REUTERS DEUTSCHLAND: Sarajevo - Ein mit einem Schnellfeuergewehr bewaffneter Mann hat am Freitag die US-Botschaft in Sarajevo beschossen und mindestens einen Wachmann verletzt. » | Reuters | Freitag 28. Oktober 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
REUTERS DEUTSCHLAND: Tunis - Wenige Stunden nach Bekanntgabe des Wahlergebnisses ist es in der Geburtsstadt der tunesischen Revolution zu Ausschreitungen gekommen.
Wahlsieger Rachid Ghannouchi von der der gemäßigt-islamistischen Ennahda machte für die Krawalle in Sidi Bouzid Parteigänger des im Januar gestürzten Präsidenten Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali verantwortlich. Anhänger einer nachträglich von der Wahl ausgeschlossenen Partei hatten Augenzeugen zufolge versucht, den Sitz der Regionalregierung zu stürmen. Ghannouchi bemühte sich am Freitag, die Wogen zu glätten und versprach, die Rechte der Frauen zu achten.
Ennahda-Chef Ghannouchi erklärte, seine Partei werde die Frauen nicht verpflichten, einen Schleier zu tragen. Solche Versuche seien in anderen arabischen Ländern gescheitert. In der von der Ennahda geführten Regierung könnten Frauen Posten übernehmen, ob sie nun eine Schleier trügen oder nicht, sagte Ghannouchi. Das starke Abschneiden seiner Partei hat die Sorge geweckt, die Bevölkerung in dem vergleichsweise offenen Land könne strengeren islamischen Regeln unterworfen werden. Ghannouchi hat dies wiederholt zurückgewiesen. Er orientiert sich an der gemäßigt-religiösen Politik des türkischen Ministerpräsidenten Tayyip Erdogan. » | Reuters | Freitag 28. Oktober 2011
REUTERS – FRANCE: LE CAIRE - Les ministres de la Ligue arabe ont adressé vendredi soir un message urgent au président syrien Bachar al Assad pour lui demander de mettre fin à sept mois de violences dans son pays.
Cet appel fait suite à la mort de 40 manifestants en faveur de la démocratie, abattus par les forces syriennes de sécurité. » | Marwa Awad; Pierre Sérisier pour le service français | samedi 29 octobre 2011
REUTERS – FRANCE: SALE, Maroc - Un juge marocain a condamné vendredi à la peine de mort Adel Osmani pour avoir organisé et perpétré un attentat à bombe qui avait fait 17 morts, dont huit Français, le 28 avril dernier dans un café de Marrakech.
Cette action était la plus meurtrière commise au Maroc depuis les attentats suicides coordonnés qu'avaient perpétrés des extrémistes islamistes en 2003 à Casablanca.
A l'énoncé du verdict, des parentes d'Osmani et de ceux qui ont été reconnus coupables de complicité avec lui se sont mises à crier et à éclater en sanglots, a rapporté un journaliste de Reuters présent dans la salle d'audience.
L'accusation avait réclamé la peine "la plus sévère possible" contre Osmani et huit hommes accusés d'être ses complices. La peine capitale, autorisée par le code pénal marocain, n'a cependant pas été appliquée depuis 1992. » | par Souhail Karam | vendredi 28 octobre 2011
The ICC has warned the 39-year-old, apparently anxious not to be captured by Libyan interim government forces in whose hands his father Muammar Gaddafi was killed last week, that it could order a mid-air interception if he tried to flee by plane from his Sahara desert hideout for a safe haven. » | Aaron Gray-Block | THE HAGUE | Saturday, October 29, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Gaddafi's son says he is innocent: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has told the International Criminal Court he is innocent of alleged crimes against humanity » | Reuters | Saturday, October 29, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Helmut Kohl once patronised her as “mein Mädchen” (“my girl”); Nicolas Sarkozy sneers at her privately as “la Boche” (the French equivalent of “Jerry” or “Kraut”); Silvio Berlusconi makes obscene remarks about her to his editors. This week, however, it wasn’t the Continental chauvinists who had the last laugh: it was Angela Merkel.
