A new U.N. report claims that widespread torture and abuse of detainees continues at Afghan police and intelligence facilities. Earlier this month President Hamid Karzai said that all detainees held by the U.S. and its allies would be transferred to Afghan custody. But the new allegations of torture could make such a transfer illegal. The 100-page report, that was released on Monday, was based on several hundred interviews and about half of the interviewed detainees and former detainees alleged torture or abuse. In 2011, a similar report caused the U.S. to halt transfers of detainees to nine Afghan facilities.

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More than half of the 635 detainees questioned by U.N. investigators in the 12 months ending in October were ill-treated or tortured, including being subjected to severe beatings or electric shocks, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said.

The allegations, which the Afghan government calls "exaggerated," are likely to complicate discussions about the handling of detainees, a source of debate between the United States and Afghanistan as the countries prepare for the departure of most foreign troops next year.

Many of the suspected fighters who end up in Afghan custody are captured by U.S. and allied troops. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led force said it has suspended the transfer of detainees to the facilities identified in the U.N. report and is working with Afghan authorities to address abuses.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has frequently maintained that the handling of detainees is a question of national sovereignty. During discussions with President Obama this month, he reiterated his demand that all Afghan prisoners be turned over to Afghan authorities.

Torture decreased at some facilities after the U.N. issued a report in 2011, and transfers of detainees to Afghan authorities were halted, but again increased after transfers resumed, according to the new report.

In all, 14 methods of abuse were documented. The report said evidence of torture occurred most frequently at facilities in the southern province of Kandahar, the heartland of the Taliban insurgency.

U.N. investigators received what they described as credible reports about the disappearance of 81 people who were arrested by Kandahar police between September 2011 and October 2012. They were also told about the reported existence of several unofficial detention sites and said some detainees held by intelligence officials were hidden from international observers — allegations denied by the intelligence agency.

Of the prisoners interviewed, 105 were children under international law, and a large majority of these juvenile prisoners had been tortured. Only a very small portion of prisoners had been in Afghan army or Afghan local police custody, but they also reported torture by those forces.

"A majority of NDS and ANP [Afghan National Police] officials do not accept that torture is ineffective and counter-productive as a tool to obtain strategically valuable and actionable intelligence to fight terrorism and conflict-related activities, let alone a serious crime under Afghan and international law," the report said.

President Obama was quietly sworn into office for a second term just before noon in a brief and intimate ceremony, ahead of Monday’s far showier public inaugural celebrations. First Lady Michelle Obama, along with daughters Sasha and Malia stood at Obama's side.

The ceremony, which lasted less than two minutes, satisfied the Constitutional requirement that the president’s swearing-in take place by noon on the Jan. 20 after an election.

The oath was administered by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in the White House Blue Room, an elegant space with a sweeping view of the South Lawn.

Good morning, today is Monday, January 21, 2013. It is completely wonderful, and totally fitting that on the day that we celebrate the life and achievements of Martin Luther King Jr., we also celebrate the second inauguration of a black man into the office of the President of the United States of America.

Your morning open thread begins below.

Vice President Joe Biden was sworn in for his second term on Sunday.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor administered the oath of office to Biden in the Naval Observatory, the vice president’s official residence.

"It's an incredible honor to have Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor swear me in," Biden said in a statement. "I believed strongly that she would make a great Justice, and it was one of the greatest pleasures of my career to be involved in her selection to the Court. From the first time I met her, I was impressed by Justice Sotomayor's commitment to justice and opportunity for all Americans, and she continues to exemplify those values today. Above all, I'm happy for the chance to be sworn in by a friend - and someone I know will continue to do great things."

After the short swearing-in, Biden again thanked Sotomayor personally, explaining to the small group of guests the reason for the early timing of the event.

Biden took the oath on a family Bible bearing a Celtic cross. It has been in the Biden family since 1893.

[Via]

Take a behind the scenes look at the construction of the floats for the 2013 Inaugural Parade.

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From this Friday evening's forum “Vision for a New America: A Future without Poverty” hosted by Tavis Smiley, which included guests Cornel West, Jonathan Kozol, Mariana Chilton, Newt Gingrich, Jeffrey Sachs, Rep. Marcia Fudge, John Graham and the National Nurses United Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro, I wanted to share a portion with Smiley and DeMoro which was also highlighted over at Daily KOS here: 'We Need a Real Economy' to Eradicate Poverty in the U.S.:

“We have to have an economy – a real economy. What do we have now? We want our jobs back. We want our pensions. We want our healthcare. We want to raise standards for everyone in America. We want a civil society…. Where’s our country?”

