|  |  |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Four men arrested for planning to bomb US government facilities and engage in 'violent jihad', federal officials claim Four Southern California men have been charged with plotting to kill Americans in the US and overseas by joining al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan, federal officials said. The defendants were arrested for plotting to bomb government facilities and public places after federal authorities uncovered their plans to engage in "violent jihad", FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. According to a federal complaint unsealed on Monday during their initial appearances, Sohiel Omar Kabir, 34, introduced two other California men to the radical Islamist doctrine of Anwar al-Awlaki, a deceased al-Qaida leader. The two, Ralph Deleon, 23, and Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales, 21, converted to Islam in 2010 and began engaging with Kabir and others online in discussions about jihad, including posting radical content to Facebook and expressing extremist views in comments. In one online conversation, Santana told an FBI undercover agent he wanted to commit jihad and expressed interest in a jihadist training camp in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. The complaint also alleges the men went to a shooting range several times, including a trip on 10 September 2012, in which Deleon told a confidential FBI source he wanted to be on the front lines overseas and use the explosive C-4 in an attack. Santana agreed. "I wanna do C-4s if I could put one of these trucks right here with my, with that. Just drive into, like, the baddest military base," Santana said, according to the complaint, adding that he wanted to use a large quantity of the explosive. "If I'm gonna do that, I'm gonna take out a whole base. Might as well make it, like, big, ya know," Santana said. At the shooting range that day, both Santana and Deleon said they were excited about the rewards from becoming a shaheed – Arabic for martyr – according to the complaint. Authorities allege Kabir travelled to Afghanistan and communicated with Santana and Deleon so he could arrange for their travel to join him and meet with his contacts for terror organisations. They later recruited 21-year-old Arifeen David Gojali. If convicted, the defendants each face a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Agency says outlook remains negative, despite Hollande's pledge that his reforms will reduce public deficit to 3% by 2013 Moody's credit rating agency has stripped France of its coveted AAA rating and declared that the country's economic outlook remains "negative". In what will be a severe blow to Socialist president François Hollande, the agency said it was reducing the country's rating from AAA to AA1, claiming France's ability for economic growth was being hampered by "structural challenges" including its lack of competitiveness, high unemployment, public debt and market rigidity. It said it was not confident Hollande's government could – or would – introduce the necessary structural reforms and spending cuts to improved its rating in the medium term and expressed concern over France's exposure to risks from other ailing eurozone countries. Moody's decision follows Standard & Poor's downgrading of France's rating a notch in January. It came as France was reeling from a damning Economist article entitled "The time-bomb at the heart of Europe". The special report warned that the parlous state of the French economy, its rising unemployment, lack of competitiveness, dwindling industry and high public spending, could overshadow the problems of Greece or Spain, and sparked angry reactions from French ministers. Defending the downgrade, Moody's stated: "France's long-term economic growth outlook is negatively affected by multiple structural challenges, including its gradual, sustained loss of competitiveness and the long-standing rigidities of its labour, goods and the service markets. "France's fiscal outlook is uncertain as a result of its deteriorating economic prospects, both in the short term, due to subdued domestic and external demand, and in the longer term due to the structural rigidities noted above." The agency expressed concern over France's exposure to other beleaguered eurozone economies through its trade and banking links. Moody's said it was unlikely to upgrade France's rating in the medium term, but would consider changing the outlook from negative to stable if the government implemented economic reforms and tax measures that "effectively strengthen the growth prospects of the French economy and the government's balance sheet" and reverse the "upward trajectory in public debt". It recognised that Hollande has pledged structural reforms including reducing France's public deficit to 3% by 2013, but stated the proposed measures were "unlikely to be sufficiently far-reaching to restore competitiveness". "Moody's notes that the track record of successive French governments in effecting such measures over the past two decades has been poor," it said. The Socialist government's economic strategy rests on forecasts that growth will reach 0.8% next year and in bringing unemployment, currently at a 13-year high, down. France's finance minister Pierre Moscovici said the downgrade was a "sanction for past management" of the country, intended to incite the government, elected in May, to carry out reforms rapidly. He said reducing the public debt was a priority. "The debt is an enemy."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hostess had asked for permission to liquidate the company but US bankruptcy court urged firm to resume talks with BCTGM Troubled Twinkie maker Hostess Brands and the unions representing its striking workers agreed to start mediation hearings on Tuesday at the urging of a bankruptcy court judge. Management at the Twinkies and Wonder Bread manufacturer sought permission to liquidate the company on Monday, but was urged by the judge to mediate in private. Mediation will begin on Tuesday. If talks collapse, lawyers for Hostess will be back in court to seek approval to shut down the 82-year-old company. Hostess filed for bankruptcy for the second time in January and had been negotiating cuts with its unions. Those talks fell apart last week as the company's management blamed the union, and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Makers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) union in turn blamed mismanagement. The union also balked at a fresh round of pay cuts it said would cut wages by 27-32%. Judge Robert Drain of the US bankruptcy court asked attorneys to mediate. "To me, not to have gone through that step leaves a huge question mark over this case, which I think – I may be wrong – but I think will only be answered in litigation. And that's no one's desired outcome," the judge said. Alongside labour disputes, Hostess, which is based in Irving, Texas, has struggled for years with massive debts, management turmoil, rising commodity costs and America's changing tastes. After the maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Ho Ho's filed for bankruptcy in January, it brought on CEO Greg Rayburn as a restructuring expert to work on renegotiating contract with labour unions. In a filing with the court, BCTGM said it had agreed to "significant labor concessions" with the company when Hostess first filed for bankruptcy in 2004. The company had pledged to reinvest the money saved into the business, according to BCTGM, but instead emerged from bankruptcy with $773m in secured debt, over $100m more than when the case was filed. Six management teams in the last eight years have compounded Hostess' woes, according to the union. Last week, Rayburn rejected calls for renegotiating contracts with BTGCM. Hostess management had reached agreement with other unions, including the Teamsters.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Ban Ki-moon to meet Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, amid guarded hope of truce Efforts to agree a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians are to intensify, with the UN chief, Ban Ki-moon, weighing in amid guarded optimism that a deal is possible because it suits both sides to end the fighting. On a sixth day of Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip and sporadic though decreasing Palestinian rocket fire into Israel, negotiations in Cairo focused on securing a package that would allow both warring parties to claim some kind of victory. Barack Obama discussed the crisis in a phone call to the Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, on Monday, while William Hague, Britain's foreign secretary, paid tribute to Egypt's efforts to negotiate "a ceasefire that can work". Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said Obama and Morsi "discussed ways to de-escalate the situation in Gaza", and Obama "underscored the necessity" of Hamas ending rocket fire into Israel. "President Obama then called prime minister [Binyamin] Netanyahu of Israel, and received an update on the situation in Gaza and Israel," Carney added. "In both calls, President Obama expressed regret for the loss of Israeli and Palestinian civilian lives, and agreed to stay in close touch with both leaders." Ban arrived in Cairo amid growing international concern that the crisis could escalate and spread. Israel is under pressure to refrain from sending ground forces into the heavily-populated coastal strip in the wake of its six-day air and naval assault. The UN secretary-general will visit Jerusalem for talks with Netanyahu on Tuesday, before heading to the West Bank town of Ramallah to see the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Khaled Meshal, the Hamas leader, told reporters in Cairo that Israel must be the first to halt military operations since it had begun them last week by assassinating the movement's military chief, Ahmed al-Jabari. "A ground invasion will not be a walk in the park," Meshal warned. "We don't have the same military and deterrence capabilities [as Israel] but we have deterred them with our will. Our enemy is drowning in the blood of children." Dan Harel, a former deputy chief of staff of the Israeli army, said: "We are moving straight into a T-junction. There are two basic alternatives. The first is an agreement cooked in Cairo. The second is an escalating situation, moving into the Gaza Strip with a land [invasion] which will be bad for both sides. We are 24 to 48 hours from this junction." Officials in Jerusalem flatly denied Meshal's claim that Israel was seeking a ceasefire. It was Hamas, one official said, that was looking for a way to "climb down" after more than 400 air strikes in Gaza had significantly eroded the Palestinians' ability to launch missiles at Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities. "Hamas's comments about a ceasefire, alleging that Israel is begging for one, are about as accurate as its claims to have shot down an F-15 [warplane] or attacked the Knesset," Reuters quoted a unnamed senior government official as saying. Israeli officials also emphasised their readiness to launch a ground offensive, although there were reports of complaints from Israeli army reservists that they were wasting their time. The US, Britain and other western governments have urged Israel not to mount an assault like Operation Cast Lead, in which 1400 Palestinians in Gaza were killed four years ago. Diplomats in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv were hopeful that a deal could yet be forged. "The fact that the talks are still going on is a good sign," said one. "And the fact that Israel hasn't yet gone in on the ground is a good sign." The Cairo truce talks ran into trouble on Sunday after news that 10 members of one family had been killed in Gaza in an air strike apparently aimed at killing a Hamas or Islamic Jihad leader. British officials monitoring the crisis said the key was to de-escalate, secure a durable ceasefire, and then return to the key questions of promoting reconciliation between Hamas and the PLO and re-invigorating a moribund peace process. Hague said in Brussels: "I am pleased that Israel has held back from a ground invasion while such negotiations go on, and that the rate of rocket attacks on Israel has fallen, for whatever reason, over the last 24 hours. These are positive developments, but of course it remains a desperately serious and difficult situation." Palestinian sources said that Abbas had responded angrily on Monday to Tony Blair, the Middle East Quartet's envoy, in a meeting in Ramallah. Blair is trying to persuade Abbas to refrain from seeking observer status at the UN – a move opposed by the US and Israel. Abbas reportedly told him to leave if he was not there to talk about the crisis in Gaza. Israeli sources made clear that a ceasefire deal would have to mean an end to all hostile fire from Gaza into Israel, including small arms fire at troops near the border. Hamas fighters must also be stopped from crossing into Sinai to mount attacks against Israel from Egyptian territory. Hamas must not be allowed to rearm. Any ceasefire must not be a simple "time out" for Hamas but provide an extended period of quiet for southern Israel. Support for Operation Defensive Pillar remains solid in Israel. According to an opinion poll in Haaretz, 30% of the Israeli public support a ground invasion despite the risks of high casualties. Overall the operation has the backing of around 84% of the public, with 12% opposed. But in one sign of dissent, 100 writers, intellectuals and artists on Monday issued a petition calling for a long-term ceasefire, and more significantly for talks with Hamas, which has long been a political taboo. "We must speak out because the people of southern Israel, like the people of Gaza, deserve to be able to look up at the sky in hope and not in fear, wrote the author Amos Oz, playwright Yehoshua Sobol and others. Additional reporting by Abdel-Rahman Hussein in Cairo
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Study suggests the wellbeing of captive apes declines in middle age then picks up as they approach old age There comes a time in some men's lives when the days seem darker, mortality more certain, and the only sensible response is to blow the life savings on a sportscar. Radical and often ill-advised changes in lifestyle have become the calling cards of the midlife crisis, but if it is more than a myth, then humans may not be the only animals to experience it. Now an international team of scientists claims to have found evidence for a slump in wellbeing among middle-aged chimpanzees and orangutans. The lull in happiness in the middle years, they say, is the great ape equivalent of the midlife crisis. The study, which was published on Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has raised eyebrows among some scientists, but according to the authors, the findings suggest that the midlife crisis may have its roots in the biology humans share with our closest evolutionary cousins. "There's a common understanding that there's a dip in wellbeing in middle age, and that's been found in many datasets across human cultures," Alex Weiss, a psychologist at Edinburgh University, told the Guardian. "We took a step back and asked whether it's possible that instead of the midlife crisis being human-specific, and driven only by social factors, it reflects some evolved tendency for middle-aged individuals to have lower wellbeing," he said. The team from the US, Japan, Germany and the UK asked zookeepers, carers and others who worked with male and female apes of various ages to complete questionnaires on the animals. The forms included questions about each ape's mood, the enjoyment they gained from socialising, and their success at achieving certain goals. The final question asked how carers would feel about being the ape for a week. They scored their answers from one to seven. More than 500 apes were included in the study in three separate groups. The first two groups were chimpanzees, with the third made up of orangutans from Sumatra or Borneo. The animals came from zoos, sanctuaries and research centres in the US, Australia, Japan, Canada and Singapore. When the researchers analysed the questionnaires, they found that wellbeing in the apes fell in middle age and climbed again as the animals moved into old age. In captivity, great apes often live to 50 or more. The nadir in the animals' wellbeing occurred, on average, at 28.3 and 27.2 years old for the chimpanzees, and 35.4 years old for the orangutans. "In all three groups we find evidence that wellbeing is lowest in chimpanzees and orangutans at an age that roughly corresponds to midlife in humans," Weiss said. "On average, wellbeing scores are lowest when animals are around 30 years old." The team explains that the temporary fall in ape wellbeing may result from more depressed apes dying younger, or through age-related changes in the brain that are mirrored in humans. Weiss conceded that, unlike men, great apes are not known to pursue radical and often disastrous lifestyle changes in middle age. Robin Dunbar, professor of evolutionary psychology at Oxford University, was dubious about the findings. "What can produce a sense of wellbeing or contentedness that varies across the lifespan like this? It's hard to see anything in an ape's life that would have that sort of pattern, that they would cogitate about. They're not particularly good at seeing far ahead into the future, that's one of the big differences between them and us." Alexandra Freund, professor of psychology at the University of Zurich, was also sceptical. She said the concept of a midlife crisis was shaky even in humans. "In my reading of the literature, there is no evidence for the midlife crisis. If there's any indication of decline in emotional or subjective wellbeing it is very small and in many studies, it's not there at all." But Weiss believes the findings could point to a deeper understanding of the emotional crisis some men may experience. "If we want to find the answer as to what's going on with the midlife crisis, we should look at what is similar in middle-aged humans, chimps and orangutans," he said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Obama meets Burmese president Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi before speech to 1,300 activists Outside, the streets were blocked and hard-faced policemen kept order with the brisk and bored efficiency that comes from long practice. Inside, grey-haired opposition politicians joked, students photographed one another and representatives of Burma's scores of ethnic minorities in traditional woven caps waved excitedly. Then the wait was over and the president of the United States of America stepped out on to the stage of the recently refurbished Convocation Hall of the University of Rangoon, closed to undergraduates for decades by authorities who feared unrest. "When I took office as president, I sent a message to those governments who ruled by fear: we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your first," Barack Obama declared. "So today, I have come to keep my promise, and extend the hand of friendship." Six hours earlier Obama had become the first US president to visit Burma when he flew in from Thailand on the second leg of his first overseas trip since re-election. He was met by tens of thousands of flag-waving well-wishers who lined his route from the airport. A key aim of Obama's trip is to emphasise his administration's strategic reorientation away from the Middle East and towards the Asia Pacific region and by the time he reached the hall he had already met President Thein Sein, the former army general who has driven through many recent reforms, before