The German chancellor dominated the European stage as no woman has done since Margaret Thatcher. The two could hardly differ more, either in personality or politics. Indeed, Merkel reminds me of a different Mrs T: she is a Teutonic Mrs Tiggywinkle, who kindly takes in the eurozone’s dirty linen but whose homely figure conceals her hedgehog’s prickles. In the perpetual negotiation machine that is the European Union, Merkel excels at getting her way while treating the male egos around her as gently as possible. She does not relish humiliating her more improvident relations, but she is determined not to be the rich aunt left with the bill at the end of the meal.
David Cameron gets on better with Merkel than some of his hand-kissing counterparts, who bow and scrape to her face, while sniping behind her back. The German chancellor and the British Prime Minister have come a long way since their first encounters, which were reportedly frosty. She took him for a typical Tory Eurosceptic; he underestimated her. But she has come to appreciate him since he took office, especially his determination to make Britain live within its means, which mirrors her own approach to the crisis.
For his part, Cameron has grown to admire Merkel as the high mistress of austerity. She is delighted that he is content to leave her a free hand within the eurozone to pursue closer fiscal and political unity, as long as Britain is equally free to stay out. She is sympathetic to the PM’s difficulty in reconciling his party’s instincts on Europe with those of his coalition partners. Merkel has comparable problems in holding together her own conservative-liberal coalition, which is deeply divided on the issue of bailing out Greece and the other bankrupt economies.
Merkel has learnt much from the experience of living under Communism for her first 35 years, and also from what happened to her native East Germany after reunification, when it was given the benefit of the Deutschmark years before the experiment of currency union was tried on a European scale. The Federal Republic has been bailing out its own eastern provinces for over two decades. Anyone who doubts that Angela Merkel is in earnest when she tells her parliament that Europe faces “its gravest crisis since the Second World War” should remember how the Germans have honoured that commitment to their own people. How committed, though, are they to doing the same for other nations in the eurozone with whom they may feel they have rather less in common, and whose ingratitude is palpable? » | Daniel Johnson | Friday, October 28, 2011
Une foule souriante attend Mitt Romney devant l'immeuble de brique du Parti républicain de Fairfax, dans le nord de la Virginie. Une semaine après le passage de Barack Obama dans cet État crucial, qui avait voté démocrate en 2008 mais a ensuite élu le gouverneur conservateur Robert McDonnell, «Mitt» est venu soutenir les candidats républicains aux élections locales de novembre 2012.
En bras de chemise, silhouette élégante, cheveux bruns en arrière, sourire poli aux lèvres, Mitt Romney a l'allure du fils de famille qu'il est indéniablement. Son père était gouverneur du Michigan. Lui a fait carrière dans les affaires avant de remettre d'aplomb le Comité d'organisation des Jeux olympiques d'hiver de Salt Lake City, puis d'être élu gouverneur du Massachusetts de 2003 à 2007 -une performance dans le fief démocrate des Kennedy. Toute sa campagne consiste à mettre en avant son expérience de gestionnaire avisé. Ses débats télévisés, où il est apparu compétent, ont partiellement effacé l'image de «girouette» qui lui collait à la peau depuis la campagne de 2008. Tous les jours, son équipe, très rodée, publie en ligne des attaques précises contre ses adversaires.
Cette stratégie commence à payer. Mitt Romney est en tête des intentions de vote dans le New Hampshire et la Floride, et au coude-à-coude avec l'homme d'affaires afro-américain Herman Cain dans l'Iowa et la Caroline du Sud, des États clés qui tiendront leurs primaires très tôt. «Il va gagner la nomination, c'est sûr», affirme Bart Marcois, un ancien diplomate, volontaire à Fairfax. C'est «le seul capable de battre Barack Obama». » | Par Laure Mandeville | vendredi 28 octobre 2011
Trente civils, au moins, ont été tués vendredi par les forces de sécurité à Homs et Hama, deux des principaux foyers de la contestation du régime de Bachar el-Assad, qui va bientôt entrer dans son huitième mois.
À Homs, 20.000 manifestants s'étaient réunis en plusieurs endroits de la ville après la prière du vendredi. Ils répondaient à un appel lancé sur Facebook pour que «la communauté internationale impose une zone d'exclusion aérienne, afin de permettre à l'Armée syrienne libre (ASL) d'œuvrer avec plus de liberté». » | Par Georges Malbrunot | vendredi 28 octobre 2011
"Saving one life is as if you have saved all of humanity" we learn, as a bronzed Aussie lifeguard rescues a boy from the surf. You can't quibble with that, particularly if you're a parent.
