President Barack Obama Attacks European Leaders Over Debt Crisis

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama has criticised European leaders for failing to tackle the debt crisis and has demanded "more effective, co-ordinated" fiscal policy.

Reflecting the anger of Americans who are blaming Europe for the current economic turmoil, the President called for eurozone leaders to show global markets they are taking responsibility for the crisis.

Mr Obama told Spanish journalists: "The leaders in Europe must meet and take a decision on how to co-ordinate monetary integration with more effective, co-ordinated fiscal policy."

Tim Geithner, the US Treasury Secretary, is set to take the unusual step of attending a European Finance Ministers meeting on Friday.

Analysts at JP Morgan said there was "a growing sense that the crisis is reaching a climax", arguing that the "endgame on EMU [European Monetary Union] is approaching fast".

Jim O'Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, added that along with Greece, "something big needs to happen for European bank capital, the clarity and determination of ECB policy making and, most importantly, where Germany wants to lead EMU". » | Louise Armitstead, and Harry Wilson | Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Obama has got his nerve! What the hell has he done to tackle the US's debt crisis? The man is a joke. – Mark

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Turkish PM Erdogan Pushes Palestinian Statehood

BBC: Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that recognition of a Palestinian state is an obligation not an option.

He told the Arab League that before the year's end "we will see Palestine in a very different situation".

Mr Erdogan made a new attack on Israel, saying its government's mentality was a barrier to peace in the Middle East.

The Palestinians are currently preparing a bid for United Nations membership despite Israeli and US opposition.

Mr Erdogan is in Egypt as part of a tour of three Arab states that recently ousted their leaders, in an attempt to improve Turkey's standing in the region.

Turkey's relations with Israel have worsened since Israeli forces boarded an aid ship in May last year as it was heading for Gaza.

Nine Turkish activists were killed during the raid. Israel has refused to apologise and said its troops acted in self-defence. » | Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Half of North Korea's Army 'Starving'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: As much as half of North Korea's army is starving as food shortages that were previously affecting only the civilian population worsen and begin to affect institutions tasked with protecting Kim Jong-Il's regime.

Disaffected North Koreans working secretly as journalists within the country for the Japan-based Asiapress International news agency have smuggled out video footage of interviews with soldiers in different parts of the isolated country, with many complaining of malnutrition.

Asked how many of the men in his unit are experiencing malnutrition, one young conscript said it is as high as 50 per cent in the spring.

"And it will get worse after a while," another soldier said. "After the potatoes are harvested, we only have seven small potatoes for one meal."

The soldier indicated that each potato is only the size of his thumb. Continue reading and comment » | Julian Ryall in Tokyo | Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Let's Rebuild the West's Moral Authority
THE AUSTRALIAN: TWO things have haunted me since 9/11. The first is the pain, the grief, the lives lost and families devastated, the sheer barbaric ingenuity of evil. The scar in our humanity is still unhealed.

The second is our failure to understand what Osama bin Laden was saying about the West. We did not hear the message then. I'm not sure we hear it now.

After the shock and grief subsided, two theories began to be heard. Firstly, this was an event of epoch-changing magnitude. The terms of international politics had been transformed. The Cold War was over. Another war had begun. The enemy was not the Soviet Union and communism. It was radical, political Islam.

The second was the opposite: 9/11 was terrifying and terrible but it changed nothing because acts of terror never do. The most important thing is not to overreact. Terror may bring dividends in local conflicts but it never succeeds in its larger political aims.

There is something to be said for both theories. But there is a third: why did al-Qa'ida attack the US? Because it believed it could. Because it thought the US was past its prime, no longer as lean and hungry as it believed it was.

Robert McNamara said the first rule in politics is to understand your enemy's psychology. As I struggled to understand 9/11 I began to suspect the answer lay in the events of 1989. That is when the narratives of the West and the rest began seriously to diverge.

In the West, 1989 was seen as the collapse of communism, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the implosion of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. The Western narrative was triumphalist. It saw those events as heralding the victory of its values without a shot being fired. The free market and liberal democratic politics had won for the simplest of reasons. They delivered, while communism did not. They would now spread across the world. It was, said Francis Fukuyama, the beginning of the end of history. » | Jonathan Sacks* | THE TIMES | Monday, September 12, 2011

*Lord Sacks is the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth.