seeing veteran pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi at the lakeside home where she spent much of the last 20 years under house arrest. He was accompanied by Hilary Clinton, the US secretary of state, who had met and reportedly greatly liked the Nobel Prize Laureate, when she had visited Rangoon a year ago. Burma has undergone rapid change in the last two years which have seen parts — though by no means all — of a brutally repressive regime dismantled. Censorship has been eased, some political prisoners freed and a bye-election held which saw opposition politicians enter parliament. Crucially too, Chinese influence, growing fast in recent years, has waned. The president's message was thus not just to the 1,300 activists and young people in the Convocation Hall. It was directed to the Burmese hardliners who oppose any further change in the poor and long-isolated nation, as well as to other regional powers. "Something is happening in this country that cannot be reversed, and the will of the people can lift up this nation and set a great example for the world," he said. The president's trip has been criticised by human rights activists and exile groups who say it comes to soon. But aides have argued that engaging more fully now with Burma will encourage reform in the country and across the region. "Here in Rangoon, I want to send a message across Asia: we don't need to be defined by the prisons of the past. We need to look forward to the future," the president said. But most of his 30 minute address was devoted to outlining a vision of a prosperous, free and democratic Burma. Speaking of four freedoms — to speak, to associate, to worship and to live without fear — he was applauded when he said that in a democracy the most important "office holder" was "the citizen". Obama also mentioned political prisoners several times, spoke of recent ethnic violence largely directed against Rohingya Muslim minority and stressed the need to find peace and embrace diversity as the US had done. "This remarkable journey has just begun, and has much further to go," he said. "Reforms launched from the top of society must meet the aspirations of citizens who form its foundation. The flickers of progress that we have seen must not be extinguished, they must be strengthened." Thant Myint-U, a Burmese historian who was in the audience, said the speech, broadcast live throughout the country, had "resonated" as "exposure to western democracy has a powerful effect here." Thinzar Khin Myo Win, a 28-year-old teacher, said Obama's words meant "everything for the people of Myanmar." "He really said to each of us that the power of the people can really change the country. That was great," she added. For Dr Tu Ja, a senior political leader of the Kachin minority in the north of the country, Obama's visit was "unimaginable". "This is a historic thing today. The gap between here and the US is very big but we can learn a lot from them," he told The Guardian. Outside the university, the crowds which had lined the streets waving pennants had dispersed, many heading to roadside stalls with television screens to watch the speech again. Aides said that Obama had decided to visit the famous Shwe Dagon pagoda, the country's holiest shrine, after seeing the tens of thousands lining the pavement. Taxi drivers flew Stars and Stripes pennants.Obama left Burma on Air Force One for Cambodia, another country never visited by a US president. The White House said the president would raise US concerns about Cambodia's human rights record during a meeting with the prime minister, Hun Sen. He also met the leaders of 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN), as part of the move to increase US involvement in Asia. At the summit, the White House said they agreed to "deepen our diplomatic, economic, security, and people-to-people ties with the key Asian multilateral organisation". It added: "Recognising the importance of enhancing US-ASEAN ties, the leaders agreed to institutionalise the leaders meeting to an annual summit as a further step towards raising the US-ASEAN partnership to a strategic level."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Shrek, Futurama, and Marge and Homer would not have come into being without the Beatles' subversive masterpiece, says Simpsons writer Josh Weinstein Going to see Yellow Submarine is my first memory ever. And it's a doozy. A world-shaking, world-shaping event. It was the early 1970s and I was taken to see the movie on a big screen. It blew my young, impressionable six-year-old mind and I'm pretty sure it's what sent me on a career path in animation. I'm just glad my parents took me to see that and not A Clockwork Orange. There have been some excellent books about the making of the film (I highly recommend Inside the Yellow Submarine by Dr Robert Hieronimus), so rather than blab on about the back story, I would rather talk about what happened after the yellow sub surfaced in 1968 and shot its torpedoes through traditional animation. Because in my opinion, Yellow Submarine gave birth to modern animation itself. Before Yellow Submarine, animation was a mild, goody-goody world of personality-free gloved mice and cartoon bears stealing picnic baskets. Only the Fleischer brothers in the 1930s dared to do really weird stuff with their early Popeye cartoons, and most of that is unknown to the general public. But after Yellow Submarine, it was a wholly different world. It wasn't just for kids. It was satire and art and, most of all, subversion. Without Yellow Submarine there would never have been The Simpsons, no Futurama, no South Park, no Toy Story, no Shrek. No animated anything that enables us to laugh at ourselves while being highly entertained. A couple of specific references from The Simpsons. Remember in the chilli episode, where Homer eats the "insanity pepper" and goes on a trip? As it begins, Homer is seen floating against live-action clouds. After the table-read of the script, I told the director: "Make it like that George-on-the-mountain-top scene in Yellow Submarine. You know that one?" And of course he knew, because he was of a generation that grew up loving that movie. Another example is in an episode of The Simpsons called Last Exit to Springfield. Lisa needs braces and the orthodontist gives her gas, whereupon she goes into a psychedelic trip – Lisa in the sky (without diamonds) – that is a brilliant parody of Yellow Submarine. I counted about 20 specific references. That lightness, that quickness, that unembarrassed, unencumbered willingness to be goofy – that's all very Beatlesque. Sure, there are other influences (and the Beatles themselves loved stuff like The Goon Show and Edward Lear), but I think the Beatles' impact on modern comedy is sorely unappreciated. I can't talk about the comedy in Yellow Submarine without giving a nod to someone who wasn't given a nod in the movie, but by all accounts was largely responsible for much of the humour: Liverpool poet Roger McGough, also a favourite of the Beatles. At some point during production, he was called in to do a pass on the script and make the dialogue more Liverpudlian and authentic; and, by many accounts, it was he who added so many great jokes and Beatles-style wordplay. Let me talk about the words. There never was a complete script, and much of it was apparently written on the fly – one of the reasons the movie has such a stream-of-consciousness, dream-like appeal, and an important lesson to more anal writers like myself. Words aren't just spoken: they appear on screen. Often. Like in the incredible When I'm Sixty-Four sequence of animated sentences and numbers. Or all the times LOVE, KNOW, OK and other words appear as monuments in Pepperland. The artists who made Yellow Submarine celebrated words and numbers as art. They weren't the first to do so, but their work influenced generations of graphic designers. The film is a 90-minute work of art. Led by brilliant, visionary designer Heinz Edelmann and director George Dunning, a team of mostly young, unsung artists toiled away in rinky-dink offices in Soho Square, London, for nearly a year, with a budget of less than $1m. There are sequences like Eleanor Rigby (where, by the way, you can actually see some of these unsung artists) and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds that are pop art masterpieces as good and breathtaking as any Warhol or Picasso. The artists and directors used techniques no one had ever used before, and haven't since. They used media no one had ever thought of using in animation: the sequence where the sub takes off from the Pier and appears to travel rapidly through all sorts of live-action settings, including a park where a statue of a military man astride a horse appears to tip his hat to you, was all done using postcards. If you freeze-frame it, you can see some of the brilliant tricks they came up with. So how did all this happen? Well, here I do need to get into a little back-story, because it's an important lesson in how brilliant things get produced. It's how The Simpsons came to be, and it's how Yellow Submarine happened. It's called trusting in artists and letting them do their stuff. It's also called I-have-no-idea-what-those-hippies-in-Soho-are doing-but-it-has-the-Beatles'-name-on-it-so-I-guess-we'll-make-money. From what I've read, the pressure these artists felt came from not wanting to let the Beatles down because they loved them and their music so much. That's a great sort of pressure to be under. Also, I have a feeling that King Features – the cartoon publisher that made the film – had no idea what it was getting. I think even the Beatles had no idea what they were getting. When production began, the only thing the Beatles knew was that there had been that horrible cartoon from the mid-1960s. You know, that one where they had big heads on little bodies. They hated that cartoon and were wary of this one. Only when they visited the studios and saw what was happening did they start to rally round it (remember, they didn't voice their characters – something I was horrified to find out years later). Yellow Submarine was made with a small budget. There were numerous instances where they had neither the time nor the money to do something the fancy, easy way, so they were forced to come up with new ways. If you have zillions of dollars and all the time in the world, I don't think you're going to produce great art. And you certainly won't feel like sticking it to the man who's giving you those zillions. It's funny, isn't it? In an ideal world, you wouldn't have the types of pressures that can lead to great art. Yet Yellow Submarine is a movie whose message is all about making an ideal world. And it's one of the most perfect pieces of moving art ever made. Josh Weinstein is a former producer of The Simpsons. With Bill Oakley, he wrote many classic episodes including Who Shot Mr Burns? and Lisa vs Malibu Stacy. He is currently co-executive producer of Futurama and lead writer for the innovative CBBC series Strange Hill High. Yellow Subversion: The Artwork of Yellow Submarine, a limited edition box set of screenprints, is available from £395.