ozimex999

Brown 'feared al-Megrahi death in jail'

By Guy Jackson, AAP September 2, 2009, 7:34 am

A British minister told Libyan officials that Prime Minister Gordon Brown did not want the Lockerbie bomber to die in prison, according to documents released on Tuesday.
The then foreign office minister Bill Rammell made the comments on a visit to Tripoli in February this year, according to Libya's minister for Europe, Abdulati Alobidi.
It was included in letters and documents published by the British government in a bid to defuse an increasingly damaging row over the release last month of convicted bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi from a Scottish prison.
Notes from a meeting between Alobidi and Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill on August 10 suggested the prime minister and Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband were opposed to Megrahi dying in a Scottish jail.
The notes, published by the Scottish government, stated: "Mr Alobidi confirmed that he had reiterated to Mr Rammell that the death of Mr Megrahi in a Scottish prison would have catastrophic effects for the relationship between Libya and the UK.
"Mr Alobidi went on to say that Mr Rammell had stated that neither the Prime Minister nor the Foreign Secretary would want Mr Megrahi to pass away in prison but the decision on transfer lies in the hands of the Scottish ministers."
Rammell, now a junior defence minister, said in his response he had made it clear to Libyan officials that the decision on Megrahi was solely one for Scotland, which under its semi-autonomous powers can take decisions on justice matters.
"Neither the Libyans or the Scottish Executive were left in any doubt throughout this entire process that this was a decision for the Scottish Executive over which the UK Government sought no influence," Rammell said.
Scotland freed Megrahi on compassionate grounds on August 20 because he has terminal cancer, prompting fury from the White House and the American relatives of the Lockerbie victims.
The Libyan, the only person to be convicted of the murder of 270 people in the bombing of a Pan Am jet over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988, served eight years of a life sentence.
Other letters released Tuesday showed Britain changed its mind over excluding Megrahi from a prisoner transfer agreement.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw initially believed that Megrahi should not be covered by such an agreement.
But in a letter to Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond dated February 11, 2008, he said he had dropped plans to exclude Megrahi because it was important to develop relations with Libya following its return to the international fold.
"Developing a strong relationship with Libya, and helping it to reintegrate into the international community, is good for the UK," Straw wrote, citing Libya as an "important partner" in fighting terrorism and illegal immigration.
But Straw made clear that Scotland would have a veto over any attempt to move him from jail in Scotland to a prison in Libya.
He wrote: "Given these safeguards I do not believe that it is necessary, or sensible, to risk damaging our wide-ranging and beneficial relationship with Libya by inserting a specific exclusion into the PTA" for Megrahi.
The British government hopes the publication of the letters will counter accusations that Megrahi was released as part of a deal to smooth the wheels of a massive oil and gas deal with oil-rich Libya.
Straw has denied that the negotiations referred to in his letters, which were leaked to a Sunday newspaper, involved any commercial deals with Libya, or that British negotiators ever discussed releasing Megrahi.
Other documents published by the Scottish government included a handwritten note from Megrahi to MacAskill in which he said: "I am unjustly convicted of a most heinous crime."
The letter also told of Megrahi's "sense of desolation". The Libyan continues to protest his innocence.
Britain and the United States condemned the joyous scenes that greeted his return to Tripoli, despite an appeal from the British prime minister in a letter to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to keep the occasion low-key.
The release of the letters come as Gaddafi marked the 40th anniversary on Tuesday of the bloodless coup that brought him to power.

ozimex999

Bitterness lingers on WWII anniversary

ABC September 2, 2009, 7:31 am

European leaders have gathered in Poland to mark the start of World War II, but a battle to convince the world about what really happened in the first days of the conflict continues.
A ceremony marked the exact time 70 years ago that a German battleship attacked a naval fort at Westerplatte, in the Polish port city of Gdansk, opening Germany's invasion of its eastern neighbour.
By the end of the war, more than 50 million people were dead across the world, 6 million of them Polish. As a proportion of the population, no country lost more lives than Poland.
"We meet here to remember who started this war, who was the perpetrator in this war, who was the executioner, and who was the victim of this war and this aggression," Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel continues to atone for the sins of her country.
"The war which was unleashed by Germany brought suffering to many peoples, with years of humiliation and destruction," she told the gathering.
But nowadays when the Polish leadership talks about who started the fighting, they are not pointing the finger at Germany.
They refer to the Soviet Union, which attacked Poland from the east two weeks after Germany fired its first shots.
The attack was part of a Berlin-Moscow pact to divide Eastern Europe between them.
Poland wants an apology from the Kremlin for that, and for the murder of 20,000 officials and academics by Soviet soldiers in a forest at Katyn.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, considered to be a contender in next year's presidential elections, says his country did not regain its freedom until 1989.
"This is the day on which World War II started over Poland, but at the end of the war, Poland was not free," Mr Sikorski said.
"[Britain and France] declared war on September 3, but unfortunately did not go to war.
"[They] waited several months before Germany attacked them, which was another in a chain of mistakes of not standing up to Hitler which provoked this disaster."
'Step in right direction'
Mr Sikorski says he hopes Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's condemnation of the Hitler-Stalin pact will start a process of educating Russians about "what really happened in the horrible 20th century".
"Chancellor Merkel was the first foreign leader to confirm her presence here, and I'm glad to say that the German side is unqualifyingly sorry for what happened," Mr Sikorski said.
"That is a good basis for reconciliation and for building a common European future.
"I think Russia has some more way to go, but Putin's article in the Polish media yesterday was a step in the right direction."
In the article, Mr Putin expressed some sorrow about the incident at Katyn.
"That's the least that we expect," Mr Sikorski said.
"Twenty-thousand people were cold-bloodedly murdered with a shot in the back of the head; prisoners of war, officers, generals, the chief rabbi of the Polish army."

