| |  | | | | | SHUTTING DOWN Feed My Inbox will be shutting down on January 10, 2013. To find an alternative service for email updates, visit this page. | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Zynga, the creator of FarmVille and Mafia Wars, has severed their ties with the social networking site One of the digital world's closest friendships is over – Facebook and Zynga, the games developer whose creations were launched on the social networking site, have severed their ties. Zynga's shares fell more than 6% on Friday, the latest in a series of blows for the creator of FarmVille. Recently it announced the closure of its Boston studio and a drop in revenues. Zynga no longer has to use Facebook as its primary third-party platform for social games, and players on Zynga.com no longer have to log in via Facebook. Facebook is relieved of its obligation to use promotions to help meet traffic targets at Zynga, the games company said in a stock market filing. Zynga's Mafia Wars offers players the chance to collaborate with friends to "expand your empire", and a 2010 cross-referral deal with Facebook helped the social networking pioneers to do just that. Zynga games became an overnight hit thanks to Facebook, and helped to draw in users and revenues. The relationship was important for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who credited Zynga's Mark Pincus with showing him how to cope with the distraction of floating the company and to "power through and get to where he wants to go". In recent quarters, fees from Zynga, named after a bulldog owned by Pincus, contributed 15% of Facebook's total revenues, while Zynga generated about 80% of its revenue on Facebook. In an effort to reduce mutual dependence, the companies have announced in regulatory filings that their 2010 deal is being unpicked, so that from 31 March Zynga will be on a level playing field with other games developers targeting Facebook's 1 billion members. The news, announced after the US market closed on Thursday night, sent Zynga shares down in morning trading in New York, while Facebook shares, which have recovered from recent lows to reach nearly $27 (£16.85), fell a more modest 1.4%. Last month, Zynga said it would close its Boston studio and consider pulling the plug on studios in Britain and Japan to reduce costs. In July, Zynga executives told analysts the company's revenue had plummeted in the second quarter as Facebook tweaked its algorithms, sending fewer gamers to Zynga titles. The changes appeared to be helping drive more traffic to Zynga competitors such as Electronic Arts and KixEye, according to PJ McNealy, chief executive of Digital World Research. "Zynga's favoured nation status is gone but it seems like it's been slipping away for a while now," McNealy told Reuters. "There was plenty of speculation Zynga was getting referrals within the Facebook community that other gaming companies weren't getting which helped drive web traffic to Zynga games." The new terms mean Facebook is no longer barred from developing its own games, though it has not announced plans to build a games platform.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hill family will take home about $136m, their share of a $588m pot to be split with buyers of second winning ticket in Arizona Cindy Hill, a laid-off office manager who lives in a small town in Missouri, called her husband Thursday with urgent news that would change everything: "We won the lottery." "What?" he asked. "We won the lottery," she repeated. But Mark Hill, a 52-year-old mechanic who works at a meat processing plant, is the kind of person who carefully checks the prices for everything he buys, and he needed proof. This is the "Show-Me State" after all. He drove to his mother's house, where his wife was waiting with their quick-pick ticket, and confirmed for himself that the numbers matched those drawn for a record $588m Powerball jackpot that they'll share with an unknown winner who bought a ticket in Arizona. Missouri lottery officials officially introduced the Hills as winners Friday in front of reporters and townspeople gathered at the high school in Dearborn, which is about 40 miles north of Kansas City. The announcement was not a surprise. The Hills' name began circulating Thursday, soon after lottery officials said a winning ticket had been sold at a Trex Mart gas station and convenience store on the edge of town. The Hills chose to take their winnings in a lump sum, not annual payments. Lottery officials estimated the cash payment at about $385m, or about $192.5m for each ticket. The oversized novelty check handed to the Hills on Friday was written in the amount of $293,750,000, but Missouri Lottery spokeswoman Susan Goedde said that after taxes, they will receive about $136.5m. "We're still stunned by what's happened," said Cindy Hill, 51, who was laid off in June 2010. "It's surreal." The couple have three grown sons and a 6-year-old daughter they adopted from China five years ago. They said they are now considering a