From an advertising point of view, the approach is similar to the current "Jesus-All About Life" campaign, also featuring visuals of sunburnt Aussies; along with a creme brulee, a dead pet goldfish, and questions about the meaning of life. Jesus himself even gets a chocolate-bar style logo.
Both ads, Muslim and Christian, offer a panacea to the "crisis of the soul" that supposedly afflicts modern Australia. Who could disagree with an ad that asks you to look after your parents in old age, reminding you that they looked after you as a child? Or who could not be moved by sentiments such as "How come the more you have, the more you want?" or the Facebook-ish conundrum that ''we've got more friends, but less friendship''? » | Rowan Dean* | Saturday, October 29, 2011
* Rowan Dean is a freelance writer and advertising creative director.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Female members of the Royal Family are to be given equality with men in the rules of succession to the throne, meaning if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's first child is a girl, she can become Queen even if subsequent children are sons.
The historic constitutional changes were agreed unanimously today by the 16 nations of which Queen Elizabeth II is monarch.
The 16 "realms", including the UK, Canada and Australia, also agreed to scrap outdated laws which ban the spouse of a Roman Catholic from taking the throne.
The changes were announced by David Cameron, the Prime Minister, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, attended by the Queen, in Perth, Australia.
Mr Cameron said the historic rules were "at odds with the modern countries that we have become".
Announcing the proposed changes, he said: "Put simply, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were to have a little girl, that girl would one day be our queen." » | Andy Bloxham, and James Kirkup in Perth | Friday, October 28, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Muammar Gaddafi's fugitive son, who is wanted for crimes against humanity has established indirect contacts with the International Criminal Court on his surrender, the court's chief prosecutor said.
The prosecutor said that his office was in "informal contact" with Muammar Gaddafi's son through intermediaries regarding his surrender to the war crimes court.
"Through intermediaries, we have informal contact with Saif. The office of the prosecutor has made it clear that if he surrenders to the ICC, he has the right to be heard in court, he is innocent until proven guilty. The judges will decide," prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement.
Mr Moreno-Ocampo would not say with whom the court is talking. He also said the court does not know al-Islam's whereabouts.
If Saif is brought before the court, Mr Moreno-Ocampo said, he will "have all the rights and be protected," and will be allowed to present his defence.
"We believe we have a strong case," the prosecutor told CNN. "We believe he should be convicted." » | Telegraph Foreign Staff | Friday, October 28, 2011
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Le tribunal administratif de Marseille a annulé, jeudi, le permis de construire de la Grande Mosquée de la ville dont la première pierre a été symboliquement posée en mai 2010. Le tribunal a suivi les recommandations du rapporteur public et a justifié sa décision par l'insuffisance de stationnement et les difficultés de circulation autour de ce qui est annoncé comme l'un des plus importants édifices musulmans de France. "La ville de Marseille prend acte de la décision du tribunal", a expliqué la municipalité phocéenne dans un communiqué, ajoutant qu'elle étudierait plus précisément les conclusions de l'arrêt "afin que le nouveau permis puisse être validé définitivement". » | LE POINT.FR | vendredi 28 octobre 2011
Lady Thatcher has claimed more than half a million pounds from a taxpayer-funded allowance for former British prime ministers, official figures reveal.
Thatcher heads a list of former prime ministers who have claimed £1.7m in the past five years from the public duties cost allowance, set up to cover office and secretarial costs incurred for public duties.
Figures revealed by the Cabinet Office minister, Francis Maude, in response to a written parliamentary question by the Conservative MP Philip Hollobone, show that Thatcher has received £535,000 from the state since 2006, and John Major, who set up the allowance in 1991, has received £490,000. Tony Blair has claimed since 2007 and received £273,000. The figures reveal he received £169,076 in 2008-9, more than his salary in office. » | Jo Adetunji and Rajeev Syal | Friday, October 28, 2011
Seïf al-Islam Kadhafi a quitté la Libye. Son convoi qui était placé sous une forte escorte de combattants touaregs aurait pénétré jeudi au Niger dans le secteur des trois frontières (Libye, Niger, Algérie). L'opération d'exfiltration du fils de Mouammar Kadhafi été organisée, selon nos informations, grâce à l'appui d'Agaly Alambo, l'ancien chef rebelle du Mouvement nigérien pour la justice (MNJ) et de ses hommes.