ozimex999

Soon-to-be grandma expecting 19th child

AAP September 2, 2009, 7:29 am

Michelle Duggar, the 42-year-old Arkansas mum of 18 and a soon-to-be grandmother, is pregnant again.
Duggar said on Tuesday that she took a pregnancy test on a whim and was shocked to see she was pregnant.
Meanwhile, she is gearing up to become a grandmother for the first time. Her oldest son, Josh, and his wife, Anna, are expecting their first child next month.
Michelle Duggar and her husband, Jim Bob, live in Tontitown, Arkansas. They are featured with their family on TLC television's 18 Kids and Counting.
Michelle Duggar says she's nearly 12 weeks along and due on March 18.

ozimex999

US judge silences man with duct tape

AAP September 2, 2009, 6:27 am

A judge unhappy with repeated interruptions from a robbery suspect ordered a deputy to put duct tape over the defendant's mouth.
Canton Municipal Court Judge Stephen Belden says the taping last Thursday was the best way to restore order at a hearing for 51-year-old Harry Brown of Canton, The Repository newspaper reported.
Brown complained that his court-appointed lawyer wasn't prepared and angered the judge with interruptions. After a warning, the judge told the bailiff to tape Brown's mouth shut.
When the tape was removed, the defendant said the judge wasn't being respectful. The judge ended the hearing and sent the case to a grand jury.

ozimex999

Safina escapes Aussie upset bid at US Open

AFP September 2, 2009, 7:41 am

NEW YORK (AFP) - World number one Dinara Safina barely escaped suffering one of the greatest upsets in Grand Slam tennis history before edging Australian teen Olivia Rogowska on Tuesday in the first round of the US Open.
The 23-year-old Russian top seed, still searching for her first Grand Slam title to justify her ranking, outlasted the 167th-ranked wildcard entrant 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 6-4 after two hours and 35 minutes.
"God knows how I pulled it out," Safina said. "Worse it cannot be. From now on it can only get better."
Safina, who trailed 3-0 with two break points against her in the last set before rallying to win, would have been the first US Open women's top seed to lose her opener and only the fourth top seed Slam history to drop her opener.
"If I would lose that match, it would be like I lost to myself. It was me, myself and I playing on the court," Safina said. "It would hurt a lot."
Safina reached a second-round match against Germany's 67th-ranked Kristina Barrois, who beat Poland's Urszula Radwanska 6-4, 6-4.
The worst showing by a US Open top seed came last year when Serbian Ana Ivanovic lost in the second round.
Rogowska, an 18-year-old from Melbourne, would have been the second-lowest player in rankings to oust a top seed in any round of any Slam, 21 places above France's Julie Coin when she ousted Ivanovic from last year's US Open.
"I was returning pretty well. I put pressure on her serve and that seemed to crumble, especially in the tight situations," Rogowska said. "I kept up with her. I ran hard. I got to some balls. I got them back and put pressure on her."
Safina lost last month's Cincinnati final to 2008 US Open runner-up Jelena Jankovic and then was a first-round flop at Toronto, unhappy with her mental focus, a situation Rogowska coach Chris Johnstone sought to exploit.
"A few people told me the last couple weeks that she has been struggling a bit mentally," Rogowska said. "They just said, 'Stick with her and just put pressure on her.' But you know, no one really expected me to get that close.
"I'm disappointed I lost and I didn't expect to say that after playing the No. 1 player in the world. It's a bit weird."
Serbian fifth seed Jankovic beat Italy's Roberta Vinci 6-2, 6-3 in her opener.
Reigning French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova shook off a slow start to advance, the Russian sixth seed ousting Germany's Julia Goerges 6-3, 6-2, and later saying that lumping Russians as "head cases" is unfair.
"Everybody has their own problems," Kuznetsova said. "Dinara, she maybe has a real bad something missing in her game. I maybe have something missing in mine. That is the life, in and out of the court, for everybody."
Safina, 23, will stay atop the rankings after the Open regardless of how she fares in the Flushing Meadows fortnight, even if second-rated reigning champion Serena Williams takes her third Slam crown of the year and 12th of her career.
But her struggles to subdue unknown Rogowska simply reinforced the notion Safina does not belong at the top.
"I personally didn't think I played great. I thought I could have served much better," Rogowska said. "I was making quite a few mistakes so I was surprised that she was giving me free points."
Safina, whose best US Open showing was last year's semi-final run, lost to Serena Williams at this year's Australian Open final, to Kuznetsova in the French Open final and to Venus Williams in a Wimbledon semi-final.
Rogowska seized a 3-0 lead in the third set, the key point when her backhand down the line was overturned into a winner on a review challenge to break Safina in the second game.
Safina, who squandered four break points in the third game, fought off two break points to hold serve in the fourth and after an exchange of breaks was gifted a double fault break by the Aussie to pull within 4-3.
"I was like, 'Please just try to see the ball when you serve,'" Safina said. "That's why I didn't make a double fault."
Safina held serve, broke in an extended ninth game when Rogowska sent a forehand long, and held at love in the final game.
Kuznetsova, who won her first of two career Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 US Open, next faces Latvia's 96th-ranked Anastasija Sevastova, who ousted Thailand's 90th-rated Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-3, 7-5.
Kuznetsova was down a break early but won 10 of the last 12 games, rescuing three break points in the second set to hold off Goerges.
"First match is always tough," Kuznetsova said. "It's very difficult when you don't know what to expect."
Kuznetsova, 24, and compatriot Maria Sharapova, 22, are the only prior Flushing Meadows champions in their half of the draw. Sharapova, the 2006 US Open winner, meets Bulgaria's 98th-ranked Tsvetana Pironkova later.

ozimex999

Obama hunting joke 'good for campaign'

