The Nazi gang that ordered the theft of the infamous 'Arbeit Macht Frei' sign from the gates of Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland planned to sell it to fund violent attacks against the Swedish Prime Minister and Parliament, it was claimed today.
A spokesman for the Swedish security police confirmed that the authorities were taking seriously a threat by a militant Nazi group to disrupt national elections next year.
"We are aware of the information about the alleged attack plans," said Patrik Peter, the security police spokesman.
“We have taken actions. We view this seriously.”
The wrought-iron sign, whose inscription – translated as 'Work sets you free' – was viewed by hundreds of thousands of Jews as they entered the Nazi death camp where they met their deaths during the Second World War. It was stolen from the camp – now a museum – last Friday, provoking worldwide expressions of dismay and revulsion.
It was recovered on Monday, hacked into three pieces and wrapped in cloth. Police suspect that it was initially hidden in woodland before being transferred to a builder’s yard where it was found.
Allegations concerning who ordered the theft, and why, have surfaced today in Swedish newspaper reports after the former leader of a Swedish Nazi group claimed that it had been stolen to order for a collector in England, France or the United States.
"We had a person who was ready to pay millions for the sign," the unnamed source told Aftonbladet, Sweden's biggest-selling daily newspaper.
The Nazi source said that the money would pay for an attack on the home of Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish Prime Minister who has held the rotating presidency of the European Union for the last six months, and on the Swedish Foreign Ministry, the paper reported.
A third attack allegedly involved plans to bombard Swedish MPs from the public seats of the parliament.
"The sign was to be delivered to Sweden, since it was here the deal should be made," the source said. "My role was to find a buyer. We had a person who was willing to pay millions but he had no political agenda. These things have a huge collector value... The biggest collectors are from England, the United States and France."
The source allegedly said that five men were to be paid for carrying out the theft. He reportedly insisted that he personally was not guilty of any crime as the deal had not been completed. Aftonbladet reported that he had been convicted several times in connection with his Nazi affiliation, and that he had made repeated visits to Poland.
Polish television has reported that police were investigation a Swedish connection in the theft of the Auschwitz sign. Mr Peter said that no arrests had yet been made.
"A prosecutor has been informed and the Government offices have been informed," said Mr Peter. He declined to discuss any details of the attack plans.
Five men, aged between 20 and 39, from the Torun area of northern Poland, have been arrested for the theft of the sign. The decisive tip-off came in one of 120 calls to a police hotline over the weekend. The museum had offered a £23,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the sign. The caller gave enough information for all five suspects to be rounded up within three hours.
Andrzej Rokita, the deputy commander of Cracow police, described them as non-political. All had previous convictions for theft or assault.
They are being interrogated in Cracow, the city responsible for the nearby Auschwitz camp museum. If charges are pressed, they could face up to ten years in jail for the “theft of a cultural treasure of particular significance”.
Museum authorities are urging the police to release the three portions of the sign so that they can be re-erected before the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the death camp next month. In the meantime, a replica has been placed over the entrance.
Source: The times
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Thursday, December 24, 2009
Jail for parents who transfixed America with 'balloon boy' hoax
The parents who fabricated a story that their young son had been carried away across the skies in a home-made balloon — triggering a huge police rescue mission and captivating television audiences — were given prison sentences yesterday for the hoax.
Richard Heene, 49, who orchestrated the elaborate lie because he and his wife wanted to become reality TV stars, apologised to the court as he was sentenced to 90 days in jail. “I want to apologise to all the rescue workers and the people that got involved in the community,” he said.
Heene was also given four years’ probation and forbidden from profiting from the balloon stunt during that time. His wife, Muyumi Heene, 48, was sentenced to 20 days in jail, although the judge ruled that she may serve her term flexibly to ensure that the couple’s children were cared for.
Judge Stephen Schapanski, in Denver, heeded a demand by prosecutors that Heene should receive the maximum 90-day sentence to deter copycat stunts. He will begin his term on January 11, with Mrs Heene ordered to start her sentence after her husband completes his.
Heene was also ordered to write a letter of apology to the community and the police and aviation agencies who scrambled to “rescue” the boy from the silver balloon as it hurtled though Denver airspace on October 15, unaware that Falcon, 6, was hiding in his parents’ garage.
Authorities will also seek at least $43,000 (£27,000) from the Heenes in reimbursement for the rescue mission, which involved local and state police, the US Forest Service, the National Guard and the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA).
At one point, as the empty balloon flew high above the Colorado landscape, flights at Denver international airport were grounded. The FAA says that the Heenes will also be subject to a $11,000 fine.
Last month Mr Heene pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant. His wife admitted false reporting. One reason that the couple accepted a plea deal is that Mrs Heene, a Japanese citizen, could have faced deportation if found guilty at a fully contested trial.
The couple sparked a nationwide panic when they called emergency services to report that Falcon had climbed into the saucer-shaped balloon. They claimed that the craft had became untethered, carrying him high into the sky. Authorities, joined by millions of television viewers across the world, tracked the balloon for nearly an hour as it flew through the sky, believing that Falcon was on board.
In fact, under his parents’ instructions, Falcon was hiding at home. The Heenes claimed that they had truly believed that he had been in the balloon.
Suspicions were raised, however, during an interview on CNN when Falcon said: “We did this for a show.” A former business partner told reporters that Mr Heene had been in talks to create his own reality programme and had likely launched the balloon as a publicity stunt.
Bob Heffernan, a lead investigator in the case, said in a letter to the judge that there should be limits on how the Heenes might profit from the hoax, such as through book or TV deals.
“This would hopefully stop the Heenes from being able to exploit their criminal behaviour or their children any more than they already have,” Mr Heffernan wrote in the letter.
“All the while the Heenes were playing us all in hopes of making themselves more marketable.”
No joke
— Education officials in southern India warned teachers in July not to allow stunts that put pupils’ lives at risk after a show at a school in Villupuram, Tamil Nadu, culminated in a motorcyclist laying a wooden plank on top of a young girl and driving over her
— Yaroslav Kudrinsky, a pilot for Aeroflot, allowed his 15-year-old son, Eldar, to take control of an Airbus A310-304 on a flight from Moscow to Hong Kong in 1994. Voice and flight data recorders revealed that the aircraft crashed into a hillside in Siberia, killing all 75 passengers and crew, after the boy disabled the autopilot
Source:The times
Richard Heene, 49, who orchestrated the elaborate lie because he and his wife wanted to become reality TV stars, apologised to the court as he was sentenced to 90 days in jail. “I want to apologise to all the rescue workers and the people that got involved in the community,” he said.
Heene was also given four years’ probation and forbidden from profiting from the balloon stunt during that time. His wife, Muyumi Heene, 48, was sentenced to 20 days in jail, although the judge ruled that she may serve her term flexibly to ensure that the couple’s children were cared for.
Judge Stephen Schapanski, in Denver, heeded a demand by prosecutors that Heene should receive the maximum 90-day sentence to deter copycat stunts. He will begin his term on January 11, with Mrs Heene ordered to start her sentence after her husband completes his.
Heene was also ordered to write a letter of apology to the community and the police and aviation agencies who scrambled to “rescue” the boy from the silver balloon as it hurtled though Denver airspace on October 15, unaware that Falcon, 6, was hiding in his parents’ garage.
Authorities will also seek at least $43,000 (£27,000) from the Heenes in reimbursement for the rescue mission, which involved local and state police, the US Forest Service, the National Guard and the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA).
At one point, as the empty balloon flew high above the Colorado landscape, flights at Denver international airport were grounded. The FAA says that the Heenes will also be subject to a $11,000 fine.
Last month Mr Heene pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant. His wife admitted false reporting. One reason that the couple accepted a plea deal is that Mrs Heene, a Japanese citizen, could have faced deportation if found guilty at a fully contested trial.
The couple sparked a nationwide panic when they called emergency services to report that Falcon had climbed into the saucer-shaped balloon. They claimed that the craft had became untethered, carrying him high into the sky. Authorities, joined by millions of television viewers across the world, tracked the balloon for nearly an hour as it flew through the sky, believing that Falcon was on board.
In fact, under his parents’ instructions, Falcon was hiding at home. The Heenes claimed that they had truly believed that he had been in the balloon.
Suspicions were raised, however, during an interview on CNN when Falcon said: “We did this for a show.” A former business partner told reporters that Mr Heene had been in talks to create his own reality programme and had likely launched the balloon as a publicity stunt.
Bob Heffernan, a lead investigator in the case, said in a letter to the judge that there should be limits on how the Heenes might profit from the hoax, such as through book or TV deals.
“This would hopefully stop the Heenes from being able to exploit their criminal behaviour or their children any more than they already have,” Mr Heffernan wrote in the letter.
“All the while the Heenes were playing us all in hopes of making themselves more marketable.”
No joke
— Education officials in southern India warned teachers in July not to allow stunts that put pupils’ lives at risk after a show at a school in Villupuram, Tamil Nadu, culminated in a motorcyclist laying a wooden plank on top of a young girl and driving over her
— Yaroslav Kudrinsky, a pilot for Aeroflot, allowed his 15-year-old son, Eldar, to take control of an Airbus A310-304 on a flight from Moscow to Hong Kong in 1994. Voice and flight data recorders revealed that the aircraft crashed into a hillside in Siberia, killing all 75 passengers and crew, after the boy disabled the autopilot
Source:The times
US Senate passes sweeping healthcare reform Bill - but tough talks lie ahead
The US Senate has approved landmark legislation today that would extend healthcare for tens of millions of uninsured Americans.
After weeks of partisan bickering, horse-trading and tense negotiation, senators voted for the Bill along party lines - 60-39 - ensuring passage for the upper chamber's version of the historic reform.
President Obama hailed the Bill, describing it as the most important piece of social legislation for the country since the 1930s.
"We are now finally poised to deliver on the promise of real, meaningful health insurance reform," he said. "With today's vote, we are now incredibly close to making health insurance reform a reality in this country."
The unusual timing on the vote - the first on Christmas Eve since 1895 - reflected its importance.
As senators called out "aye" or "no" to register their vote, Robert C. Byrd, the 92-year-old Democrat from West Virginia, deviated from the protocol with a short speech.
“This is for my friend Ted Kennedy,” Mr Byrd said, referring to the Democratic patriarch who died earlier this year, and was a champion of healthcare reform. “Aye!”
Once the legislation passed, after a vitriolic debate, representatives of both parties gave their differing reactions. "This is a victory for the American people," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid.
The man who ushered the bill through its final stages almost fluffed his lines when he called on to vote for the Bill. Mr Reid said: "No. I mean, aye. Yes!", then shaking his read and giving a palms-up shrug. The chamber erupted in laughter.
"This fight is long from over," warned Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell. "My colleagues and I will work to stop this bill from becoming law."
Many expressed regret at the partisan nature of the vote, as not a single Republican supported the Bill. Senator Olympia Snowe, a moderate Republican who has worked for years with Democrat colleagues on developing healthcare legislation, said that she was "disappointed".
She said the atmosphere in the house had not encouraged collaboration. "There was zero opportunity to amend the Bill or modify it, and Democrats had no incentive to reach across the aisle," she said.
Significant hurdles await the legislation. Work will begin in the new year to reconcile the Senate legislation with a House of Representatives Bill that was passed last month. Potentially tough negotiations are expected throughout January as the two Bills have significant differences.
The Senate Bill does not include the "public option" - a government-backed insurance programme - which is a key part of the House legislation. The provision is expected to be hard fought for by liberals in the House, but any public option risks losing the key votes of moderate Democrats in both the House and Senate.
Another dividing line between the two bodies is how the reforms will be financed. The House Bill would impose a surtax on high-earning individuals and couples, whereas the Senate Bill applies a 40 per cent tax to be paid by insurance companies on so-called "Cadillac plans" - health insurance premiums that cost more than $8,500 a year for individuals and $23,000 for families.
White House officials said yesterday it is unlikely that Mr Obama will be able to sign a final Bill before his State of the Union address, which is expected to be on January 26 or February 2.
Mr Obama and senators delayed their Christmas holidays for the vote today, defying snowstorms to travel to Capitol Hill. The President is due to fly to Hawaii now the vote has passed.
The new Senate Bill would extend health coverage to more than 30 million people who have no health insurance - covering 94 per cent of all Americans - and halt industry practices such as refusing insurance to people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Yesterday, Democrats gathered the 60 votes needed to keep the Bill on track for approval, over the unified opposition of Senate Republicans. Today’s vote requires a simple majority of the 100-member upper chamber.
Mr Obama's support for the legislation has angered his own supporters. Some Democrats believe that every last American should be covered and the “public option" should be included in both Bills.
Buying the Bill:
One section is thought to solely benefit Louisiana - and may have won the vote of the State’s Democratic senator Mary Landrieu. Estimates suggest the provision will cost the American taxpayers anything between $100-$300 million in additional aid for Medicaid recipients in her state.
Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, won a provision exempting his state from paying part of the cost of expanding the Medicaid programme. The measure would cost the federal government an estimated $100 million over 10 years.
Mr Nelson also obtained a compromise that will allow individual states to choose whether to ban abortion coverage in certain health plans that receive government subsidies.
Senator Bernie Sanders, from Vermont, was given $10 billion to increase community health centres across America. Critics pointed out the provision will benefit two such facilities in his state, with Vermont also in line to receive additional Medicaid funding as well.
Senator Joseph Lieberman, from Connecticut, an independent that votes with the Democratic caucus, demanded the removal of the “public option” from the Senate Bill. Other moderate Democrats are also believed to have helped kill the measure.
Source: The times
After weeks of partisan bickering, horse-trading and tense negotiation, senators voted for the Bill along party lines - 60-39 - ensuring passage for the upper chamber's version of the historic reform.
President Obama hailed the Bill, describing it as the most important piece of social legislation for the country since the 1930s.
"We are now finally poised to deliver on the promise of real, meaningful health insurance reform," he said. "With today's vote, we are now incredibly close to making health insurance reform a reality in this country."
The unusual timing on the vote - the first on Christmas Eve since 1895 - reflected its importance.
As senators called out "aye" or "no" to register their vote, Robert C. Byrd, the 92-year-old Democrat from West Virginia, deviated from the protocol with a short speech.
“This is for my friend Ted Kennedy,” Mr Byrd said, referring to the Democratic patriarch who died earlier this year, and was a champion of healthcare reform. “Aye!”
Once the legislation passed, after a vitriolic debate, representatives of both parties gave their differing reactions. "This is a victory for the American people," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid.
The man who ushered the bill through its final stages almost fluffed his lines when he called on to vote for the Bill. Mr Reid said: "No. I mean, aye. Yes!", then shaking his read and giving a palms-up shrug. The chamber erupted in laughter.
"This fight is long from over," warned Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell. "My colleagues and I will work to stop this bill from becoming law."
Many expressed regret at the partisan nature of the vote, as not a single Republican supported the Bill. Senator Olympia Snowe, a moderate Republican who has worked for years with Democrat colleagues on developing healthcare legislation, said that she was "disappointed".
She said the atmosphere in the house had not encouraged collaboration. "There was zero opportunity to amend the Bill or modify it, and Democrats had no incentive to reach across the aisle," she said.
Significant hurdles await the legislation. Work will begin in the new year to reconcile the Senate legislation with a House of Representatives Bill that was passed last month. Potentially tough negotiations are expected throughout January as the two Bills have significant differences.
The Senate Bill does not include the "public option" - a government-backed insurance programme - which is a key part of the House legislation. The provision is expected to be hard fought for by liberals in the House, but any public option risks losing the key votes of moderate Democrats in both the House and Senate.
Another dividing line between the two bodies is how the reforms will be financed. The House Bill would impose a surtax on high-earning individuals and couples, whereas the Senate Bill applies a 40 per cent tax to be paid by insurance companies on so-called "Cadillac plans" - health insurance premiums that cost more than $8,500 a year for individuals and $23,000 for families.
White House officials said yesterday it is unlikely that Mr Obama will be able to sign a final Bill before his State of the Union address, which is expected to be on January 26 or February 2.
Mr Obama and senators delayed their Christmas holidays for the vote today, defying snowstorms to travel to Capitol Hill. The President is due to fly to Hawaii now the vote has passed.
The new Senate Bill would extend health coverage to more than 30 million people who have no health insurance - covering 94 per cent of all Americans - and halt industry practices such as refusing insurance to people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Yesterday, Democrats gathered the 60 votes needed to keep the Bill on track for approval, over the unified opposition of Senate Republicans. Today’s vote requires a simple majority of the 100-member upper chamber.
Mr Obama's support for the legislation has angered his own supporters. Some Democrats believe that every last American should be covered and the “public option" should be included in both Bills.
Buying the Bill:
One section is thought to solely benefit Louisiana - and may have won the vote of the State’s Democratic senator Mary Landrieu. Estimates suggest the provision will cost the American taxpayers anything between $100-$300 million in additional aid for Medicaid recipients in her state.
Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, won a provision exempting his state from paying part of the cost of expanding the Medicaid programme. The measure would cost the federal government an estimated $100 million over 10 years.
Mr Nelson also obtained a compromise that will allow individual states to choose whether to ban abortion coverage in certain health plans that receive government subsidies.
Senator Bernie Sanders, from Vermont, was given $10 billion to increase community health centres across America. Critics pointed out the provision will benefit two such facilities in his state, with Vermont also in line to receive additional Medicaid funding as well.
Senator Joseph Lieberman, from Connecticut, an independent that votes with the Democratic caucus, demanded the removal of the “public option” from the Senate Bill. Other moderate Democrats are also believed to have helped kill the measure.
Source: The times
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Silvio Berlusconi will need weeks of treatment after Milan attack
Silvio Berlusconi will need weeks of treatment for the physical injuries and mental trauma suffered when he was assaulted by a mentally ill man in Milan on Sunday, his doctors have said.
The Italian Prime Minister’s nose was broken and he lost two teeth and half a litre of blood in the attack, at the end of a political rally. He said it was a “miracle” he had not been blinded when a chunky souvenir made of marble and metal was thrown at his face.
His assailant, Massimo Tartaglia, an electronics engineer and video games inventor with no criminal record, is said to have told police that he hated Mr Berlusconi. He has been charged with aggravated assault.
Video footage shows Mr Tartaglia, 42, waving a replica of Milan cathedral in the air several times before hurling it at the Prime Minister’s head as he greeted wellwishers and signed autographs.
Mr Berlusconi’s doctor, Alberto Zangrillo, said the injuries were more serious than initially thought, and he was able to eat only with great difficulty. “I found him shaken, embittered, as if he had been woken from a bad dream — really disheartened,” he said.