Amnesty wirft Gaddafi-Gegnern Folter und Mord vor
DIE PRESSE: Die Organisation fordert den libyschen Übergangsrat auf, Menschenrechts-verletzungen der Kämpfer zu stoppen.

Amnesty International hat die neue libysche Führung aufgerufen, Menschenrechtsverletzungen ihrer Anhänger im Kampf gegen den langjährigen Diktator Muammar al-Gaddafi zu stoppen. In einem am Dienstag veröffentlichten Bericht zur Lage in Libyen erhebt die Menschenrechtsorganisation schwere Vorwürfe: Kämpfer und Anhänger des Nationalen Übergangsrats hätten frühere Gaddafi-Kämpfer, vermeintliche Verbündete sowie Ausländer, die sie fälschlicherweise für Söldner hielten, "entführt, willkürlich gefangen gehalten, gefoltert und getötet". » | Ag. | Dienstag 13. September 2011

Pope Accused of Crimes against Humanity by Victims of Sex Abuse

THE GUARDIAN: Victims' complaint to the international criminal court accuses Pope Benedict and three others of failing to prevent abusers

Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests have accused the pope, the Vatican secretary of state and two other high-ranking Holy See officials of crimes against humanity, in a formal complaint to the international criminal court (ICC).

The submission, lodged at The Hague on Tuesday, accuses the four men not only of failing to prevent or punish perpetrators of rape and sexual violence but also of engaging in the "systematic and widespread" practice of concealing sexual crimes around the world.

It includes individual cases of abuse where letters and documents between Vatican officials and others show a refusal to co-operate with law enforcement agencies seeking to pursue suspects, according to the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a US-based organisation that represents the claimants. » | Karen McVeigh | Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Les talibans lancent une «attaque massive» sur Kaboul
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: AFGHANISTAN | Les talibans ont lancé une vaste offensive aujourd'hui à Kaboul. Explosions, et tirs de roquette et d'armes automatiques ont été entendus autour des bâtiments officiels de Kaboul. Le QG de l'Otan fait partie des cibles.

Les talibans afghans ont lancé une vaste offensive mardi contre des bâtiments officiels à Kaboul, où des explosions et des tirs de roquettes et d’armes automatiques ont retenti. Le QG de la force de l’OTAN (Isaf), une base de l’armée et des bâtiments gouvernementaux ont notamment été pris pour cible.

Les déflagrations semblaient provenir de plusieurs endroits distincts, laissant penser que les assaillants visaient plusieurs objectifs. La police a confirmé les explosions et les tirs sans préciser leur origine. Aucun bilan n’était disponible dans l’immédiat. » | ATS/AFP | Mardi 13 Septembre 2011

Dix ans du 11-Septembre: Al Qaïda publie une vidéo saluant les attentats
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: TERRORISME | D’une durée d’une heure, une vidéo intitulée «l’aube d’une victoire imminente» dans laquelle s’exprime le nouveau chef de l’organisation islamiste, l’Egyptien Ayman al Zaouahri, a été mise en ligne sur des sites djihadistes.

Al Qaïda a publié lundi une vidéo à l’occasion du 10e anniversaire des attentats du 11-Septembre dans laquelle s’exprime le nouveau chef de l’organisation islamiste, l’Egyptien Ayman al Zaouahri. » | ATS | Mardi 13 Septembre 2011

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: 9/11 anniversary: al-Qaeda releases new video applauding Arab Spring » | Ben Farmer | Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Turkey Attempts to Rally Diplomatic Alliance Against Israel

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that the Jewish state's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last year had been "grounds for war".

Mr Erdogan arrived in Cairo last night intent on burnishing his populist credentials after casting himself as a rival to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, as Israel's critic-in-chief in the Middle East.

In what appeared to be a deliberate piece of timing designed to maximise the impact of his visit, Mr Erdogan's office yesterday released a previously unpublished transcript of a redacted interview he gave to Al Jazeera's Arabic language service last week.