AAP September 2, 2009, 6:26 am

Republican gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammell says his remarks about hunting President Barack Obama have been a boon to his campaign.
The former elk rancher also blames Democrats and the media for overblowing his comment and being too defensive.
Rammell tells the Rexburg Standard Journal that the problem with Democrats is they can't take a joke.
But neither can some of Idaho's top Republicans.
Last week, Idaho's Republican governor and congressional leaders condemned Rammell for his response at a political rally when someone shouted a question about "Obama tags" during a discussion about Idaho's wolf hunt. Rammell responded: "The Obama tags? We'd buy some of those."
American hunters, along with buying a licence, typically must buy tags for shooting large game to limit the number that are hunted.
Rammell, who is seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination for 2010, has refused to apologise and says he was only joking.

ozimex999

Iran nuclear threat 'hyped': ElBaradei

AAP September 2, 2009, 6:12 am

Mohamed ElBaradei, the outgoing head of the UN atomic watchdog, called the threat from Iran "hyped" and said there was no evidence that the Islamic republic will soon have nuclear weapons.
In an interview released on Tuesday, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) hit back at critics who accuse the Egyptian of covering up Iran's nuclear ambitions.
"In many ways, I think the threat has been hyped," ElBaradei told the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a Chicago-based magazine critical of nuclear weapons.
"Yes, there's concern about Iran's future intentions and Iran needs to be more transparent with the IAEA and international community," he said.
"But the idea that we'll wake up tomorrow and Iran will have a nuclear weapon is an idea that isn't supported by the facts as we have seen them so far," he said.
In a report last week, the IAEA said that Iran had slowed production of enriched uranium, which can be used to make a nuclear bomb, and agreed to tighter monitoring of its enrichment plant.
The United States downplayed the report, saying that Iran was still not cooperating fully with the UN inspectors.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper said that the IAEA report did not include a classified annex incriminating Iran. Israel has long been critical of ElBaradei and asked in 2007 that he be fired.
ElBaradei, who along with the IAEA as an institution, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005, rejected the criticism.
"About Iran, I've been told, 'Mind your own business; you're a technician.' And yet, at other times, on other matters, I have been told that I'm the custodian of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - sometimes by the very people who tell me to mind my own business when it comes to Iran," he said.
"I don't put much stock in either designation. I'm neither a custodian nor a technician; I'm merely someone who is trying to do his job," he said.
ElBaradei steps down at the end of November, handing over to Yukiya Amano, a veteran Japanese diplomat.
ElBaradei voiced hope that Iran and the United States would start dialogue, as proposed by US President Barack Obama, and also hoped for the resumption of talks with North Korea, which conducted a second nuclear test in May.
On North Korea "whenever a dialogue was taking place, things were on the right track. Whenever the dialogue stopped, things started to go bad. Now, two nuclear tests later, we have no choice but to talk to the North Koreans and understand where they're coming from," ElBaradei said.
North Korea in April bolted out of a six-nation denuclearisation agreement, blaming UN-led sanctions over its earlier nuclear tests.
ElBaradei said that sanctions and the use of force should only be a last resort.
ElBaradei, who often butted heads with former US president George W Bush's administration, renewed his criticism of the 2003 invasion of Iraq
"You can't jump the gun as the United States did in Iraq," he said.
"In total, one out of three Iraqis has had his or her life pulverised because of a war that never in my view should have been fought in the first place."

ozimex999

Kurds rally for peace in Turkey, rebels extend truce

AFP September 2, 2009, 5:50 am

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Kurds rallied Tuesday urging Turkey to grant them greater rights and reach a peace deal with Kurdish rebels who extended their truce till the end of the Muslim holy fasting month.
Organisers said about 100,000 people turned up in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the Kurdish-dominated southeast, at the rally called by the main Kurdish political party, the Democratic Society Party (DTP).
In a speech often interrupted by applause, DTP leader Ahmet Turk said the government must negotiate with the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to end the 25-year violence that has claimed some 45,000 lives.
"We have always said the problem can be solved only through dialogue. But what we can do is limited because those who have been fighting with loss of life for nearly 30 years must be part of the negotiation process," he said.
Turkey refuses any contact with the PKK, blacklisted by much of the global community as a terrorist organisation, and has already dismissed a peace plan prepared by jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan that is yet to be announced.
Turk said Kurds did not want to break up Turkey and called on Ankara to take measures to ensure equal rights for the community, which has long called for Kurdish identity and culture to be officially recognised.
"Do not try to impose the unitary state on us as a state based on race," he said.
Many demonstrators held portraits of Ocalan and waved flags in the Kurdish colours of red, green and yellow as songs praising the rebel chief blared out of loudspeakers.
"There can be no peace without a counterpart," read a placard in Turkish and Kurdish, while another said "I want my language, do not ban my language."
A separate demonstration in Istanbul, organised by trade unions, civic bodies and political parties in support of a democratic and peaceful resolution of the conflict, drew some 5,000 people, media reports said.
The Turkish government has been trying to draw up support for a package of reforms to expand the rights of the Kurdish community, hoping to encourage the PKK to lay down arms.
No details of reforms have been released, but Interior Minister Besir Atalay said Monday that the government had no plans for a general amnesty for Kurdish rebels or constitutional amendments.
The PKK on Tuesday accused Ankara of failing to take any "concrete or satisfactory" step in its bid to address Kurdish grievances, as it announced that an extension of its unilateral ceasefire until September 22.
"Our movement has seen it appropriate to extend the non-action period until the end of" the Eid ul-Fitr festival marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, said a PKK statement carried by the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency.
"In the meantime, we will watch closely the attitude of the Turkish state ... and make an evaluation," it added, calling on Ankara to announce the details of Ocalan's peace plan which his lawyers say he handed to his jailers last month.
Opposition parties remain hostile to Ankara's plan, arguing that broader Kurdish rights would pave the way for Turkey's disintegration.
The army has also warned that the planned reforms must not endanger unity, underlining a constitutional article that describes Turkey as being an indivisible whole with Turkish as its language.
Media reports have said that the government plan may involve restoring the Kurdish names of villages that have been renamed and lifting a ban on using Kurdish in political propaganda.
But sceptics argue that a lasting settlement cannot be achieved if Ankara insists on rejecting dialogue with the PKK and fails to draw up a clear strategy to convince the rebels to lay down arms.