Seïf al-Islam Kadhafi serait décidé à ne pas subir le sort de son père tué il y a une semaine dans sa ville natale de Syrte. Résolu à sauver sa peau, il se serait caché dans le sud libyen avant de s'engager dans des couloirs qui l'ont conduit hors de portée de ses poursuivants libyens du Conseil national de transition. » | Par Thierry Oberlé | jeudi 27 octobre 2011
The tough-talking interior minister is known for cracking down on Islamic militants and resisting moves toward greater openness in the ultraconservative kingdom.
Prince Nayef will assume the throne upon the death of King Abdullah, 87, who is recovering from his third operation to treat back problems in less than a year.
Prince Sultan died in New York Saturday at the age of 80 after an unspecified illness.
Traditionally, the king chooses his heir. But Prince Nayef was chosen by Allegiance Council, a 37-member body composed of his brothers and cousins. King Abdullah created the council as part of his reforms and gave it a mandate to choose the heir.
Prince Nayef, 78, was also named vice prime minister and will also keep his job as interior minister. » | Friday, October 28, 2011
Related links here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Comment:
Traditionally, the king chooses his heir. But Prince Nayef was chosen by Allegiance Council, a 37-member body composed of his brothers and cousins.
Did the Allegiance Council really choose the heir independently, or did they choose Prince Nayef knowing that he was the King's preference? – © Mark
This comment also appears here
NZZ ONLINE: Ein streng Konservativer wird saudischer Thronfolger: Mit Nayif könnte Öffnung des Landes ein Ende haben » | Reuters | Freitag 28. Oktober 2011
FRANCE 2: Le nouveau prince héritier a été nommé : Nayef ben Abdel Aziz, 78 ans, a été nommé pour succéder à son frère Sultan, décédé il y a une semaine. ¶ La nomination du nouveau prince héritier d'Arabie saoudite souligne la rigidité du système de succession maintenant des octogénaires à la tête du royaume et suscite des inquiétudes. Le prince Nayef ben Abdel Aziz est connu pour sa fermeté. » | Par FTV avec agencies | vendredi 28 octobre 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to take the shine off a day of jubilation in financial markets at a deal to rescue the eurozone, when he said it had been an "error" to allow Greece to join the euro a decade ago.
Amid more protest on the streets in Athens, the French president tried to convince the public to back reforms intended to maintain Greece's membership of the single currency. "It was an error because Greece entered with false [economic] figures … it was not ready," he said.
Sarkozy told French TV: "We had to face up to all this. If the euro had exploded on Wednesday night, all of Europe would have exploded. If Greece had defaulted, there would have been a domino effect carrying everyone away ... we took important decisions that avoided catastrophe."
His remarks underline the continuing frailities of the eurozone, and illustrates the task Europe's leaders have in trying to hold the currency together. » | Larry Elliott, Jill Treanor and Helena Smith | Thursday, October 27, 2011
Libya's interim government says it will prosecute anyone found responsible for the death of Muammar Gaddafi after his capture, in a retreat from its earlier insistence that the dictator had been killed by crossfire.
The change in position comes after a week of sustained criticism of the Libyan leader's captors, who used their camera phones to chronicle his death. The footage, including images of a wounded Gaddafi being sodomised with what looked like a bayonet, caused widespread revulsion outside the country.
Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, deputy chief of the National Transitional Council, said it would try to bring to justice anyone proven to have fired the shot to the head that killed Gaddafi.
