Dhaka, December 19
Opposition parties in Bangladesh today announced a fresh 72-hour nationwide blockade from Saturday to press their demand for parliamentary polls under a non-party caretaker government even as police arrested over a hundred anti-government protesters. The main opposition Bangladeshi Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Nazrul Islam Khan announced the fresh blockade, about 13 hours before ending of their forth round of back-to-back protest campaigns.

The BNP-led 18 party opposition alliance started enforcing the prolonged blockades after the Election Commission on November 25 announced the schedule for the 10th parliamentary polls on January 5. Former premier Khaleda Zia-led BNP, Jamaat and their smaller allies have been staging protests since late October to try to force Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to step down so that a neutral caretaker government can oversee the election.

Hasina is refusing to accept the arrangement, which was in place during previous national polls. The BNP has refused to field candidates for the January election, saying the vote under Hasina will be rigged - an accusation the premier flatly rejects.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh security forces today arrested more than 100 protesters as they launched a nationwide crackdown on the opposition.

The elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and paramilitary border guards "joint forces" arrested 118 people, mostly BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami activists, in five districts where police had earlier clashed with demonstrators.

Most of the BNP leaders went into hiding as the government promised to be tough "as much as required" against those who masterminded the senseless violence or ordered to uproot railway tracks, derail trains and torch buses, resulting in the deaths of the innocent people. A number of senior BNP leaders are already in jail to face charges of instigating violence. — PTI

Peshawar, December 19
At least 23 pro-Taliban fighters and three civilians have died in a fierce exchange of fire between Pakistani security forces and militants in the lawless North Waziristan tribal region.

The clashes erupted late last night when militants ambushed a security forces convoy that was evacuating injured soldiers from Khajori check post after an attack by a suicide bomber.

"Security forces valiantly responded and encircled fleeing terrorists and inflicted heavy casualties on them. Firefight continued for some time, which resulted in killing of 23 militants," a senior Pakistani military officer said.

Three security personnel were injured in firefight. Reports said three civilians died in shelling by the army though this could not be independently confirmed as the tribal areas are out of bounds for journalists.

Locals said three civilians were killed and several houses destroyed by artillery fire in Mir Ali area. — PTI

Bangkok, December 19
After a brief lull, anti-government protesters in Thailand today resumed their campaign calling for the removal of Premier Yingluck Shinawatra while the election commission again warned of possible unrest ahead of upcoming snap polls.

Chief opposition leader Suthep Thaugsuban, a former deputy prime minister backed by the Democrat Party, warned of major protest demonstrations across Bangkok on Sunday. He has said the protest would continue unless Yingluck stepped down. More than 2,000 people joined the protest today.

Protest leaders are demanding that Yingluck, who remains caretaker prime minister, step down before any polls take place to pave the way for pre-election reforms. Yesterday, the Election Commission said it could postpone the February 2 snap elections if the political parties agree and today warned of potential unrest during the polls.

"The EC expects the election on February 2 will cause unrest, so holding the poll on that date is not appropriate," said EC commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, adding that officials would organise the vote if parties "insist" on going ahead.

Yingluck has said that she would continue to be the caretaker premier as she had occupied the office after winning general elections in 2011. She dissolved parliament last week and called for snap polls on February 2 saying she will step down if she loses. — PTI

Washington, December 18
US legal and intelligence experts ordered by President Barack Obama to review National Security Agency practices called for a sweeping overhaul of US surveillance programs while preserving "robust" intelligence capabilities.

The five-member panel of advisers also urged reforms at a secret national security court yesterday and an end to bulk retention of telephone "metadata" by the spy agency, by keeping those records in private hands subject to specific queries from the NSA or law enforcement.

The 308-report also called for "significant steps" to be taken "to protect the privacy of non-US persons," and urged more cooperation with allies to avoid the diplomatic fallout from revelations of US intelligence gathering.

Obama commissioned the review panel report earlier this year in the wake of explosive revelations by fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden on the stunning scope of the NSA's operations.

“It is now time to step back and take stock," the panel said in its report, which was submitted last week to the White House and released publicly yesterday.

"We conclude that some of the authorities that were expanded or created in the aftermath of September 11 unduly sacrifice fundamental interests in individual liberty, personal privacy, and democratic governance," it said.

The panel said it hoped its recommendations would "strike a better balance between the competing interests in providing for the common defense and securing 'the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity'." The review board steered away from calling for outright curbs on intelligence on foreign leaders, but said any such surveillance must be based on real security threats and be approved at the highest levels. — AFP

Moscow, December 19
President Vladimir Putin said today that the National Security Agency surveillance is necessary to fight terrorism, but added that the government needs to "limit the appetite" of the agency with a clear set of ground rules.

Putin's comment at a major news conference was surprising support for President Barack Obama's administration, which has faced massive criticism over the sweeping electronic espionage program. Putin, a 16-year KGB veteran and the former chief of Russia's main espionage agency, said that while the NSA programme "isn't a cause for joy, it's not a cause for repentance either" because it is needed to fight terrorism.

He argued that it's necessary to monitor large numbers of people to expose terrorist contacts. "On political level, it's necessary to limit the appetite of special services with certain rules," he said.

Putin added that the efficiency of the effort and its damage to privacy is limited by the sheer inability to process such a huge amount of data. Asked about former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, whom Russia has granted asylum, Putin insisted that Moscow isn't controlling him.

He argued that any revelations published by Snowden must have come from materials he provided before landing in Russia, and reaffirmed that Moscow made providing refuge to Snowden conditional on his halting what he called ant-American activities. — PTI

Cairo, December 19
An Egyptian court has acquitted Ahmed Shafiq, a former prime minister and presidential candidate, and two sons of ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak, of corruption charges.

Shafiq fled to the United Arab Emirates shortly after he narrowly lost to the Islamist Mohamed Morsi in a 2012 presidential election, a year before Morsi's overthrow by the military.

He faces another corruption trial, as do Mubarak's sons Alaa and Gamal, and has not publicly said whether he would return and run in elections this year if acquitted of all charges.

The verdict in Shafiq's last remaining case is expected later today, his lawyer Farid al-Deeb told AFP. An acquittal should allow him to return to Egypt. Shafiq had been charged with a corrupt land sale to Mubarak's sons undertaken when he was a senior aviation official in Mubarak's government.

Shafiq later became the aviation minister and then prime minister in Mubarak's last days in office. The military-installed government plans parliamentary and presidential elections by autumn 2014, amid widespread speculation that military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will compete and win.

Sisi has not confirmed his candidacy, but if he runs former military officers are expected to step aside. — AFP