ozimex999

Tsonga powers on, Andreev upset at US Open tennis

AFP September 2, 2009, 5:40 am

NEW YORK (AFP) - France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga got his US Open campaign off to a whirlwind start with a 6-0, 6-2, 6-1 win over American wildcard Chase Buchanan on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old from Le Mans failed to get past the third round in his two previous appearances at Flushing Meadows, but he won the boy's title here in 2003 and he is the only player to defeat Roger Federer since May.
That came in the quarter-finals at the Montreal Masters, where he won from 1-5 down in the deciding set.
Tsonga, seeded seventh, had too much power and ability for the 18-year-old Buchanan, who was given a wildcard on the back of his US under-18 title win earlier this year.
The Frenchman, runner-up to Novak Djokovic in the 2008 Australian Open, wrapped up the first set in just 23 minutes and it was the second game of the set before Buchanan opened his account by holding serve.
That was but a brief respite for the home player though as Tsonga powered away again losing just two more games as he went through in 78 minutes.
Tsonga will next play Jarkko Nieminen of Finland who defeated Fabio Fognini of Italy 7-5, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 with a quarter-final against Rafael Nadal in prospect further down the line if the seeding goes according to plan.
"I didn't know what to expect of him (Buchanan) and I was wary as I remember when I was younger and had his ranking I was convinced I could beat anyone, anytime," he said.
"It will be tough against Nieminen as he is just coming back from injury and will be hungry to do well.
"But I am in good shape and playing well, so why not"
Two other leading seeds safely made it through to the second round early in the day.
Spain's Fernando Verdasco, seeded 10, served up 12 aces and hit 36 winners on the way to a 7-5, 6-4, 7-5 win over Benjamin Becker of Germany, while Thomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, seeded 17, saw off Wayne Odesnik of the United States 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.
There was unexpected success though for another American when qualifier Jesse Witten, a former collegiate standout, stunned 29th-seeded Russian Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-0, 6-2.
The 26-year-old from Florida is more accustomed to playing on the secondary Challenger Tour and he was given little chance of upsetting Andreev who, in last year's fourth round, became just the second player to take Federer to five sets in the course of his 35-match unbeaten streak at Flushing Meadows.
But Witten took command from the start against the visibly out-of-sorts Russian and he kept the pressure on throughout.
"It's my first ATP victory - it's been a lot of years," he said.
"The last couple of weeks I've been playing well and I am not even sure why, but I am just going to roll with it.
"I played three qualifiers and I feel comfortable on the outside courts here. I wasn't nervous and that helped me get off to a quick start."
Next up for Witten will be the winner of the match between Australian wildcard Carsten Ball and Juan Pablo Brezicki of Argentina.
Later in the day, the last two losing finalists in New York, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, are in action.
The Serb, who lost to Federer in straight sets in the 2007 final, takes on experienced Croat Ivan Ljubicic, and in the night session Murray, who also lost in straight sets to the Swiss star last year, goes up against Ernests Gulbis of Latvia.

ozimex999

Europe's leaders mark 70 years since WWII, old wounds remain

AFP September 2, 2009, 5:36 am

GDANSK, Poland (AFP) - Former World War II enemy nations Tuesday marked the anniversary of the outbreak of history's bloodiest conflict, 70 years after the first salvo on the shores of the Baltic Sea.
At a memorial ceremony, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country's Nazi-era invasion on September 1, 1939, opened the "most tragic chapter" in European history.
Merkel joined more than a dozen leaders as well as war veterans at Westerplatte, a Polish naval base which saw the war's first battle.
The ceremony underlined how Europe has healed deep divisions in the intervening decades. But old wounds were clear to see amid fresh disputes over the war's legacy, especially between Russia and Poland which were alternately foes and allies during the six-year conflict.
The leaders, including Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Poland's President Lech Kaczynski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk, carried candles to the graves of Polish soldiers who were among the first of an estimated 50 to 60 million people to perish around the globe during World War II.
For Poles, Westerplatte symbolises courage in the face of overwhelming odds.
Its 180 defenders held out for seven days while the base was assaulted by 3,500 Germans, pounded by a battleship and bombed from the air. Sixteen Poles, and around 350 Germans, were killed.
Near the imposing granite monument to the defenders, Polish marines fired three salutes.
"We must never forget the heroism of the soldiers who fought here," Sebastien Blawat, an 18-year-old Polish Navy cadet, told AFP.
His colleague Piotr Scholla, also 18, added: "They didn't give up. Poles don't give up."
In her speech, Merkel recalled that the "war unleashed by Germany resulted in immeasurable suffering to many peoples -- years of deprivation of rights, of humiliation and destruction."
The Polish army, outnumbered by more than two to one, surrendered a month after the invasion, and a brutal Nazi occupation began.
Almost six million Polish citizens perished in the war. Half of the six million European Jews who died in the Holocaust were from Poland.
At a pre-dawn ceremony, Tusk spoke of how the memories and bitterness of 70 years ago still burned.
"We are here to remember who in that war was the aggressor and who was the victim, for without an honest memory neither Europe, nor Poland, nor the world will ever live in security," said Tusk.
Bogdan Kolodziejski, who was 10 when the war began and became a resistance courier, recalled those dark days.
"I've never forgotten the day the Germans marched into Warsaw, singing at the top of their voices," he told AFP.
Many Poles harbour bitterness towards Russia over the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of August 23, 1939, under which Germany and the Soviet Union secretly agreed to carve up Poland between them. The Red Army invaded on September 17, and executed thousands of Polish POWs in 1940 in the notorious Katyn massacre.
Putin acknowledged the pact was a mistake but said all attempts to appease the Nazis were "morally unacceptable" -- an apparent reference to the 1938 Munich agreement in which Britain and France told Adolf Hitler they would not object to the Nazi annexation of parts of the former Czechoslovakia.
Britain and France, bound to Poland by military pacts, declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, pulling their vast empires into the conflict.
For Russia, what is known as the "Great Patriotic War" started on June 22, 1941, when the Nazis tore up the pact and invaded. Suddenly the Soviet forces found themselves as Poland's allies.
Around 8.6 million Soviet soldiers and nearly 28 million civilians were killed in the war, which ended in Europe with Germany's crushing defeat in 1945.
Merkel pointed to the continent's post-war recovery which should be seen as a source of pride.
"Europe ... has transformed itself from a continent of terror and violence into a continent of freedom and peace. That this was possible is nothing more and nothing less than a wonder," she said.
Other nations "stretched out the hand of forgiveness, and we took it, with thanks."