In it, Mr Erdogan claimed that Turkey would have been justified in going to war after Israeli commandos shot dead nine Turkish activists during the interception of an aid convoy seeking to breach Israel's blockade of Gaza in May last year.

"The attack that took place in international waters did not comply with any international law," he said. "In fact, it was grounds for war. However, befitting Turkey's greatness, we decided to act with patience."

Mr Erdogan's comments appeared to be designed to rile Israel at one of the most strained moments in relations with the Jewish state, which until recently was a close Turkish ally. » | Adrian Blomfield, in Jerusalem | Monday, September 12, 2011

Nicolas Sarkozy 'Received Cash from West African Leaders'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Nicolas Sarkozy received cash from West African leaders, it has been alleged, following claims that Jacques Chirac and his Dominique de Villepin received an estimated $20 million stuffed into briefcases over eight years.

The scandal has cast fresh light on France's historically murky ties to African dictators, who for decades allegedly doled out dirty petrodollars to French politicians in exchange for diplomatic and military support in a set-up known as "Françafrique".

Robert Bourgi claimed on Sunday he personally handed millions of francs from five African leaders to Mr Chirac when he was mayor of Paris and later president, along with Mr Villepin, his right hand man.

Mr Bourgi, 66, says the money, which he variously transported in a sports bag, a poster and even a ceremonial African drum, came from Burkina Faso, the Congo, Gabon, Ivory Coast and Senegal.

Yesterday, he estimated having lugged a total of $20 million (almost £13 million) to Mr Chirac and Mr Villepin between 1997 and 2005. Around half of this went into funding Mr Chirac's successful 2002 electoral campaign, he claimed.

Bernard Houdin, an adviser to former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, said that such payments were "a historical practice" and that "the sums mentioned are no doubt below reality". » | Henry Samuel in Paris | Monday, September 12, 2011

Libyan New [sic] Leaders Pledge 'Moderate' Islamic Rule

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Libya's new leaders have pledged "moderate" Islamic rule even as their fighters were accused of committing war crimes.

Interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil received a hero's welcome when he made a public speech in Tripoli's main square late on Monday.

Thousands celebrated last month's fall of the Gaddafi regime in Martyrs' Square, two days after Abdel Jalil, the head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), arrived in Tripoli from Benghazi in the east.

Moderate Islam would be the main source of legislation in post-Gaddafi Libya, he told the crowd.

"We will not accept any extremist ideology, on the right or the left. We are a Muslim people, for a moderate Islam, and we will stay on this road," he said. » | Tuesday, September 13, 2011

NZZ ONLINE: Libyen skizziert den neuen Staat: Chef des Übergangsrates strebt eine gemässigte islamische Ordnung an » | sda/dpa/Reuters | Dienstag 13. September 2011

FAZ: „Libyen soll Rechtsstaat werden“ : Libyen soll ein gemäßigter islamischer Staat werden, mit der Scharia als wichtigster Quelle der Gesetzgebung: Das sagte der Vorsitzende des Übergangsrates Dschalil während seiner ersten öffentlichen Rede in Tripolis. » | AFP/dpa | Dienstag 13. September 2011

Phone Hacking: George Osborne 'Owed' Andy Coulson, Says Lawyer

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: George Osborne faces questions over his relationship with Andy Coulson after it was suggested that he might have helped the former editor to get a job as David Cameron’s media adviser because he owed him “a favour”.

A solicitor representing victims of phone hacking by the News of the World during Mr Coulson’s time as editor suggested Mr Osborne was “almost indebted” to Mr Coulson because of the way the newspaper had covered allegations made by a prostitute that the MP had taken cocaine with her.

Mark Lewis said the newspaper had put “a gloss” on its reporting of Natalie Rowe’s claims that the Chancellor took the class A drug in the early 1990s, before he became an MP. “Andy Coulson had done George Osborne a favour,” he said. “Perhaps it was time for George Osborne to reciprocate and do a favour back.”

The Chancellor’s aides yesterday dismissed any suggestion that Mr Osborne had felt obliged to Mr Coulson, and also denied a series of other lurid allegations made by Miss Rowe in an interview with Australia’s ABC television network.