The Prime Minister has been kept in hospital for another day, and will not be attending the Copenhagen climate change summit this week.
Mr Berlusconi was telephoned by President Napolitano and visited by close aides and four of his children yesterday. Mr Tartaglia’s father, Alessandro, said the family voted centre-left, but nursed no hatred for Mr Berlusconi. “Massimo has psychiatric problems, but he has never done anyone any harm. He has never had any political involvement,” he said.
However, he added: “This episode has been brewing in the negative climate which has taken hold in Italy recently.”
Police suspect Mr Tartaglia’s attack was premeditated, because his pockets contained a pepper spray and a crucifix. A spokesman said Mr Berlusconi was still experiencing “terrible headaches” and was on painkillers and antibiotics. His nose will have to be reset, and he has been given stitches, though it is not clear if he will need surgery.
Mr Berlusconi is reported to have told Paolo Bonaiuti, his spokesman, on the way to the rally that he feared “something might happen”. Mariastella Gelmini, the Education Minister, who was near Mr Berlusconi at the time, said the impact of the object as it struck him was so loud she thought he had been killed.
Right-wing politicians blamed the Left for a “campaign of hate” and portrayed Mr Berlusconi as the victim of a conspiracy, even though Mr Tartaglia apparently acted alone. Hospital officials quoted Mr Berlusconi as asking: “Why do they hate me so much?”
Leaders of the Centre Left said the Prime Minister had created the “climate of hate” through his attacks on the President, the judiciary and the press, who are accused of frustrating his increasingly desperate attempts to change the law to halt legal action against him for alleged corruption.
Rosy Bindi, of the main opposition Democratic Party, said Mr Berlusconi was adept at “playing the victim”. Antonio Di Pietro, the former anti-corruption magistrate and leader of the centre-left Italy of Values party, condemned violence, but said Mr Berlusconi had himself “instigated” the attack. However, Pier Luigi Bersani, the Democratic Party leader who visited Mr Berlusconi in hospital, said he condemned the attack “with no ifs or buts as an unspeakable gesture”.
Amid increasing questions over how the assailant could get so close to the Prime Minister, Roberto Maroni, the Interior Minister, insisted that the rally had been “correctly policed”. The Corriere della Sera newspaper, however, outlined successive security breaches as Mr Berlusconi’s bodyguards failed to shield him from the projectile, and then neglected to drive him away at speed. Instead, he stood on the frame of his car door, continuing to wave to the crowd with blood streaming down his face. “What if there had been an accomplice with a gun?” the paper asked.
Ignazio La Russa, the Defence Minister, complained that police had done nothing to stop protesters who jeered. He said he had run to help police to arrest Mr Tartaglia “to save him from a lynching”, and that he was appalled by comments on the web praising the attacker.
Mr Berlusconi was visited in hospital by Gianfranco Fini, co-founder of the ruling People of Liberty party and his heir apparent. “This is truly a bad day for Italy, and it’s the duty of all the political forces to ensure that Italy does not go back to the years of violence,” he said, in a reference to the “Years of Lead” in the 1970s and 1980s.
Source: The times
The Italian Prime Minister’s nose was broken and he lost two teeth and half a litre of blood in the attack, at the end of a political rally. He said it was a “miracle” he had not been blinded when a chunky souvenir made of marble and metal was thrown at his face.
His assailant, Massimo Tartaglia, an electronics engineer and video games inventor with no criminal record, is said to have told police that he hated Mr Berlusconi. He has been charged with aggravated assault.
Video footage shows Mr Tartaglia, 42, waving a replica of Milan cathedral in the air several times before hurling it at the Prime Minister’s head as he greeted wellwishers and signed autographs.
Mr Berlusconi’s doctor, Alberto Zangrillo, said the injuries were more serious than initially thought, and he was able to eat only with great difficulty. “I found him shaken, embittered, as if he had been woken from a bad dream — really disheartened,” he said.
The Prime Minister has been kept in hospital for another day, and will not be attending the Copenhagen climate change summit this week.
Mr Berlusconi was telephoned by President Napolitano and visited by close aides and four of his children yesterday. Mr Tartaglia’s father, Alessandro, said the family voted centre-left, but nursed no hatred for Mr Berlusconi. “Massimo has psychiatric problems, but he has never done anyone any harm. He has never had any political involvement,” he said.
However, he added: “This episode has been brewing in the negative climate which has taken hold in Italy recently.”
Police suspect Mr Tartaglia’s attack was premeditated, because his pockets contained a pepper spray and a crucifix. A spokesman said Mr Berlusconi was still experiencing “terrible headaches” and was on painkillers and antibiotics. His nose will have to be reset, and he has been given stitches, though it is not clear if he will need surgery.
Mr Berlusconi is reported to have told Paolo Bonaiuti, his spokesman, on the way to the rally that he feared “something might happen”. Mariastella Gelmini, the Education Minister, who was near Mr Berlusconi at the time, said the impact of the object as it struck him was so loud she thought he had been killed.
Right-wing politicians blamed the Left for a “campaign of hate” and portrayed Mr Berlusconi as the victim of a conspiracy, even though Mr Tartaglia apparently acted alone. Hospital officials quoted Mr Berlusconi as asking: “Why do they hate me so much?”
Leaders of the Centre Left said the Prime Minister had created the “climate of hate” through his attacks on the President, the judiciary and the press, who are accused of frustrating his increasingly desperate attempts to change the law to halt legal action against him for alleged corruption.
Rosy Bindi, of the main opposition Democratic Party, said Mr Berlusconi was adept at “playing the victim”. Antonio Di Pietro, the former anti-corruption magistrate and leader of the centre-left Italy of Values party, condemned violence, but said Mr Berlusconi had himself “instigated” the attack. However, Pier Luigi Bersani, the Democratic Party leader who visited Mr Berlusconi in hospital, said he condemned the attack “with no ifs or buts as an unspeakable gesture”.
Amid increasing questions over how the assailant could get so close to the Prime Minister, Roberto Maroni, the Interior Minister, insisted that the rally had been “correctly policed”. The Corriere della Sera newspaper, however, outlined successive security breaches as Mr Berlusconi’s bodyguards failed to shield him from the projectile, and then neglected to drive him away at speed. Instead, he stood on the frame of his car door, continuing to wave to the crowd with blood streaming down his face. “What if there had been an accomplice with a gun?” the paper asked.
Ignazio La Russa, the Defence Minister, complained that police had done nothing to stop protesters who jeered. He said he had run to help police to arrest Mr Tartaglia “to save him from a lynching”, and that he was appalled by comments on the web praising the attacker.
Mr Berlusconi was visited in hospital by Gianfranco Fini, co-founder of the ruling People of Liberty party and his heir apparent. “This is truly a bad day for Italy, and it’s the duty of all the political forces to ensure that Italy does not go back to the years of violence,” he said, in a reference to the “Years of Lead” in the 1970s and 1980s.
Source: The times
Tough sanctions against Iran are needed urgently, Washington says
Revelations that Iran has been working secretly on a trigger for a nuclear bomb urgently underscore the case for tough new sanctions against Tehran, the Obama Administration said.
Referring to a report in The Times yesterday, which suggested that Iran has been working on testing a key final component of a nuclear bomb, a senior US official said: “Now that work may have been done on a trigger mechanism, this certainly gives urgency, in the absence of any meaningful response from Tehran . . . in terms of additional pressure on sanctions.”
The official added: “The revelations that work has been done [on a nuclear trigger] do add a sense of urgency and these revelations certainly don’t hurt.”
The reaction from Washington comes as the US begins a push to get China and Russia to back a tough new set of sanctions against Iran after a year in which Tehran has snubbed President Obama’s overtures to open a diplomatic dialogue over its nuclear programme. Calls for a united front came as China backed out of a crucial meeting of the six powers involved in negotiations with Tehran.
Meanwhile, Israel — described by a Saudi source as a “huge obstacle” in freeing the region of nuclear weapons — used increasingly aggressive rhetoric over the threat from Iran. Making clear that Israel reserves the right to launch a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defence Minister, warned “all players not to remove any options from the table”, adding: “We do not remove it.”
Mr Barak said: “There is a need for tough sanctions, something that is well and coherently co-ordinated to include Americans, the EU, the Chinese, the Russians [and] the Indians.”
At the same time, Middle Eastern diplomats warned of a regional nuclear arms race and demanded greater involvement in diplomatic efforts to force an Iranian climbdown.
A Saudi diplomatic source, describing the fears of a nuclear arms race in the region, said: “We want the region free of nuclear weapons, including Israel.” He called Israel a “huge obstacle in this process.”
The revelations about work on the nuclear trigger, contained in confidential intelligence documents obtained by The Times and which foreign intelligence agencies date to early 2007, come as the Obama Administration enters a new phase over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. After months of largely fruitless efforts to establish a dialogue with Tehran, the Administration now hopes to get meaningful sanctions out of the UN, something that requires the co-operation of Russia and China.
Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, said on Friday that world powers would soon impose “significant additional sanctions” on Iran.
Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, conceded yesterday that “I don’t think anyone can doubt that our outreach had produced very little in terms of any kind of positive responses from the Iranians”.
At a news conference with the Spanish Foreign Minister, she signalled that a push for sanctions may be coming soon. While she refused to comment on the Times report — she said that she never commented on intelligence — Mrs Clinton said that US concerns “have been heightened already” in recent months, with the exposure of the secret nuclear facility at Qom and Tehran's reluctance to ship low-enriched uranium out of the country.
The secret documents reveal that Iran has worked on a neutron initiator, the component of a nuclear bomb that triggers an explosion.
Source: The times
Referring to a report in The Times yesterday, which suggested that Iran has been working on testing a key final component of a nuclear bomb, a senior US official said: “Now that work may have been done on a trigger mechanism, this certainly gives urgency, in the absence of any meaningful response from Tehran . . . in terms of additional pressure on sanctions.”
The official added: “The revelations that work has been done [on a nuclear trigger] do add a sense of urgency and these revelations certainly don’t hurt.”
The reaction from Washington comes as the US begins a push to get China and Russia to back a tough new set of sanctions against Iran after a year in which Tehran has snubbed President Obama’s overtures to open a diplomatic dialogue over its nuclear programme. Calls for a united front came as China backed out of a crucial meeting of the six powers involved in negotiations with Tehran.
Meanwhile, Israel — described by a Saudi source as a “huge obstacle” in freeing the region of nuclear weapons — used increasingly aggressive rhetoric over the threat from Iran. Making clear that Israel reserves the right to launch a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defence Minister, warned “all players not to remove any options from the table”, adding: “We do not remove it.”
Mr Barak said: “There is a need for tough sanctions, something that is well and coherently co-ordinated to include Americans, the EU, the Chinese, the Russians [and] the Indians.”
At the same time, Middle Eastern diplomats warned of a regional nuclear arms race and demanded greater involvement in diplomatic efforts to force an Iranian climbdown.
A Saudi diplomatic source, describing the fears of a nuclear arms race in the region, said: “We want the region free of nuclear weapons, including Israel.” He called Israel a “huge obstacle in this process.”
The revelations about work on the nuclear trigger, contained in confidential intelligence documents obtained by The Times and which foreign intelligence agencies date to early 2007, come as the Obama Administration enters a new phase over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. After months of largely fruitless efforts to establish a dialogue with Tehran, the Administration now hopes to get meaningful sanctions out of the UN, something that requires the co-operation of Russia and China.
Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, said on Friday that world powers would soon impose “significant additional sanctions” on Iran.
Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, conceded yesterday that “I don’t think anyone can doubt that our outreach had produced very little in terms of any kind of positive responses from the Iranians”.
At a news conference with the Spanish Foreign Minister, she signalled that a push for sanctions may be coming soon. While she refused to comment on the Times report — she said that she never commented on intelligence — Mrs Clinton said that US concerns “have been heightened already” in recent months, with the exposure of the secret nuclear facility at Qom and Tehran's reluctance to ship low-enriched uranium out of the country.
The secret documents reveal that Iran has worked on a neutron initiator, the component of a nuclear bomb that triggers an explosion.
Source: The times
Eight killed in Kabul suicide bomb blast in diplomatic quarter
A massive suicide car bomb ripped through the Afghan capital this morning – at the gates of an upmarket hotel – killing at least eight people and wounding dozens more.
The explosion sent a thick plume of black smoke billowing into the sky above Kabul’s diplomatic district, close to the British and Danish embassies.
Eyewitness Ahmad Jawad said that he saw six bodies on the unmade road, in the immediate aftermath of the blast. Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior said later that eight people were killed; four men and four women. Another 40 people were wounded.
“I was in my car when the bomb exploded in front of me,” said Mr Jawad, 21. “The force of the blast turned my car around. When I got out I saw six bodies in front of the hotel.”
The blast came as President Hamid Karzai was due to attend a conference on how to tackle government corruption at the Foreign Ministry, in a separate part of the city.
Khalilullah Dastyar, the deputy police chief in Kabul, said: “One car was thrown over in the air by the explosion and ten others were destroyed by the blast.”
The gates of the heavily fortified Heetal Hotel Plaza, which is popular with westerners, suffered some damage, but neighbouring houses took the brunt of the blast.
Sidiqullah, 21, who worked in a private guesthouse opposite the hotel said at least five of their staff were seriously wounded, including two Indian cooks.
Eyewitnesses said windows were blown out and a nearby roof had partially collapsed.
Nearby residents fled their homes in the immediate aftermath of the blast.
A former vice president also lived nearby. The home of Ahmad Zia Massoud, brother of late anti-Soviet guerrilla leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, was heavily damaged.
A police source said the former vice president may have been the intended target.
The Wazir Akbar Khan district – built on the land where British were first based in the 1840s – is one of Kabul’s most expensive neighbourhoods.
Most of the multi-storey homes are owned by wealthy Afghans, including government officials, who lease them to western companies and foreign governments.
The Heetal Hotel, where suites cost up to $250 a night, was one of only a handful of hotels in Kabul deemed safe enough for visiting foreign dignitaries.
Source:The times
The explosion sent a thick plume of black smoke billowing into the sky above Kabul’s diplomatic district, close to the British and Danish embassies.
Eyewitness Ahmad Jawad said that he saw six bodies on the unmade road, in the immediate aftermath of the blast. Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior said later that eight people were killed; four men and four women. Another 40 people were wounded.
“I was in my car when the bomb exploded in front of me,” said Mr Jawad, 21. “The force of the blast turned my car around. When I got out I saw six bodies in front of the hotel.”
The blast came as President Hamid Karzai was due to attend a conference on how to tackle government corruption at the Foreign Ministry, in a separate part of the city.
Khalilullah Dastyar, the deputy police chief in Kabul, said: “One car was thrown over in the air by the explosion and ten others were destroyed by the blast.”
The gates of the heavily fortified Heetal Hotel Plaza, which is popular with westerners, suffered some damage, but neighbouring houses took the brunt of the blast.
Sidiqullah, 21, who worked in a private guesthouse opposite the hotel said at least five of their staff were seriously wounded, including two Indian cooks.
Eyewitnesses said windows were blown out and a nearby roof had partially collapsed.
Nearby residents fled their homes in the immediate aftermath of the blast.
A former vice president also lived nearby. The home of Ahmad Zia Massoud, brother of late anti-Soviet guerrilla leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, was heavily damaged.
A police source said the former vice president may have been the intended target.
The Wazir Akbar Khan district – built on the land where British were first based in the 1840s – is one of Kabul’s most expensive neighbourhoods.
Most of the multi-storey homes are owned by wealthy Afghans, including government officials, who lease them to western companies and foreign governments.
The Heetal Hotel, where suites cost up to $250 a night, was one of only a handful of hotels in Kabul deemed safe enough for visiting foreign dignitaries.
Source:The times
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Blair ‘would have gone to war without Iraqi WMD’
Tony Blair would still have led the country to war in Iraq even if he had known that it had no weapons of mass destruction.
The former Prime Minister has confessed that he would have had to use different arguments to justify toppling Saddam Hussein. But he says in an interview to be broadcast tomorrow morning that he would still have taken steps to remove the Iraqi dictator from power.
He also put the decision to go to war in Iraq in the context of a wider battle over Islam. He said: “I happen to think that there is a major struggle going on all over the world, really, which is about Islam and what is happening within Islam.” He said that this struggle had a “long way to go”.
At the time of the conflict Mr Blair, who is to be questioned by the Iraq inquiry early next year, based his decision to go to war on evidence that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
He gives an indication of his motives in an interview with the former daytime host Fern Britton, to be screened on BBC One. Mr Blair, who converted to Roman Catholicism when he left office two and a half years ago, denied that his religious faith played a direct part in his decision to go to war. But his faith gave him the strength to hold to the decision and supported him during “the loneliness of decision-maker”.
He said it was the “threat” that Saddam presented to the region that was uppermost in his mind. The development of weapons of mass destruction was one aspect of that threat.
Mr Blair said that there had been 12 years of the United Nations going “to and fro” on the subject, and he noted that Saddam had used chemical weapons on his own people.
Asked by Britton if he would still have gone on had he known there were no weapons of mass destruction, he said: “I would still have thought it right to remove him.”
Parents of some of the servicemen who have died have refused to shake his hand and accused him of being a war criminal with blood on his hands.
Mr Blair said that he was prepared to carry that responsibility. “There’s no point in going into a situation of conflict and not understanding there is going to be a price paid.”
The former Prime Minister, who now spends much of his time in the Middle East, working as an envoy for the Quartet of the US, Russia, the UN and the EU, said that it was difficult to judge yet whether the decision to go to war had been helpful or not.
This week the head of MI6 said that Saddam’s Iraq was one of a number of countries where Britain would have liked regime change. Sir John Sawers, who was at the time Mr Blair’s private secretary for foreign affairs, told the Iraq inquiry that discussions had taken place in 2001 — two years before the invasion — on “political” actions that could help to undermine the Baathist regime.
However, Sir John insisted that there had been no talk at that stage in Whitehall of military action in Iraq. He said that the approach adopted was based on the methods that had led to the ousting of Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia. Among the proposals considered was support for opposition groups and indicting Saddam for war crimes that he had committed during Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
“I think there are a lot of countries around the world where we would like to see a change of regime. That doesn’t mean one pursues active policies in that direction,” he said.
It was claimed last night that Mr Blair misled MPs by insisting that Britain was at risk from Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction before ordering the invasion. A senior Conservative MP said that evidence to the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war this week proved that the former Prime Minister was aware that new intelligence had established Saddam had no workable WMD missiles.