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Sales pace roughly 11% higher than a year ago, but still lower than annual sales rate of 5.5m that suggests healthy market US sales of previously occupied homes rose solidly in October, helped by improvement in the job market and record-low mortgage rates. The increase, along with a jump in homebuilder confidence this month, suggests the housing market continues to recover. The National Association of Realtors said Monday that sales rose 2.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.79m. That's up from 4.69m in September, which was revised lower. The sales pace is roughly 11% higher than a year ago. But it remains below the more than 5.5m that economists consider consistent with a healthy market. As the economy slowly recovers, more people have started looking to buy homes or rent apartments. Prices are steadily climbing, while mortgage rates have been low all year. At the same time, rents are rising, making the purchase of a single-family home or condominium more attractive. "Altogether, the report is encouraging," said Michael Gapen, an economist at Barclays Capital. "Our view is that housing is in a recovery phase," he added, though it will be restrained by limited credit and modest job gains. A separate report Monday showed confidence among homebuilders rose this month to its highest level in six and a half years. The increase was driven by strong demand for newly built homes and growing optimism about conditions next year. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index increased to 46, up from 41 in October. Readings below 50 suggest negative sentiment about the housing market. The index last reached that level in April 2006. Still, the index has been trending higher since October 2011, when it stood at 17. The realtors group said Superstorm Sandy delayed some sales of previously occupied homes in the north-east. Sales fell 1.7% there, the only region to show a decline. Those sales will likely be completed in future months, the group said. The median price for previously occupied homes increased 11.1% from a year ago to $178,600, the realtors said. A decline in the number of homes available for sale is helping push prices higher. There were only 2.14m homes available for sale at the end of the month, the lowest supply in 10 years. It would take only 5.4 months to exhaust that supply at the current sales pace. That's the lowest sales-to-inventory ratio since February 2006. Prices are also benefiting from the mix of homes being sold. Sales of homes priced at $500,000 and above have jumped more than 40% in the past year. Sales of homes and condominiums that cost less than $100,000 fell 0.6%. There have been other positive signals from the housing market. Applications for mortgage loans to buy homes jumped 11% in the week ending November 9, compared with a week earlier, the Mortgage Bankers' Association said last week. Purchase applications are up 22% in the past year. Foreclosures are slowing. The number of properties that began the foreclosure process in the first 10 months of the year fell 8% compared with the same period last year, RealtyTrac said last week. And builders broke ground on new homes and apartments at the fastest pace in more than four years in September. The jump could help boost the economy and hiring. Still, the market has a long way back to full health. Many potential home buyers cannot meet stricter lending standards or produce larger down payments required by banks. That can be a particular problem for first-time homebuyers. They accounted for 31% of sales in October, down slightly from September and below the 40% that is common in a healthy market. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday that banks' overly tight lending standards may be preventing sales and holding back the US economy.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As Obama and Boehner try to forge compromise, business owners work around expected increase in dividend taxes Casino magnate Steve Wynn is cashing in some chips as he bets the row over the fiscal cliff in Washington will cost shareholders dear next year. He is not alone. Tomorrow Wynn Resorts will pay out a $750m special dividend to shareholders as the company tries to get ahead of possible rule changes that could increase taxes on dividends. Wynn, who last year accused president Barack Obama of conducting "class warfare" against the rich, looks set to be joined by a record number of company bosses making payouts ahead of possible tax hikes. Others including HCA Holdings, the world's largest private healthcare operator, chemicals firm LyondellBasell and asset manager Waddell & Reed, have all announced special dividend payments ahead of the year end. Obama and Republican leader John Boehner are currently trying to forge a compromise over the fiscal cliff, the year-end expiration of Bush-era tax cuts and the imposition of deep spending cuts aimed at tackling the US's $16tn debts. Unless Congress reaches a deal by the end of the year, dividend taxes will rise from 15% to 43.4%. A report from Barclays found high dividend yielding stocks are already suffering ahead of a possible tax hike. The two highest yielding sectors in the S&P 500, telecom and utilities, are down 10% and 8% this month, according to the report. Goldman Sachs recently predicted a record number of special dividends ahead of the year end. The bank published a list of likely payers including MasterCard and Williams-Sonoma. Richard Sotell, chairman of Boston money manager the Kraematon Group, said the impact of the possible tax changes went far beyond dividends. He said many business owners were considering selling or closing businesses ahead of tax changes. "I am not making positive actions right now; I am making contingency plans," he said. He said many investors were putting money into gold as they waited out the fiscal cliff discussions. "That's millions, billions that is not going into the US economy," he said. According to a review of securities filings and conference calls by the Wall Street Journal, half of the US's 40 biggest corporate spenders have announced plans to curtail capital expenditures this year or next. "The problem is that governments think lineally. They do one thing then the expect people will carry on behaving in the same fashion. But if they do X then people will find ways around it," he said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Farc pledges to halt all military operations and acts of sabotage in runup to peace discussions in Cuban capital Colombia's main rebel group has announced a unilateral ceasefire before much-anticipated peace talks with the Bogota government, in Cuba. The announcement was made by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) delegates in Havana, the venue of the landmark talks. Iván Márquez, the group's chief neogotiator, said Farc would stop military operations and acts of sabotage against government and private property from midnight on Tuesday to 20 January. "This policy decision of the Farc is a contribution made to strengthen the climate of understanding necessary so that the parties that are starting the dialogue achieve the purpose desired by all Colombians," said Márquez as he arrived for the talks. Márquez said the move was "aimed at strengthening the climate of understanding necessary for the parties to start a dialogue". The rebel overture puts pressure on the Colombian president, Enrique Santos, who has refused to consider a ceasefire during the talks. There was no immediate response from Santos's government after the announcement, and Colombian negotiators in Havana also declined to comment. "You have to take this announcement with a grain of salt," Félix Lafaurie, head of the National Federation of Cattle Ranchers, said on Colombian local radio. "I hope this is going to be a sign of the Farc's goodwill and not that they're then going to take swipes on substantive issues." Havana will host the talks after an initial round of discussions in Oslo, Norway, last month. The Farc has been at war with the Colombian government for nearly half a century. There is no deadline for agreement, though both sides say success must come within months. The talks, the result of seven months of secret negotiations in Havana, follow several failed efforts over the decades to end the conflict. Land reform, at the heart of the dispute, is at the top of the agenda. The government hopes peace will lead to greater foreign investment in mining industries. It has promised to return millions of acres of stolen land to displaced peasants, one of the rebels' main demands. The 9,000-strong Farc is being asked as a condition of peace to help end the cocaine trade that has funded its struggle. Colombians also want it to account for the dozens of kidnap victims who have disappeared in its custody and other noncombatants it is accused of killing.