Mr Coulson’s appointment as David Cameron’s communications director has drawn criticism throughout Mr Cameron’s tenure as Tory leader. » | Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter | Monday, September 12, 2011

David Cameron Tells Russian Hosts: KGB Tried to Recruit Me But I Failed the Test

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: KGB agents tried and failed to recruit David Cameron when he was a young student, the Prime Minister told his Russian hosts yesterday.

On a visit to Moscow, he joked that he apparently failed to pass the “interview” during the bizarre incident on a gap-year trip to the Black Sea coast in 1985.

When told of the incident, President Dmitry Medvedev said that Mr Cameron would have made a “very good KGB agent”.

Mr Cameron described the apparent approach during a speech to students at the Moscow State university. “I first came to Russia as a student on my gap year between school and university in 1985,” he said. “I took the Trans-Siberian railway from Nakhodka to Moscow and went on to the Black Sea coast.

“There, two Russians, speaking perfect English, turned up on a beach mostly used by foreigners.”

He continued: “They took me out to lunch and dinner and asked me about life in England and what I thought about England.”

A naive Mr Cameron apparently did not immediately realise what had happened at the resort of Yalta until returning to Britain. He is understood to have been travelling with a friend, Anthony Griffith. The Prime Minister said: “When I got back I told my tutor at university and he asked me whether it was an interview. If it was, it seems I didn’t get the job.” Read on and comment » | Robert Winnett, Deputy Political Editor in Moscow | Monday, September 12, 2011

WIKI »

Israel Watches Its Old Alliances Crumble

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The overthrow of President Mubarak in Egypt, the estrangement of Turkey and a UN vote on Palestinian statehood combine to make an intractable set of problems.

Secluded in an emergency operations bunker, long after darkness had fallen to mark the start of the Sabbath last Friday, Israel’s most powerful men had become convinced that history was about to repeat itself.

Hundreds of miles away, six intelligence officers, detailed to protect Israel’s embassy in Cairo, had barricaded themselves in the building’s strongroom. A mob of hammer-wielding Egyptians were closing in. The rioters had already broken down two of the strongroom’s doors and were now hammering on the third. Three of the Israelis drew their guns, preparing for a last stand.

Speaking to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister who had been patched through on a secure line, the most senior of the men, identified only as Jonathan, asked his commander-in-chief to deliver news of his capture or death to his wife in person, rather than by telephone.

For all involved, as Israeli officials later recounted, the drama threatened to become a reprise of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, when 52 US diplomats were held captive for 444 days after an Islamist mob had stormed the American mission in Tehran.

This time, the most feared outcome was averted – thanks to the intervention of the White House. Facing American threats of dire retribution if any of the Israelis was harmed, Egypt’s military rulers dispatched a team of commandos to rescue the trapped men, a mission completed in the nick of time.

In the wake of the incident, Egypt and Israel have worked hard to avert a full-scale diplomatic crisis, with both states emphasising their commitment to the peace treaty they signed in the same year the Shah fell. Even so, in Israel the mood was one of relief rather than jubilation. There is a growing conviction that disaster has merely been postponed rather than resolved. Continue reading and comment » | Adrian Blomfield | Monday, September 12, 2011

Libya Could Fall into Hands of Extremists, Nato Warns
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The warning came in an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph as Muammar Gaddafi's loyalist forces stepped up a fightback on three fronts.

Libya could be in danger of falling into the hands of Islamic extremists if a stable government is not rapidly established, the Nato secretary-general has warned.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Islamic extremists would “try to exploit” any weaknesses as the country tried to rebuild after four decades of Col Muammar Gaddafi’s rule.

Mahmoud Jibril, the interim Libyan prime minister, arrived in Tripoli only at the end of last week after complaints that he had been too busy travelling the world to lead his own revolution.

Asked if Nato was worried that a delay in setting up a fully fledged replacement government increased the risk of extremists taking control, Mr Rasmussen said: “We cannot exclude the possibility that extremists will try to exploit a situation and take advantage of a power vacuum.”