Sir John Scarlett, the head of the committee that oversaw intelligence in the build-up to the invasion in March 2003, told the inquiry that reports that Saddam did not have warheads capable of dispersing chemical weapons started at the end of 2002.
An intelligence update on March 10 — eight days before the crucial vote by MPs in favour of the war — reported that Iraq had “no missiles which could reach Israel and none which could carry germ or biological weapons”. All the intelligence reports went directly to the Prime Minister, Sir John said.
Richard Ottaway, a member of the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, said that the evidence revealed that Mr Blair had repeatedly misled MPs. Mr Blair had described in detail the scale of Iraq’s armoury and said that Britain could not afford to back down in the face of the “clear and present danger” to national security posed by development of weapons of mass destruction. Inspections after the war revealed no evidence of workable chemical or biological weapons.
Sir John is due to be questioned again by the inquiry in private to avoid damaging national security.
Mr Blair is expected to give evidence next month or in early February.
Fern Britton
Age: 52
Education: Dr Challoner’s High School, Buckinghamshire; Central School of Speech and Drama
Career: After breakfast news with both BBC and GMTV found a niche presenting Ready Steady Cook. Spent ten years as Phillip Schofield's screen “wife” on ITV’s This Morning
The big interviews: Gordon Brown and Kerry Katona
Interview style: Like a doting mother asking if you are lying, and believing whatever you say, then apologising for questioning your judgment
Source:The times
The former Prime Minister has confessed that he would have had to use different arguments to justify toppling Saddam Hussein. But he says in an interview to be broadcast tomorrow morning that he would still have taken steps to remove the Iraqi dictator from power.
He also put the decision to go to war in Iraq in the context of a wider battle over Islam. He said: “I happen to think that there is a major struggle going on all over the world, really, which is about Islam and what is happening within Islam.” He said that this struggle had a “long way to go”.
At the time of the conflict Mr Blair, who is to be questioned by the Iraq inquiry early next year, based his decision to go to war on evidence that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
He gives an indication of his motives in an interview with the former daytime host Fern Britton, to be screened on BBC One. Mr Blair, who converted to Roman Catholicism when he left office two and a half years ago, denied that his religious faith played a direct part in his decision to go to war. But his faith gave him the strength to hold to the decision and supported him during “the loneliness of decision-maker”.
He said it was the “threat” that Saddam presented to the region that was uppermost in his mind. The development of weapons of mass destruction was one aspect of that threat.
Mr Blair said that there had been 12 years of the United Nations going “to and fro” on the subject, and he noted that Saddam had used chemical weapons on his own people.
Asked by Britton if he would still have gone on had he known there were no weapons of mass destruction, he said: “I would still have thought it right to remove him.”
Parents of some of the servicemen who have died have refused to shake his hand and accused him of being a war criminal with blood on his hands.
Mr Blair said that he was prepared to carry that responsibility. “There’s no point in going into a situation of conflict and not understanding there is going to be a price paid.”
The former Prime Minister, who now spends much of his time in the Middle East, working as an envoy for the Quartet of the US, Russia, the UN and the EU, said that it was difficult to judge yet whether the decision to go to war had been helpful or not.
This week the head of MI6 said that Saddam’s Iraq was one of a number of countries where Britain would have liked regime change. Sir John Sawers, who was at the time Mr Blair’s private secretary for foreign affairs, told the Iraq inquiry that discussions had taken place in 2001 — two years before the invasion — on “political” actions that could help to undermine the Baathist regime.
However, Sir John insisted that there had been no talk at that stage in Whitehall of military action in Iraq. He said that the approach adopted was based on the methods that had led to the ousting of Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia. Among the proposals considered was support for opposition groups and indicting Saddam for war crimes that he had committed during Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
“I think there are a lot of countries around the world where we would like to see a change of regime. That doesn’t mean one pursues active policies in that direction,” he said.
It was claimed last night that Mr Blair misled MPs by insisting that Britain was at risk from Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction before ordering the invasion. A senior Conservative MP said that evidence to the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war this week proved that the former Prime Minister was aware that new intelligence had established Saddam had no workable WMD missiles.
Sir John Scarlett, the head of the committee that oversaw intelligence in the build-up to the invasion in March 2003, told the inquiry that reports that Saddam did not have warheads capable of dispersing chemical weapons started at the end of 2002.
An intelligence update on March 10 — eight days before the crucial vote by MPs in favour of the war — reported that Iraq had “no missiles which could reach Israel and none which could carry germ or biological weapons”. All the intelligence reports went directly to the Prime Minister, Sir John said.
Richard Ottaway, a member of the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, said that the evidence revealed that Mr Blair had repeatedly misled MPs. Mr Blair had described in detail the scale of Iraq’s armoury and said that Britain could not afford to back down in the face of the “clear and present danger” to national security posed by development of weapons of mass destruction. Inspections after the war revealed no evidence of workable chemical or biological weapons.
Sir John is due to be questioned again by the inquiry in private to avoid damaging national security.
Mr Blair is expected to give evidence next month or in early February.
Fern Britton
Age: 52
Education: Dr Challoner’s High School, Buckinghamshire; Central School of Speech and Drama
Career: After breakfast news with both BBC and GMTV found a niche presenting Ready Steady Cook. Spent ten years as Phillip Schofield's screen “wife” on ITV’s This Morning
The big interviews: Gordon Brown and Kerry Katona
Interview style: Like a doting mother asking if you are lying, and believing whatever you say, then apologising for questioning your judgment
Source:The times
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Paul and Rachel Chandler: we could be dead within a week
A British couple kidnapped by Somali pirates have appealed directly to the British Government to open talks for their release, fearing that they may be killed within a week.
Paul and Rachel Chandler appeared in a video broadcast on television tonight. It was the first time that they have been seen since they disappeared while sailing in the Indian Ocean off the coast of East Africa last month. In the two-minute video the pair were surrounded by armed men and looked thin, tired and stressed.
One of their kidnappers had a rocket-propelled grenade on his shoulder and the others all carried heavy machineguns and wore bullet belts.
Mr Chandler, 59, urged the Government to start negotiating over a ransom. His wife Rachel, 55, said: “We are very concerned about the future. Our captors are very impatient.” They also said their kidnappers had told them a terrorist cell was hunting them.
The pair were filmed by a Channel 4 News camera crew on Wednesday.
Mr Chandler, a retired quantity surveyor from Tunbridge Wells, and his wife, an economist, disappeared on October 23 while sailing from the Seychelles towards Tanzania in their 38ft yacht Lynn Rival.
Four days later a news agency was contacted by a pirate called Hassan who said that he had the pair captive and ransom demands would follow.
They have been allowed to speak to journalists on the phone, and in one conversation Mrs Chandler’s brother, Stephen Collett, made a direct appeal to the pirates to release them.
Later, the BBC received a ransom demand of $7 million but the Foreign Office said that it would not make concessions to hostage takers.
Today, the couple were shown on land, looking subdued. Mr Chandler said: “This is our 27th day in captivity. So far we have been provided with adequate food and water and facilities and so we are unharmed and in reasonable physical health. Mentally we are under great stress and threatened. Our kidnappers are losing patience. They are concerned that there has been no response at all to their demands for money.
“We ask the Government and the people of Britain and our families to do whatever you can to at least open negotiations with these people about money so that perhaps our lives can be bought back.
“They will not hesitate to kill us, perhaps within a week or so of now if there is no response. So please, somebody get in touch, otherwise we just sleepwalk to a tragic end.”
Mohamed Shakir, the pirates’ commander, told The Times tonight: “We are holding them in a nice bush place near Haradheere.
“We are telling the British Government and people that we will no longer tolerate for their silence of paying the ransom. They should not make their people slaves for us. We did not harm them but we may have another sudden decision.
“We have been preventing other groups from kidnapping them but if we don’t get respect soon, our decision may be harder.
“The old man is talented and jokes with us without feeling any fear. The old woman was rather sick the first days but she is well now.
“If we don’t get an answer from Britain, the decision will not be delightful for the British people.”
Source:The times
Paul and Rachel Chandler appeared in a video broadcast on television tonight. It was the first time that they have been seen since they disappeared while sailing in the Indian Ocean off the coast of East Africa last month. In the two-minute video the pair were surrounded by armed men and looked thin, tired and stressed.
One of their kidnappers had a rocket-propelled grenade on his shoulder and the others all carried heavy machineguns and wore bullet belts.
Mr Chandler, 59, urged the Government to start negotiating over a ransom. His wife Rachel, 55, said: “We are very concerned about the future. Our captors are very impatient.” They also said their kidnappers had told them a terrorist cell was hunting them.
The pair were filmed by a Channel 4 News camera crew on Wednesday.
Mr Chandler, a retired quantity surveyor from Tunbridge Wells, and his wife, an economist, disappeared on October 23 while sailing from the Seychelles towards Tanzania in their 38ft yacht Lynn Rival.
Four days later a news agency was contacted by a pirate called Hassan who said that he had the pair captive and ransom demands would follow.
They have been allowed to speak to journalists on the phone, and in one conversation Mrs Chandler’s brother, Stephen Collett, made a direct appeal to the pirates to release them.
Later, the BBC received a ransom demand of $7 million but the Foreign Office said that it would not make concessions to hostage takers.
Today, the couple were shown on land, looking subdued. Mr Chandler said: “This is our 27th day in captivity. So far we have been provided with adequate food and water and facilities and so we are unharmed and in reasonable physical health. Mentally we are under great stress and threatened. Our kidnappers are losing patience. They are concerned that there has been no response at all to their demands for money.
“We ask the Government and the people of Britain and our families to do whatever you can to at least open negotiations with these people about money so that perhaps our lives can be bought back.
“They will not hesitate to kill us, perhaps within a week or so of now if there is no response. So please, somebody get in touch, otherwise we just sleepwalk to a tragic end.”
Mohamed Shakir, the pirates’ commander, told The Times tonight: “We are holding them in a nice bush place near Haradheere.
“We are telling the British Government and people that we will no longer tolerate for their silence of paying the ransom. They should not make their people slaves for us. We did not harm them but we may have another sudden decision.
“We have been preventing other groups from kidnapping them but if we don’t get respect soon, our decision may be harder.
“The old man is talented and jokes with us without feeling any fear. The old woman was rather sick the first days but she is well now.
“If we don’t get an answer from Britain, the decision will not be delightful for the British people.”
Source:The times
David Headley: quiet American with alleged links to Mumbai massacre
In almost every way, David Headley was the perfect neighbour. When the 49-year-old American citizen began renting an apartment in Mumbai last year he charmed his landlord, treated his laundry boy with respect, and befriended Bollywood figures at a local gym.
He told them that he was Jewish, and running an immigration agency from a respectable part of town. “Sweet and charming,” said his landlady. “Down to earth,” said his personal trainer.
Not until the past few days did they learn of his alleged other identity — and of quite how close security figures claim India may have come to a repeat of the militant attacks on Mumbai a year ago next week.
Apparently, Mr Headley’s original name was Daood Gilani. He was born in Pakistan, and is suspected of helping the terrorists who carried out last year’s Mumbai attack, and of planning another atrocity this year.
The details emerged when the FBI arrested Mr Headley in his home city of Chicago on October 3, and filed an affidavit in a US court, which has since been made public.
It alleges that he worked with Harkat ul-Jihad al-Islami (Huji), a Pakistan militant group, and Lashkar e-Taiba (LeT), the Pakistan group blamed for last year’s Mumbai attacks. The document also outlines claims that he was involved in the “Mickey Mouse Project” — a plan to attack Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper whose cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in 2005 infuriated Muslims across the world.
It also allegedly shows that he and an apparent accomplice visited India several times between 2006 and 2009, and appear to have discussed attacking Indian targets as recently as September this year.
Indian investigators are now examining whether Mr Headley may be the “missing link” in the Mumbai attacks, which killed more than 170 people between November 26 and 29 last year. They are also investigating claims that he may have planned attacks this year on targets including the National Defence College in Delhi, the private Doon School in Dehradun, northern India, or even a nuclear facility.
In the process, they are shedding light on the evolving threat from LeT and its allies, and on India’s haphazard — but so far successful — efforts to respond. “This is yet another wake-up call for India,” said B. Raman, a former counter-terrorism chief in the Indian external intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing.
“This shows LeT is as determined as ever to attack India, and they are now using Western territory and foreign Muslims to do it.”
The most striking aspect of the Headley case is his profile: unlike other militant suspects, he is middle-aged, speaks fluent English, and lives in Chicago.
The son of a Pakistani diplomat and an American woman, he went to cadet college in Pakistan before moving to the US when he was 16.
In 1997, he was jailed for 15 months for trying to smuggle heroin into the US, according to court documents.
Yet by simply changing his name in 2006, he stayed under the radar on at least nine visits to India over the past three years.
The FBI says that in the alleged activities he was helped by Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin who studied at the same cadet college, and was also arrested in the US last month.
Mr Rana’s immigration agency, which has offices in Chicago, helped to arrange Mr Headley’s trips and provided his cover story, according to the FBI.
To burnish his fake Jewish credentials, Mr Headley even carried a book called How to Pray like a Jew, the FBI says. The FBI appears to have placed him under surveillance after noticing his frequent movements between India, Pakistan, the Gulf and Europe.
It alerted Indian authorities after intercepting an e-mail in which Mr Headley’s alleged handler appears to give him a coded message suggesting an attack on India.
“I need to see you for some new investment plans,” the affidavit quotes the handler as saying.
When Mr Headley asks where, the handler suggests that he should “say hi to Rahul” in what the FBI says is a reference to a prominent Indian actor.
The actor has since been identified as Rahul Bhatt, a minor Bollywood star, who has admitted befriending Mr Headley in Mumbai.
In a telephone intercept in September, Mr Headley and Mr Rana are heard discussing five alleged targets and mentioning “Defence College”, according to the affidavit.
Mr Headley and Mr Rana have yet to respond to the affidavit.
But Indian and Western officials and analysts agree that the evidence presented so far appears to underline the global reach and ambitions of Huji and LeT. It also confirms India’s long-held fears that such groups might use foreigners of Pakistani or Indian origin, forcing it to tighten visa procedures.
Western governments had already adapted to that threat, but are worried that Mr Headley and Mr Rana may have used their immigration agency to move militants around the globe.
They are also increasingly aware of the threat to their own citizens in India — particularly during next year’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
“Prior to Mumbai, LeT was largely seen as a regional threat,” said one Western diplomat.
“Mumbai brought home that attacking India could directly impact Western interests, by killing their nationals, and also their indirect interests by destabilising the region.”
There is less agreement, however, on what the case says about India’s domestic security.
Some say that LeT and its allies are becoming more desperate as the Pakistan Army — which once sponsored them — has become distracted by its own campaign against the Taleban.
India has also taken a number of steps to improve its security apparatus. It has, for example, now established the National Investigation Agency, and it is amending legislation to give increased powers to the security services.
P. Chidambaram, the new Home Minister, has now started chairing a meeting of the heads of all the country’s important security agencies every morning.
The National Security Guard — whose commandos took eight hours to get to Mumbai from their Delhi headquarters last year during the attacks — has expanded its numbers and set up hubs in four more cities, including Mumbai.
“What about the past, almost 365, days?” said J. K. Dutt, the former NSG chief who led last year’s Mumbai operation. “There haven’t been any terrorist attacks since Mumbai. Doesn’t that also speak of the fact that there are steps the country has taken?”
Critics, however, say that India had a lucky escape thanks only to the FBI. Others question whether the US should have informed India earlier that it was watching Mr Headley.
Yet the biggest concern of all is still the underfunded and short-staffed police, a force which under India’s Constitution is the responsibility of state governments.
“When are we going to improve the training, consciousness and capability of local police?” asked Arun Bhagat, a former head of the Indian Intelligence Bureau. “Central agencies can only do so much.”
Source:The times
He told them that he was Jewish, and running an immigration agency from a respectable part of town. “Sweet and charming,” said his landlady. “Down to earth,” said his personal trainer.
Not until the past few days did they learn of his alleged other identity — and of quite how close security figures claim India may have come to a repeat of the militant attacks on Mumbai a year ago next week.
Apparently, Mr Headley’s original name was Daood Gilani. He was born in Pakistan, and is suspected of helping the terrorists who carried out last year’s Mumbai attack, and of planning another atrocity this year.
The details emerged when the FBI arrested Mr Headley in his home city of Chicago on October 3, and filed an affidavit in a US court, which has since been made public.
It alleges that he worked with Harkat ul-Jihad al-Islami (Huji), a Pakistan militant group, and Lashkar e-Taiba (LeT), the Pakistan group blamed for last year’s Mumbai attacks. The document also outlines claims that he was involved in the “Mickey Mouse Project” — a plan to attack Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper whose cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in 2005 infuriated Muslims across the world.
It also allegedly shows that he and an apparent accomplice visited India several times between 2006 and 2009, and appear to have discussed attacking Indian targets as recently as September this year.
Indian investigators are now examining whether Mr Headley may be the “missing link” in the Mumbai attacks, which killed more than 170 people between November 26 and 29 last year. They are also investigating claims that he may have planned attacks this year on targets including the National Defence College in Delhi, the private Doon School in Dehradun, northern India, or even a nuclear facility.
In the process, they are shedding light on the evolving threat from LeT and its allies, and on India’s haphazard — but so far successful — efforts to respond. “This is yet another wake-up call for India,” said B. Raman, a former counter-terrorism chief in the Indian external intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing.
“This shows LeT is as determined as ever to attack India, and they are now using Western territory and foreign Muslims to do it.”
The most striking aspect of the Headley case is his profile: unlike other militant suspects, he is middle-aged, speaks fluent English, and lives in Chicago.
The son of a Pakistani diplomat and an American woman, he went to cadet college in Pakistan before moving to the US when he was 16.
In 1997, he was jailed for 15 months for trying to smuggle heroin into the US, according to court documents.
Yet by simply changing his name in 2006, he stayed under the radar on at least nine visits to India over the past three years.
The FBI says that in the alleged activities he was helped by Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin who studied at the same cadet college, and was also arrested in the US last month.
Mr Rana’s immigration agency, which has offices in Chicago, helped to arrange Mr Headley’s trips and provided his cover story, according to the FBI.
To burnish his fake Jewish credentials, Mr Headley even carried a book called How to Pray like a Jew, the FBI says. The FBI appears to have placed him under surveillance after noticing his frequent movements between India, Pakistan, the Gulf and Europe.