ozimex999

Chilean soldiers, police sought over Pinochet-era abuses

AFP September 2, 2009, 5:32 am

SANTIAGO (AFP) - A Chilean judge ordered the arrest Tuesday of at least 129 former Chilean soldiers and police for human rights violations during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, court sources said.
The arrest warrants issued by Judge Victor Montiglio were directed against former agents of the National Intelligence Directorate, a feared political police unit known as the DINA by its Spanish-language initials.
Named in the order were retired military officers who had never before been brought before the court and former non-commissioned officers from the air force, navy and police services, the source who had access to the order said.
The warrants are related to "Operation Condor," a campaign by some South American governments in the 1970s to assassinate opponents of their regimes, and "Operation Colombo" during which 119 Chilean members of the opposition were killed in 1975.
They also concern the cases of 10 communists who disappeared in 1976.
Pinochet's 1973-1990 military regime is blamed for human rights abuses including some 3,000 deaths and disappearances.
Pinochet died in December 2006 at a military hospital in Santiago, at the age of 91, after evading repeated attempts to bring him to trial.
Two weeks before his death, Pinochet took responsibility for actions committed under his rule, but never apologized for the suffering he caused.

ozimex999

Iran ready for new round of nuclear talks: top negotiator

AFP September 1, 2009, 10:36 pm

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran is ready for fresh talks with world powers over its controversial nuclear programme after having updated a package of proposals linked to it, Tehran's top nuclear negotiator said on Tuesday.
"The Islamic republic's package of proposals is updated and ready and will be presented (to world powers)," Saeed Jalili, also secretary of the country's Supreme National Security Council, told reporters.
"We hope a new round of talks will be held," Jalili said. "We think we can form talks and new cooperations for peace, justice and development in the world."
He said without elaborating that the package would be directed at the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany.
The so-called P5+1 are to meet near Frankfurt on Wednesday to look into harsher UN sanctions against Iran.
The United States, which has led international efforts to thwart Iran's nuclear drive, has given Iran until this month to take up the offer of talks or face tougher sanctions.
The White House said on Tuesday it had received no official notification from Iran on a new package.
"We have seen the reports, though we have not heard anything conclusively from the Iranians on that," spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
"It has always been our hope and goal that the Iranians will live up to their international obligations and give up their nuclear weapons programme," Gibbs said.
Western powers fear Iran's nuclear programme will be used to make weapons -- a charge Tehran vehemently denies.
Gibbs noted that the P5+1 had made an offer in April, which had still received no response.
At the time, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he would offer an updated version of a year-old proposal for talks after the powers called for a resumption of the negotiations, which had stalled in September 2008.
Jalili said Iran's "revised" package takes into account last year's global developments, including the economic recession and the Georgian crisis.
"Iran, using its strength and national and regional capacities is ready to cooperate in order to alleviate common international concerns," he said.
A May 2008 proposal by Iran offered to negotiate without preconditions on issues including the nuclear programme, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and cooperation to combat terrorism and drugs.
Jalili said on Tuesday that Iran, after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's June 12 re-election, was equipped with "suitable power" and "strong" popular support to make a new proposal.
His announcement comes a day after French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned of further sanctions against Iran if it failed to negotiate.
"It is important that a clear statement comes from Iran on whether they are interested in talks, on whether they accept the offers of the international community," Merkel said.
"If that is not the case then we will of course have to discuss in September, including in Pittsburgh (at the G20 summit on September 24-25), further sanctions."
On Tuesday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi denounced those comments, saying in a statement that "sanctions will not deter Iran from pursuing its legitimate rights."
He also denounced as "unacceptable" a remark by Sarkozy that Iran's people deserve better leaders than the ones they have.
Sarkozy had said "the people of Iran deserve better than their current leaders. I want to say how much we admire the courage of the Iranian people."
The IAEA said in a study obtained by AFP that Iran has slowed production of enriched uranium and agreed to tighter monitoring of its enrichment plant.
Tehran has also granted UN inspectors access to a research reactor long out of bounds, the restricted report revealed.
Iran welcomed the IAEA report but vowed to continue enrichment -- the process which can be used to make nuclear fuel, but can also yield the fissile material for an atomic bomb.
In an interview published on Tuesday, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei called the threat from Iran "hyped" and that there was no evidence that Tehran will soon have nuclear weapons.
"In many ways, I think the threat has been hyped," he told the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a Chicago-based magazine critical of nuclear weapons.
"Yes, there's concern about Iran's future intentions and Iran needs to be more transparent with the IAEA and international community.
"But the idea that we'll wake up tomorrow and Iran will have a nuclear weapon is an idea that isn't supported by the facts as we have seen them so far."