second adoption with their winnings, and they plan to help other relatives, including their grandchildren and nieces and nephews, pay for college. They're planning vacations, and their daughter, Jaiden, wants a pony. Mark Hill has his eye on a red Camaro. More immediately, they're preparing for "a pretty good Christmas" and anticipating an onslaught of requests for financial help. "When it's that big of a Powerball, you're going to get people coming out of the woodwork, some of them might not be too sane," Cindy Hill said. "We have to protect our family and grandkids." The jackpot was the second-largest in US history and set off a nationwide buying frenzy, with tickets at one point selling at nearly 130,000 per minute. The other winning ticket was sold at 4 Sons Food Store in Fountain Hills near Phoenix. No one has come forward with it yet, lottery officials said. Before Wednesday's drawing, the jackpot had rolled over 16 consecutive times without someone hitting the jackpot. Myron Anderson, pastor of the Baptist Church in nearby Camden Point, said he heard Thursday that the Hills had won the huge prize. Anderson said he has known Mark Hill since they attended high school together. "He's a really nice guy, and I know his wife, and they have this nice little adopted daughter that they went out of their way to adopt," Anderson said. Funeral services for Hill's father were at the Baptist church, but the family attends church elsewhere, he said. "I hope it's good news for them," Anderson said. "I've heard awful horror stories about people who get all that money in their lap and how everybody treats them, and if you don't mind me saying, I mean just the fact that the press is going to be after them." Kevin Bryan, a lifelong Dearborn resident, said the only other local lottery winner he could remember was a farmer who won about $100,000 in scratch-off game years ago "and bought himself a combine". In a Mega Millions drawing in March, three ticket buyers shared a $656 million jackpot, the largest lottery payout of all time.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | News of the World and the 'bombs under the newsroom floor' Rupert Murdoch was kept in the dark by News International executives about suspicions of wider illegal activity at the News of the World between 2006 and 2008, Lord Justice Leveson concluded in his report on press standards. Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News International owner News Corporation, who gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry over two days in April, escaped the most excoriating criticism in the 2,000-page report. But the judge did express concern that several key developments on phone hacking were apparently shielded from Murdoch and his son James, as a result either of a cover-up or of a "serious failure of governance within the NoW, NI and News Corporation". Leveson said it was "revealing" that Murdoch had not seen the sentencing remarks by Mr Justice Eady after a News of the World reporter and private investigator were jailed over phone hacking in 2007. He added: "That Mr Murdoch was apparently not familiar with it says something about the degree to which his organisation engages with the ethical direction of its newspapers." The judge questioned James Murdoch's account of a key meeting in 2008 where two News of the World executives – the editor, Colin Myler, and head of legal, Tom Crone – claimed to have demonstrated to him that illegal activity was more widespread than just one reporter. At the time James Murdoch, News Corp's deputy chief operating officer, was News International chairman and chief executive. His account of the meeting differed from those of Myler and Crone when he gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry in April. Murdoch denied he was shown or told about legal advice by Michael Silverleaf QC that phone hacking was likely to have gone beyond one News of the World reporter. Crone disputed Murdoch's evidence, claiming that he probably took the Silverleaf advice to the meeting along with copies of a briefing note and the "for Neville" email, which suggested that phone hacking at the now defunct title went beyond a single reporter. Leveson said Myler and Crone had "no motive to conceal relevant facts" from Murdoch, although the judge also expressed "serious concerns" about their evidence about the meeting. "I have given careful consideration as to whether I should go further, and conclude that Mr Crone's version of events as to what occurred on 10 June 2008 should be preferred to that of James Murdoch," he said in his report. "There are aspects of the account of Mr Murdoch that cause me some concern: in particular, it is surprising if the gist of Mr Silverleaf's opinion was not communicated to him in circumstances where the potential reputational damage to the company, of which he was CEO, was likely to be great if an early settlement of the claim brought by Mr [Gordon] Taylor were not achieved." Overall, Leveson found that evidence of the two Murdochs