It alerted Indian authorities after intercepting an e-mail in which Mr Headley’s alleged handler appears to give him a coded message suggesting an attack on India.
“I need to see you for some new investment plans,” the affidavit quotes the handler as saying.
When Mr Headley asks where, the handler suggests that he should “say hi to Rahul” in what the FBI says is a reference to a prominent Indian actor.
The actor has since been identified as Rahul Bhatt, a minor Bollywood star, who has admitted befriending Mr Headley in Mumbai.
In a telephone intercept in September, Mr Headley and Mr Rana are heard discussing five alleged targets and mentioning “Defence College”, according to the affidavit.
Mr Headley and Mr Rana have yet to respond to the affidavit.
But Indian and Western officials and analysts agree that the evidence presented so far appears to underline the global reach and ambitions of Huji and LeT. It also confirms India’s long-held fears that such groups might use foreigners of Pakistani or Indian origin, forcing it to tighten visa procedures.
Western governments had already adapted to that threat, but are worried that Mr Headley and Mr Rana may have used their immigration agency to move militants around the globe.
They are also increasingly aware of the threat to their own citizens in India — particularly during next year’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
“Prior to Mumbai, LeT was largely seen as a regional threat,” said one Western diplomat.
“Mumbai brought home that attacking India could directly impact Western interests, by killing their nationals, and also their indirect interests by destabilising the region.”
There is less agreement, however, on what the case says about India’s domestic security.
Some say that LeT and its allies are becoming more desperate as the Pakistan Army — which once sponsored them — has become distracted by its own campaign against the Taleban.
India has also taken a number of steps to improve its security apparatus. It has, for example, now established the National Investigation Agency, and it is amending legislation to give increased powers to the security services.
P. Chidambaram, the new Home Minister, has now started chairing a meeting of the heads of all the country’s important security agencies every morning.
The National Security Guard — whose commandos took eight hours to get to Mumbai from their Delhi headquarters last year during the attacks — has expanded its numbers and set up hubs in four more cities, including Mumbai.
“What about the past, almost 365, days?” said J. K. Dutt, the former NSG chief who led last year’s Mumbai operation. “There haven’t been any terrorist attacks since Mumbai. Doesn’t that also speak of the fact that there are steps the country has taken?”
Critics, however, say that India had a lucky escape thanks only to the FBI. Others question whether the US should have informed India earlier that it was watching Mr Headley.
Yet the biggest concern of all is still the underfunded and short-staffed police, a force which under India’s Constitution is the responsibility of state governments.
“When are we going to improve the training, consciousness and capability of local police?” asked Arun Bhagat, a former head of the Indian Intelligence Bureau. “Central agencies can only do so much.”
Source:The times
Gordon Brown visits flood-stricken Cumbria
Gordon Brown today visited flood-stricken communities in Cumbria hit by the heaviest rainfall since records began.
The torrential downpour has destroyed homes, businesses and claimed the life of a policeman, swept away as he helped motorists off a bridge.
The prime minister arrived in Penrith, Cumbria, this morning with environment minister Hilary Benn to survey the damage and meet with members of the emergency services and pledged an extra £1m of government money to help.
The region is bracing itself for more rain this afternoon as rescue teams continue to search for those still trapped in their flooded homes. The emergency services have also warned those flooded out not to try and return to their homes.Yesterday’s downpour was the heaviest since records began, with 314mm, more than one foot, of rain falling in Cumbria in the space of 24 hours.
Forecasters predict there will be a further 20mm to 40mm of rain fall in the region today.
There are currently 22 flood warnings in place across the North West of England, parts of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Eleven bridges have been closed in Cumbria, after four were brought down by the swelling rivers, while walkers have advised to keep away from the fells and waterways.
PC Bill Barker was helping motorists on a bridge over the River Derwent, near Workington when the crossing caved-in, yesterday morning.
The father-of-four’s body was later found on a beach in Allonby, ten miles away.
The prime minister joined PC Barker’s family and colleagues in paying tribute to the policeman and his ‘heroic’ final actions.
Addressing officers at Cumbria Police headquarters in Penrith, Brown said: "What you've done in the last few days is tackle one of the greatest rainfalls we've seen in our country and you've done it with such superb organisation, that I want to tell you on behalf of the whole country how proud we are of you."Emergency services are being aided by RAF and RNLI search and rescue teams in the worst hit communities.
In Cockermouth more than 200 people had to be rescued by RAF helicopters, when floodwaters rose to eight feet.
Last night hundreds of people were forced to stay in emergency shelters after fleeing their homes, others have been advised to stay with relatives.
It was estimated that 1,100 homes across the Cumbria were affected by flooding. About 1,060 homes have lost power and 22 houses in the Low Lawton area were being provided with bottled water after supplies were affected.
Although waters are stating to recede, the centre of Cockermouth remains flooded and strewn with debris washed from homes and businesses.
Community leaders and insurers are already counting the costs of the damage and the Association of British Insurers estimates the flooding will result in payouts totalling between £50million and £100million.
Cumbria County Council leader Jim Buchanan said: “I’m pleased the Prime Minister is here and showing continued support but we need to start getting the county back to normal as quickly as possible and we need some certainty about the resources which might be available to us so that we can plan accordingly."
Cllr Buchanan warned full recovery from the crisis would be a measured in “months and years, not days”.
The county council has pledged £50,000 to a flood recovery welfare fund, matching the £50,000 already confirmed from the North West Development Agency.
Police said a brief respite in the downfall this morning had provided emergency services with the chance to plan operations for the weekend.
A spokesman said: “Priorities will include protecting the people of Cumbria, checking the structural integrity of bridges and continuing to check affected properties as flood waters recede, as well as responding to specific calls for service.
“Cumbria Police have mobilised their entire work force in shift patterns and are in a state of readiness to deal with situations as they arise.”
Source:The times
The torrential downpour has destroyed homes, businesses and claimed the life of a policeman, swept away as he helped motorists off a bridge.
The prime minister arrived in Penrith, Cumbria, this morning with environment minister Hilary Benn to survey the damage and meet with members of the emergency services and pledged an extra £1m of government money to help.
The region is bracing itself for more rain this afternoon as rescue teams continue to search for those still trapped in their flooded homes. The emergency services have also warned those flooded out not to try and return to their homes.Yesterday’s downpour was the heaviest since records began, with 314mm, more than one foot, of rain falling in Cumbria in the space of 24 hours.
Forecasters predict there will be a further 20mm to 40mm of rain fall in the region today.
There are currently 22 flood warnings in place across the North West of England, parts of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Eleven bridges have been closed in Cumbria, after four were brought down by the swelling rivers, while walkers have advised to keep away from the fells and waterways.
PC Bill Barker was helping motorists on a bridge over the River Derwent, near Workington when the crossing caved-in, yesterday morning.
The father-of-four’s body was later found on a beach in Allonby, ten miles away.
The prime minister joined PC Barker’s family and colleagues in paying tribute to the policeman and his ‘heroic’ final actions.
Addressing officers at Cumbria Police headquarters in Penrith, Brown said: "What you've done in the last few days is tackle one of the greatest rainfalls we've seen in our country and you've done it with such superb organisation, that I want to tell you on behalf of the whole country how proud we are of you."Emergency services are being aided by RAF and RNLI search and rescue teams in the worst hit communities.
In Cockermouth more than 200 people had to be rescued by RAF helicopters, when floodwaters rose to eight feet.
Last night hundreds of people were forced to stay in emergency shelters after fleeing their homes, others have been advised to stay with relatives.
It was estimated that 1,100 homes across the Cumbria were affected by flooding. About 1,060 homes have lost power and 22 houses in the Low Lawton area were being provided with bottled water after supplies were affected.
Although waters are stating to recede, the centre of Cockermouth remains flooded and strewn with debris washed from homes and businesses.
Community leaders and insurers are already counting the costs of the damage and the Association of British Insurers estimates the flooding will result in payouts totalling between £50million and £100million.
Cumbria County Council leader Jim Buchanan said: “I’m pleased the Prime Minister is here and showing continued support but we need to start getting the county back to normal as quickly as possible and we need some certainty about the resources which might be available to us so that we can plan accordingly."
Cllr Buchanan warned full recovery from the crisis would be a measured in “months and years, not days”.
The county council has pledged £50,000 to a flood recovery welfare fund, matching the £50,000 already confirmed from the North West Development Agency.
Police said a brief respite in the downfall this morning had provided emergency services with the chance to plan operations for the weekend.
A spokesman said: “Priorities will include protecting the people of Cumbria, checking the structural integrity of bridges and continuing to check affected properties as flood waters recede, as well as responding to specific calls for service.
“Cumbria Police have mobilised their entire work force in shift patterns and are in a state of readiness to deal with situations as they arise.”
Source:The times
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Herman Van Rompuy, front-runner for presidency, wants EU-wide tax
The man tipped to be Europe’s first president is already considering new EU taxes to fund the rising cost of Brussels and the welfare state.
Herman Van Rompuy, the Belgian Prime Minister, broke his silence before Thursday’s summit to choose the president — but only at a meeting of the secretive Bilderberg group of top politicians, bankers and businessmen.
Mr Van Rompuy’s contentious remarks were aired privately amid the grand surroundings of the Castle of the Valley of the Duchess near Brussels. The château hosted the talks on the Treaty of Rome in 1957 that launched the European Union.
His office released parts of his speech in which he talked of funding social welfare from new green taxes and went on to discuss “financing levies at European level”, which his spokesman said later was similar to Gordon Brown’s call for an international tax on financial transactions.
The funding of the EU was discussed further after his speech, according to Flemish newspapers, but his office refused to give more details. Mr Van Rompuy remains the favourite for the position of president of the European Council — other contenders include Tony Blair — to be chosen when the 27 EU leaders meet in Brussels in two days’ time.
Mr Van Rompuy’s Bilderberg intervention will alarm non-federalist countries such as Britain and Denmark, which have long opposed giving the EU tax-raising powers and breaking the link with national funding.
Newer member states, already angry at the opaque process of choosing a president, are unlikely to be impressed at the secretive forum used by Mr Van Rompuy to talk about his European vision.
“The financing of the welfare state, irrespective of the social reform we implement, will require new resources,” Mr Van Rompuy told European and American guests, who included Henry Kissinger. The former US Secretary of State is cited as the inspiration for an EU president following his reported remark: “Who do I call when I want to call Europe?”
Mr Van Rompuy added: “The green fiscal instrument is one possibility although an ambiguous one: this type of regulatory tax should eventually become redundant. But the possibility of financial levies at European level needs to be seriously reviewed and for the first time ever, the big countries in the Union are open to this.”
EU federalists were delighted to hear Mr Van Rompuy talk of European taxes.
Andrew Duff, the Liberal Democrat MEP and president of the Union of European Federalists, said: “He is a federalist and federalists believe in that approach. We have got to have a reform of the financial system. We have also got to grow the size of the EU budget to reflect the growth of competences that are in the Lisbon treaty, such as foreign and security policy, a common energy policy and climate change measures.” Britain is traditionally opposed to EU-wide tax proposals, despite Mr Brown’s recently proposed “Tobin tax” – an international levy on financial transactions as proposed by James Tobin.
William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, said: “Britain would not be the only EU country that would find a proposal to give the EU tax-raising powers totally unacceptable. Advocacy of such a policy is not a fruitful use of anyone’s time.”
Source:The times
Herman Van Rompuy, the Belgian Prime Minister, broke his silence before Thursday’s summit to choose the president — but only at a meeting of the secretive Bilderberg group of top politicians, bankers and businessmen.
Mr Van Rompuy’s contentious remarks were aired privately amid the grand surroundings of the Castle of the Valley of the Duchess near Brussels. The château hosted the talks on the Treaty of Rome in 1957 that launched the European Union.
His office released parts of his speech in which he talked of funding social welfare from new green taxes and went on to discuss “financing levies at European level”, which his spokesman said later was similar to Gordon Brown’s call for an international tax on financial transactions.
The funding of the EU was discussed further after his speech, according to Flemish newspapers, but his office refused to give more details. Mr Van Rompuy remains the favourite for the position of president of the European Council — other contenders include Tony Blair — to be chosen when the 27 EU leaders meet in Brussels in two days’ time.
Mr Van Rompuy’s Bilderberg intervention will alarm non-federalist countries such as Britain and Denmark, which have long opposed giving the EU tax-raising powers and breaking the link with national funding.
Newer member states, already angry at the opaque process of choosing a president, are unlikely to be impressed at the secretive forum used by Mr Van Rompuy to talk about his European vision.
“The financing of the welfare state, irrespective of the social reform we implement, will require new resources,” Mr Van Rompuy told European and American guests, who included Henry Kissinger. The former US Secretary of State is cited as the inspiration for an EU president following his reported remark: “Who do I call when I want to call Europe?”
Mr Van Rompuy added: “The green fiscal instrument is one possibility although an ambiguous one: this type of regulatory tax should eventually become redundant. But the possibility of financial levies at European level needs to be seriously reviewed and for the first time ever, the big countries in the Union are open to this.”
EU federalists were delighted to hear Mr Van Rompuy talk of European taxes.
Andrew Duff, the Liberal Democrat MEP and president of the Union of European Federalists, said: “He is a federalist and federalists believe in that approach. We have got to have a reform of the financial system. We have also got to grow the size of the EU budget to reflect the growth of competences that are in the Lisbon treaty, such as foreign and security policy, a common energy policy and climate change measures.” Britain is traditionally opposed to EU-wide tax proposals, despite Mr Brown’s recently proposed “Tobin tax” – an international levy on financial transactions as proposed by James Tobin.
William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, said: “Britain would not be the only EU country that would find a proposal to give the EU tax-raising powers totally unacceptable. Advocacy of such a policy is not a fruitful use of anyone’s time.”
Source:The times
UN nuclear chief in secret talks with Iran over deal to end sanctions
United Nations and Iranian officials have been secretly negotiating a deal to persuade world powers to lift sanctions and allow Tehran to retain the bulk of its nuclear programme in return for co-operation with UN inspectors.
According to a draft document seen by The Times, the 13-point agreement was drawn up in September by Mohamed ElBaradei, the directorgeneral of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in an effort to break the stalemate over Iran’s nuclear programme before he stands down at the end of this month.
The IAEA denied the existence of the document, which was leaked to The Times by one of the parties alarmed at the contents. Its disclosure was made as the agency warned that Iran could be hiding multiple secret nuclear sites.
Despite the assessment, diplomats believed that Mr ElBaradei was hoping to agree the outline of a deal with Tehran that he could present to the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany as a solution to the impasse.
It was thought that Mr ElBaradei was anxious to secure his legacy after infighting over his perceived weakness in dealing with Iran.
The plan would require the UN Security Council to revoke the three existing sanctions and five resolutions ordering Iran to halt its uranium enrichment — an unthinkable development at a time when the West is focused on how to impose more, not fewer, sanctions on Iran.
Russia and China, who have commercial ties with Iran and have been pressing for a compromise, may see merit in the plan, however.
Hopes of reaching a consensus rose in September with the discovery of a second uranium enrichment plant under construction near Qom, which inspectors were allowed to visit finally last month.
Mr ElBaradei’s draft agreement envisaged allowing Iran to maintain and even expand its uranium enrichment programme, albeit under closer IAEA scrutiny, as part of a globally managed nuclear fuel bank. “The sides are to set up an international consortium for uranium enrichment, both in Iran and outside Iran,” the document said.
Section ten of the document proposed that if Iran complied with the arrangements, the signatories would report positively to the UN Security Council, where Iran would be rewarded with the lifting of sanctions.
“At first, the sanctions prohibiting the movement of scientists and technicians are to be lifted immediately, as are the sanctions connected to the supply of spare parts for aircraft and other essential activities,” it said.
The disclosure coincides with leaks from the report by IAEA inspectors warning of the dangers of taking Iran at its word over its nuclear programme.
The report, to be discussed at Mr ElBaradei’s final board of governors meeting next week, warned that Iran may be concealing multiple nuclear plants.
Iran claims that the Qom site was a fallback to preserve its declared peaceful enrichment programme if the Natanz complex was bombed. Inspectors said that Tehran had failed to convince them of its use and had even lied when it was being built. Nuclear experts said that the size of the plant suggested a military use.
Tehran belatedly informed the IAEA of the existence of the plant in September, reportedly after realising that it had been discovered and was being monitored by Western intelligence agencies.
“The agency has indicated that its declaration of the new facility reduces the level of confidence in the absence of other nuclear facilities under construction and gives rise to questions about whether there were any other nuclear facilities not declared to the agency,” the report said.
Iran’s failure to inform the IAEA of its decision to build or authorise construction of a nuclear facility as soon as the decision was made was inconsistent with its transparency obligations to the UN watchdog, the report by the inspectors said. “Moreover, Iran’s delay in submitting such information to the agency does not contribute to the building of confidence.”
The report said that Tehran lied when it told the agency that construction began in 2007, when evidence showed that the project had started in 2002 before pausing in 2004 and resuming in 2006.
Inspectors found the Qom site in an advanced state of construction but without centrifuges or nuclear materials. They said that Iran had told the agency it would be started up in 2011.
Western diplomats and nuclear experts said that the planned capacity of the Qom site, 3,000 centrifuges, made little sense as a peaceful enrichment centre because it would be too small to fuel a nuclear power station. It could, however, yield fissile material for one or two atom bombs per year.
Source:The times
According to a draft document seen by The Times, the 13-point agreement was drawn up in September by Mohamed ElBaradei, the directorgeneral of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in an effort to break the stalemate over Iran’s nuclear programme before he stands down at the end of this month.
The IAEA denied the existence of the document, which was leaked to The Times by one of the parties alarmed at the contents. Its disclosure was made as the agency warned that Iran could be hiding multiple secret nuclear sites.
Despite the assessment, diplomats believed that Mr ElBaradei was hoping to agree the outline of a deal with Tehran that he could present to the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany as a solution to the impasse.
It was thought that Mr ElBaradei was anxious to secure his legacy after infighting over his perceived weakness in dealing with Iran.
The plan would require the UN Security Council to revoke the three existing sanctions and five resolutions ordering Iran to halt its uranium enrichment — an unthinkable development at a time when the West is focused on how to impose more, not fewer, sanctions on Iran.
Russia and China, who have commercial ties with Iran and have been pressing for a compromise, may see merit in the plan, however.
Hopes of reaching a consensus rose in September with the discovery of a second uranium enrichment plant under construction near Qom, which inspectors were allowed to visit finally last month.
