In Afghanistan, the Taliban says its political wing is ready to enter peace talks to end the war in Afghanistan, but that it will not give up its armed struggle against international forces. Meanwhile, more suicide bombers kill more civilians.
A Syrian rights group says more Arab League observers are leaving the country to protest the Syrian government's deadly crackdown on a 10-month opposition uprising.
As sanctions continue against Iran, Japan says it is considering joining the oil ban, as the US praises the move, and continues to lobby other countries to join the international effort.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari flew to the United Arab Emirates Thursday, amid growing tensions between Pakistan's civilian government and the military.
According to watchdog group Reporters Without Borders, the Middle East was the most dangerous region for journalists last year. This comes one day after French television reporter Gilles Jacquier was killed in Syria.
Details after the break.
Afghanistan
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahed, said the insurgent group has stepped up its efforts to bring about peace in the troubled nation. But, in the e-mailed statement, he also reiterated the Taliban's opposition to the current Afghan constitution and referred to the government led by President Hamid Karzai as a "stooge" administration.
The comments come as the U.S. special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, prepares to lead a delegation to Afghanistan next week in an effort to get approval from President Karzai for the resumption of preliminary talks with the Taliban.
Earlier this month, the Afghan Taliban said it had reached a preliminary agreement to open a political office in the Gulf state of Qatar, in a move that could help facilitate the talks.
Spokesman Mujahid said in a statement that the Taliban is asking for the release of prisoners held at the U.S.-run Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba.
In Washington Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said no decisions have been made about releasing Taliban prisoners.
Clinton said the United States was ready to support an Afghan-led reconciliation process. But she reiterated that any power-sharing deal would have to involve insurgents renouncing violence, breaking ties with al-Qaida and accepting the Afghan constitution.
The secretary also indicated progress in efforts to open a Taliban political office in Qatar, citing "positive statements" from President Karzai and the Taliban.
In December, Vice President Joe Biden said the Afghan Taliban are not America's enemies, and that the insurgent group did not represent a threat to the United States unless it continued to harbor al-Qaida terrorists.
U.S.-led forces ousted Afghanistan's Taliban government following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. Those attacks were carried out by al-Qaida, which had training camps in Afghanistan.
The Taliban's statement on peace talks comes as violence continues in Afghanistan.
A suicide car bomber killed five people, including a local district chief, in southern Afghanistan on Thursday.
Provincial officials say the governor of Kandahar province's Panjwayi district, Fazluddin Agha, was traveling in his car with his two sons when the bomber rammed a vehicle full of explosives into them near Kandahar city. All three were killed, as well as two of the district governor's guards.
Officials say nine police officers and a civilian were wounded.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.
Syria
A Syrian rights group says more Arab League observers are leaving the country to protest the Syrian government's deadly crackdown on a 10-month opposition uprising.
Mousab Azzawi of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 11 observers are expected to soon depart from Syria. He said the group of seven Iraqis, two Kuwaitis and two Emiratis had witnessed Syrian security forces firing on opposition activists Tuesday in the northeastern town of Deir el-Zour. Azzawi says 19 protesters were killed in the incident.
It was not possible to independently verify the death toll or plans by the Arab League observers to leave Syria.
An Algerian who became the first person to quit the mission earlier this week told the Reuters news agency three more observers have joined him. Anwar Malek has said he witnessed Syrian government forces committing war crimes against the Syrian people and deceiving the monitors while visiting the central city of Homs. He also has called the monitoring mission a "farce."
But a Sudanese general leading the team of more than 150 observers says Malek's accusations are untrue.
In a statement released Thursday, General Mohamed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi says Malek did not join the other observers in the field in Homs and instead remained in a hotel room for six days, complaining of being ill. Dabi says the Algerian asked to travel to Paris for medical treatment, but then departed Syria without waiting for approval.
The observers began operating in Syria on December 26 to check President Bashar al-Assad's compliance with an Arab League plan to end his violent suppression of the anti-government revolt. But the United Nations and the United States say killings of protesters by Syrian security forces have continued and intensified since the monitoring mission began.
The Syrian government accuses terrorists of driving the revolt and carrying out a Wednesday rocket attack that killed French television reporter Gilles Jacquier and seven other people in the central city of Homs. Jacquier is the first Western journalist to be killed in Syria since the unrest began last March.
One of Syria's main opposition groups, the Syrian National Council, blames the attack on the Syrian government. It says the killing of Jacquier shows the government not only is preventing journalists from operating freely, but also is "killing journalists" to try to silence independent media.
The United Nations estimates at least 5,000 people have been killed in the uprising, many of them peaceful protesters attacked by Syrian security forces. Others have been killed in fighting between the Syrian military and army defectors who have joined the rebellion in recent months.
Iran
Japan and South Korea are among the countries contemplating requests from the United States to reduce or cut ties with Iran's banking and energy sectors. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner received a partial commitment Thursday in Tokyo from his Japanese counterpart. Meanwhile, South Korea is still undecided on how far to go.
Treasury Secretary Geithner is praising Japan, which he calls a "vital security and economic ally" for standing with Washington and the international community to support a "very important strategic objective."
The United States is pressing other countries to support sanctions against Iran for its nuclear development.
