KABUL - Representatives of the Taliban and other insurgent leaders can stand as candidates in Afghanistan's next presidential election, to be held in April 2014. President Hamid Karzai, who is serving his second term, is constitutionally barred from running again and no clear candidate to succeed him has emerged. Fazil Ahmad Manawi, head of the Independent Election Commission, insisted the poll would be impartial. "We are even prepared to pave the ground for the armed opposition, be it the Taliban or Hezb-i-Islami, to participate in the election, either as voters or candidates," he said. AFP
JERUSALEM - Two new Jewish settlement outposts have been created in the West Bank in the first such development since 2005, Israel's Peace Now watchdog said. Despite the fact they have been set up without permits, both are already connected to power and water supplies, indicating backing from the Israeli authorities, Peace Now said. The international community considers all settlements built in the West Bank and east Jerusalem to be illegal because they are built on territory Israel occupied during the 1967 Six Day War. AFP
PRISTINA - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that Kosovo's unilaterally declared independence, fiercely opposed by Serbia, was not debatable and urged their leaders to show "courage". Reiterating Washington's strong support for Kosovo's ethnic Albanian authorities on a visit to Pristina, she said: "We will oppose any discussion of territorial changes or reopening Kosovo's independent status. These matters are not up for discussion." Washington is one of the main supporters of Kosovo's independence, which it proclaimed in 2008. AFP