"With regards to Gaddafi, we do not wait for anybody to tell us," he told the al-Arabiya satellite channel. "We had already launched an investigation. We have issued a code of ethics in handling of prisoners of war. I am sure that was an individual act and not an act of revolutionaries or the national army. Whoever is responsible for that [Gaddafi's killing] will be judged and given a fair trial." » | Martin Chulov and agencies | Thursday, October 27, 2011
Madrid/Tunis. Nett, gut erzogen, freundlich lächelnd. Der Sieger der ersten freien Wahl in Tunesien nach der Revolution entspricht nicht unbedingt dem finsteren Bild, das viele Europäer von einem Islamistenführer haben. Mit staatsmännischer Gelassenheit winkt Rachid Ghannouchi, Chef der islamischen Bewegung Ennahda (Wiedergeburt), vor seinem Hauptquartier in der Hauptstadt Tunis dem jubelnden Volk zu.
Auch seine Reden klingen nicht radikal, sondern sind durchsetzt mit Bekenntnissen zu Demokratie und Reformen. „Mein Traum ist es, Tunesien in ein Modell zu verwandeln, in dem Islam und Modernität zusammenspielen“, sagt der 70-jährige Geistliche und Philosophielehrer, Sohn eines Imams. „Wir leben nicht abgeschnitten von unserer Umwelt.“ Die Grundsätze der Demokratie „werden von Ennahda respektiert“. Auch wenn „islamische Werte“ der Politik als „Orientierungspunkte“ dienen sollen.
„Unsere Religion wird immer wieder als antidemokratisch bezeichnet, mit Gewalt und Terrorismus gleichgesetzt. Wir werden als Feinde der Kunst, der Schönheit, der Frauenrechte bezeichnet. Das ist falsch“, empört sich Ghannouchi. Es werde in Tunesien auch „keinen Kopftuchzwang“ oder sonstige Kleidungsvorschriften geben. „Wir sind gegen den Extremismus.“ » | Ralph Schulze | Mittwoch 26. Oktober 2011
Rod Tinson, whose Halloween play was due to be staged at Pendennis Castle in Falmouth, has accused English Heritage of trying to create a "Disneyfied" version of history by insisting on changes to his script.
The play featured scenes from different periods in the Tudor castle's history, including its role during the Second World War as a key coastal defence against German invasion of Britain.
Mr Tinson says the quango asked him to tone down parts of the script, including a young Jewish character expressing fears about his family in occupied Poland, over concerns that visitors would be "offended" by the material.
The playwright cancelled the play after refusing to make the requested changes. He said he could not understand why his script would be deemed offensive.
"They said it was inappropriate for an English Heritage audience. What version of history are they trying to illustrate at this place?" Mr Tinson added. Read on and comment » | Sarah Rainey | Thursday, October 27, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Cripes, you could be talking balderdash and a growing number of people won’t know what you are talking about.
Such words are dying out because of the popularity of shortened text message-style terms, a survey suggests.
Researchers found a significant decrease in the use of words which our parents and grandparents would have uttered on an almost daily basis.
Bally, laggard, rambunctious, verily, felicitations and spiffing were among other words they claimed would confuse the text generation.
Researchers questioned 2,000 adults to mark the launch of Planet Word, a book which tells the story of language from the earliest grunts to Twitter and beyond. Read on and comment » | Thursday, October 27, 2011
My comment:
Good grammar is dying out along with the old words. How many people know the difference between 'who' and 'whom'? How many people know the difference between 'I' and 'me'? Moreover, how often do we hear people saying 'less' when the should be saying 'fewer'? The general standard of language today is saddening, sometimes even alarming. Added to this, to the young, adjectives often just mean swear words! – © Mark
This comment appears here too.
Sawiris says his new political party, the Free Egyptians, is backing the demonstration, although he won’t be attending, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its December issue.
“I would love to go, but the problem is, my life is threatened,” he says.
The death threats started in late June after Sawiris, 57, posted an image on his Twitter account of Mickey Mouse in a beard and Minnie Mouse in a niqab, or full veil. The cartoon, sent to him by a Muslim friend after circulating in the blogosphere, was titled “Mickey and Minnie after …” -- meaning after Egypt’s November parliamentary elections, in which a September poll suggested Islamist parties would win the biggest share of the vote.
Sawiris thought it was funny. Muslims accused him of mocking their religion.
