TwistedSifter

Every Wednesday you will find links and top-line summaries to current events around the globe.

Saudi women to be allowed to argue cases in court [BBC]

- Saudi Arabia is planning to bring in a new law to allow women lawyers to argue cases in court for the first time. Justice Minister Mohammed al-Eissa said the law was part of King Abdullah’s plan to develop the legal system
- The law - to be issued “in the coming days” - would allow women to appear in court on family-related cases, including divorce and child custody. At the moment, they can only work behind the scenes in government and court offices
- Under a system of male guardianship, Saudi Arabian women are required to be kept separate from men they are not related to. All are veiled to a greater or lesser degree in public, they are not allowed to drive, and women under 45 must receive permission from a male when they travel. Opportunities for education and employment are also dependent on male guardianship

Pakistani Reports Capture of a Taliban Leader [New York Times]

- In another blow to the Taliban senior leadership, Pakistani authorities have captured Mullah Abdul Kabir. Mullah Kabir is a member of the Quetta Shura, the small group of leaders who direct the Taliban’s operations and who report to Mullah Muhammad Omar, the group’s founder. The group is named for the Pakistani city where many of the Taliban’s leaders are thought to be hiding
- Mullah Kabir is the second member of the Quetta Shura to be captured in Pakistan in recent weeks. Last month, American and Pakistani intelligence agents captured Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s top military commander and the head of the Quetta Shura. He was hiding in Karachi
- The capture of Mullah Kabir appeared to be a strictly Pakistani operation, and Pakistani officials appeared to be keeping Mullah Kabir’s arrest a closely held secret, even from their American allies. Mullah Kabir is a longtime associate of Mullah Omar, the Taliban’s founder. He was the governor of Nangarhar Province, in eastern Afghanistan, when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Since then, he has overseen military operations in eastern Afghanistan

Greece paralysed by strike against austerity plan [BBC]

- Hundreds of thousands of Greeks are on strike to protest at the imposition of austerity measures to save the economy. Greece’s airspace will be closed to all flights, trains and ferries will stand idle, and archaeological sites shut. It is the second general strike in two weeks and coincides with growing anger at the EU’s response to the crisis
- The action is set to be the biggest since Greece’s socialist government introduced cuts to bring the country’s debt and deficit under control. Greece currently has a spiralling public deficit of 12.7%, more than four times higher than eurozone rules allow
- The government has pledged to cut this to 8.7% this year, and also reduce the 300bn-euro national debt, by freezing public sector salaries, raising the average retirement age to 63 by 2015, and increasing taxes on petrol, alcohol and tobacco. It also wants to crack down on tax avoidance. Greece’s black economy is estimated at 30% of official gross domestic product

Buffett-backed BYD eyes big overseas drive [Reuters]

- BYD Co Ltd, a Chinese car and battery maker founded by China’s wealthiest man and backed by U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett, aims to boost its car exports this year as it feeds what it hopes will be improving demand in a recovering global economy. BYD (slogan: Build Your Dreams) aims to export 5-10% of the 800,000 vehicles it should produce this year, up sharply from last year when its overseas sales were just 2.2% of its 450,000 vehicles
- BYD, which employs 130,000, has said it aims to be a major global player by 2025, with vehicle sales of 8-9 million. Its F3 sedan was the best-selling car in China last year, beating popular domestic and foreign models, such as Hyundai Motor’s (005380.KS) Elantra and Chery Automobile’s QQ. The company has exported to more than 70 countries, mainly in emerging markets such as Egypt, Russia, Iran and Southeast Asia
- Founded in 1995 by entrepreneur Wang Chuanfu, BYD has enjoyed a rapid rise, first as a mobile phone battery maker for Nokia (NOK1V.HE) and Motorola (MOT.N) and, more recently, making cars. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N) bought a 10 percent stake in 2008. BYD shares rose more than five-fold last year, propelling Wang to the top of Forbes 2009 list of China’s wealthiest

Wal-Mart buys Vudu in move into Web movies [Reuters]