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Software engineer has been evading authorities who want to question him about the murder of his neighbour Gregory Faull Fugitive software pioneer John McAfee appears to have started a blog about his life on the run from Belizean authorities, charting the disguises he claims to have used to evade police and spy on their investigation. McAfee, named by police in Belize as a "person of interest" in the murder of American businessman Gregory Viant Faull, has protested his innocence, insisting he is the victim of state harassment. Now he claims to have returned to his residence in San Pedro in the days after his disappearance and watched police search his property. He claims to seen police dig up the bodies of four dogs he says they poisoned, before chopping off their heads and reburying them. He did so, he claims, while dressed first as a peasant hawker and then as a drunk German tourist. The allegations appear in the blog apparently written by McAfee, which he says he plans update regularly, either while on the run or if captured. "I have pre-written enough material to keep this blog alive for at least a year," he states in the latest post launched Monday. Faull was found dead at his home in San Pedro on 11 November with a gunshot wound to his head. Police described McAfee as a "person of interest" whom they wanted to question in relation to the death. The two men allegedly quarrelled about the dogs McAfee kept as his home, but McAfee has claimed that he "barely knew" the victim. Since going on the run, the anti-virus company founder has kept in regular contact with American media, telling CNBC in an interview on Friday that he will fight the allegations "as long as I'm still breathing". He added that he was refusing to hand himself in to authorities as he feared he would be killed in the cells before a trial took place. The 67-year-old also alleged harassment at the hands of Belize's notorious Gang Suppression Unit (GSU), an arm of the police that has been accused of abuses in the past. "Things do not operate here as they do in the states," he said, adding: "We are living in a near dictatorship where the legal system is subservient to the cabinet." Responding, Belize's prime minister Dean Barrow has said he believed McAfee is "bonkers". The fugitive's apparent blog – whoismcafee.com – alludes to the mental strain that being on the run may cause him. McAfee writes that he was driven to return to his property out of concern that unless he knew what was going on in the murder investigation "my chances of coming out of this intact, both emotionally and physically, were slim". He claims that he returned to his residence two days after going on the lam, but in disguise so that the authorities would not notice him. In detail, he explains how he used shoe polish to darken his skin and stuffed his cheeks with bubble gum to make his face look fatter. "I stuffed a shaved down tampon deep into my right nostril and died the tip dark brown – giving my nose an awkward, lopsided, disgusting appearance," he wrote in a post dated 19 November. The disguise, completed with rags instead of his normal clothes, was enough to fool a reporter hanging around his complex, McAfee claims. In a further boast, the fugitive says he also pretended to be a drunk German tourist in swimming trunks, oversized Hawaiian shirt and a bandaged face, "yelling loudly at anyone who would listen, 'Leck mich um ausch!'". "At 67 years of age it was quite a spectacle," McAfee wrote. While at his property he spoke to the man who discovered Faull's body and watched the police operation at his home, McAfee further claims. His blogpost states that officers searched his home seven times. "What I discovered is that the police are more concerned with finding me than catching Mr Faull's killer," he wrote. McAfee goes on to offer a $25,000 reward for the "capture of person or persons responsible for Mr Faull's murder". It is claimed that the blog is being maintained with the help of Chad Essley, who describes himself as a graphic novelist working on a publication of McAfee's story. In a separate blog, Essley says McAfee's website is authentic. The British-born computer programmer built up a personal fortune as the founder of McAfee anti-virus software. He moved to Belize in 2008. But it is believed that his wealth has dwindled in recent years. There has been past concern over McAfee's mental health. In the interview with CNBC, he brushed off reports that he had played Russian roulette with a loaded gun. "My point was life isn't exactly what you see," he said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Italian police say six people tried to extort €35m from former prime minister Italian police have arrested six people accused of trying to extort €35m (£28m) from Silvio Berlusconi in exchange for documents they claimed could help him in a legal case. The Milan police squad chief, Alessandro Giuliano, said on Monday that three of the six had held one of the former prime minister's closest advisers hostage for 11 hours in his home last month until he reached Berlusconi by phone to demand the money. Berlusconi's lawyer, Nicolo Ghedini, told reporters he spoke to the hostage-takers that day and refused to give them any money until he saw the documents. Apparently that was all that was needed to free Berlusconi's treasurer, Giuseppe Spinelli. Police later identified the ringleader by his red and black trainers – the colours of his favourite team, AC Milan, which Berlusconi owns.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Boys discovered by rag picker thought to have died of carbon monoxide poisoning after burning charcoal inside bin Five homeless children have been found dead in a rubbish bin, where they probably suffocated while sheltering from the cold, authorities in south-west China have said. The boys, aged around 10, were found by an elderly rag picker on Friday morning, Beijing News reported. An initial investigation suggested they died of carbon monoxide poisoning, possibly due to burning charcoal inside the bin, which measured around 1.3m by 1.6m. Temperatures had dropped to 6C overnight and it is thought they had shut the lid to keep warm. An official in Bijie, a city in mountainous Guizhou province, told the newspaper that police are still confirming the cause of the deaths but have ruled out murder. Only three of the children have been identified so far. Their bodies remained unclaimed on Sunday. Residents said the boys had been living in a nearby shelter they built from a tarpaulin, cement blocks and plywood, according to a man from the area who posted pictures of the bin online. According to the ministry of civil affairs, there were an estimated one to one and a half million children living without parental care, mostly on the streets of towns and cities, in 2008. That did not include children working on the streets with migrant parents. Last year the government ordered officials to place a higher priority on helping street children without parental care and to seek them out to provide help. It has also promised to build more centres providing shelter and basic services for them. In December the ministry of civil affairs launched a campaign to return most of them to their homes within the year. Ma Li, who runs a shelter for homeless children in Jiangsu province, told China Daily that the deaths exposed the problem with existing provision for them. "Rescue centres don't have a long-term effective way to help these children as they can only provide food and shelter for a maximum of 10 days. After that, the rescue centres are required to send these children home," he said. He said that most children had run away because they had bad relationships with their parents and might have suffered domestic abuse – making them reluctant to go to the centres for help. Ma added that a new system was needed to encourage NGOs, schools and individuals to participate in helping homeless children. Dale Rutstein, chief of communications for Unicef in China, where the agency has been working with authorities to help street children, said: "There's been a strong effort to find children and bring them back to their home provinces. That's only a small part of the issue. The underlying causes really have to be addressed in a long term, comprehensive way. "The best approach to that is creating a child welfare system where parents can be assisted to care for their children better and case workers are aware of the needs of the most vulnerable families and prevent those more serious outcomes. [China] is in its very early stages of developing a more modern child welfare system." Unicef has been helping to train officials dealing with street children and the managers of relief centres. It is currently working with the ministry of civil affairs on a five year pilot scheme to develop a community-based child welfare system.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Live coverage as Egypt peace talks continue amid fears of ground invasion
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The US president is on a three-day tour of the region, taking in Thailand, Burma and Cambodia
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | European markets surge following report that Eurogroup could decide to hand Greece its aid tranche in early December if all conditions are met, as Greek workers occupy government buildings across the country
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Reports suggest Eurogroup could decide to hand Greece its aid tranche in early December if all conditions are met, as Greek workers occupy government buildings across the country