Sawiris, the founder of Orascom Telecom Holding SAE, apologized to his 139,000 Twitter followers, saying he meant no disrespect. That wasn’t enough to prevent a boycott of mobile phone company MobiNil, a joint venture between Orascom and France Telecom SA, which lost 800,000 subscribers in the months following the tweet. » | Stephanie Baker and Mahmoud Kassem | Wednesday, October 26, 2011
THE CHRISTIAN POST: Iran Pushes Islamic Literature Onto Christian Prisoners to Bring Further Charges Against Them
Iran’s court system is tightening its hold on Christian prisoners, pushing Islamic religious literature on them and transferring some to higher security prisons in an attempt to quell Christianity in the Middle Eastern country.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has been informed that during Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani’s stay in prison, officials provided him with religious Islamic literature “allegedly as part of an official campaign to convert Christian prisoners.”
Nadarkhani has been in an Iranian prison since Oct. 2009, awaiting a verdict on charges of apostasy and evangelizing Muslims.
According to Dr. Khataza Gondwe, Team Leader for Africa and Middle East at CSW, Christian prisoners who receive such literature have been advised to practice caution when responding to official interrogation pertaining to it.
Gondwe told The Christian Post that if prisoners read the literature and respond when interrogated, it must be “done very carefully because [the prisoners] may be open to further charges,” including blasphemy against Islam. » | Katherine Weber | Christian Post Contributor | Wednesday, October 26, 2011
THE TRIPOLI POST: A senior National Transitional Council military official, has said that the second son of the former Libyan leader Muammar Al Qathafi, 39-year-old Seif al-Islam, wants to turn himself in to the Hague war crimes court.
It seems that Seif, his father's heir apparent, who is reportedly travelling with his relative, former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, is fearing for his life after the capture of his father and his brother Muatassim that led to their death. Instead, fearing he might not be able to find a safe haven across an African border, sees a jail cell in a Dutch jail as his best option.
Both Libyans are indicted by the International Criminal Court, ICC, for crimes against humanity after their crackdown on the popular revolt the began mid-February. The NTC official, Abdel Majid Mlegta, is reported telling Reuters:“They are proposing a way to hand themselves over to The Hague,” [sic] » | Thursday, October 27, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Bangkok residents fled the capital on Thursday after authorities called an emergency five-day holiday and urged people in flood-prone parts of the city to leave to avoid a massive deluge.
Flood waters were already seeping into central parts of Bangkok in the morning, with waters entering the Grand Palace, near the Chao Phraya river.
After days of preparing for the onslaught of water, many citizens abandoned their homes on Wednesday night and Thursday morning and were heading to safety in other areas, especially southern beach towns of Hua Hin, Phuket and Pattaya.
"We have learned that all of these destinations are packed with Thais who have moved from Bangkok," said the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) deputy chief Sansern Ngaorungsi.
He said domestic flights from the country's main air hub, Suvarnabhumi – which is still operating as normal – were also "very, very packed".
Televised footage showed crowded bus terminals in the capital as people sought to escape, while officials said Bangkok's main train station was also filling up and roads north and east out of the city were choked. » | Thursday, October 27, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Five people have been killed and another six are missing after storms and torrential rain caused extensive floods in northern Italy.
The worst affected region was Liguria, with at least two of the five World Heritage-listed 'Cinque Terre' coastal villages cut off as a result of roads being washed away.
The walking trails and picturesque fishing villages of the Cinque Terre attract hundreds of thousands of international tourists, but two of them – Vernazza and Monterosso – were severely affected as rivers of mud poured down from the hills behind them.
The mayor of Monterosso said the fishing village had all but been wiped out.
"Monterosso no longer exists," Angelo Betta told an Italian news agency.
Huge amounts of mud had swept through the tiny settlement, causing an "unimaginable disaster". » | Nick Squires, Rome | Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdullah al-Senussi had concluded they were safer handing themselves in rather than remaining on the run in Libya, or trying to hide in a neighbouring country.
The Hague-based court issued arrest warrants for the two men and Col Gaddafi in June for their role in the bloody attempted suppression of the February 17 revolution.
A spokesman for the court said he had no information on any proposed deal or negotiations, however.
Diplomatic sources also said they had no information to suggest the claims were true.