Mr ElBaradei’s draft agreement envisaged allowing Iran to maintain and even expand its uranium enrichment programme, albeit under closer IAEA scrutiny, as part of a globally managed nuclear fuel bank. “The sides are to set up an international consortium for uranium enrichment, both in Iran and outside Iran,” the document said.
Section ten of the document proposed that if Iran complied with the arrangements, the signatories would report positively to the UN Security Council, where Iran would be rewarded with the lifting of sanctions.
“At first, the sanctions prohibiting the movement of scientists and technicians are to be lifted immediately, as are the sanctions connected to the supply of spare parts for aircraft and other essential activities,” it said.
The disclosure coincides with leaks from the report by IAEA inspectors warning of the dangers of taking Iran at its word over its nuclear programme.
The report, to be discussed at Mr ElBaradei’s final board of governors meeting next week, warned that Iran may be concealing multiple nuclear plants.
Iran claims that the Qom site was a fallback to preserve its declared peaceful enrichment programme if the Natanz complex was bombed. Inspectors said that Tehran had failed to convince them of its use and had even lied when it was being built. Nuclear experts said that the size of the plant suggested a military use.
Tehran belatedly informed the IAEA of the existence of the plant in September, reportedly after realising that it had been discovered and was being monitored by Western intelligence agencies.
“The agency has indicated that its declaration of the new facility reduces the level of confidence in the absence of other nuclear facilities under construction and gives rise to questions about whether there were any other nuclear facilities not declared to the agency,” the report said.
Iran’s failure to inform the IAEA of its decision to build or authorise construction of a nuclear facility as soon as the decision was made was inconsistent with its transparency obligations to the UN watchdog, the report by the inspectors said. “Moreover, Iran’s delay in submitting such information to the agency does not contribute to the building of confidence.”
The report said that Tehran lied when it told the agency that construction began in 2007, when evidence showed that the project had started in 2002 before pausing in 2004 and resuming in 2006.
Inspectors found the Qom site in an advanced state of construction but without centrifuges or nuclear materials. They said that Iran had told the agency it would be started up in 2011.
Western diplomats and nuclear experts said that the planned capacity of the Qom site, 3,000 centrifuges, made little sense as a peaceful enrichment centre because it would be too small to fuel a nuclear power station. It could, however, yield fissile material for one or two atom bombs per year.
Source:The times
Army tells its soldiers to 'bribe' the Taleban
British forces should buy off potential Taleban recruits with “bags of gold”, according to a new army field manual published yesterday.
Army commanders should also talk to insurgent leaders with “blood on their hands” in order to hasten the end of the conflict in Afghanistan.
The edicts, which are contained in rewritten counter-insurgency guidelines, will be taught to all new army officers. They mark a strategic rethink after three years in which British and Nato forces have failed to defeat the Taleban. The manual is also a recognition that the Army’s previous doctrine for success against insurgents, which was based on the experience in Northern Ireland, is now out of date.
The new instructions came on the day that Gordon Brown went farther than before in setting out Britain’s exit strategy from Afghanistan. The Prime Minister stated explicitly last night that he wanted troops to begin handing over districts to Afghan authorities during next year — a general election year in Britain.
ddressing the issue of paying off the locals, the new manual states that army commanders should give away enough money to dissuade them from joining the enemy. The Taleban is known to pay about $10 (£5.95) a day to recruit local fighters.
Major-General Paul Newton said: “The best weapons to counter insurgents don’t shoot. In other words, use bags of gold in the short term to change the security dynamics. But you don’t just chuck gold at them, this has to be done wisely.”
British commanders in Afghanistan and Iraq have complained that their access to money on the battlefield — cash rather than literal gold — compares poorly with their US counterparts.
Adam Holloway, a former army officer and the Tory MP for Gravesham in Kent, said that the idea was a matter of “shutting the door after the horse has bolted”. He added: “I know that a number of generals thought in 2006 that, rather than send a British brigade to Helmand, they should buy off people in the tribal areas. Now it’s too late.”
Mr Brown told the Lord Mayor’s Banquet at Guildhall in the City last night that a summit of Nato allies would be held in London in January, which could set a timetable for the transfer of security control to the Afghans starting in 2010. Military sources said that the first areas to be involved would probably be in the north and west of Afghanistan — not in Helmand in the south, where British troops are based.
The counter-insurgency field manual also highlights the importance of talking to the enemy. “There’s no point in talking to people who don’t have blood on their hands,” General Newton said, launching the document in London.
Britain’s early experience of handing out cash in Afghanistan proved abortive. About £16 million in cash was given to farmers to stop them growing poppy crops for the heroin trade, which helps to fund the Taleban. The money is believed to have had little impact on the opium yields.
The manual says that money can be the answer, if it is prudently distributed. “Properly spent within a context of longer-term planning, money offers a cost-effective means for pulling community support away from the insurgents and provides the military with a much-needed economy of force
measure,” it says. “Unemployed and under-employed military-aged males typically provide the richest vein from which insurgents recruit ‘foot soldiers’. Short-term, labour-intensive projects are therefore the best way to disrupt such recruiting.”
“The counter-insurgent should be careful not to be over-generous since this will distort local economic and social activity and may lead to unproductive dependency.”
The positive impact of military units going into battle with bags of cash at their disposal is underlined in the manual by the experience of a top British commander who served in Iraq. “The hoops that I had to jump through to get the very few UK pounds that were available were . . . amazing; the American divisional commanders were resourced and empowered in ways that we could only dream of,” he says.
“UK commanders on recent operations have not had quick access to the same levels of cash as . . . their US counterparts,” the manual says. “Where possible, mission command should apply to money as much as any other weapon or enabling system.”
It is more than eight years since the Army last published a counter-insurgency doctrine, when the main lessons contained in it arose from operations in Northern Ireland and the Balkans.
General Newton, Assistant Chief of Defence Staff Development Concepts and Doctrine, said that new ideas were needed to cope with the media-savvy insurgents who are fighting in Afghanistan and that there was no place for arrogance on the part of the British military hierarchy, relying on their experience of past campaigns.
The Americans complained in Iraq that the British in Basra too often referred to the lessons of Northern Ireland in dictating how the insurgency should be handled.
A bomb disposal specialist from 33 Regiment Royal Engineers was killed by an explosion near Gereshk in central Helmand province on Sunday, the Ministryof Defence said yesterday. He was part of the Counter-IED (improvised explosive device) Task Force and the 97th member of the Armed Forces to die in Afghanistan this year.
Source:The times
Army commanders should also talk to insurgent leaders with “blood on their hands” in order to hasten the end of the conflict in Afghanistan.
The edicts, which are contained in rewritten counter-insurgency guidelines, will be taught to all new army officers. They mark a strategic rethink after three years in which British and Nato forces have failed to defeat the Taleban. The manual is also a recognition that the Army’s previous doctrine for success against insurgents, which was based on the experience in Northern Ireland, is now out of date.
The new instructions came on the day that Gordon Brown went farther than before in setting out Britain’s exit strategy from Afghanistan. The Prime Minister stated explicitly last night that he wanted troops to begin handing over districts to Afghan authorities during next year — a general election year in Britain.
ddressing the issue of paying off the locals, the new manual states that army commanders should give away enough money to dissuade them from joining the enemy. The Taleban is known to pay about $10 (£5.95) a day to recruit local fighters.
Major-General Paul Newton said: “The best weapons to counter insurgents don’t shoot. In other words, use bags of gold in the short term to change the security dynamics. But you don’t just chuck gold at them, this has to be done wisely.”
British commanders in Afghanistan and Iraq have complained that their access to money on the battlefield — cash rather than literal gold — compares poorly with their US counterparts.
Adam Holloway, a former army officer and the Tory MP for Gravesham in Kent, said that the idea was a matter of “shutting the door after the horse has bolted”. He added: “I know that a number of generals thought in 2006 that, rather than send a British brigade to Helmand, they should buy off people in the tribal areas. Now it’s too late.”
Mr Brown told the Lord Mayor’s Banquet at Guildhall in the City last night that a summit of Nato allies would be held in London in January, which could set a timetable for the transfer of security control to the Afghans starting in 2010. Military sources said that the first areas to be involved would probably be in the north and west of Afghanistan — not in Helmand in the south, where British troops are based.
The counter-insurgency field manual also highlights the importance of talking to the enemy. “There’s no point in talking to people who don’t have blood on their hands,” General Newton said, launching the document in London.
Britain’s early experience of handing out cash in Afghanistan proved abortive. About £16 million in cash was given to farmers to stop them growing poppy crops for the heroin trade, which helps to fund the Taleban. The money is believed to have had little impact on the opium yields.
The manual says that money can be the answer, if it is prudently distributed. “Properly spent within a context of longer-term planning, money offers a cost-effective means for pulling community support away from the insurgents and provides the military with a much-needed economy of force
measure,” it says. “Unemployed and under-employed military-aged males typically provide the richest vein from which insurgents recruit ‘foot soldiers’. Short-term, labour-intensive projects are therefore the best way to disrupt such recruiting.”
“The counter-insurgent should be careful not to be over-generous since this will distort local economic and social activity and may lead to unproductive dependency.”
The positive impact of military units going into battle with bags of cash at their disposal is underlined in the manual by the experience of a top British commander who served in Iraq. “The hoops that I had to jump through to get the very few UK pounds that were available were . . . amazing; the American divisional commanders were resourced and empowered in ways that we could only dream of,” he says.
“UK commanders on recent operations have not had quick access to the same levels of cash as . . . their US counterparts,” the manual says. “Where possible, mission command should apply to money as much as any other weapon or enabling system.”
It is more than eight years since the Army last published a counter-insurgency doctrine, when the main lessons contained in it arose from operations in Northern Ireland and the Balkans.
General Newton, Assistant Chief of Defence Staff Development Concepts and Doctrine, said that new ideas were needed to cope with the media-savvy insurgents who are fighting in Afghanistan and that there was no place for arrogance on the part of the British military hierarchy, relying on their experience of past campaigns.
The Americans complained in Iraq that the British in Basra too often referred to the lessons of Northern Ireland in dictating how the insurgency should be handled.
A bomb disposal specialist from 33 Regiment Royal Engineers was killed by an explosion near Gereshk in central Helmand province on Sunday, the Ministryof Defence said yesterday. He was part of the Counter-IED (improvised explosive device) Task Force and the 97th member of the Armed Forces to die in Afghanistan this year.
Source:The times
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Gordon Brown accused over one in five young out of work
David Cameron today accused Gordon Brown of failing Britain's youth after figures were released showing one in five young people is now out of work.
The pair clashed at Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons with youth unemployment now at an unprecedented level.
Among those aged 16 to 24 the number looking for work, has reached almost 19.8 per cent — almost one million — for the first time.
Mr Cameron said: “You once promised to abolish youth unemployment. Do you accept that you’ve failed?The Conservative leader said the Government planned cuts across Whitehall departments that would hamper measures to reduce youth unemployment including apprenticeships and development loans.
“The state of the public finances is so bad that the Government plans deep cuts in every department including those that help the unemployed,” he said.
Gordon Brown rejected figures showing that 943,000 young people were unemployed.
“I have to say about the figures you quote on youth unemployment, 250,000 of the number you quote are full-time students looking for part-time work and they are not fully unemployed,” Mr Brown told MPs.
“No government in Europe is doing more to help young people out of work.”
The figures came as Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, today announced plans to make apprenticeships equivalent to A levels by attaching Ucas points to them. The work based placements will become a passport to university and each year the 1,000 top apprentices in England will be handed one-off “golden hello” bursaries of up to £1,000 when they enter higher education, through an Apprenticeship Scholarships Fund.
The plans are part of the National Skills Strategy and will come into force in 2011.
According to recent figures, while the numbers of people taking up apprenticeships has risen slightly, take-up amongst 16 to 18-year-olds has fallen.
Official figures released today, from the Office for National Statistics, showed that unemployment climbed by just 30,000 in the quarter to September — the smallest quarterly rise since spring last year.
There had been expectations that total unemployment would reach 2.5 million.
But predictions of a ‘lost generation’ of graduates unable to get a toe-hold on the employment ladder appear to have held true.
Carl Gilleard, chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters, said: “Today’s unemployment figures are a major disappointment.
“We know that there are far fewer graduate vacancies this year and that the situation for graduates is tough.”
It is too early to say whether conditions will improve in the graduate job market next year, he added, and said: “There is optimism amongst graduate recruiters that the situation should start to ease somewhat.”
One in four graduate vacancies was scrapped this year as employers attempted to reduce their staffing costs without having to cut existing jobs. The number of 16 to 24-year-olds classed as not employed, in education or in training - or Neets - went up by 15,000.
Amongst young adults — aged 18 to 24 — unemployment rose by 24,000 over the three months between June and September to 746,000, a rate of 18 per cent, the highest since 1992.
Theresa May, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said: “These are yet more grim figures for Britain. Labour has written off a generation of young people with one in five now unable to find a job.
“Labour need to wake up and adopt our plans to get Britain working as a matter of urgency.
“In particular they need to offer more support to young people by taking up our proposals to create hundreds of thousands of additional apprenticeships and training places to prevent a generation being cast adrift because of Gordon Brown’s recession.”
Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said more people in work was welcome news.
"The fact that unemployment is significantly lower than everyone forecast at the beginning of the year shows the support for the economy is making a real difference,” she said.
“But we know things are still tough for a lot of families, and unemployment is expected to increase further next year.
“That’s why we’re determined to do more with an extra 35,000 youth jobs, more apprenticeships and education places so we can guarantee no young person gets stuck in long term unemployment.”
Source:The times
The pair clashed at Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons with youth unemployment now at an unprecedented level.
Among those aged 16 to 24 the number looking for work, has reached almost 19.8 per cent — almost one million — for the first time.
Mr Cameron said: “You once promised to abolish youth unemployment. Do you accept that you’ve failed?The Conservative leader said the Government planned cuts across Whitehall departments that would hamper measures to reduce youth unemployment including apprenticeships and development loans.
“The state of the public finances is so bad that the Government plans deep cuts in every department including those that help the unemployed,” he said.
Gordon Brown rejected figures showing that 943,000 young people were unemployed.
“I have to say about the figures you quote on youth unemployment, 250,000 of the number you quote are full-time students looking for part-time work and they are not fully unemployed,” Mr Brown told MPs.
“No government in Europe is doing more to help young people out of work.”
The figures came as Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, today announced plans to make apprenticeships equivalent to A levels by attaching Ucas points to them. The work based placements will become a passport to university and each year the 1,000 top apprentices in England will be handed one-off “golden hello” bursaries of up to £1,000 when they enter higher education, through an Apprenticeship Scholarships Fund.
The plans are part of the National Skills Strategy and will come into force in 2011.
According to recent figures, while the numbers of people taking up apprenticeships has risen slightly, take-up amongst 16 to 18-year-olds has fallen.
Official figures released today, from the Office for National Statistics, showed that unemployment climbed by just 30,000 in the quarter to September — the smallest quarterly rise since spring last year.
There had been expectations that total unemployment would reach 2.5 million.
But predictions of a ‘lost generation’ of graduates unable to get a toe-hold on the employment ladder appear to have held true.
Carl Gilleard, chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters, said: “Today’s unemployment figures are a major disappointment.
“We know that there are far fewer graduate vacancies this year and that the situation for graduates is tough.”
It is too early to say whether conditions will improve in the graduate job market next year, he added, and said: “There is optimism amongst graduate recruiters that the situation should start to ease somewhat.”
One in four graduate vacancies was scrapped this year as employers attempted to reduce their staffing costs without having to cut existing jobs. The number of 16 to 24-year-olds classed as not employed, in education or in training - or Neets - went up by 15,000.
Amongst young adults — aged 18 to 24 — unemployment rose by 24,000 over the three months between June and September to 746,000, a rate of 18 per cent, the highest since 1992.
Theresa May, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said: “These are yet more grim figures for Britain. Labour has written off a generation of young people with one in five now unable to find a job.
“Labour need to wake up and adopt our plans to get Britain working as a matter of urgency.
“In particular they need to offer more support to young people by taking up our proposals to create hundreds of thousands of additional apprenticeships and training places to prevent a generation being cast adrift because of Gordon Brown’s recession.”
Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said more people in work was welcome news.
"The fact that unemployment is significantly lower than everyone forecast at the beginning of the year shows the support for the economy is making a real difference,” she said.
“But we know things are still tough for a lot of families, and unemployment is expected to increase further next year.
“That’s why we’re determined to do more with an extra 35,000 youth jobs, more apprenticeships and education places so we can guarantee no young person gets stuck in long term unemployment.”
Source:The times
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Barack Obama's peace prize starts a fight
Gasps echoed through the Nobel Hall in Oslo yesterday as Barack Obama was unveiled as the winner of the 2009 Peace Prize, sparking a global outpouring of incredulity and praise in unequal measure.
Mr Obama was sound asleep in the White House when the Norwegian Nobel Committee made the shock announcement. It said that he was being honoured for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples”.
In a clear swipe at his predecessor, George W. Bush, the committee praised the “change in the international climate” that the President had brought, along with his cherished goal of ridding the world of nuclear weapons.
“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future,” it added.
International reaction ranged from delight to disbelief. The former winners Kofi Annan and Desmond Tutu voiced praise, the latter lauding the Nobel Committee’s “surprising but imaginative choice”.
But Lech Walesa, the dissident turned Polish President, who won the Peace Prize in 1983, spoke for many, declaring: “So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far.”
Mr Obama’s domestic critics leapt on the award as evidence of foreigners fawning over an untested “celebrity” leader. Rush Limbaugh, the US right-wing commentator, said: “This fully exposes the illusion that is Barack Obama."
Speaking later, Mr Obama said that he was “surprised and deeply humbled” by the unexpected decision and announced that he would donate the £880,000 prize, due to be awarded in December, to charity.
“Let me be clear. I do not view it as recognition of my own accomplishments but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations," he said.
The Nobel Peace Prize is a notoriously difficult award to predict, but yesterday's decision was clearly a political choice, with three of the past six peace awards going to Bush adversaries.
In 2002 the prize went to Jimmy Carter as an explicit rejection of the Bush presidency in the build-up to the Iraq war. In 2005 Mohamed ElBaradei, the UN atomic agency chief who had clashed with Washington over the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, was honoured. In 2007 Al Gore received the prize for his warnings on climate change, denounced by President Bush as a liberal myth.
The award is also an example of what Nobel scholars call the growing aspirational trend of Nobel committees over the past three decades, by which awards are given not for what has been achieved but in support of the cause being fought for.