While he said Nato was not actively targeting Gaddafi, Mr Rasmussen admitted things could “move very fast” if he was removed. “I think that he still inspires resistance in some pockets of Gaddafi loyalists.” » | Thomas Harding, Ruth Sherlock in Bani Walid and Richard Spencer in Tripoli | Monday, September 12, 2011

Londres veut prendre ses distances avec l'Europe

LE FIGARO: Poussé par les conservateurs eurosceptiques, le gouvernement souhaite rapatrier certains pouvoirs dévolus à Bruxelles.

La crise de l'euro donne une occasion en or aux eurosceptiques pour remettre en cause les liens entre la Grande-Bretagne et l'Europe. L'offensive de députés conservateurs depuis quelques semaines trouve un écho jusqu'au gouvernement. Le ministre des Affaires étrangères, William Hague, plaide lui-même pour un assouplissement des relations avec Bruxelles. «C'est vrai de l'euro, cela pourrait être vrai dans de nombreux domaines à l'avenir. En fait, nous tenir à l'écart nous permettrait d'aller de l'avant», a-t-il déclaré dans une interview au Times samedi.

Plus prudent, le premier ministre, David Cameron, n'est pas totalement en désaccord avec cette idée. «Le Royaume-Uni pourrait bénéficier d'un rapatriement de certains pouvoirs de Bruxelles», a-t-il admis la semaine dernière à la Chambre des communes, citant en exemple le droit du travail ou la finance. Il souhaite également s'affranchir de la tutelle de la Cour européenne des droits de l'homme. Après les émeutes du mois d'août, il a accusé l'institution de «couvrir» les délinquants en leur offrant un recours contre les sanctions des tribunaux. Les Britanniques ont aussi eu du mal à accepter plusieurs décisions de la cour de Luxembourg sur le droit de vote des détenus ou le temps de travail des médecins par exemple. » | De correspondent du Figaro à Londres, Florentin Collomp | Dimanche 11 Septembre 2011

Gaddafi's Last Strongholds Stand Firm
September 12, 2011: Why are the rebel forces still facing such strong pro-Gaddafi resistance in the city of Bani Walid?
Watch Inside Story here

800 Foreigners Converted to Islam in 6 Months
THE PENINSULA: DOHA: A total of 800 expatriates converted to Islam in the last six months, according to statistical data released by Qatar Guest Centre (QGC).

The Centre, which is affiliated to Sheikh Eid bin Mohammad Al Thani Charity, is planning to publish the stories of these converts in a book to be translated in other languages. Also, QGC is organising in Al Khor advocacy programmes to educate the new Muslims in cooperation with religious guidance and mosque affairs department and Ministry of Awqf and Islmaic Affairs.

Of the 800 new Muslims 67 percent are Filipinos, according to Hadi Al Dosari, Director of Qatar Guest Centre. In its four years of service to Islam and the Muslims, the Centre has been contributing to the promotion of Islam with the number of new converts from various nationalities reaching 919 last year, said Al Dosari.

He said the number of converts to Islam has been increasing steadily for the last years. From 21 new converts monthly in year 2006, the numbers increased to 28 in 2007, 46 in 2008, 52 in 2009 52 and 77 last year. “These numbers reflect the efforts of the Centre to bring the message to all the communities,” he said.

The Centre is also organising cultural activities which attract a lot of people through lectures, seminars and meetings with various expatriate communities. » | Saturday, September 10, 2011

Pro-Gaddafi Forces Kill 15 at Libya Oil Refinery
Muammar Gaddafi loyalists attacked an oil refinery Monday, killing 15 guards, in an apparent attempt to disrupt a drive by Libya's new rulers to seize the ousted leader's last bastions and revive the oil-based economy.

Read article here

Mort en prison d'un militant syrien de 26 ans

LE MONDE: L'organisation de défense des droits de l'homme Human Rights Watch (HRW) a annoncé la mort en détention du militant prodémocratique syrien Ghiyat Matar, arrêté le 6 septembre avec l'un de ses amis Yahya Charbaji. M. Matar avait joué un rôle central dans l'organisation de manifestations pacifiques contre le régime de Bachar Al-Assad.

Selon HRW, ce militant de 26 ans est mort en détention à la suite de tortures. Soncorps, qui a été remis à sa famille samedi, présente des traces de blessure sur le visage et des ecchymoses à la poitrine. » | LEMONDE.FR | Lundi 12 Septembre 2011