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Live coverage as Egypt peace talks continue amid fears of ground invasion
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | German finance ministry says no chance of final deal on Greece at Tuesday's Eurogroup meeting in Brussels, as Greek workers occupy government buildings across the country
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Xolile Mngeni is convicted of robbing and killing newlywed on honeymoon in South Africa Shrien Dewani's battle to avoid extradition to South Africa to stand trial for allegedly masterminding his wife's murder has suffered a setback after the gunman in the case was found guilty by the Western Cape high court. Xolile Mngeni, 25, was convicted of robbing Anni Dewani during her honeymoon and killing her with a single shot from an unlicensed weapon in a Cape township two years ago. In his summing up, the judge, Robert Henney, stressed that the case did not include "any direct evidence about Mr Dewani's involvement". Nevertheless, the three-month trial that preceded Mngeni's conviction on Monday marked the first time evidence in the case had come before an open court. Two other suspects in the killing – the taxi driver Zola Tongo and Mngeni's accomplice Mziwamadoda Qwabe – have both gone to jail after confessing under the plea bargain system and implicating Dewani. Anni Dewani, 28, had been married for 12 days when she was killed on 13 November 2010 in an apparent car hijacking in Khayelitsha township. Shrien Dewani said he escaped after he and Tongo were thrown out of the vehicle. Dewani, 32, is in poor mental health and is being kept at a secure hospital near Bristol. He is resisting extradition and his case is due to be heard again next month. Mngeni – who will be sentenced later – had pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, murder, and the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition. But Henney called Mngeni's alibi for 13 November 2010 "without foundation and easy to dismiss". He said Mngeni had pointed out key locations to the police – including where Anni Dewani was shot. The judge said he had lied to the court and his lawyer had given a "far-fetched and highly speculative version" of how Anni Dewani's jewellery had ended up in the roof of a house where Mngeni had stayed. The judge said Mngeni's dismissal of witnesses who had testified against him was "childish, laughable and unconvincing". Mngeni had claimed that his initial confession in the case had been extracted under torture. But Henney said he was satisfied that "police acted with utmost professionalism and fairness" to safeguard his rights. Henney found Mngeni guilty of all charges except kidnapping, acquitting him of the charge as he said the hijack was part of the murder plan and not a separate crime.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | US president meets Burmese counterpart and Aung San Suu Kyi on six-hour tour of former pariah country Barack Obama has called on Asian nations to follow the example of Burma's "remarkable journey" towards democracy as he made a historic visit to the former international pariah. Tens of thousands of people poured on to the streets to welcome the first US president to visit the long politically isolated country. During the six-hour visit Obama met the president, Thein Sein, a former army general who has driven through many recent reforms, before visiting the veteran pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi at the colonial-era stucco house where she spent much of the past 20 years under house arrest. He then gave a televised speech to an audience of more than a thousand students, opposition politicians, campaigners, ethnic leaders, NGO workers and cultural and religious figures at Rangoon university. Burma could serve as "a test of whether a country can transition to a better place", he said. "When I took office as president, I sent a message to those governments who ruled by fear: we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your first," Obama said. "So today, I have come to keep my promise, and extend the hand of friendship." The president called on the leadership of North Korea to "let go of [their] nuclear weapons, and choose the path of peace and progress" and said the US welcomed the "peaceful rise" of China, Burma's northern neighbour, and India. "Here in Rangoon, I want to send a message across Asia: we don't need to be defined by the prisons of the past. We need to look forward to the future," the president said. But most of his 30-minute address was devoted to outlining a vision of a prosperous, free and democratic Burma to his audience – and to the still-powerful generals who ruled the country for 50 years. Speaking of how four freedoms – to speak, to associate, to worship and to live without fear – were essential, he was applauded when he said that in a democracy the most important "office holder" was "the citizen". Obama also mentioned political prisoners several times, spoke of recent ethnic violence largely directed against the Rohingya Muslim minority and stressed the need to embrace diversity as he said the US had done. "Huge challenges lie ahead … but something is happening in this country that cannot be reversed. The flickers of progress we have seen must not be extinguished," the president said. Thant Myint-U, a Burmese historian who was in the audience, said the speech had been well crafted. "It resonated. Exposure to western democracy has a powerful effect here," he said. Thinzar Khin Myo Win, a 28-year-old teacher, said the speech meant "everything" for the people of Burma. "He really said to each of us that the power of the people can really change the country. That was great," she added. Burma has undergone rapid change in the past two years, which has seen parts – though by no means all – of a brutally repressive regime dismantled. Censorship has been eased, some political prisoners freed and a byelection held which saw opposition politicians enter parliament. However, grave problems remain. The president's trip has been criticised by human rights activists and exile groups who say it comes too soon. Aides have argued that engaging more fully with Burma will encourage reform. But Obama's speech, though it largely focused on internal issues, made clear that one key aim of the visit was to send a message to leaders and populations further afield. By late afternoon, Obama had arrived in Cambodia, also a country previously never visited by a US president, where he was scheduled to have dinner with the long-serving prime minister, Hun Sen, another figure much criticised by human rights campaigners and environmentalists. The White House said Obama would raise concerns about Cambodia's human rights record during the meeting.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hundreds gathered for the protest, in the hope Obama will reject the presidential permit required for the pipeline Hundreds of people who say they worry oil that would be carried the Keystone XL pipeline will accelerate climate change marched around the White House on Sunday, hoping to revive a movement credited with slowing down the permit process for the crude oil project. The protesters chanted "Hey, Obama! We don't want no climate drama" and said they hoped the president's election-night promise to address climate change means he will reject the pipeline, which needs a presidential permit to cross into the United States from Canada. "We're interested in sending a clear message to Obama," said Molly Pugh from nearby Alexandria, Virginia, marching with her husband and two-year-old daughter. Pugh said she was deeply disappointed that Obama failed to talk about climate change during the recent presidential election campaign, addressing it only in his acceptance speech. Sunday's protest drew far fewer people than a rally a year ago against TransCanada Corp's project, when thousands linked arms and encircled the White House. Keith Bockus was at that protest, and hopes that Obama will block the pipeline in his second term now that he no longer faces the pressures of another election. "I have five grandkids. I used to worry just about them. Now, I worry about my son and daughter too," Bockus said, explaining why took a red-eye bus from Hubbardston, Massachusetts, to get to Sunday's event. Organisers said they were pleased by the crowds, which they estimated at 3,000 people, particularly since they arranged the protest only 10 days ago. They said they are working on a larger protest set for President's day on 18 February. "It's no longer sort of a rag-tag bunch of kids – it's the very heart of the environmental movement," said Bill McKibben, president of 350.org, who helped lead the protest. McKibben and other environmentalists argue crude extracted from the Canadian oil sands sends too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Pipeline proponents argue the project will create thousands of jobs and reduce US dependence on oil imports from the Middle East. The pipeline was designed to extend 1,661 miles from Hardisty, Alberta, to the Port Arthur, Texas, picking up oil from the booming Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana along the way. Obama put the pipeline on hold in January, citing the need to review environmental concerns with a portion of the route in Nebraska. TransCanada changed its route and reapplied for the permit. Nebraska's state government is expected to approve the new route by the end of the year, and Keystone proponents have urged the Obama administration to grant the permit soon afterward. The State Department has said it does not anticipate concluding its review of the project before the first quarter of 2013. Analysts have said they think Obama eventually will approve the pipeline but the timing of the decision is in question. "I think if we can keep the pressure on, we have a chance," said Aimee Crane of Springfield, Virginia, helping carry a 500ft inflatable replica of an oil pipeline down Pennsylvania Avenue. "It is David versus Goliath," she said, arms stretched high above her head.