These questions, posed by National Nurses United Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro set the stage last night as TV and radio host Tavis Smiley convened a group of eight individuals for a landmark national broadcast promoting his goal of a “Vision for a New America: A Future Without Poverty.” [...]

Smiley is calling on President Obama to convene forthwith a White House Conference to Eradicate Poverty. He is asking people to sign on to this letter to the President. [...]

One solution for both the healthcare crisis and poverty, DeMoro said, is a single-payer healthcare system. “ It would cover everyone. The insurance companies would be gone. We could have cost, quality and access and the ability to be a civil society. If we had a single payer healthcare system, we could generate almost three million jobs, which would actually serve to stimulate the rest of the economy so you’re building and actually taking care of the people of America.” [...]

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The Algerian army staged a final assault Saturday, in an effort to end an Islamist militant assault at a gas station plant. A provisional death toll issued by the Interior Ministry on Saturday reported 32 militants and 23 captives had been killed in the three-day hostage crisis at a remote gas field. Over the course of the crisis, upwards of 685 Algerian and 107 foreign workers were freed. President Obama issued a statement Saturday saying he still wants a "fuller understanding" of what happened in the strike, but added that "the blame for this tragedy rests with the terrorists who carried it out."

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The siege at Ain Amenas transfixed the world after radical Islamists linked to al-Qaida stormed the complex, which contained hundreds of plant workers from all over the world, then held them hostage surrounded by the Algerian military and its attack helicopters for four tense days that were punctuated with gun battles and dramatic tales of escape.

Algeria's response to the crisis was typical of its history in confronting terrorists, favoring military action over negotiation, which caused an international outcry from countries worried about their citizens. Algerian military forces twice assaulted the two areas where the hostages were being held with minimal apparent mediation — first on Thursday, then on Saturday.

"To avoid a bloody turn of events in response to the extreme danger of the situation, the army's special forces launched an intervention with efficiency and professionalism to neutralize the terrorist groups that were first trying to flee with the hostages and then blow up the gas facilities," Algeria's Interior Ministry said in a statement about the standoff.

Immediately after the assault, French President Francois Hollande gave his backing to Algeria's tough tactics, saying they were "the most adapted response to the crisis."

"There could be no negotiations" with terrorists, the French media quoted him as saying in the central French city of Tulle.

Democracy Now! has generously provided a special livestream as family and friends of Aaron Swartz gather at Cooper Union’s Great Hall in New York City to celebrate his life and remember their beloved friend, sibling, child, and partner.

Speakers include Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, David Segal, Ben Wikler, Roy Singham, Doc Searls, Edward Tufte, David Isenberg, Holden Karnofsky and Tom Chiarella and other friends. OK Go’s Damian Kush will be performing at the service.

The service ended at 6:00 pm ET, but you can still watch it all via this livestream video.

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Stephen Colbert had a bit of fun with some of President Obama's detractors for his attempt to do something about the gun violence in America during this Thursday evenings edition of The Colbert Report: Colbert Mocks Rush Limbaugh, Steve Doocy's Obama Gun Law Criticism:

Unlike his Comedy Central cohort Jon Stewart, who has devoted much of this week to harshly criticizing the NRA and gun control opponents, Stephen Colbert joined Rush Limbaugh and Steve Doocy of "Fox & Friends" in lamenting "King Gun-Snatcher the Magnificent." On Tuesday's show, he mocked Limbaugh for Limbaugh's own mockery of President Obama's decision to bring children onstage when announcing his gun reform proposals.

Limbaugh barked on his radio show about how sickening he found Obama's display. "He brings these kids, supposedly who wrote letters to the White House after Newtown ... to paint a picture of support [mocking voice] among the children!" Limbaugh said. He continued in a falsely sympathetic tone, "They don't want to die. How can you not listen to them?" [...]

He also had some fun at the expense of Steve Doocy, who questioned why those same kids don't question Obama's tax plan and its implications for younger generations, because of course he did.

Colbert followed up with his Word segment, where he asked if the Second Amendment is truly meant to defend against government force, how can citizens ever be safe until they can have their own aircraft carriers?

In the aftermath of the hurricane, volunteers mobilized to provide aid to Rockaway residents. Twelve hundred and fifty one surveys were collected from residents living in Far Rockaways.

In the last two weeks of December, NYCC organizers called and visited a sample of the initial survey takers to assess the current habitability situation, two months after Hurricane Sandy hit.

The results document a clear failure by the Bloomberg administration to solve several problems of habitability, including electricity, heat, wet sheetrock removal and mold remediation.

A significant number of Rockaway residents have still not returned to their homes. And for those that have been lucky enough to return home, things are still not back to normal.