Thorbjørn Jagland, the committee chairman, made clear that this year’s prize fell in that category. “If you look at the history of the Peace Prize, we have on many occasions given it to try to enhance what many personalities were trying to do,” he said. “It could be too late to respond three years from now.”
But Bobby Muller, who won the Nobel Prize as co-founder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, told The Times: "I don't have the highest regard for the thinking or process of the Nobel committee. Maybe Norway should give it to Sweden so they can more properly handle the Peace Prize along with all the other Nobel prizes."
Source:The times
Mr Obama was sound asleep in the White House when the Norwegian Nobel Committee made the shock announcement. It said that he was being honoured for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples”.
In a clear swipe at his predecessor, George W. Bush, the committee praised the “change in the international climate” that the President had brought, along with his cherished goal of ridding the world of nuclear weapons.
“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future,” it added.
International reaction ranged from delight to disbelief. The former winners Kofi Annan and Desmond Tutu voiced praise, the latter lauding the Nobel Committee’s “surprising but imaginative choice”.
But Lech Walesa, the dissident turned Polish President, who won the Peace Prize in 1983, spoke for many, declaring: “So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far.”
Mr Obama’s domestic critics leapt on the award as evidence of foreigners fawning over an untested “celebrity” leader. Rush Limbaugh, the US right-wing commentator, said: “This fully exposes the illusion that is Barack Obama."
Speaking later, Mr Obama said that he was “surprised and deeply humbled” by the unexpected decision and announced that he would donate the £880,000 prize, due to be awarded in December, to charity.
“Let me be clear. I do not view it as recognition of my own accomplishments but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations," he said.
The Nobel Peace Prize is a notoriously difficult award to predict, but yesterday's decision was clearly a political choice, with three of the past six peace awards going to Bush adversaries.
In 2002 the prize went to Jimmy Carter as an explicit rejection of the Bush presidency in the build-up to the Iraq war. In 2005 Mohamed ElBaradei, the UN atomic agency chief who had clashed with Washington over the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, was honoured. In 2007 Al Gore received the prize for his warnings on climate change, denounced by President Bush as a liberal myth.
The award is also an example of what Nobel scholars call the growing aspirational trend of Nobel committees over the past three decades, by which awards are given not for what has been achieved but in support of the cause being fought for.
Thorbjørn Jagland, the committee chairman, made clear that this year’s prize fell in that category. “If you look at the history of the Peace Prize, we have on many occasions given it to try to enhance what many personalities were trying to do,” he said. “It could be too late to respond three years from now.”
But Bobby Muller, who won the Nobel Prize as co-founder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, told The Times: "I don't have the highest regard for the thinking or process of the Nobel committee. Maybe Norway should give it to Sweden so they can more properly handle the Peace Prize along with all the other Nobel prizes."
Source:The times
Territorial Army told to stop training for six months to save money
The Territorial Army has been told to stop training for six months to save millions of pounds from the Army’s budget because of growing financial pressure on the Ministry of Defence.
Drill-hall instruction, weekend exercises and all other training associated with the TA will stop, cutting costs by about £20 million.
The Land Force budget of the Army has been cut by £54 million, and the TA is the first to be affected. The huge cut in TA spending will mean that the weekend warriors will not be paid. “They are paid to go training, and if there is no training, they won’t get paid,” a Ministry of Defence official said.
A spokesman insisted that the savings and the ban on training would not affect the TA’s operational contribution to Afghanistan, where about 500 Territorial soldiers are serving. There are also ten TA soldiers in Iraq.
The spokesman said that TA training for Afghanistan would carry on as normal. TA soldiers train with their regular army counterparts, before deployment to Helmand province. The MoD’s pledge to keep the operational TA safe from cuts was, however, greeted with scepticism by senior officers in the volunteer reserve force. “This is dangerous. When you cancel training at one end, it is bound to have an impact through the TA, especially if this goes on longer than six months,” one senior TA officer told The Times. “If the MoD shuts the whole place down and says, ‘Come back in April’, there will be a number of TA members who will just go off and find something else to do, and all the skills they have learnt will fatigue.”
That would have repercussions throughout the TA, and could eventually affect the availability of volunteers for Afghanistan and other operations, he said.
One MoD official said that care would have to be taken to ensure that the temporary suspension of training did not undermine the TA’s role in Afghanistan. The official also said that, given the budget restrictions, the training suspension could last longer. The annual budget for the TA is about £143 million. The TA officer said: “This decision means that people’s advancement and promotion within the TA will be arrested, and the MoD will find it cannot get recruits to join the TA if the whole thing is being put in mothballs. You cannot suspend training and expect people to come back as normal six months later.
“The decision is tragic and dangerous, especially when you look at the contributions made by the TA to both Iraq and Afghanistan in the last six years. The regular Army could not have done these operations without the TA. People will feel undervalued and not properly respected and they’ll just go off.”
Another former senior officer in the TA said: “Here we go again, cutting back the TA.”
The size of the TA has fallen rapidly since Labour came to power in 1997. The following year there were 57,620 in the TA. Today the Territorials, trained and untrained, should be about 39,000-strong, but the trained strength is only 19,300, according to the latest MoD figures.
The senior TA officer told The Times that the downward spiral in numbers was shocking and reflected the dangerous neglect of this part of the services. In 2003, 9,500 reservists, the vast majority from the TA, were mobilised to take part in Operation Telic, the campaign in Iraq. About 1,200 members of the TA continue to be deployed annually on tours of duty.
The trend in recent years has been to pare down the TA and integrate them more into the regular Army, preparing them for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. An MoD spokesman said: “These are challenging times and, like all government departments, we have to live within our means. We routinely review spending to balance priorities, focusing on the highest priorities, including on our operations, particularly in Afghanistan.”
• Yesterday a soldier from the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards was killed in an explosion near Camp Bastion in Helmand province. His death takes the number of British troops who have died in Afghanistan since 2001 to 221.
Source:The times
Drill-hall instruction, weekend exercises and all other training associated with the TA will stop, cutting costs by about £20 million.
The Land Force budget of the Army has been cut by £54 million, and the TA is the first to be affected. The huge cut in TA spending will mean that the weekend warriors will not be paid. “They are paid to go training, and if there is no training, they won’t get paid,” a Ministry of Defence official said.
A spokesman insisted that the savings and the ban on training would not affect the TA’s operational contribution to Afghanistan, where about 500 Territorial soldiers are serving. There are also ten TA soldiers in Iraq.
The spokesman said that TA training for Afghanistan would carry on as normal. TA soldiers train with their regular army counterparts, before deployment to Helmand province. The MoD’s pledge to keep the operational TA safe from cuts was, however, greeted with scepticism by senior officers in the volunteer reserve force. “This is dangerous. When you cancel training at one end, it is bound to have an impact through the TA, especially if this goes on longer than six months,” one senior TA officer told The Times. “If the MoD shuts the whole place down and says, ‘Come back in April’, there will be a number of TA members who will just go off and find something else to do, and all the skills they have learnt will fatigue.”
That would have repercussions throughout the TA, and could eventually affect the availability of volunteers for Afghanistan and other operations, he said.
One MoD official said that care would have to be taken to ensure that the temporary suspension of training did not undermine the TA’s role in Afghanistan. The official also said that, given the budget restrictions, the training suspension could last longer. The annual budget for the TA is about £143 million. The TA officer said: “This decision means that people’s advancement and promotion within the TA will be arrested, and the MoD will find it cannot get recruits to join the TA if the whole thing is being put in mothballs. You cannot suspend training and expect people to come back as normal six months later.
“The decision is tragic and dangerous, especially when you look at the contributions made by the TA to both Iraq and Afghanistan in the last six years. The regular Army could not have done these operations without the TA. People will feel undervalued and not properly respected and they’ll just go off.”
Another former senior officer in the TA said: “Here we go again, cutting back the TA.”
The size of the TA has fallen rapidly since Labour came to power in 1997. The following year there were 57,620 in the TA. Today the Territorials, trained and untrained, should be about 39,000-strong, but the trained strength is only 19,300, according to the latest MoD figures.
The senior TA officer told The Times that the downward spiral in numbers was shocking and reflected the dangerous neglect of this part of the services. In 2003, 9,500 reservists, the vast majority from the TA, were mobilised to take part in Operation Telic, the campaign in Iraq. About 1,200 members of the TA continue to be deployed annually on tours of duty.
The trend in recent years has been to pare down the TA and integrate them more into the regular Army, preparing them for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. An MoD spokesman said: “These are challenging times and, like all government departments, we have to live within our means. We routinely review spending to balance priorities, focusing on the highest priorities, including on our operations, particularly in Afghanistan.”
• Yesterday a soldier from the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards was killed in an explosion near Camp Bastion in Helmand province. His death takes the number of British troops who have died in Afghanistan since 2001 to 221.
Source:The times
Expenses bills return to haunt up to 100 MPs
The expenses scandal is set to engulf the House of Commons again on Monday when MPs will be sent an auditor’s letter about the claims they made over the past five years.
The Times has learnt that up to 100 MPs will be asked to repay expenses, or prove that their claims were legitimate. About a dozen are likely to face demands to hand back significant sums, in some cases “tens of thousands of pounds”.
Investigators working for Sir Thomas Legg, a former civil servant appointed by the Commons to audit MPs’ expenses, are understood to have focused on big mortgage claims, as well as extravagant charges for household services.
Sir Thomas is also said to have widened the net of his investigation to include MPs who exploited loopholes to make claims that were in breach of the spirit, if not the letter, of the fees system.
“If I was an MP getting a letter suggesting I repay sums, then in the current climate it would be foolish not to do so, even if the claims were within the rules,” said a Commons official close to the inquiry.
Some MPs have already had to pay back four-figure sums after being found to have claimed the full cost of their mortgages, rather than merely the interest that they are allowed under the rules.
The letters being sent out on Monday are expected to ask dozens more to provide details of complex mortgage loan agreements so that it can be determined whether wrongful claims have been made, either deliberately or by mistake.
Others, who have charged thousands of pounds for gardening or cleaning costs, will be asked to make immediate repayment.
Sir Thomas’s audit this summer was ordered after a meeting between Commons authorities and party leaders and is said to have cost upwards of £1 million.
MPs who receive what are being described as “challenging letters” from Sir Thomas will get three weeks to provide evidence clearing their name before being referred to a committee chaired by John Bercow, the Commons Speaker.
A Times/Populus focus group this week confirmed that there is intense voter suspicion towards all politicians and both main parties. According to one well-placed source yesterday, the Legg inquiry is likely “to catch fish of different political colours”.
The report will be published in December together with full details of expenses claims from 2008-09. Unlike last summer’s official disclosure of such information, when huge sections were blacked out, these will be uncensored except for details such as bank account numbers.
Source:The times
The Times has learnt that up to 100 MPs will be asked to repay expenses, or prove that their claims were legitimate. About a dozen are likely to face demands to hand back significant sums, in some cases “tens of thousands of pounds”.
Investigators working for Sir Thomas Legg, a former civil servant appointed by the Commons to audit MPs’ expenses, are understood to have focused on big mortgage claims, as well as extravagant charges for household services.
Sir Thomas is also said to have widened the net of his investigation to include MPs who exploited loopholes to make claims that were in breach of the spirit, if not the letter, of the fees system.
“If I was an MP getting a letter suggesting I repay sums, then in the current climate it would be foolish not to do so, even if the claims were within the rules,” said a Commons official close to the inquiry.
Some MPs have already had to pay back four-figure sums after being found to have claimed the full cost of their mortgages, rather than merely the interest that they are allowed under the rules.
The letters being sent out on Monday are expected to ask dozens more to provide details of complex mortgage loan agreements so that it can be determined whether wrongful claims have been made, either deliberately or by mistake.
Others, who have charged thousands of pounds for gardening or cleaning costs, will be asked to make immediate repayment.
Sir Thomas’s audit this summer was ordered after a meeting between Commons authorities and party leaders and is said to have cost upwards of £1 million.
MPs who receive what are being described as “challenging letters” from Sir Thomas will get three weeks to provide evidence clearing their name before being referred to a committee chaired by John Bercow, the Commons Speaker.
A Times/Populus focus group this week confirmed that there is intense voter suspicion towards all politicians and both main parties. According to one well-placed source yesterday, the Legg inquiry is likely “to catch fish of different political colours”.
The report will be published in December together with full details of expenses claims from 2008-09. Unlike last summer’s official disclosure of such information, when huge sections were blacked out, these will be uncensored except for details such as bank account numbers.
Source:The times
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Libyans pose as Dutch diplomats to get Gaddafi a room in New York
Libyan officials posed as Dutch diplomats to try to find Colonel Gaddafi a place to stay this week on his first visit to the US.
The envoys, including one calling himself Ronald, approached a property agent on the Upper East Side of New York to inquire about renting the Barclay Mansion, a six-storey townhouse on East 78th Street.
Jason Haber, who has a master’s degree from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, realised the ruse and the deal did not go through.
“When someone says they are representing the Dutch, you accept that at face value,” Mr Haber told The Times. “After a few conversations, the accents did not match. When the e-mails started it became quite clear. The e-mails had a Libyan Embassy address.”
Colonel Gaddafi, the world’s longest-serving leader, was due to arrive in New York last night for his first visit to the annual UN General Assembly.
After 11 years of UN sanctions, Libya now holds a seat on the 15-nation Security Council and the presidency of the 192-nation General Assembly. Colonel Gaddafi is also the head of the African Union.
His rehabilitation on the international scene has been dented by Britain’s release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi. The outcry with which the release was met in America has made it difficult for Colonel Gaddafi to find a place to stay.
The Libyan leader originally asked to pitch his customary Beduin tent in Central Park but was turned down by city authorities. He then considered staying at a Libyan-owned mansion in the New Jersey suburb of Englewood, prompting a local uprising that forced him to abandon the plan.
Libyan officials tried unsuccessfully to find a hotel with a garden near the UN so that he could pitch camp. Colonel Gaddafi then made arrangements to stay at the Pierre Hotel but was reportedly disinvited when guests complained.
Mr Haber said that the "Dutch" diplomats approached him over the Labor Day holiday weekend this month about his listing at East 78th Street. They wanted to rent the entire townhouse for four or five days, without saying who would be staying.
The property, which comprises three apartments, is owned by a family who bought it last year for $18.5 million. The triplex on the first three floors was available for $28,000 a month. “All the conversations were very abrupt. They were very rude. Everything was, ‘Right away! Right now!’,” Mr Haber said. “They would say things like, ‘Call this person. Do it now. Tell them you can do whatever he wants’. They wanted things like the whole building staged with furniture.”
Mr Haber said that he never presented the proposal to the owners because the Libyans wanted all three apartments, which were not available.
The agent said: “Any goodwill Gaddafi got post-9/11 in the United States was thrown out the window when Megrahi was released from the Scottish prison.”
Colonel Gaddafi is now having to stay at the Libyan diplomatic mission in East 48th Street, which is usually an office. It does not have a sizeable garden.
Source:Times online
The envoys, including one calling himself Ronald, approached a property agent on the Upper East Side of New York to inquire about renting the Barclay Mansion, a six-storey townhouse on East 78th Street.
Jason Haber, who has a master’s degree from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, realised the ruse and the deal did not go through.
“When someone says they are representing the Dutch, you accept that at face value,” Mr Haber told The Times. “After a few conversations, the accents did not match. When the e-mails started it became quite clear. The e-mails had a Libyan Embassy address.”
Colonel Gaddafi, the world’s longest-serving leader, was due to arrive in New York last night for his first visit to the annual UN General Assembly.
After 11 years of UN sanctions, Libya now holds a seat on the 15-nation Security Council and the presidency of the 192-nation General Assembly. Colonel Gaddafi is also the head of the African Union.
His rehabilitation on the international scene has been dented by Britain’s release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi. The outcry with which the release was met in America has made it difficult for Colonel Gaddafi to find a place to stay.
The Libyan leader originally asked to pitch his customary Beduin tent in Central Park but was turned down by city authorities. He then considered staying at a Libyan-owned mansion in the New Jersey suburb of Englewood, prompting a local uprising that forced him to abandon the plan.
Libyan officials tried unsuccessfully to find a hotel with a garden near the UN so that he could pitch camp. Colonel Gaddafi then made arrangements to stay at the Pierre Hotel but was reportedly disinvited when guests complained.
Mr Haber said that the "Dutch" diplomats approached him over the Labor Day holiday weekend this month about his listing at East 78th Street. They wanted to rent the entire townhouse for four or five days, without saying who would be staying.
The property, which comprises three apartments, is owned by a family who bought it last year for $18.5 million. The triplex on the first three floors was available for $28,000 a month. “All the conversations were very abrupt. They were very rude. Everything was, ‘Right away! Right now!’,” Mr Haber said. “They would say things like, ‘Call this person. Do it now. Tell them you can do whatever he wants’. They wanted things like the whole building staged with furniture.”
Mr Haber said that he never presented the proposal to the owners because the Libyans wanted all three apartments, which were not available.
The agent said: “Any goodwill Gaddafi got post-9/11 in the United States was thrown out the window when Megrahi was released from the Scottish prison.”
Colonel Gaddafi is now having to stay at the Libyan diplomatic mission in East 48th Street, which is usually an office. It does not have a sizeable garden.
Source:Times online
Tear gas fired as Hondurans mark return of deposed President
Honduran security forces fired tear gas and water cannons on supporters of deposed president Manuel Zelaya today as protests in the capital turned ugly following his surprise return to the country.
Mr Zelaya, who was ousted in a coup in June, is holed-up in the Brazilian embassy following a clandestine 15-hour journey to Tegucigalpa.
Today police and soldiers in riot gear clashed with protesters who defied a daytime curfew to rally in support of their president.
The embassy was in a state of virtual siege as soldiers surrounded the building and cut off electricity, demanding the Brazilians hand over Mr Zelaya to face trial.
Smoke could be seen billowing above the city as some protesters fought running battles with police, throwing stones and wielding sticks.
"The embassy is surrounded by police and the military... I foresee bigger acts of aggression and violence, that they could be capable of even invading the Brazilian embassy," Mr Zelaya said in a phone interview with Venezuelan broadcaster Telesur.
A Reuters photographer reported that at least two gas canisters had been thrown into the embassy compound.
The United States and the European Union appealed for calm as the army set up roadblocks around the country to prevent Mr Zelaya supporters from flooding to the capital. The airports have also been closed.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking after an emergency meeting in Washington, said the two sides must seek a peaceful resolution.
"It is imperative that dialogue begin, that there be a channel of communication between President Zelaya and the de facto regime in Honduras," she said.