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Robert Bales shooting trial puts thorny issue of US troop immunity centre stage, with Hamid Karzai hoping to wring tough concessions Afghanistan and the US have opened talks to keep American troops in the country after most Nato forces go home in 2014, but the thorny question of immunity for American soldiers, which in effect ended the US role in Iraq last year, is likely to prove a stumbling block. The issue has been thrown into sharp relief by the Seattle trial of the US army staff sergeant Robert Bales, who is accused of the massacring 16 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children, during a shooting spree at their homes in March. US prosecutors are seeking the death penalty but many Afghans, including some of the victims' relatives, want to see him brought before one of their own courts. "Immunity [for US soldiers] is going to be challenging," said one western official as talks on the bilateral security agreement started late last week. The issue has been set aside in early negotiations, US and Afghan officials said, because the intensity of the clash between Washington's desire to protect its soldiers and the Afghan government's desire to control trial and punishment of any future offenders. "To be frank, I do not see a way around this. Neither side looks as if they would budge," said Thomas Ruttig, director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network. "Particularly for the US, this (waiving immunity) would be unprecedented. The Afghan government might use it to get other concessions out of the US, but I am not sure what they are aiming at." The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, a tough negotiator who has tended to win concessions, said last month the question of protections for US soldiers could be a problem in talks. "Afghanistan wants a strategic pact with US but will seriously consider the red lines," said his spokesman, Aimal Faizi. "The most important issue for Afghanistan is its national sovereignty." Karzai is possibly betting that the US needs Afghan bases to strike at radical groups hiding along the lawless, mountainous border with Pakistan, and to help peer into Iran's eastern regions. Al-Qaida has made a comeback in Afghanistan, despite the death of its former leader, Osama bin Laden, the commander of US and Nato forces, General John Allen, admitted recently. "We do not want al-Qaida to feel as though [the group] can put down roots here," he told CBS news Even so, the US is far readier to walk away from Afghanistan than it once was, as the domestic economy sputters and interest in the war fades among voters. The Afghan government cannot survive without US financial and military support in some form, western diplomats and officials have said, and Karzai has not yet fully grasped the shift in dynamics. There is little question that without help Kabul would struggle. Up to 90% of the national budget is financed by foreign aid, and the Afghan police and army still lack vital skills, from bomb-disposal teams, intelligence, and air support to medical care for injured soldiers. However, Karzai speaks for many Afghans who would prefer US cash to troops, and even argue that a lasting foreign military presence could give insurgents an excuse to dodge peace talks that are viewed by many as the best hope for ending decades of conflict. "If the foreigners take home their forces, there will be no reason for the Taliban to send people in the name of jihad," said Allah Gul Mujahed, a conservative member of parliament from the capital, Kabul, who was once with the mujahideen fighting Soviet forces. Many Afghans were unhappy that Bales had been taken to America and would not accept a deal that enshrined similar protections, he added. "We want everything to be under Afghan law." Additional reporting by Mokhtar Amiri
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Dissident at centre of international appeal imprisoned on charge of contract fraud, which wife says is groundless A dissident Chinese poet whose detention has sparked an international appeal for his release has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for contract fraud, his lawyer said. Li Bifeng – formerly imprisoned for five years for involvement in the Tiananmen Square democracy movement – was sentenced at Shehong county court in Sichuan province, south-west China, Zhao Jianwei said. He said the defence would appeal, adding: "We believe the verdict was not based on the facts and the prosecutors and the court violated procedural laws and regulations." A court official who declined to give his name confirmed Li's hearing had taken place, but said he did not have details. The exiled dissident Liao Yiwu, a friend of Li, said the 48-year-old was targeted because he was suspected of financing Liao's escape from the country last year. Liao said those suspicions were false. Earlier this year, after Li was detained, Liao launched an international appeal from Germany calling for his release. Among those to have joined the appeal are the Nobel prize-winner for literature Herta Muller and Ha Jin, a winner of the US national book award. Li's wife said Monday's verdict was untenable. Zhan Xia said the charge related to a sales agreement her husband had signed with an alcohol company to help sell apartments on southern Hainan island. "After the apartments were sold, the company sued him for contract fraud, which is groundless," she said. "He is a very good friend of Liao Yiwu, but he didn't tell me whether he helped Liao flee. His being on trial must be related to his alleged help of Liao because the economic charge against him can't be proven," she said. Zhan said she had only seen her husband once since he was detained in September 2011, and that was at his trial in July. "He wasn't in good mental health and was suffering from high blood pressure," she said. A man from Shehong county's prosecutor's office said he knew nothing about the case. Calls to Shehong public security bureau went unanswered.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | European politicians are marking out their territory ahead of tomorrow's meeting to discuss how to address Greece's debts, with Jörg Asmussen of the ECB predicting another package beyond 2014. The IMF may not approve...
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Both sides at talks in Egypt but conflicting demands over targeted killings means truce seems unlikely in short term The war in Gaza appears to be in a grim holding pattern, poised before the alternatives of a ceasefire or a ground offensive by Israeli tanks and troops. The Israeli Defence Forces reported it had struck 80 targets overnight, bringing the total number to 1,350 since the offensive began last Wednesday. For the second night, there was a lull in rocket fire out of Gaza, with only one missile launched, according to the IDF. It claimed the capabilities of Hamas and other militant groups have been significantly reduced by bombing. Rocket fire resumed on Monday morning. Palestinian official Nabil Shaath said some progress had been made at ceasefire talks in Cairo, but a truce was not imminent. It was "not likely to take effect in the coming days because Israel is trying to impose its own stipulations ignoring the demands of Hamas and other Palestinian factions," Shaath told the Palestinian news agency Ma'an after being briefed by the Hamas leader, Khaled Meshal, and his deputy, Mousa Abu Marzouq, who are in Cairo. Israel has also sent an envoy to the Egyptian capital. Reports from Cairo said the unnamed envoy had been taken straight from the airport to secret talks with Egyptian officials. Shaath described the contacts between Israel and Egypt as "serious attempts to reach a ceasefire" but a senior Israeli official in Jerusalem told the Haaretz newspaper that Israel did not expect a breakthrough. The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, is due to arrive in the region on Tuesday to shore up efforts to reach a ceasefire. He is to visit Jerusalem, Ramallah and Cairo. Unconfirmed reports suggest Hamas is seeking an end to targeted assassinations of militants in Gaza by the Israeli military and for the blockade of Gaza to be lifted. Israel is seeking a long-term truce of at least 15 years, an end to rocket fire, attacks on Israeli soldiers along the border and weapons smuggling. It is also insisting on continuing targeted killings if it believes an attack is imminent, according to a report on the Israeli Ynet website. As the death toll in Gaza reached at least 88 overnight, shocking pictures of four children killed in an airs trike on Sunday were broadcast repeatedly on Arab television. The images are likely to harden support for Hamas against what Palestinians see as Israeli "aggression". Without a ceasefire in the coming days, the prospects of a ground invasion will rise. According to an opinion poll in Haaretz, 30% of Israelis support an escalation despite the risks of high casualties. Operation Pillar of Defence has the support of around 84% of the public, with 12% opposing the offensive. Personal opinion ratings for the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and the defence minister, Ehud Barak, have risen since the conflict began. Israel is holding a general election in two months' time. In southern Israel, reservists who had been called up in anticipation of a possible ground operation arrived near the Gazan border on Sunday, and military vehicles trundled along nearby roads, some of which have been closed to civilian traffic. Hamas's repeated targeting of Tel Aviv, Israel's densely populated cultural and commercial centre, raised expectations that Netanyahu would respond to pressure to step up action to halt rocket fire. However, both sides are thought to be keen to avoid such an escalation. "No matter what Hamas's capabilities are, they will not be able to defend Gaza from Israel [in the event of a ground offensive]," said Mkhaimer Abu Saada, a political scientist at Gaza's al-Azhar university. Israel, despite its hawkish rhetoric, is also aware that the high casualties that are inevitable in a ground offensive are likely to result in a sharp change of tone from the international community. Abu Saada said there were two likely scenarios: a limited ground operation with Israeli troops and tanks entering and occupying relatively small areas of Gaza and withdrawing as soon as possible, as happened in Operation Cast Lead, the 22-day offensive in 2008-09; or a much bigger operation to "hit Hamas hard, weakening it to the point where it was no longer capable of ruling Gaza". However, to prevent even more extremist militant organisations filling the resulting power vacuum, Israel would have to reoccupy Gaza on a long-term basis. "This is probably the last thing in Israel's mind," he said.