ozimex999

Saudi prince spoke to bomber on phone before attack

Reuters September 2, 2009, 5:19 am

DUBAI (Reuters) - The Saudi interior ministry on Tuesday issued a recording of a telephone conversation between the prince who heads the kingdom's anti-terrorism campaign and an Al Qaeda militant who tried to assassinate him days later.
Last Thursday, a suicide bomber posing as a repentant militant blew himself up in the Jeddah office of security chief Prince Mohammed bin Nayef in the first known attack on a member of the Saudi royal family since al Qaeda began a violent campaign in the world's top oil exporter in 2003.
Prince Mohammed, the deputy interior minister and son of the man thought likely to be the next crown prince, was not seriously hurt. Three days later, Al Qaeda identified the suicide bomber as Abdullah al-Asiri, a wanted suspect who entered Saudi Arabia from Yemen.
On the recording broadcast by Saudi-owned Al Arabiya, the two men are heard exchanging pleasantries and congratulating each other for the holy month of Ramadan, which is currently being observed by Muslims around the world, indicating that the conversation took place in recent weeks.
"I need to meet you to tell you the whole story," the man told the prince.
"If you come I will sit with you and both of us can give whatever he has to his companion," the prince replied.
In February, Saudi Arabia issued a list of 85 wanted suspects and analysts said many of them were in Yemen, including some who had been returned to Saudi Arabia from U.S. detention in Guantanamo Bay and some who had been through a much-vaunted Saudi militant "correction" program.
"Be careful of bad people who want to exploit you," the prince also told Asiri.
The Saudi and Yemeni branches of al Qaeda merged early this year to form al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. They regrouped in Yemen after a vigorous counter-terrorism campaign led by Prince Mohammed that badly damaged militants in Saudi Arabia.
Prince Mohammed's father, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef, on Saturday defended the policy of enticing "repentant" militants after one tried to assassinate his son but said there could be more and worse attacks ahead.

ozimex999

Kadhafi marks 40 years in power

AFP September 2, 2009, 5:04 am

TRIPOLI (AFP) - Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi marked the 40th anniversary on Tuesday of the bloodless coup that brought him to power, with celebrations attended by African, Arab and Latin American leaders but largely ignored by the West.
Kadhafi's party kicked off around midnight on Monday at the former US military base of Matega near Tripoli with a two-hour spectacle that paid homage to the leader himself and featured music, illuminations and dance.
Entitled "A Knight and Men," the display was marked by a procession of some 30 floats -- one with a giant picture of Kadhafi in military uniform -- and performances by dancers and horsemen from Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Ukraine.
Guests included Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, African leaders who had earlier attended an African Union summit in Libya, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, his Dominican counterpart Leonel Fernandez, Serbian leader Boris Tadic and Philippine President Gloria Arroyo.
Later on Tuesday, there was a military parade of detachments from African, Arab and eastern European armed forces, while dozens of aircraft, including French and Italian jets, flew overhead.
"Sixty heads of state or government are attending," a Libyan official told AFP. Among those sighted by AFP were Jordan's King Abdullah II, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and royals from Kuwait and Qatar.
But draconian security measures across Tripoli kept Libyans off the streets and they could only watch the parade on television.
Tripoli's streets have been decked with thousands of multicoloured lights, and hundreds of Kadhafi portraits and placards paying tribute to the leader, including one saying: "May Glory Be Yours, O Maker of Glories."
The grand finale, a 90-minute show to begin at 11:00 pm (2100 GMT) on Tuesday, will retrace the 40 years since Kadhafi ousted King Idriss in a 1969 bloodless coup.
Kadhafi, who once described himself as "leader of the Arab leaders, the king of kings of Africa and the imam of the Muslims," invited a string of European leaders who, however, stayed away.
Libya's ties with the West have improved markedly but suffered a major hiccup last month when the north African country gave a hero's welcome to convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi.
The official said Megrahi, freed from a Scottish jail last month on compassionate grounds and received home as a hero, "is not participating in any way in the celebrations."
Public celebration of Megrahi's return came despite US warnings that such a welcome would damage relations that have been improving since Tripoli renounced its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction in 2003.
Critics in London of the release say Megrahi was freed as part of British oil contracts in Libya.
In new documents revealed on Tuesday, British Justice Secretary Jack Straw is quoted as citing Libya as an "important partner" in fighting terrorism and illegal immigration.
Kadhafi is now being welcomed in European capitals after many years as a pariah and being accused of supporting terrorism.
The New York-based group Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called on Kadhafi to mark the anniversary "by wiping repressive laws off the books and freeing political prisoners."
"Kadhafi?s Great Green Charter of Human Rights promised that ?all human beings will be free and equal in the exercise of power,'" said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director.
"Forty years later, Libyans are still waiting for their rights."
Delayed promises to forge ahead with political and economic reforms in the oil-rich African nation are still lagging despite ambitious plans backed by the leader's second son and heir apparent, Seif al-Islam.
Seif al-Islam, who accompanied Megrahi home and whose charitable foundation financed his legal defence, dismissed criticism of the convicted bomber's release.
"Lockerbie is history," he told the Scottish newspaper The Herald about the mid-air bombing of a Pan Am plane over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 that killed 270 people.
"The next step is fruitful and productive business with Edinburgh and London. Libya is a promising, rich market and so let's talk about the future."
Kadhafi marked his latest diplomatic victory when he received Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Sunday to celebrate the first anniversary of a friendship treaty with the former colonial power.