"They are proposing a way to hand themselves over to The Hague," said Abdel Majid Mlegta, a senior military commander with the National Transitional Council (NTC). "They feel that it is not safe for them to stay where they are or to go anywhere." » | Ben Farmer, Tripoli | Wednesday, October 26, 2011
The punch-up exposed the deep rifts within Italy over efforts to stimulate growth and tackle the country's €1.8 trillion (£1.56 trillion) public debt, as Silvio Berlusconi prepared to face a crucial European Union summit in Brussels.
The brawl broke out over sarcastic remarks made on television by Gianfranco Fini, the leader of the opposition Future and Liberty of Italy party, about the wife of Umberto Bossi, the leader of the devolutionist Northern League, whose support is crucial to the prime minister's political survival.
Mr Bossi has objected to plans to reform Italy's generous pension system, crippling the government's attempts to convince the EU that it is serious about embarking on serious structural reforms to kickstart the moribund economy.
In a television interview, Mr Fini claimed that Mr Bossi's opposition to a pensions overhaul was linked to the fact that his wife had retired on a generous state pension at the age of 39 from her job as a teacher.
Italy's complex and outdated pensions system allows some state employees to retire unusually early. » | Nick Squires in Rome | Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Huneish Nasr last saw the boss he served for 30 years standing in the ruins of Sirte looking confused as all hell broke loose around them.
"Everything was exploding," said Nasr, Muammar Gaddafi's personal driver, recalling the moments before the deposed dictator was caught last week. "The revolutionaries were coming for us. He wasn't scared, but he didn't seem to know what to do. It was the only time I ever saw him like that."
Minutes later, euphoric rebels had ended Gaddafi's last stand, over-running the ruined quarter of his birthplace that had served as his final, ignominious refuge.
Nasr said he threw his hands up in surrender as gun-toting rebels approached. He was knocked to the ground with a rifle butt, which blackened his left eye. Gaddafi was being pulled from a drainpipe just before Nasr fell. He caught a final glimpse of his master being swarmed over by rebels. Then blows rained down on them both. » | Martin Chulov in Mosrata | Wednesday, October 26, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Qatar admits sending hundreds of troops to support Libya rebels: Qatari chief-of-staff reveals extent of involv[e]ment, saying troops were responsible for training, communications and strategy » | Ian Black in Tripoli | Wednesday, October 26, 2011
TELEGRAPH BLOGS – TIM STANLEY: Richard Dawkins is either a fool or a coward for refusing to debate William Lane Craig » | Tim Stanley | Friday, October 21, 2011
LE MATIN: La Corée du Nord continue de poser de poser une "menace sérieuse" pour la sécurité dans la péninsule coréenne, a estimé mercredi le secrétaire américain à la Défense Leon Panetta à son arrivée en Corée du Sud, au lendemain de pourparlers avec Pyongyang sur le nucléaire.
La Corée du Nord continue de poser une "menace sérieuse" pour la sécurité dans la péninsule coréenne, a estimé mercredi le secrétaire américain à la Défense Leon Panetta à son arrivée en Corée du Sud, au lendemain de pourparlers avec Pyongyang sur le nucléaire.
"La Corée du Nord continue de poser une menace sérieuse (...). Pyongyang continue de défier la communauté internationale alors qu'il développe ses armes nucléaires et ses capacités balistiques", écrit le chef du Pentagone dans une tribune dans le quotidien sud-coréen Chosun Ilbo. » | AFP | mercredi 26 octobre 2011
US-Präsident Barack Obama sieht den gewaltsamen Tod des früheren libyschen Machthabers Muammar al-Gaddafi als Warnung für alle Gewaltherrscher. „Man wünscht natürlich niemandem solch ein Ende, aber es sendet eine klare Botschaft an die Diktatoren rund um den Erdball“, sagte Obama bei einem Auftritt in der Show von Talkshow-Moderator Jay Leno.
Der Arabische Frühling habe Gaddafi eine Chance zu einem demokratischen Wandel gegeben. „Wir haben ihm jede Gelegenheit dazu gegeben, aber er wollte das nicht.“
Obama kritisierte jedoch die Art, wie der tote Diktator öffentlich zur Schau gestellt wurde. „Es gibt einen bestimmten Anstand, mit dem Tote behandelt werden müssen“, sagte er. » | dpa/ks | Mittwoch 26. Oktober 2011
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