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Owner says Chapter 11 restructuring cannot save firm and it will be sold in bankruptcy court but rivals likely to snap up sponge treat The cream-filled golden spongecakes known as Twinkies are likely to survive, even though their maker will be sold in bankruptcy court. Hostess Brands – baker of Wonder Bread as well as Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Ho Ho's – will be in a New York bankruptcy courtroom on Monday to start the process of selling itself. The company, weighed down by debt, management turmoil, rising labour costs and America's changing tastes, decided on Friday that a conventional Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring was no longer appropriate. Instead, it is asking the court for permission to sell assets and go out of business. But with high brand recognition and $2.5bn (£1.6bn) in revenues a year, other companies are interested in bidding for at least pieces of Hostess. Twinkies alone have brought in $68m in revenue so far this year. "There's a huge amount of goodwill with the commercial brand name," said John Pottow, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School who specialises in bankruptcy. "It's quite conceivable that they can sell the name and recipe for Twinkies." Hostess has received inquiries about buying parts of the company. But spokesman Lance Ignon would not comment on analysts' reports that Flowers Foods and private equity food investment firm Metropoulos are likely suitors. Metropoulos owns Pabst Brewing, while Flowers Foods, based in Georgia, makes Nature's Own bread, Tastykake treats and other baked goods. "We think there's a lot of value in the brands, and we'll certainly be trying to maximise value, both of the brands and the physical assets," Ignon said on Sunday. He said it was possible some of that some of Hostess's bakeries would never return to operation because the industry has too much bakery capacity. Little will be decided at Monday afternoon's hearing before bankruptcy judge Robert Drain, Pottow said. The judge eventually will appoint a company that specialises in liquidation to sell the assets, and the sale probably will take six months to a year to complete, Pottow said. Hostess filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January for the second time in less than a decade. Its predecessor company, Interstate Bakeries, sought bankruptcy protection in 2004 and changed its name to Hostess after emerging in 2009. The company said it was saddled with costs related to its unionised workforce. The company had been contributing $100m a year in pension costs for workers; the new contract offer would have slashed that to $25m a year, in addition to wage cuts and a 17% reduction in health benefits. Management issues were another problem. Hostess came under fire this spring after it was revealed that nearly a dozen executives received pay hikes of up to 80% last year even as the company was struggling. Then last week thousands of members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union went on strike after rejecting the company's latest contract offer. The union represents about 30% of the company's workforce. By that time, the company had reached a contract agreement with its largest union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which this week urged the bakery union to hold a secret ballot on whether to continue striking. Although many bakery workers decided to cross picket lines this week, Hostess said it was not enough to keep operations at normal levels. The company filed a motion to liquidate on Friday. The move means the loss of about 18,500 jobs. Hostess said employees at its 33 factories were sent home and operations suspended. Its 500 bakery stores will stay open for several days to sell remaining products. News of the decision caused a run on Hostess snacks at many stores, and the snacks started appearing on the internet at inflated prices.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | US president tries to strike balance between praising progress in shaking off military rule and pressing for more reform Barack Obama has become the first serving US president to visit Burma, trying during a whirlwind six-hour trip to strike a balance between praising the government's progress in shaking off military rule and pressing for more reform. Obama's first stop was a meeting with President Thein Sein, a former junta member who has carried out a programme of reforms since taking office in March 2011. "I've shared with him the fact that I recognise this is just the first steps on what will be a long journey," Obama told reporters, with Thein Sein at his side. "But we think a process of democratic and economic reform here in Myanmar that has been begun by the president is one that can lead to incredible development opportunities," he said. Thein Sein, speaking in Burmese with an interpreter translating his remarks, responded that the two sides would move forward, "based on mutual trust, respect and understanding". "During our discussions we also reached agreement for the development of democracy in Burma and for promotion of human rights to be aligned with international standards," he added. Tens of thousands of well-wishers, including children waving American and Burmese flags, lined Obama's route to the old parliament in the former capital, Rangoon, where he met Thein Sein. Some held signs saying "We love Obama". Approaching the building, crowds spilled into the street, getting close enough to touch Obama's vehicle. Obama moved on to meet the fellow Nobel peace prize laureate and long-time opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the struggle against military rule and is now a member of parliament. The pair held talks at Aung San Suu Kyi's lakeside home. On the way Obama made a surprise stop at the Shwedagon pagoda, where the president, secretary of state Hillary Clinton and their entire entourage, secret service agents included, went barefoot up the giant stone staircase. Obama's trip to Burma is meant to highlight what the White House has touted as a major foreign policy achievement: its success in pushing the country's generals to enact changes that have unfolded with surprising speed over the past year. But some international human rights group object to the visit, saying Obama is rewarding the government of the former pariah state for a job they regard as incomplete. Speaking in Thailand on the eve of his visit, Obama denied he was going to offer his "endorsement" or that his trip was premature. "I don't think anybody is under the illusion that Burma's arrived, that they're where they need to be," Obama said. "On the other hand, if we waited to engage until they had achieved a perfect democracy my suspicion is we'd be waiting an awful long time." Obama's south-east Asia trip, less than two weeks after his re-election, is aimed at showing how serious he is about shifting the US strategic focus eastwards as America winds down wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The so-called "Asia pivot" is also meant to counter China's rising influence. In a move timed to show goodwill, the authorities in Burma began to release dozens of political prisoners on Monday, including Myint Aye, arguably the most prominent dissident left in its gulag. Some 66 prisoners will be freed, two-thirds of them dissidents, according to activists and prison officials. The government will also let the International Committee of the Red Cross resume prisoner visits, according to a statement late on Sunday, and the authorities plan to "devise a transparent mechanism to review remaining prisoner cases of concern by the end of December 2012". In a speech to be given at Rangoon University to an audience that will include several high-profile former prisoners, Obama will stress the rule of law and allude to the need to amend a constitution that still gives a great role in politics to the military, including a quarter of the seats in parliament. "America may have the strongest military in the world but it must submit to civilian control. As president and commander-in-chief I cannot just impose my will on our Congress, even though sometimes I wish I could." Violence between majority Buddhists and the Rohingya Muslim minority in western Burma is a top concern, and Obama's aides said he would address the issue directly with Burma's leaders. Burma considers the Rohingya Muslims to be illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and does not recognise them as citizens. At least 167 people were killed in two periods of violence in Rakhine state in June and October this year.
  | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | |  |
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire