Sudan’s president could enjoy a year’s reprieve from war crimes charges as Western governments seek to encourage his regime to consolidate peace after the people of South Sudan voted last month for independence.

Senior western and African officials said France and the US had agreed at an African Union summit to consider backing a deferral of the International Criminal Court’s indictment of Omar al-Bashir on war crimes and genocide charges.

European law enforcement officials and other experts say the chances of George W. Bush being arrested on war crimes charges in Switzerland--or any place else on the continent--are almost nil.

"From a legal point of view, I believe it could be possible. But I'm convinced that the political reality is that there are no chances for such a step."

- Dick Marty, a Swiss prosecutor who led Council of Europe’s investigation into CIA secret prisons.

“[Cindor Reeves] risked his life to help international prosecutors build a war crimes case against Mr. Taylor, the former president of Liberia. … [He] should not be deported to Liberia. He played a key role in bringing charges against a reviled figure, and deserves a safe haven.”

- Globe and Mail editorial, Feb 7, 2011

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao sought Thursday to calm global concerns about the impact of severe droughts on China's grain output and inflation, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The country's supply of grain is basically in balance with demand and reiterating the government's confidence that it can keep prices under control, he said, adding:

The tidal wave of public anger against the Egyptian regime that engulfed the country in recent days has transfixed governments and people the world over.

Egypt’s staunchest ally, the United States, has called on President Mubarak to go, and to go ‘now’ (see AFP's report).

The United States says it is willing to help India and China improve their relations and welcomes a greater involvement by New Delhi in East Asia, AFP reports.

"We support an improvement in dialogue between India and China, and we would seek to take steps to facilitate that as we move forward," Kurt Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asia said.

“What young people want is political dignity. Democracy may enhance that. But political dignity also encompasses ethnic or national self-determination, religious self-definition, and human and social rights. All of this now takes place in a wired world where the youth are acutely aware of economic, racial, and social inequities.”

“Nationhood is not an abstract phenomenon. It is a work continuously in the making; a work that requires effort and dedication, vision and leadership; most importantly, it requires the collective free will of the people.

“Today’ world is different from the 19th century … where force could be used, at will, to unify a vast land or impose a cultural or linguistic identity upon a diverse group of peoples.”

“To forge a free nation today you need the assent of all. No identity can be unduly imposed anymore.

Preliminary official results from South Sudan’s independence referendum show that more than 99 percent of voters in the plebiscite want secession.

The Economist reports that, despite reports of discrepancies between voting numbers and registration lists in 60 counties (over half of the states in the South), the vote has been praised by observers: “there is little doubt that the process is indeed representative of the will of the Southern Sudanese people.”