ozimex999

Turkey hopes to open Armenian border by year-end

Zerin Elci, Reuters September 2, 2009, 4:09 am

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Turkey said on Tuesday it hoped to open its border with long-time foe Armenia by the end of the year under a protocol to establish diplomatic ties, in what would end one of Europe's most intractable rivalries.
The two countries, which have no diplomatic ties and a history of animosity stemming from the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One, announced late on Monday they would sign accords within six weeks under a plan to end a century of hostility.
"If everything goes as planned, if mutual steps are taken, the borders could be opened around New Year," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Turkish NTV television during a visit to northern Cyprus.
The plan to normalize ties was announced in April, but Monday's statement marked the first real progress.
Reopening the border and establishing ties with Armenia would increase predominantly Muslim Turkey's influence in the region and aid its faltering bid to join the European Union.
Ties would also give landlocked Armenia, reeling from the global financial crisis, access to Turkish and European markets.
The EU, which has long asked candidate member Turkey to normalize ties with its neighbor as a way to improve regional security, welcomed the protocol agreement and urged Ankara and Yerevan to implement the protocols rapidly.
"This agreement should contribute to peace and stability in the South Caucasus," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said in a statement.
Under the agreement, both sides would hold domestic consultations before signing two protocols on the establishment of diplomatic ties and the development of bilateral relations.
The protocols would have to be ratified by the parliaments of the two countries.
In his first comment on the issue, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stressed that the accords would not go into effect until the Turkish parliament had approved them.
Russia, which has good relations both with Turkey and Armenia, hailed progress in their talks as a major boon for peace and stability in the region.
"We hope that the improvement of two neighbors'' relations will revive bilateral trade and economic contacts and will have a positive impact on the social and economic situation in both states, which is important in conditions of the global financial crisis," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
TURKEY DENIES GENOCIDE
Turkey rejects claims 1915 killings amounted to genocide, and says many people were killed on both sides of the conflict.
The agreement, brokered under Swiss mediation, does not say how the sensitive issue of genocide accusations will be dealt with.
Anticipation has been growing ahead of a planned visit by Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan to Turkey on October 14, when he is due to attend the return leg of a World Cup qualifying football match between the two countries.
Sarksyan has said he will not travel to the game, the first leg of which Turkish President Abdullah Gul watched last year in Yerevan, unless the border has reopened or there are clear signs it is about to open.
Turkey closed the frontier in 1993 in solidarity with Muslim ally Azerbaijan, which was fighting Armenian-backed separatists in the breakaway mountain region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Both Azerbaijan and Armenia are former Soviet republics.
"Negotiations with Turkey and the reached agreement do not contain any kind of preconditions concerning the peaceful regulation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict or any problem in relation to this," Sarksyan said in a speech to the Armenian diplomatic corps, according to the president's office.
The normalization of ties with Armenia, strongly backed by the United States as a step to improve security in the region, risks angering Azerbaijan, an energy supplier to the West and a key source of gas supplies for the planned Nabucco pipeline.
"The opening of the Turkish-Armenian border before the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict contradicts the national interests of Azerbaijan," said Elkhan Polukhov, spokesman for the Azeri Foreign Ministry.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict -- a rivalry arising from the Soviet Union's collapse -- remains unresolved, with Azeri and ethnic Armenian forces still facing off over a tense front line 15 years after agreeing a ceasefire.
Davutoglu spoke on the telephone with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday regarding normalizing ties with Armenia as well as Ankara's desire to speed up a solution to Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkish diplomats said.

ozimex999

Israeli shelling kills 2 Hamas gunmen in Gaza: medics

Reuters September 2, 2009, 3:41 am

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli army tank fire killed two Hamas gunmen standing guard on the Gaza Strip's northern frontier on Tuesday, the Palestinian Islamist group and medical officials said.
Israel had no immediate comment on the incident, which could constitute a breach of an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that ended its December-January war in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
There have been sporadic Palestinian short-range rocket attacks on the Jewish state since, often carried out by non-Hamas factions. Israel has generally responded with air strikes against infrastructure, causing few casualties.
Hamas shuns Israel but has signaled interest in a long-term truce. Egypt and Germany are trying to broker Hamas's release of an Israeli soldier seized in a 2006 border raid, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israel's jails.
Hamas at first said the two gunmen, who had been deployed in night-lookout positions east of the town of Jabalya, close to the Israeli border, had died in an air strike. Hamas's armed wing then said the shell came from a tank over the border.

ozimex999

Madonna visits Western Wall

ABC September 1, 2009, 8:13 am

Madonna sparked a media frenzy when the Kabbalah follower paid a visit to the Western Wall, Judaism's top pilgrimage site in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Wearing high heels, blue jeans and a black jacket, the singer was accompanied by several bodyguards and followed by dozens of photographers during her visit to the wall late on Sunday (local time).
The 51-year-old landed in Israel at the weekend aboard a private jet and is due to give two concerts in Tel Aviv as part of her Sticky and Sweet tour.
During her visit, the singer will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni.
A fervent practitioner of Kabbalah, Madonna is also due to attend a symposium on the study of Jewish mystic discipline along with fellow Kabbalists Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, local Israeli media reports.
Madonna has previously visited Israel in 2004 and 2007.
Raised a Roman Catholic, in 1997 Madonna came into contact with a Los Angeles-based centre that teaches an eclectic mix of Orthodox Jewish tradition and positive thinking aimed at spiritual well being.
In 2004, Madonna took the Hebrew name Esther but has not converted to Judaism.
From the point of view of Orthodox Jews, her stuying the Kabbalah is sacrilege as they consider it should be reserved for married men over 40 who have pored over Talmudic texts for years.