- Wal-Mart Stores Inc will buy the fledgling Vudu online movie on-demand service, in a deal expected to close within weeks and pit the world’s largest retailer against the likes of Netflix Inc. Santa Clara, California-based start-up Vudu, which operates a library of 16,000 movies, is already built into a growing number of televisions from LG Electronics Inc and Mitsubishi Electric Corp
- Wal-Mart is getting into a market that is attracting high-powered entrants. In November, Best Buy Co Inc reached a deal with Sonic Solutions to license its Roxio CinemaNow movie download service. They had hoped to compete with companies with already established footprints in the market, including Amazon.com Inc and Apple Inc’s iTunes store
- Movie rental chains such as Blockbuster Inc have stagnated as consumers increasingly choose convenience, interactive capacity and the instant gratification of on-demand video over a trip to the store. Netflix, which offers Web streaming of about 12,000 titles through its “Watch Instantly” service, has benefited from that trend and now hosts some 12 million subscribers. But most of its offerings are older Hollywood titles, because major studios have been reluctant to make new releases available for digital streaming

Army to run Niger until election [Reuters]

- Niger’s military plans to run the uranium-exporting country until politicians agree on a new constitution and are ready for fresh elections, West Africa’s regional mediator said after meeting the junta on Sunday. No timeframe has been set for the transition back to civilian rule but a spokesman for the junta said on Sunday that elections would be held “as soon as possible” and the situation was similar to a coup in 1999 that led to transparent elections
- Niger’s military ousted President Mamadou Tandja in a swift coup last week, putting an end to months of political wrangling between him and the opposition. The seizure was formally condemned but it is also widely seen at home and abroad as a chance to end a political impasse
- It was the third coup in West Africa in the last 18 months, in what some observers say is an alarming shift away from democracy in a region seeking stability and investment. But a spokesman for the military junta, known as the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, said the 1999 coup, when the army ousted the president but held elections soon afterwards, should allay concerns about the military’s plans

Dutch government falls over Afghan troop mission [Reuters]

- Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s coalition government collapsed on Saturday when the two largest parties failed to agree on whether to withdraw troops from Afghanistan this year as planned. The fall of the government in the EU country, just two days short of the coalition’s third anniversary, all but guarantees that the 2,000 Dutch troops will be brought home this year
- That would be the first major a crack in the coalition of some 40 nations battling a steadily increasing Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. The collapse, the fourth for a cabinet led by Balkenende in eight years, throws into doubt the scope and timing of planned budget cuts for next year as well
- This week, the Dutch government’s main think-tank raised its 2010 budget deficit forecast to 6.1 percent of gross domestic product but called for a 2011 deficit of 4.7 percent, implying that steep spending cuts will be needed. That could crimp the Dutch economy, which just entered a recovery after four quarters of contraction

Pakistan receives $349.3 million from U.S. [Reuters]

- Pakistan received on Wednesday $349.3 million from the United States as part of a fund to help the U.S. ally sustain efforts to fight Islamist militancy. Last month, President Asif Ali Zardari told U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke that the war on militancy had cost Pakistan $35 billion in the last eight years
- According to official figures, the United States has given Pakistan $15.4 billion since 2002, about two-thirds security-related and the rest economic aid. That figure does not include the $349.3 million received on Wednesday
- Pakistan has been struggling to get its economy back since 2008 when the government agreed to an International Monetary Fund loan of $7.6 billion. The loan was increased to $11.3 billion in July last year. The rupee hit a record low of 85.15 this month and dealers said the inflow from the United States was likely to help keep the rupee firm in the short-term but the medium-term outlook remained weak

- NY says Wall St bonuses up 17 percent to $20.3 billion [Reuters]
- Billionaires begin court fight for Trump casinos [Reuters]
- How long can the U.S. dollar defy gravity? [Reuters]
- U.S. Afghan death toll hits 1,000 [Reuters]
- Pilots ground Lufthansa in its longest ever strike [Reuters]
- NATO airstrike kills 27 civilians in Afghanistan[Reuters]

Photograph by Pier Paolo Cito/AP

U.S. soldiers and one Afghan soldier exchange fire with insurgents during a patrol in the Badula Qulp area, West of Lashkar Gah in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 14. In the fight, one soldier was wounded and at least one insurgent was killed. The soldiers are operating in support of a U.S. Marine offensive against the Taliban in Marjah area. AP / Pier Paolo Cito

via The Frame: Afghanistan - Six Days of the NATO Offensive

If you’re on Twitter or Facebook, let’s connect!

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR ALL PREVIOUS HUMP DAY HEADLINES