illustrated that "one or more parts of the management at the NoW was engaged in a determined cover-up to keep relevant information about potential criminal activity within the organisation from senior management within NI". Hearing nearly 380 testimonies in 12 months, Leveson acknowledged that his inquiry afforded little opportunity for detailed cross-examination that would reveal who knew what and when at News International. He added: "In the circumstances, I do not seek to reach any conclusion about precisely what transpired at this meeting." Leveson was careful not to accuse the News of the World's 150 editorial staff even in his most disapproving passages, reserving his most trenchant criticism for executives. He repeatedly wrote of a failure of governance at the News of the World and, on occasion, at News International, that led the now-closed Sunday tabloid to "lose its way". The judge spent several hundreds of words analysing the significance of the appointment of Myler as editor of the News of the World in January 2007, after the resignation of Andy Coulson over the convictions for voicemail interceptions of the reporter and private investigator. He credited Myler, now editor of the New York Daily News, as being one of the first News International executives to publicly use the phrase "rogue" when describing phone hacking at the title – a line he said he stuck to "vigorously and forcefully" until late 2010. But he criticised Myler for failing to fully investigate his own private concerns about the "bombs under the newsroom floor" he described in evidence to the inquiry. Leveson said in his report: "In the event, he did little to assuage his own 'discomfort' except lay down rules for the future. As to the what had happened, he vigorously and forcefully followed a line which, to pursue the analogy of a bomb under the newsroom floor, simply ignored his privately held fear of an impending explosion." The judge noted in four paragraphs early in his report that News International made several improvements to its governance processes in the wake of the phone hacking scandal. News Corp and News International declined to comment on the judge's criticism. James Murdoch has previously said he "did not know about, nor did I try to hide, wrongdoing".
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | News of the World and the 'bombs under the newsroom floor' Rupert Murdoch was kept in the dark by News International executives about suspicions of wider illegal activity at the News of the World between 2006 and 2008, Lord Justice Leveson concluded in his report on press standards. Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News International owner News Corporation, who gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry over two days in April, escaped the most excoriating criticism in the 2,000-page report. But the judge did express concern that several key developments on phone hacking were apparently shielded from Murdoch and his son James, as a result either of a cover-up or of a "serious failure of governance within the NoW, NI and News Corporation". Leveson said it was "revealing" that Murdoch had not seen the sentencing remarks by Mr Justice Eady after a News of the World reporter and private investigator were jailed over phone hacking in 2007. He added: "That Mr Murdoch was apparently not familiar with it says something about the degree to which his organisation engages with the ethical direction of its newspapers." The judge questioned James Murdoch's account of a key meeting in 2008 where two News of the World executives – the editor, Colin Myler, and head of legal, Tom Crone – claimed to have demonstrated to him that illegal activity was more widespread than just one reporter. At the time James Murdoch, News Corp's deputy chief operating officer, was News International chairman and chief executive. His account of the meeting differed from those of Myler and Crone when he gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry in April. Murdoch denied he was shown or told about legal advice by Michael Silverleaf QC that phone hacking was likely to have gone beyond one News of the World reporter. Crone disputed Murdoch's evidence, claiming that he probably took the Silverleaf advice to the meeting along with copies of a briefing note and the "for Neville" email, which suggested that phone hacking at the now defunct title went beyond a single reporter. Leveson said Myler and Crone had "no motive to conceal relevant facts" from Murdoch, although the judge also expressed "serious concerns" about their evidence about the meeting. "I have given careful consideration as to whether I should go further, and conclude that Mr Crone's version of events as to what occurred on 10 June 2008 should be preferred to that of James Murdoch," he said in his report. "There are aspects of the account of Mr Murdoch that cause me some concern: in particular, it is surprising if the gist of Mr Silverleaf's opinion was not communicated to him in circumstances where the potential