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
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Saturday, November 21, 2009
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
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