Obama's speech: "Let's focus on building our nation"

"America, it's time to focus on nation-building here at home," said the U.S. president, Barack Obama, in his address to the nation during which he announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from ' Afghanistan, after ten years of fighting. "I do not patrol their streets or their mountains indefinitely.

This is the responsibility of the Afghan government, "he said. The first 10,000 men will fall at home by the end of the year, some 23,000 by next summer and the rest (around 100 thousand U.S. troops are in Afghanistan) by 2014. The nation, he said Obama has lived a 'difficult decade "with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A Ben Ali nephew sentenced to 15 years in prison

A court in the city of Beya, east of Tunisia, has been sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison a nephew of deposed President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Sofian Ben Ali, tried by the court of the town in Tunisia, was yesterday found guilty of issuing bad checks worth 350,000 euros.

Israel calls Apple to remove from iTunes an application invoking intifada

Jerusalem .- An Israeli minister has asked Apple to remove from its iTunes store an application in Arabic calling for the Palestinian people to an uprising. In a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, the minister Yuli-Yoel Edelstein said that the 'Third Intifada- a reference to a future Palestinian uprising - conveys information about the protests, some violent, planned against Israel.

Michelle Obama: Thanks to those who fought against apartheid am here as First Lady

Michelle has attended on Wednesday the legendary district of Soweto, the emblem of the struggle against apartheid, to pay tribute to all those who fought for freedom: "It is people like them I'm here as First Lady of the United States" he said. His discourse has revolved around the need to continue fighting for civil rights and end discrimination of any kind.

Mubarak's lawyer insists the poor health of former president

The health of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak "is deteriorating," according to his lawyer, Farid El Deeb, who reveals that in June 2010 the ousted officer underwent surgery at Heidelberg (Germany), where was removed the pancreas. The lawyer added that Mubarak is "very sad and distressed" by the allegations against him.

TEPCO will pay 88,000 million yen to the evacuees for psychological injuries

The operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, TEPCO, expects to disburse about 88,000 million yen  in compensation for psychological damage to nearly 150,000 evacuated by the nuclear crisis, reported the local agency 'Kyodo'. That amount is to cover the psychological damage from the crisis began on 11 March until mid-January 2012, when TEPCO hopes to bring the reactor to "cold shutdown" and to close the worst tragedy since Chernobyl nuclear, in 1986.

Second night of violence in Belfast

A press photographer was shot in the leg and two others were injured in clashes between Protestants and Catholics in Belfast. Police say that in this second night of clashes around 700 people threw incendiary devices at the heart of the city.

Baptists get permission to stay: it is free to travel abroad

Two weeks after the ruling that opened the doors of the prison where he was in jail for more than four years, Cesare Battisti began a new phase of his life in Brazil: the local authorities gave the go-ahead issuing visas for their stay in the country to the former terrorist.

Papandreou gets vote of confidence from Parliament for new government

The new government of Prime Minister of Greece, the socialist YorgosPapandréu, today won the vote of confidence of the Hellenic Parliament, crucial to make progress on the adoption of new austerity measures and reforms to avoid bankruptcy. "They gave their vote of confidence from the Government 155 deputies, of the total 298 votes cast.

143 voted against," the president of the Hellenic Parliament, Philippi Pechálnikos, said . Before the start of the vote in the House open, Papandreou called for support "all" his government "to tackle the crisis effectively, avoid bankruptcy, to ensure that Greece remains at the core of the euro, its economy and security in the region.