But the interim government of Roberto Micheletti showed no signs of rapprochement as it lashed out at the international community and insisted Mr Zelaya would be arrested for the crimes it claims led to his exile on June 28.
It says he was trying to extend presidential term limits in violation of the constitution, a claim Mr Zelaya denies.
"Let's hope for Dona Hillary's and (mediating Costa Rican president) Mr Arias' sake, after the pleasure they took in President Zelaya's arrival here, that there will not be consequences to regret," Mr Micheletti said.
Brazil said it had played no part in Mr Zelaya's return and had only granted him asylum on arrival at the embassy.
President Inacio Lula da Silva said he had spoken to Mr Zelaya "simply to ask him to take care to give no pretext to the coup leaders to engage in violence", adding that in giving him refuge it had only done what any democratic country would do.
"We can't accept that for political differences people think they have the right to depose a democratically-elected president," Mr Silva said.
Mr Zelaya, for his part, insisted his intentions were entirely peaceful, saying he was only seeking dialogue with the Micheletti regime.
But a government broadcast transmitted across all Honduran channels said he bore responsibility for any disturbances, as sympathetic television stations were shut down by the military in an attempt to prevent information from reaching his supporters.
Mr Zelaya arrived in Tegucigalpa yesterday after a secret overland journey with four companions. Two previous attempts in July saw mass demonstrations in which at least three protesters were killed.
Source:The times
Mr Zelaya, who was ousted in a coup in June, is holed-up in the Brazilian embassy following a clandestine 15-hour journey to Tegucigalpa.
Today police and soldiers in riot gear clashed with protesters who defied a daytime curfew to rally in support of their president.
The embassy was in a state of virtual siege as soldiers surrounded the building and cut off electricity, demanding the Brazilians hand over Mr Zelaya to face trial.
Smoke could be seen billowing above the city as some protesters fought running battles with police, throwing stones and wielding sticks.
"The embassy is surrounded by police and the military... I foresee bigger acts of aggression and violence, that they could be capable of even invading the Brazilian embassy," Mr Zelaya said in a phone interview with Venezuelan broadcaster Telesur.
A Reuters photographer reported that at least two gas canisters had been thrown into the embassy compound.
The United States and the European Union appealed for calm as the army set up roadblocks around the country to prevent Mr Zelaya supporters from flooding to the capital. The airports have also been closed.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking after an emergency meeting in Washington, said the two sides must seek a peaceful resolution.
"It is imperative that dialogue begin, that there be a channel of communication between President Zelaya and the de facto regime in Honduras," she said.
But the interim government of Roberto Micheletti showed no signs of rapprochement as it lashed out at the international community and insisted Mr Zelaya would be arrested for the crimes it claims led to his exile on June 28.
It says he was trying to extend presidential term limits in violation of the constitution, a claim Mr Zelaya denies.
"Let's hope for Dona Hillary's and (mediating Costa Rican president) Mr Arias' sake, after the pleasure they took in President Zelaya's arrival here, that there will not be consequences to regret," Mr Micheletti said.
Brazil said it had played no part in Mr Zelaya's return and had only granted him asylum on arrival at the embassy.
President Inacio Lula da Silva said he had spoken to Mr Zelaya "simply to ask him to take care to give no pretext to the coup leaders to engage in violence", adding that in giving him refuge it had only done what any democratic country would do.
"We can't accept that for political differences people think they have the right to depose a democratically-elected president," Mr Silva said.
Mr Zelaya, for his part, insisted his intentions were entirely peaceful, saying he was only seeking dialogue with the Micheletti regime.
But a government broadcast transmitted across all Honduran channels said he bore responsibility for any disturbances, as sympathetic television stations were shut down by the military in an attempt to prevent information from reaching his supporters.
Mr Zelaya arrived in Tegucigalpa yesterday after a secret overland journey with four companions. Two previous attempts in July saw mass demonstrations in which at least three protesters were killed.
Source:The times
Ahmadinejad vows to 'cut the hand off' Iran's enemies ahead of UN summit
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned foreign powers against striking Iran, saying it would “cut the hand off” of any potential attackers before they had the chance to do so, as Tehran flaunted its hardware in a military parade.
His fiery address came just hours before he flew to New York for the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, where world leaders hope to hammer out a consensus over how to deal with Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
With protests continuing at home and widespread goodwill buoying President Obama’s diplomatic efforts on multiple fronts, this year’s meeting may see Mr Ahmadinejad more isolated than ever.
He has chosen to go into the meeting fighting, with last week's widely condemned speech questioning the Holocaust followed by his defiant assertions of Iran’s military strength on Tuesday, the anniversary of the beginning of the Iran-Iraq War.
“No power dares to contemplate an invasion against Iran,” Mr Ahmadinejad said in a speech at the parade marking the day. “The Iranian nation will resist all invaders. Our armed forces will cut the hand off anyone in the world before it pulls the trigger against the Iranian nation.”
Upping the ante further, the chief of Iran’s nuclear agency chose the day to announce a new generation of centrifuges for enriching uranium, stronger and faster than those previously used. Diplomats said there was little new in the announcement, but the timing was significant.
The leaders of the E3 + 3 – the US, Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany – are due to meet for dinner tomorrow to forge a strategy for talks with Iran, scheduled to begin on October 1. Hopes of winning over Russia to a tougher line have been lifted by Washington’s concession over the Eastern European missile shield.
Those talks will come just hours after Mr Ahmadinejad addresses the assembly. His reception will be keenly watched. The post-election crisis in Iran has sapped much of his legitimacy and Mr Obama’s global popularity makes it harder for the Iranian leader to cast himself as the plucky challenger to American hegemony.
In previous years, Mr Ahmadinejad has used his speech to voice anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric - to widespread condemnation. The Israeli and United States delegations habitually boycott his speech and Israel has launched a diplomatic offensive this year to persuade more countries to walk out, linking his words to the nuclear issue.
At least two separate demonstrations by opposition Iranian groups are planned outside the UN Secretariat building. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gabriella Shalev, said his country is explaining to others “how dangerous this man is, how dangerous his country is, how dangerous the process of nuclear development is”.
Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israel prime minister, will use his own speech on Thursday to focus on Iran. Yesterday, Israel reiterated that it is keeping “all options on the table” to prevent its enemy from building a nuclear weapon, including military action.
Among the hardware on display in Tehran for the first time today was the Russian-made Tor-M1 air-defence system, meant to defend Iran’s nuclear facilities against airstrikes. Iran is awaiting delivery of a newer version of the S-300 system from Russia but the shipment has been on hold for months due to pressure from the US and Israel, who now hope to get Russia to halt the sale altogether.
The parade also showed off various types of Iranian missiles, including the Shahab-3 and Sejjil, with ranges capable of hitting Israel. Western intelligence agencies believe that Iran has developed the Shahab-3 to carry a nuclear warhead despite Tehran’s continued denials about a weaponisation programme.
“Today, Iran is experienced and powerful,” Mr Ahmadinejad proclaimed. “Our armed forces are ready to confront the forces of darkness.” But the show of forces was overshadowed when a military transport plane crashed in the show, killing seven people.
Source:The times
His fiery address came just hours before he flew to New York for the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, where world leaders hope to hammer out a consensus over how to deal with Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
With protests continuing at home and widespread goodwill buoying President Obama’s diplomatic efforts on multiple fronts, this year’s meeting may see Mr Ahmadinejad more isolated than ever.
He has chosen to go into the meeting fighting, with last week's widely condemned speech questioning the Holocaust followed by his defiant assertions of Iran’s military strength on Tuesday, the anniversary of the beginning of the Iran-Iraq War.
“No power dares to contemplate an invasion against Iran,” Mr Ahmadinejad said in a speech at the parade marking the day. “The Iranian nation will resist all invaders. Our armed forces will cut the hand off anyone in the world before it pulls the trigger against the Iranian nation.”
Upping the ante further, the chief of Iran’s nuclear agency chose the day to announce a new generation of centrifuges for enriching uranium, stronger and faster than those previously used. Diplomats said there was little new in the announcement, but the timing was significant.
The leaders of the E3 + 3 – the US, Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany – are due to meet for dinner tomorrow to forge a strategy for talks with Iran, scheduled to begin on October 1. Hopes of winning over Russia to a tougher line have been lifted by Washington’s concession over the Eastern European missile shield.
Those talks will come just hours after Mr Ahmadinejad addresses the assembly. His reception will be keenly watched. The post-election crisis in Iran has sapped much of his legitimacy and Mr Obama’s global popularity makes it harder for the Iranian leader to cast himself as the plucky challenger to American hegemony.
In previous years, Mr Ahmadinejad has used his speech to voice anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric - to widespread condemnation. The Israeli and United States delegations habitually boycott his speech and Israel has launched a diplomatic offensive this year to persuade more countries to walk out, linking his words to the nuclear issue.
At least two separate demonstrations by opposition Iranian groups are planned outside the UN Secretariat building. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gabriella Shalev, said his country is explaining to others “how dangerous this man is, how dangerous his country is, how dangerous the process of nuclear development is”.
Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israel prime minister, will use his own speech on Thursday to focus on Iran. Yesterday, Israel reiterated that it is keeping “all options on the table” to prevent its enemy from building a nuclear weapon, including military action.
Among the hardware on display in Tehran for the first time today was the Russian-made Tor-M1 air-defence system, meant to defend Iran’s nuclear facilities against airstrikes. Iran is awaiting delivery of a newer version of the S-300 system from Russia but the shipment has been on hold for months due to pressure from the US and Israel, who now hope to get Russia to halt the sale altogether.
The parade also showed off various types of Iranian missiles, including the Shahab-3 and Sejjil, with ranges capable of hitting Israel. Western intelligence agencies believe that Iran has developed the Shahab-3 to carry a nuclear warhead despite Tehran’s continued denials about a weaponisation programme.
“Today, Iran is experienced and powerful,” Mr Ahmadinejad proclaimed. “Our armed forces are ready to confront the forces of darkness.” But the show of forces was overshadowed when a military transport plane crashed in the show, killing seven people.
Source:The times
Tears and fights as French police clear Calais 'Jungle'
French police moved to clear migrants out of their makeshift camp in Calais today amid screams, tears and fights with protesters.
Scuffles broke out as the camp, known as "the Jungle", was emptied in an intervention ordered by the French Government.
Police said afterwards that they had arrested 278 people, 132 of them under the age of 18. It was not clear whether this figure included earlier arrests. The operation began at daybreak as the 150 or so Afghans remaining in the camp gathered around a fire under the glare of television cameras.
As 60 vans of riot police drove up to the perimeter of the woodland base, the migrants took down the sign which hung on the biggest of their blue tarpaulin tents: it said "mosque".
One handed a glass case containing a verse from the Koran to a UN worker.
''This was their most sacred possession and they didn't want it destroyed so they've given it to me for safekeeping,'' she said.
Minutes later, as the evacuation got under way, the migrants – virtually all Afghans – formed a circle that was surrounded by leftwing protesters.
Burly riot police bundled the activists out of the way and pulled the Afghans from the crowd one by one before marching them off.
Amid scenes of chaos, a woman fell to the ground, a male protester yelled as he was seized around the neck and an Afghan teenager cried unconsolably. With a member of a human rights association holding his head in her hands, he too was led away.
''No border, no deportation,'' shouted the protesters. ''Take that one to the police station, he's getting on my nerves,'' replied a commanding officer, pointing to one of the activists.
Within half an hour, the clearout was finished – three years after migrants first started squatting in wasteland that became their home.
All that was left were their home-made tents, litter and their meagre belongings – a pair of used black shoes, a tube of toothpaste, a dozen eggs.
It had been a simple matter for French police used to far tougher assignments. Eric Besson, the Immigration Minister, had made it easy for them by announcing last week that he intended to dismantle the Jungle.
As a result, the majority of the 800 migrants who used to sleep there had already left for other camps or squats in or around Calais.
Those remaining knew they would be arrested but wanted to mark their disapproval.
''The Jungle is our house. Plz don't destroy it,'' they had written on a sheet draped by the fire.
Bilal, 18, said: ''Whevever we go in Calais, the police will catch us. The Jungle is the only place we can call home, where we are not afraid.''
Most of these arrested were taken to detention centres in the region, which had been cleared to leave room for them.
Those under the age of 18 were separated from the adults and transported to social service hostels.
The French Government says that all the migrants will be invited to seek asylum in France.
But Michel Flahault, spokesman for L'Auberge des Migrants, a refugee support group, said: ''It's all completely useless. They'll be released with a few days and within a month they'll be back in another camp.
''This has just been a big photo opportunity so that the Government can show its doing something and keep the people of Calais happy.''
Critics point out that more than half of the 1,000 to 2,000 migrants in Calais live in other squats anyway. Several dozen Eritreans, for instance, have taken over abandoned houses by the quayside .
Mr Besson said that the evacuation was necessary because the Jungle had become a base for people-smugglers and was "insalubrious".
His supporters point out that there was an outbreak of scabies at the camp this summer.
Source:The times
Scuffles broke out as the camp, known as "the Jungle", was emptied in an intervention ordered by the French Government.
Police said afterwards that they had arrested 278 people, 132 of them under the age of 18. It was not clear whether this figure included earlier arrests. The operation began at daybreak as the 150 or so Afghans remaining in the camp gathered around a fire under the glare of television cameras.
As 60 vans of riot police drove up to the perimeter of the woodland base, the migrants took down the sign which hung on the biggest of their blue tarpaulin tents: it said "mosque".
One handed a glass case containing a verse from the Koran to a UN worker.
''This was their most sacred possession and they didn't want it destroyed so they've given it to me for safekeeping,'' she said.
Minutes later, as the evacuation got under way, the migrants – virtually all Afghans – formed a circle that was surrounded by leftwing protesters.
Burly riot police bundled the activists out of the way and pulled the Afghans from the crowd one by one before marching them off.
Amid scenes of chaos, a woman fell to the ground, a male protester yelled as he was seized around the neck and an Afghan teenager cried unconsolably. With a member of a human rights association holding his head in her hands, he too was led away.
''No border, no deportation,'' shouted the protesters. ''Take that one to the police station, he's getting on my nerves,'' replied a commanding officer, pointing to one of the activists.
Within half an hour, the clearout was finished – three years after migrants first started squatting in wasteland that became their home.
All that was left were their home-made tents, litter and their meagre belongings – a pair of used black shoes, a tube of toothpaste, a dozen eggs.
It had been a simple matter for French police used to far tougher assignments. Eric Besson, the Immigration Minister, had made it easy for them by announcing last week that he intended to dismantle the Jungle.
As a result, the majority of the 800 migrants who used to sleep there had already left for other camps or squats in or around Calais.
Those remaining knew they would be arrested but wanted to mark their disapproval.
''The Jungle is our house. Plz don't destroy it,'' they had written on a sheet draped by the fire.
Bilal, 18, said: ''Whevever we go in Calais, the police will catch us. The Jungle is the only place we can call home, where we are not afraid.''
Most of these arrested were taken to detention centres in the region, which had been cleared to leave room for them.
Those under the age of 18 were separated from the adults and transported to social service hostels.
The French Government says that all the migrants will be invited to seek asylum in France.
But Michel Flahault, spokesman for L'Auberge des Migrants, a refugee support group, said: ''It's all completely useless. They'll be released with a few days and within a month they'll be back in another camp.
''This has just been a big photo opportunity so that the Government can show its doing something and keep the people of Calais happy.''
Critics point out that more than half of the 1,000 to 2,000 migrants in Calais live in other squats anyway. Several dozen Eritreans, for instance, have taken over abandoned houses by the quayside .
Mr Besson said that the evacuation was necessary because the Jungle had become a base for people-smugglers and was "insalubrious".
His supporters point out that there was an outbreak of scabies at the camp this summer.
Source:The times
President Hu Jintao commits China to carbon-cutting deal
President Hu of China threw his country's weight behind the campaign to fight climate change today when he promised to reduce the carbon intensity of his country's economic growth.
Mr Hu, addressing a UN summit shortly after an appearance by President Obama, said that China would reduce the amount of greenhouse gases produced for each dollar of national economic output by a “notable margin” by 2020 from 2005 levels. He gave no specific "carbon intensity" targets.
About 100 world leaders joined the summit – the highest-level conference on climate change ever held – to hear a call from Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, for the pace of negotiations to be stepped up before the Copenhagen summit in December.
“Failure to reach broad agreement in Copenhagen would be morally inexcusable, economically short-sighted and politically unwise,” Mr Ban said. “We cannot go down this road. If we have learnt anything from the crises of the past year, it is that our fates are intertwined."
Mr Obama's predecessor, George W Bush, broke with the international consensus and dismissed the Kyoto treaty, which the United States signed but never ratified.
Since he came into office in January Mr Obama has sharply shifted course and declared climate change to be a priority. In today's speech, his first address from a UN platform, he echoed Mr Ban's warning on the need for urgency.
“Our generation’s response to this challenge will be judged by history, for if we fail to meet it – boldly, swiftly, and together – we risk consigning future generations to an irreversible catastrophe," he said.
Source:The times
Mr Hu, addressing a UN summit shortly after an appearance by President Obama, said that China would reduce the amount of greenhouse gases produced for each dollar of national economic output by a “notable margin” by 2020 from 2005 levels. He gave no specific "carbon intensity" targets.
About 100 world leaders joined the summit – the highest-level conference on climate change ever held – to hear a call from Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, for the pace of negotiations to be stepped up before the Copenhagen summit in December.
“Failure to reach broad agreement in Copenhagen would be morally inexcusable, economically short-sighted and politically unwise,” Mr Ban said. “We cannot go down this road. If we have learnt anything from the crises of the past year, it is that our fates are intertwined."
Mr Obama's predecessor, George W Bush, broke with the international consensus and dismissed the Kyoto treaty, which the United States signed but never ratified.
Since he came into office in January Mr Obama has sharply shifted course and declared climate change to be a priority. In today's speech, his first address from a UN platform, he echoed Mr Ban's warning on the need for urgency.
“Our generation’s response to this challenge will be judged by history, for if we fail to meet it – boldly, swiftly, and together – we risk consigning future generations to an irreversible catastrophe," he said.
Source:The times
Lib Dems round on Nick Clegg and Vince Cable over 'codswallop' policy
Vince Cable was embroiled in a furious row today as frontbench colleagues accused the party's most prominent member of formulating a policy that was "complete codswallop".
The Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman came under intense pressure to justify why he and Nick Clegg have made series of announcements during the conference without consulting colleagues.