reputational damage to the company, of which he was CEO, was likely to be great if an early settlement of the claim brought by Mr [Gordon] Taylor were not achieved." Overall, Leveson found that evidence of the two Murdochs illustrated that "one or more parts of the management at the NoW was engaged in a determined cover-up to keep relevant information about potential criminal activity within the organisation from senior management within NI". Hearing nearly 380 testimonies in 12 months, Leveson acknowledged that his inquiry afforded little opportunity for detailed cross-examination that would reveal who knew what and when at News International. He added: "In the circumstances, I do not seek to reach any conclusion about precisely what transpired at this meeting." Leveson was careful not to accuse the News of the World's 150 editorial staff even in his most disapproving passages, reserving his most trenchant criticism for executives. He repeatedly wrote of a failure of governance at the News of the World and, on occasion, at News International, that led the now-closed Sunday tabloid to "lose its way". The judge spent several hundreds of words analysing the significance of the appointment of Myler as editor of the News of the World in January 2007, after the resignation of Andy Coulson over the convictions for voicemail interceptions of the reporter and private investigator. He credited Myler, now editor of the New York Daily News, as being one of the first News International executives to publicly use the phrase "rogue" when describing phone hacking at the title – a line he said he stuck to "vigorously and forcefully" until late 2010. But he criticised Myler for failing to fully investigate his own private concerns about the "bombs under the newsroom floor" he described in evidence to the inquiry. Leveson said in his report: "In the event, he did little to assuage his own 'discomfort' except lay down rules for the future. As to the what had happened, he vigorously and forcefully followed a line which, to pursue the analogy of a bomb under the newsroom floor, simply ignored his privately held fear of an impending explosion." The judge noted in four paragraphs early in his report that News International made several improvements to its governance processes in the wake of the phone hacking scandal. News Corp and News International declined to comment on the judge's criticism. James Murdoch has previously said he "did not know about, nor did I try to hide, wrongdoing".
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Unauthorised man acting for Spain's Gas Natural Fenosa signed agreement for new liquid gas plant It was the deal of the century, a $1bn contract for a brand new gas plant that would rescue Ukraine from its dependence on energy supplied by Vladimir Putin's Russia. The prime minister, Mykola Azarov, oversaw the signing ceremony as a video feed appeared to show welders already at work on the liquid gas plant, and the representative of the Spanish company Gas Natural Fenosa, Jordi Sardà Bonvehí, put his name to the agreement. Not until several days after the event on Monday did it emerge that no one at Gas Natural had heard of Bonvehí. "This person does not represent the company," a spokesman for the firm said. "Gas Natural Fenosa has not signed any contract to invest in a LNG plant project in Ukraine," the company added. "Nor does it have representatives working in Ukraine on this issue." The deal had been hailed by the Ukrainian government as a chance to free the country from the Russian yoke. Vladislav Kaskiv, head of the state investment agency, reportedly proclaimed the signing to be Ukraine's "energy independence day". Little is known about Bonvehí, who reportedly gave the name of Gas Natural's communications boss, Jordi García Tabernero, as his link at the firm headquarters in Barcelona – but company sources said the two had never met. Bonvehí hails from the small Catalan town of Sant Vicenç de Castellet, though relatives in the area told the Guardian he had moved away. He reportedly previously worked in the real estate sector but now styles himself as a representative of Spanish companies in the Ukraine. "I thought I could sign it and then settle it with the company," a man claiming to be Bonvehí told Reuters by phone. Investment agency officials said Bonvehí told them Gas Natural Fenosa officials were on the way, but had been held up "for technical reasons". "He expected the company would confirm his powers [as a representative]," an official said. Kaskiv said Ukraine would press ahead with the project, which also saw it sign a genuine deal with US company Excelerate to provide machinery. "The Spanish company's possible refusal to take part in the project will not be critical," he said. It was not clear who might take up the 75% of the consortium that had originally been destined for Gas Natural. Ukraine is reliant on gas coming from Russia, leading to constant friction and complaints that Moscow is bullying the country. It had hoped the new plant would allow it to import gas more cheaply.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | President speaks to middle-class families at toy factory as House speaker dismisses White House proposal as 'not serious'