ozimex999

Canada's white refugee ruling racist - South Africa

Michael Georgy, Reuters September 2, 2009, 3:06 am

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Canada's decision to grant refugee status to a South African who said he was persecuted because he is white drew accusations of racism from the country's ruling ANC on Tuesday.
Race is a highly sensitive issue in South Africa, still scarred by decades of apartheid, which ended in 1994.
Whites still dominate Africa's biggest economy. But some say they face reverse discrimination, and are deprived of jobs by a black economic empowerment program.
A Canadian immigration board ruled that South African Brandon Huntley could stay in Canada.
Canada's Ottawa Sun newspaper quoted the panel's chairman, William Davis, as saying Huntley would stand out like a "sore thumb" due to his colour in any part of South Africa.
"The African National Congress (ANC) views the granting by Canada of a refugee status to South African citizen Brandon Huntley on the grounds that Africans would 'persecute' him, as racist," the party said in a statement.
"We find the claim by Huntley to have been attacked seven times by Africans due his skin colour without any police intervention sensational and alarming. Canada's reasoning for granting Huntley a refugee status can only serve to perpetuate racism."
A spokesman for the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) of Canada said he could not comment on individual cases.
"The IRB is an independent tribunal that operates at arms' length from the Canadian government. Its decision-makers are not subject to outside influence, and make decisions solely on the basis of evidence presented at the refugee hearing. Each case is decided on own merits," said IRB spokesman Stephane Malepart.
Huntley's story, carried in several local newspapers and on radio stations, could spark intense public debate on race in South Africa, where millions of poor blacks still live in grim townships, glaring reminders of institutionalized racism.
As part of a push to right the wrongs of apartheid and give blacks a stake of the economy, South Africa requires firms to meet quotas on black ownership, employment and procurement.
But critics say the empowerment drive has benefited only a few black millionaires with close ties to the ANC and creates a culture of cronyism and entitlement.
Home Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said it would have been "courteous" for Canadian authorities to get the South African government's side of the story before making its decision on Huntley.
"We should reject these ridiculous allegations that have been levelled against our people and the country," he said.
Last month, Julius Malema, the firebrand leader of the ANC's militant Youth League, drew criticism after complaining that whites did not attend the welcoming home ceremony for a world champion South African runner embroiled in a gender row.
The official unemployment rate for white South Africans is 4.6 percent, compared to 27.9 percent for blacks, despite the affirmative action drive.
Willie Spies, legal spokesman for civil rights initiative AfriForum, established by traditionally white trade union Solidarity, accused the government of indifference over the rights of minorities.
"The mere fact that the race card is so often played by people in positions of power and positions of authority, is definitely a red light as far as we are concerned," he said in response to Huntley's case.

ozimex999

Arrest made in U.S. theft ring that hit Bernankes

Jane Sutton, Reuters September 2, 2009, 3:35 am

MIAMI (Reuters) - A woman described by a federal agent as a heroin addict with a stash of wigs was arrested in Miami on charges of being part of an identity theft ring that targeted the wife of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Shonya Michelle Young of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, was arrested Monday night at a hotel near Miami International Airport on a warrant charging her with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, U.S. Marshals spokesman Barry Golden said Tuesday.
Young is charged in Virginia with being part of a theft ring that stole millions of dollars from the bank accounts of hundreds of people nationwide. Among them was Anna Bernanke, the wife of the Fed chief, whose purse containing checks from the couple's account was stolen from a Washington coffee shop.
Young carried a New York driver's licence and debit card, both with a fake name, though not Anna Bernanke's name, Golden said.
Federal marshals tracked her to the Miami hotel and, as they handcuffed her, her cellphone rang, Golden said. He said Young told them she was a longtime heroin addict and complained to them, "Why couldn't you come 30 minutes later? That was my heroin supplier."
In her room, they found several wigs, which Golden said she used as disguises.
"She is a major check casher as part of this whole identity theft ring. Her job as part of the criminal enterprise is to impersonate the victims and obtain fraudulent ID and to basically drain the victim's bank account," Golden said.
Young was the eighth or ninth person arrested in the theft ring, and at least six more were at large, he said.
It was unclear how much money was stolen from the Bernankes. Court documents, which identified victims only by their initials, said another defendant had fraudulently drawn $900 from the personal account of "BB."

ozimex999

UK teens 'planned copycat Columbine'

AAP September 3, 2009, 5:51 am

Two teenagers plotted a killing spree at a British school on the 10th anniversary of the infamous Columbine High School massacre in the United States, a court heard on Wednesday.
Matthew Swift, 18, and Ross McKnight, 16, planned to detonate a bomb at a shopping centre and then mount a murderous rampage at Audenshaw High School in Greater Manchester, killing teachers and fellow pupils, prosecutors said.
Thirteen people were killed and 23 others injured in the Columbine attack on April 20, 1999, when teenagers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a bloody rampage through their high school.
Knight, who still attended Audenshaw High School, and former pupil Swift, planned to carry out a copycat attack, 10 years on, a prosecuting lawyer told Manchester Crown Court.
The teenagers deny charges of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to cause explosions.
But prosecutor Peter Wright said: "It is the prosecution case that these two young men sat in the dock had planned to copy and emulate the actions of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, here in the UK."
"They had discussed, they had fantasised and eventually they had agreed to convert their fantasises into reality," he told a jury in the northern English city.
They "set about planning to detonate a bomb, some form of improvised explosive device at a shopping centre in North Manchester, known as Crown Point North, and then travel to Audenshaw High School at which they had been or were indeed still pupils of, and embark upon a killing spree in which they would murder teachers and pupils alike before killing themselves."
The pair were fascinated by Columbine and by the 1995 Oklahoma city bombing which killed 168 people. McKnight wrote a school essay about a massacre in which 10 people died. The work earned him a C grade.
They were arrested after McKnight rang a female friend when he was drunk to tell her he loved her and that "he couldn't wait until April 20 - the 10th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre".
"He said he and Swift had been inspired by what had happened in America - school shootings - and what had happened in Germany," Wright said, referring to a school shooting in southwest Germany in March which left 15 dead.
The case continues.