This principal attack was over a "mansion tax" on properties worth more than £1 million, which began to unravel yesterday when it emerged they had no firm idea how properties would be valued, whether the tax would apply in Scotland and whether it would be permanent.
Mr Cable’s frontbench colleagues were stunned to discover it formed the centrepiece of yesterday’s speech, saying that Mr Cable had been trying and failing to argue for its introduction for years.
They were stunned that he appeared to have unilaterally overridden their objections without prior discussion and several including Danny Alexander, Nick Clegg’s own chief of staff, struggled to explain how it would work in practice.
The confrontation with Mr Cable happened at a rowdy meeting of the Liberal Democrat parliamentary party at 9am in the Birkbeck room of the Highcliff Hotel, where Mr Clegg is staying.
Those present also vented their fury at the attempt to abandon the pledge to scrap tuition fees and suggestions the party might means test child benefit.
The Liberal Democrat leader was not at the meeting, having arranged a visit to a nearby farm. In his absence, colleagues felt emboldened to criticise Mr Cable, deriding the mansion tax plan as "complete codswallop".
Another said that Mr Clegg and Mr Cable had "not been given powers to govern all policy for the party". One described the policy as "suicidal".
Chris Huhne, the party's home affairs spokesman, admitted on the BBC that he hadn’t been consulted in advance. Frontbenchers have complained to The Times that they have been forced to defend decisions in their subject areas which they had no idea were coming and, in some cases, disagreed with.
The criticism represents a particular problem for Mr Clegg since the Liberal Democrats must put all policies to a vote.
A motion voted through almost unanimously by delegates said that their policy document "neither abandons nor downgrades any existing policy commitments and that the process of prioritising policy commitments will only be carried out in the preparation of the general election manifesto".
One of those present told The Times: "I don’t think the deputy leader was left in any doubt that he had put a lot of noses out of joint. People do appreciate he’s doing a good job, but people also realise that publishing a pamphlet is rather more premeditated than being put on the spot and he hadn’t observed the normal courtesies.
"On the tax policies, if he had consulted the relevant spokespeople he wouldn’t have run into the trouble."
Mr Cable faced awkward questions over whether the tax would apply in Scotland, which he answered "unsatisfactorily", according to one observer.
Scottish Lib Dem MPs including Bob Smith and Alistair Carmichael were among the ringleaders, while Julia Goldsworthy was particularly embarrassed by the mansion tax announcement because she had not been warned about it, even though it fell in her brief.
"Eventually he [Mr Cable] showed contrition. He was pretty evasive and in denial when the first complaints came through, but he got the temperature by the end and he said if it hadn’t been recess he could have consulted colleagues," the observer said.
However, "it could have been bloodier" given the levels of anger.
A spokesman for the party said "lessons would be learnt".
Sir Menzies Campbell told the BBC that the party had to "grow up".
Source:The times
The Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman came under intense pressure to justify why he and Nick Clegg have made series of announcements during the conference without consulting colleagues.
This principal attack was over a "mansion tax" on properties worth more than £1 million, which began to unravel yesterday when it emerged they had no firm idea how properties would be valued, whether the tax would apply in Scotland and whether it would be permanent.
Mr Cable’s frontbench colleagues were stunned to discover it formed the centrepiece of yesterday’s speech, saying that Mr Cable had been trying and failing to argue for its introduction for years.
They were stunned that he appeared to have unilaterally overridden their objections without prior discussion and several including Danny Alexander, Nick Clegg’s own chief of staff, struggled to explain how it would work in practice.
The confrontation with Mr Cable happened at a rowdy meeting of the Liberal Democrat parliamentary party at 9am in the Birkbeck room of the Highcliff Hotel, where Mr Clegg is staying.
Those present also vented their fury at the attempt to abandon the pledge to scrap tuition fees and suggestions the party might means test child benefit.
The Liberal Democrat leader was not at the meeting, having arranged a visit to a nearby farm. In his absence, colleagues felt emboldened to criticise Mr Cable, deriding the mansion tax plan as "complete codswallop".
Another said that Mr Clegg and Mr Cable had "not been given powers to govern all policy for the party". One described the policy as "suicidal".
Chris Huhne, the party's home affairs spokesman, admitted on the BBC that he hadn’t been consulted in advance. Frontbenchers have complained to The Times that they have been forced to defend decisions in their subject areas which they had no idea were coming and, in some cases, disagreed with.
The criticism represents a particular problem for Mr Clegg since the Liberal Democrats must put all policies to a vote.
A motion voted through almost unanimously by delegates said that their policy document "neither abandons nor downgrades any existing policy commitments and that the process of prioritising policy commitments will only be carried out in the preparation of the general election manifesto".
One of those present told The Times: "I don’t think the deputy leader was left in any doubt that he had put a lot of noses out of joint. People do appreciate he’s doing a good job, but people also realise that publishing a pamphlet is rather more premeditated than being put on the spot and he hadn’t observed the normal courtesies.
"On the tax policies, if he had consulted the relevant spokespeople he wouldn’t have run into the trouble."
Mr Cable faced awkward questions over whether the tax would apply in Scotland, which he answered "unsatisfactorily", according to one observer.
Scottish Lib Dem MPs including Bob Smith and Alistair Carmichael were among the ringleaders, while Julia Goldsworthy was particularly embarrassed by the mansion tax announcement because she had not been warned about it, even though it fell in her brief.
"Eventually he [Mr Cable] showed contrition. He was pretty evasive and in denial when the first complaints came through, but he got the temperature by the end and he said if it hadn’t been recess he could have consulted colleagues," the observer said.
However, "it could have been bloodier" given the levels of anger.
A spokesman for the party said "lessons would be learnt".
Sir Menzies Campbell told the BBC that the party had to "grow up".
Source:The times
Saturday, September 5, 2009
UK proposals backed at finance summit
Government proposals to defer bankers’ bonuses and maintain fiscal stimulus have won approval at today's G20 summit.
The finance ministers of the world’s richest countries are backing the UK’s plans for global economic recovery.
A draft proposal outlining a system of deferred bonuses for bankers and continued public spending was agreed at today’s meeting in London.
The agreement is a victory for Gordon Brown and chancellor Alistair Darling who have been resisting calls, led by France, to cap bonuses, claiming they were unenforceable.
In the proposals bankers will be rewarded for long-term success with deferred payments, instead of upfront bonuses.
Speaking at the summit this morning Brown pledged an end to the system of payouts, which reward failure and encourage risk, saying they were ‘an offence’ to the taxpayer.
The G20 ministers’ draft communiqué has also adopted Brown’s calls to continue fiscal stimulus, despite forecasts of positive growth.
Some countries, including France and Germany, are already emerging from recession, and want to implement "exit strategies" to scale back the spending introduced to combat the downturn.
Brown heralded the tentative recovery, but warned world leaders that withdrawing measures too early would be an ‘error of historic proportions’.
He claimed the fiscal stimulus programmes of increased public spending and tax cuts had prevented the world’s economies plunging into depression on the scale of the 1930s and must be sustained into 2010.
He said: “It is clear in my view that too early a withdrawal of vital support could undermine the tentative signs of recovery we are now seeing and lead to a further downward lurch in business and consumer confidence, reducing growth and employment and worsening governments’ debt problems over the longer term.”
The finance ministers also agreed to address concerns over representation and voting rights of emerging economies within the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
The draft proposals will go before the G20 summit of leaders in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania later this month.
Source:The times
The finance ministers of the world’s richest countries are backing the UK’s plans for global economic recovery.
A draft proposal outlining a system of deferred bonuses for bankers and continued public spending was agreed at today’s meeting in London.
The agreement is a victory for Gordon Brown and chancellor Alistair Darling who have been resisting calls, led by France, to cap bonuses, claiming they were unenforceable.
In the proposals bankers will be rewarded for long-term success with deferred payments, instead of upfront bonuses.
Speaking at the summit this morning Brown pledged an end to the system of payouts, which reward failure and encourage risk, saying they were ‘an offence’ to the taxpayer.
The G20 ministers’ draft communiqué has also adopted Brown’s calls to continue fiscal stimulus, despite forecasts of positive growth.
Some countries, including France and Germany, are already emerging from recession, and want to implement "exit strategies" to scale back the spending introduced to combat the downturn.
Brown heralded the tentative recovery, but warned world leaders that withdrawing measures too early would be an ‘error of historic proportions’.
He claimed the fiscal stimulus programmes of increased public spending and tax cuts had prevented the world’s economies plunging into depression on the scale of the 1930s and must be sustained into 2010.
He said: “It is clear in my view that too early a withdrawal of vital support could undermine the tentative signs of recovery we are now seeing and lead to a further downward lurch in business and consumer confidence, reducing growth and employment and worsening governments’ debt problems over the longer term.”
The finance ministers also agreed to address concerns over representation and voting rights of emerging economies within the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
The draft proposals will go before the G20 summit of leaders in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania later this month.
Source:The times
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
David Ginola faces prosecution over child abandonment claim
On the pitch he was the improbably coiffured midfield star who dazzled male opponents with his skills and delighted female fans with a certain je ne sais quoi.
But seven years after retiring as a professional, David Ginola’s image is taking a battering in his native France as the former Newcastle United player faces up to criminal proceedings for allegedly abandoning the daughter he had with his mistress.
The case was brought by Joelle Pinquier, who says she had an affair with the footballer-turned-actor in the early 1990s and gave birth to Joy, his daughter, now aged 17.
Ginola, 42, who denies the allegations, faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros if found guilty. He is accused of failing to pay the full child maintenance of 450 euros a month set by a French court in 2006.
The trial, originally due to be held this week in Marseilles in southern France, was postponed until December after Mrs Pinquier submitted evidence which she says proves Ginola’s paternity.
“David has always refused to assume his responsibilities,” she told La Provence, the regional daily. ”He just does as he wants.” She said he only paid the 450 euros ”once every six months.” “It’s wrong to play with the soul of a child,” said Mrs Pinquier, 40, from Marseilles, claiming that she had had a six-month affair with Ginola between 1991 and 1992.
Maître Gilbert Collard, her lawyer, accused the footballer of failing to submit himself to a paternity test ordered by a French judge in 2005. But Maître Benedicte Puybasset, Ginola’s lawyer, denounced the proceedings as ”hot air”.
“We don’t risk anything at all. I am awaiting the verdict with serenity.”
Ginola - nicknamed El Magnifico because of his playboy looks and flamboyant style - sprung to fame at Paris Saint Germain before playing for Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Everton in Britain.
He won international caps for France and featured in advertising campaigns for L’Oréal, the French cosmetics giant, before turning to films when his playing career ended in 2002.
He was the voice of Jacques the shrimp in Finding Nemo and had a role in The Last Drop, Colin Teague’s war movie.
According to the latest figures, more than 4,000 men are found guilty of neglecting to pay child maintenance every year in France. The charge of ”abandoning your family” can be brought under the French penal code if a parent fails to pay at least two month’s of child maintenance in full.
Source:The times
But seven years after retiring as a professional, David Ginola’s image is taking a battering in his native France as the former Newcastle United player faces up to criminal proceedings for allegedly abandoning the daughter he had with his mistress.
The case was brought by Joelle Pinquier, who says she had an affair with the footballer-turned-actor in the early 1990s and gave birth to Joy, his daughter, now aged 17.
Ginola, 42, who denies the allegations, faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros if found guilty. He is accused of failing to pay the full child maintenance of 450 euros a month set by a French court in 2006.
The trial, originally due to be held this week in Marseilles in southern France, was postponed until December after Mrs Pinquier submitted evidence which she says proves Ginola’s paternity.
“David has always refused to assume his responsibilities,” she told La Provence, the regional daily. ”He just does as he wants.” She said he only paid the 450 euros ”once every six months.” “It’s wrong to play with the soul of a child,” said Mrs Pinquier, 40, from Marseilles, claiming that she had had a six-month affair with Ginola between 1991 and 1992.
Maître Gilbert Collard, her lawyer, accused the footballer of failing to submit himself to a paternity test ordered by a French judge in 2005. But Maître Benedicte Puybasset, Ginola’s lawyer, denounced the proceedings as ”hot air”.
“We don’t risk anything at all. I am awaiting the verdict with serenity.”
Ginola - nicknamed El Magnifico because of his playboy looks and flamboyant style - sprung to fame at Paris Saint Germain before playing for Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Everton in Britain.
He won international caps for France and featured in advertising campaigns for L’Oréal, the French cosmetics giant, before turning to films when his playing career ended in 2002.
He was the voice of Jacques the shrimp in Finding Nemo and had a role in The Last Drop, Colin Teague’s war movie.
According to the latest figures, more than 4,000 men are found guilty of neglecting to pay child maintenance every year in France. The charge of ”abandoning your family” can be brought under the French penal code if a parent fails to pay at least two month’s of child maintenance in full.
Source:The times
Nancy Garrido misses Jaycee and her children, lawyer says
Nancy Garrido loves and misses the two girls that her husband allegedly fathered with Jaycee Lee Dugard, her lawyer said today.
Speaking from prison, Mrs Garrido allegedly said that she saw Jaycee and her girls as part of the family.
Gilbert Maines, her lawyer, told CBS’s The Early Show today that his client seemed distraught, and that her state of mind could be an issue when her case came to court.
"I would describe her like a ship without a rudder," he said.
“She’s distraught. She’s scared. She seems to be a little lost. She doesn’t seem to be able to really focus well at the moment.
"What she said that I can tell you about is that there came a time when she felt they were a family, and she loved the girls very much, and she loved Jaycee very much.”
He added: “That seemed a little strange under the circumstances.”
Mrs Garrido and her husband Philip have been remanded on 29 charges of kidnapping Jaycee, raping her and imprisoning the schoolgirl for 18 years in their garden.
Mr Garrido’s claimed that Nancy was under her husband's spell, describing her as “a robot" who would "do anything he asked".
According to reports, it was Mrs Garrido - who apparently once worked at a children's centre as part of a child abuse prevention programme - who allegedly snatched Jaycee from the street while her husband drove the car.
The assistant district attorney says that Mrs Garrido is charged with rape based on the basis that she participated in it by aiding and abetting the crime.
In 1993 there was a four-month period when she was Jaycee's sole jailer while her husband served time in jail for breaching his parole on an earlier conviction for rape and imprisonment.
Mr Maines acknowledged that it was "a fair question", how Mrs Garrido could argue she had no control over Jaycee's fate when she was alone with Jaycee for four months and did nothing to free her.
“The argument goes to her mental condition at the time, not so much what physically happened," said Mr Maines. "I don’t know that I can argue successfully that she didn’t know what was going on.”
He said that he will seek to have his client evaluated by experts to determine her state of mind.
Nancy, now 54, met Garrido while he was serving 11 years in prison for rape. They were married while he was still behind bars. The marriage is childless.
The Garridos were arrested last week after police officers at the University of California, Berkeley, became suspicious of Phillip when he visited with the two girls to ask if he could hold a religious event on campus. Alarmed at the children's manner, they contacted Garrido's probation officer.
Justice officials were then astonished to discover Jaycee at the Garridos' home in Walnut Avenue in the California town of Antioch.
An 11-year-old schoolgirl when she was kidnapped outside her home in the South Lake Tahoe area in 1991, she had been living with her two children in squalid tents and huts in a screened off part of the back garden for nearly two decades. The children, aged 11 and 15, had never been to school.
Police and probation officers had called at their home on numerous occasions previously but failed to notice Jaycee, even after a neighbour complained three years ago about the children living in tents.
Since the Garridos' arrest, police have searched the property for evidence that might connect Phillip to the unsolved murders of nine women in nearby town. That search turned up an unidentified bone fragment.
In separate interviews on ABC and NBC today Mr Maines said Mrs Garrido realised why she was in jail.
Source:The times
Speaking from prison, Mrs Garrido allegedly said that she saw Jaycee and her girls as part of the family.
Gilbert Maines, her lawyer, told CBS’s The Early Show today that his client seemed distraught, and that her state of mind could be an issue when her case came to court.
"I would describe her like a ship without a rudder," he said.
“She’s distraught. She’s scared. She seems to be a little lost. She doesn’t seem to be able to really focus well at the moment.
"What she said that I can tell you about is that there came a time when she felt they were a family, and she loved the girls very much, and she loved Jaycee very much.”
He added: “That seemed a little strange under the circumstances.”
Mrs Garrido and her husband Philip have been remanded on 29 charges of kidnapping Jaycee, raping her and imprisoning the schoolgirl for 18 years in their garden.
Mr Garrido’s claimed that Nancy was under her husband's spell, describing her as “a robot" who would "do anything he asked".
According to reports, it was Mrs Garrido - who apparently once worked at a children's centre as part of a child abuse prevention programme - who allegedly snatched Jaycee from the street while her husband drove the car.
The assistant district attorney says that Mrs Garrido is charged with rape based on the basis that she participated in it by aiding and abetting the crime.
In 1993 there was a four-month period when she was Jaycee's sole jailer while her husband served time in jail for breaching his parole on an earlier conviction for rape and imprisonment.
Mr Maines acknowledged that it was "a fair question", how Mrs Garrido could argue she had no control over Jaycee's fate when she was alone with Jaycee for four months and did nothing to free her.
“The argument goes to her mental condition at the time, not so much what physically happened," said Mr Maines. "I don’t know that I can argue successfully that she didn’t know what was going on.”
He said that he will seek to have his client evaluated by experts to determine her state of mind.
Nancy, now 54, met Garrido while he was serving 11 years in prison for rape. They were married while he was still behind bars. The marriage is childless.
The Garridos were arrested last week after police officers at the University of California, Berkeley, became suspicious of Phillip when he visited with the two girls to ask if he could hold a religious event on campus. Alarmed at the children's manner, they contacted Garrido's probation officer.
Justice officials were then astonished to discover Jaycee at the Garridos' home in Walnut Avenue in the California town of Antioch.
An 11-year-old schoolgirl when she was kidnapped outside her home in the South Lake Tahoe area in 1991, she had been living with her two children in squalid tents and huts in a screened off part of the back garden for nearly two decades. The children, aged 11 and 15, had never been to school.
Police and probation officers had called at their home on numerous occasions previously but failed to notice Jaycee, even after a neighbour complained three years ago about the children living in tents.
Since the Garridos' arrest, police have searched the property for evidence that might connect Phillip to the unsolved murders of nine women in nearby town. That search turned up an unidentified bone fragment.
In separate interviews on ABC and NBC today Mr Maines said Mrs Garrido realised why she was in jail.
Source:The times
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