• Fiscal cliff live blog: Obama accuses GOP of holding cuts hostage Barack Obama has warned of a "Scrooge Christmas" unless Republicans in Congress pass a bill to prevent income tax going up for tens of millions of Americans on 1 January. Obama ramped up the rhetoric against the Republicans on Friday as he switched back to campaign mode, taking to the road in Pennsylvania less than a month after the election. His speech came as both the White House and the Republicans suggested they remained far apart on an early deal on the fiscal cliff crisis. Within minutes of Obama's speech, Republican House speaker John Boehner held a press conference at the Capitol to say he was not going to allow himself to be squeezed by the White House into a premature deal. Boehner expressed pessimism about the talks so far, saying the White House was still to put a serious deal on the table. "There is a stalemate. Let's not kid ourselves," Boehner said. He was dismissive of what Obama has offered so far. "It is not a serious proposal. So right now we are almost nowhere," Boehner said. Obama appears intent on forcing the Republicans on the defensive in a way that he failed to do during economic showdowns in 2010 and 2011. He also opted in his speech for the kind of folksy language that made presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan such good communicators. Speaking at a toy factory in Pennsylvania, he said time was running out to conclude a deal. "If Congress does nothing, tax cuts will expire and every family will see income taxes automatically go up on January," Obama said. "I am assuming that does not sound too good to you. That is sort of like the lump of coal you get for Christmas. That is a Scrooge Christmas." In another folksy line, Obama joked that he had a "naughty and nice" list of members of Congress, joking that some were deserving of the kind of toys the factory made and some were not. He expressed optimism that both parties could and will work together in the coming weeks on a compromise. "In Washington, nothing is easy and there are going to be some prolonged negotiations and all of us are going to have to get out of our comfort zones to do that," Obama said. He is proposing a bill to prevent a rise in taxes for 98% of the population but increasing for the remaining 2% of the wealthiest Americans. The Republicans are opposed to tax increases and want the revenue raised in other ways, such as closing tax loopholes. The Republicans also want bigger spending cuts than Obama is proposing. Obama is proposing $1.6tn in tax increases over the next 10 years, $50bn in additional stimulus spending, and $400bn in Medicare cuts. Boehner complained the $1.6tn is double the figure that Obama spoke about on the campaign trail. Boehner also said there is more planned spending than anticipated and the spending cuts did not go nearly deep enough. The president, seemingly confident the Republicans will eventually buckle and buoyed by cracks already appearing in their ranks, is intent on ensuring that if every taxpayer sees a rise in January, the Republicans will get the blame. "This is too important to our economy, it is too important for our families, not to to get this done. It is not acceptable to me – and I don't think it is acceptable to you – for just a handful of Republicans in Congress to hold middle-class tax cuts hostage simply because they do not want tax rates on upper-income folks to go up. That does not make sense," the president said. A White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, briefing reporters on a flight to Pennsylvania, denied the figure on the campaign trail had been $800bn and had always been $1.6tn. "There was nothing included in those discussions that would surprise you … I was surprised they [Republicans] were surprised … There is no reason for anybody to be surprised," Earnest said. Republican senator Orrin Hatch denounced Obama's proposed tax increases. Hatch said Obama was proposing a $2tn tax increase – $400bn more than Obama actually suggested – without any meaningful spending cuts. This did not square with the president's claim that he wanted to help manufacturers, the senator said. "If President Obama is serious, then why is it that he wants to hit those very manufacturers with massive tax hikes that would hurt those businesses' ability to hire, expand and invest?" Hatch said.