World, The Time Has Come To...

...spin the global news (thanks for that lead in, Q-Tip and Chemical Brothers). Let's start by looking into US policies that are being watched around the world:

• Almost 100 prisoners have died in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan since August 2002, according to US group Human Rights First. The report, which is to be published on Wednesday, draws on information from Pentagon and other official US sources. [BBC]
  
  
• The military commander responsible for the American detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, confirmed Tuesday that officials there last month turned to more aggressive methods to deter prisoners who were carrying out long-term hunger strikes to protest their incarceration.
  
  The commander, Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, head of the United States Southern Command, said soldiers at Guantánamo began strapping some of the detainees into "restraint chairs" to force-feed them and isolate them from one another after finding that some were deliberately vomiting or siphoning out the liquid they had been fed. [NYTimes]
  
  
• A senior US officer has predicted increased violence in Afghanistan, where more Australians are to be deployed. The officer in command of US forces in the Middle East, General John Abizaid, said he told the Prime Minister, John Howard, he was "optimistic but realistic" on military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  
  But General Abizaid said there was no end in sight to the insurgencies. He pointed to an increase in suicide bombings inspired by al-Qaeda, and assassinations of people co-operating with the government. Such attacks were expected to increase in the northern spring. [Sydney Morning Herald]

Middle East

• Iran continued Tuesday to parry a Russian offer to enrich uranium on Russian soil for its nuclear energy program, putting off any move to finalize a deal because it has no real incentive to bend yet, according to diplomats and Russian analysts. Analysts say talks with Russia are likely to continue inconclusively until Russia and China are forced to make a decision at the U.N. Security Council on whether to punish Iran by imposing sanctions. [WaPo]
  
  
• Hamas presented a pragmatic former university administrator (Ismail Haniyeh) as its choice for Palestinian prime minister yesterday, and the Islamic militant group reached out to Fatah and other factions to join a broad-based Cabinet that might stand a chance of gaining international approval. [Boston Globe]
  
  
• Egypt rejected U.S. efforts Tuesday to win international support for a clampdown on aid to the Palestinian Authority when Hamas ministers take power, arguing that the radical Islamic group should be given time to accept Israel. Egypt does not provide much aid to the Palestinians but has broad influence in the Arab world on Israeli-Palestinian issues, so the rebuff could hamper Rice's efforts to build a united front against the rise of Hamas. [WaPo]
  

Bird Flu

• As German poultry farmers on the bucolic island of Rügen began killing their stocks over the weekend, European Union officials assured citizens that they are well prepared to handle the bird flu.
  
  Europe's agricultural officials are learning from Vietnam - which has stopped the avian flu - and their own past brushes with the virus as they take steps ranging from keeping free-range poultry indoors to the immediate culling of poultry stocks, and the creation of buffer zones around affected farms. [Christian Science Monitor]
  
  
• A 27-year-old Indonesian woman who lives in the capital has died of bird flu, a Health Ministry official said on Wednesday, citing local hospital tests. If confirmed by outside laboratories recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), the woman will be the 20th Indonesian to die from avian flu. [Reuters]
  

Grab Bag

• Most British people would accept new taxes on goods and services that damage the environment, according to a Guardian/ICM poll which reveals a widespread willingness to make personal sacrifices to tackle the threat of climate change. Some 63% said they approved of a green tax to discourage behaviour that harms the environment, while 34% said they would not accept such price rises. [Guardian]
  
  
• Just 10 days after he won Italy's first Olympic medal in speedskating, Enrico Fabris added medal No. 3 to his take at the Torino Games by winning the men's 1,500 meters on Tuesday.
  

  Each time his lead held up, Fabris threw his arms in the air to celebrate. He sported an orange crown afterwards. "I received it from the village where I come from," Fabris said, "because today, without any arrogance, I'm the king of Italy." [Seattle Times]