Hit Factory concert had to be postponed due to rain.

Before the delay, Minogue had spoken of the hype she expected as she took to the stage with her former Neighbours husband.

"I don't think we'll even need to sing it. I'm sure the audience all went through the Neighbours wedding. It's going to bring the house down," she told Glamour magazine.

Especially For You will end a concert which will see performances by Bananarama, Rick Astley, Steps, Dead or Alive, Sinitta and others.

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Pakistan: 8 polio workers killed in 2 days

GUNMEN have shot dead a woman working on UN-backed polio vaccination efforts and her driver in northwestern Pakistan, officials say, raising to eight the number of people killed in the last 48 hours who were part of the immunisation drive.

The attack on the woman was one of five that took place on polio workers in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday. One male polio worker was critically wounded, while the others managed to escape unharmed.

The recent killings prompted the UN's public health arm to suspend work on the vaccination drive in two of Pakistan's four provinces on Wednesday, a major setback for a campaign that international health officials consider vital to contain the crippling disease but which Taliban insurgents say is a cover for espionage.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Suspicion has fallen on the Pakistani Taliban because of their virulent opposition to the polio campaign, but the group's spokesman, Ahsanullah Ahsan, denied responsibility in a telephone call to The Associated Press.

Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio is endemic. Prevention efforts have managed to reduce the number of cases in Pakistan by around 70 per cent this year compared to 2011. But the recent violence threatens to reverse that progress.

Militants accuse health workers of acting as spies for the US and claim the vaccine makes children sterile. Taliban commanders in the troubled northwest tribal region have also said vaccinations can't go forward until the US stops drone strikes in the country.

Insurgent opposition to the campaign grew last year after it was revealed that a Pakistani doctor ran a fake vaccination program to help the CIA track down al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who was hiding in the town of Abbottabad in the country's northwest.

The number of attacks this week on polio workers is unprecedented. They came as the government started a three-day vaccination drive on Monday targeting high risk areas of the country, part of an effort to immunise millions of children under the age of five.

The deadliest of Wednesday's attacks occurred in the northwestern town of Charsadda, where the female polio worker and her driver were gunned down, said senior government official Syed Zafar Ali Shah. Gunmen attacked two other polio teams in Charsadda and one in the town of Nowshera, but no one was hurt in those attacks, he said.

Earlier in the day, gunmen shot a polio worker in the head in the city of Peshawar, wounding him critically, said Janbaz Afridi, a senior health official in surrounding Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

On Tuesday, gunmen killed five female polio workers - three of them teenagers - in a series of attacks in Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province, and a village outside Peshawar. Two men who were working alongside the women were critically wounded in those attacks. A male polio worker was also shot to death in Karachi on Monday.

Maryam Yunus, a spokeswoman for the UN World Health Organization in Pakistan, said the group's polio staff have been pulled back from the field in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh and asked to work from home until the vaccination campaign ends Wednesday.

Officials in Karachi temporarily suspended the vaccination campaign in the city after the shootings on Tuesday, but the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government ploughed ahead, not wanting to be cowed by the violence.

Several dozen polio workers and human rights activists protested against the killings in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, on Wednesday and demanded security for the field staff.

The Pakistani government and the UN have also condemned the attacks, saying they deprive Pakistan's most vulnerable populations - specifically children - of basic life-saving health interventions.

Polio usually infects children living in unsanitary conditions, attacks the nerves and can kill or paralyse. A total of 56 polio cases have been reported in Pakistan during 2012, down from 190 the previous year, according to the UN. Most of the new cases in Pakistan are in the northwest, where the presence of militants makes it difficult to reach children.

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