Geithner says the United States is exploring ways to cut off Iran's central bank from the international financial system and to reduce the earnings Iran derives from its oil exports. "We are in the early stages, just the initial stages, of consulting with our allies both in Europe, Japan and around the world on how best to achieve those objectives," he said.
Standing alongside Geithner in Tokyo, Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi expressed understanding for Washington's stance.
Azumi says, in the past five years, his country has already significantly reduced the amount of oil it imports from Iran. He adds that Japan will take specific steps to further cut oil purchases from Iran, which now stand at 10 percent of Japan's total imports. But he did not cite a specific amount or timeline.
The finance minister says Japan, which also buys natural gas from Iran, is also working to cut non-oil imports.
Japan's largest circulation daily, the Yomiuri Shimbun, says Tokyo, in exchange for telling oil importers to change suppliers, will ask Washington to exempt from sanctions Japanese financial institutions dealing with the Iranian central bank.
The bank processes most of the revenues for Iran's oil exports.
Officials at South Korea's Ministry of Strategy and Finance tell VOA no decision has yet been made for this year's level of oil imports from Iran.
South Korea, similar to Japan with few natural resources, also imports about ten percent of its crude oil from Iran.
Last month, South Korea announced it would expand sanctions against the Islamic republic and discourage domestic companies from importing petrochemicals from Iran. But that action did not deal with crude oil shipments.
Pakistan
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari flew to the United Arab Emirates Thursday, amid growing tensions between Pakistan's civilian government and the military.
Officials said Mr. Zardari was to attend a wedding in Dubai and will be back in Pakistan on Friday. They also said the trip is not linked to the current crisis in Pakistan.
The 56-year-old Pakistani leader went to the United Arab Emirates last month for medical treatment after falling ill. The president's trip came as army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani met with top commanders on Thursday. Officials said the senior military officers discussed the "prevailing situation."
The crisis between the government and military stems from an unsigned memo that allegedly sought U.S. help to prevent a military coup in Pakistan.
Pakistan's Supreme Court is investigating the memo, which was allegedly sent by a Pakistani official to the U.S. military last year.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani fired Defense Secretary Naeem Khalid Lodhi for his role in submitting statements to the Supreme Court made by two top security officials.
Mr. Gilani also accused the two officials, army chief Kayani and Inter-Services Intelligence head Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, of acting unlawfully by making unilateral submissions to the Supreme Court inquiry.
Those remarks prompted Pakistan's military on Wednesday to warn of "grievous consequences" for the country.
A Supreme Court-appointed panel is investigating the origins of the unsigned memo, in which Pakistan's civilian government asked for U.S. help in reining in the Pakistani military, following the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden last May.
The existence of the memo surfaced in October when Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz accused the then-Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S., Husain Haqqani, of writing the memo. Haqqani denies he wrote the document and has since resigned.
The army has ruled Pakistan for must of its existence since independence from Britain in 1947. There have been three military coups in Pakistan, and no civilian government has ever completed its term in office.
Analysts say General Kayani does not want a coup but that generals would not object to President Zardari being dismissed through constitutional means.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday the United States stands "strongly in favor" of a democratically-elected civilian government in Pakistan. She added the U.S. expects Pakistan to resolve any internal issues in a "just and transparent manner" that upholds Pakistan's laws and constitution.
Middle East and Journalists
A VOA News story by Lisa Bryant in Paris says the death of French television reporter Gilles Jacquier in Syria adds to a mounting toll of journalists killed, detained and attacked as they try to cover the year-old Arab Spring uprising. According to watchdog group Reporters Without Borders, the Middle East was the most dangerous region for journalists last year.
France has demanded a full investigation into the death of France 2 TV's Jacquier, who became the first western journalist killed in Syria since the anti-government uprising began 10 months ago. Unlike many journalists, who have tried to sneak into Syria without a visa, the 44-year-old Jacquier had traveled to the Syrian town of Homs with government permission. He was killed by rocket fire as he covered a pro-government rally.
Praise has poured in for Jacquier, a veteran war correspondent who had covered the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Congo and the Balkans, among others. In a broadcast interview, France Televisions Information Director Thierry Thuillier called him a real professional, a pugnacious reporter who counted many friends among his colleagues.
Jacquier adds to a mounting toll of journalists killed, attacked and detained while covering the Arab Spring uprising. Paris-based watchdog group Reporters Sans Frontieres [Reporters Without Borders] estimates 20 journalists were killed and 553 were attacked and threatened in the Middle East in 2011 - the highest numbers of any region.
"What at least has been common among all the Arab uprisings since last year is that all the regimes tried to control the flow of information," said Soazig Dollet, who heads RSF's Middle East and North Africa bureau. "They all tried to …organize a blackout regarding first the demonstrations and the protests - and the repression of those protests - by attacking local media and by preventing foreign journalist to enter."
Dollet said Jacquier becomes the fourth journalist killed in Syria since the uprising there began. Like the French government, RSF is calling on Syria's regime to fully investigate how he died.
"We're not asking foreign journalists not to go to Syria. The world needs information about what's going on in Syria. Not going to Syria means that we will play the regime's game. We need on-the-ground foreign journalists. They're the only independent source of information to understand what's going on in Syria," said Dollet.
Journalists also were killed in covering the uprisings in Yemen, Libya, Egypt and during Tunisia's relatively peaceful revolution a year ago.
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