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Spending by American consumers dropped 0.2% in October Spending by American consumers was hit by superstorm Sandy and fell in October for the first time in five months, suggesting the economy slowed in the fourth quarter. The US commerce department reported that consumer spending, which accounts for 70% of US economic activity, dropped 0.2%, following September's 0.8% increase. Sandy hit car sales but analysts pointed out that the drop in spending also reflected broader weakness. Household disposable income dipped 0.1% last month after being flat in September. Even so, the saving rate nudged higher, to 3.4% from 3.3%. "The upshot is that although both incomes and spending will probably bounce back in November, the underlying trend is weak," said Paul Dales, senior US economist at Capital Economics. Consumer spending is likely to suffer more in coming months as the country hunkers down for tax rises and spending cuts. The planned measures to bring the government deficit under control – the "fiscal cliff" – could drain $600bn (£373bn) from the economy early next year unless Barack Obama and US Congress agree a less severe plan. While the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.7% in the third quarter compared with 1.3% in the previous three months, much of the boost came from robust government spending and companies building up stocks. This is likely to have faded in the final three months of the year, although growth could pick up again in the New Year when post-Sandy rebuilding gets under way in the north east.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Reports that former IMF chief agreed to pay $6m to settle civil case with New York hotel maid are denied by attorneys Attorneys for Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Friday denied that the former International Monetary Fund chief has reached a settlement with a New York City hotel maid who accused him of trying to rape her. William Taylor III and Amit Mehta said in a statement that the parties have merely "discussed a resolution". A person familiar with the case told the Associated Press on Thursday that a settlement had been reached. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the private negotiation. "Media reports that Dominique Strauss-Kahn has agreed to pay $6m to settle the civil case are flatly false," the attorneys said. "The parties have discussed a resolution but there has been no settlement. Mr Strauss-Kahn will continue to defend the charges if no resolution can be reached." French newspaper Le Monde, citing people close to Strauss-Kahn, reported the $6m figure. Strauss-Kahn's Paris lawyers, Frederique Baulieu, Richard Malka and Henri Leclerc, said they "vigorously deny the fantasist and erroneous information" published by Le Monde. The New York Times first reported the agreement had been reached. A settlement would bring an end to a saga that has tarnished Strauss-Kahn's reputation, ended his hopes for the French presidency and renewed a debate about the credibility of sexual assault accusers. But it might not mean the end of his legal troubles. He is awaiting a ruling on whether he is linked to "pimping" in connection with a French prostitution ring. The person familiar with the New York case told the AP on Thursday that lawyers for Strauss-Kahn and the housekeeper, Guinean-born Nafissatou Diallo, made the as-yet-unsigned agreement within recent days, with a Bronx supreme court justice facilitating it. Prosecutors dropped related criminal charges last year. If any deal were veiled by a confidentiality agreement, Strauss-Kahn and Diallo might not speak publicly about the May 2011 encounter that she called a brutally sudden attack and he termed a consensual "moral failing". Diallo, 33, and Strauss-Kahn, 63, crossed paths when she arrived to clean his luxury Manhattan hotel suite. She told police he chased her down, tried to pull down her pantyhose and forced her to perform oral sex. The allegation let loose a spiral of accusations about the sexual conduct of Strauss-Kahn, a married diplomat and economist who had long been dubbed the "great seducer". With DNA evidence showing a sexual encounter and Diallo providing a gripping description of an attack, the Manhattan district attorney's office initially said it had a strong and compelling case. But within six weeks, prosecutors' confidence began to ebb as they said Diallo had lied about her past – including a false account of a previous rape – and her actions after leaving Strauss-Kahn's room. Diallo said she told the truth about their encounter. But the district attorney's office dropped the charges in August 2011, saying prosecutors could no longer ask a jury to believe her. Diallo had sued Strauss-Kahn in the meantime, with her lawyers saying she would get her day in a different court. Strauss-Kahn called the lawsuit defamatory and countersued for $1m.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Fight against terrorist group on course for Obama to stop using legal authority given by Congress to wage war, says lawyer The US is heading for a "tipping point" beyond which it should no longer pursue al-Qaida terrorists by military means, one of the Obama administration's most senior lawyers has said. Jeh Johnson suggested the group would become so degraded that a time would come when the legal authority given to the White House by Congress should no longer be used to justify waging the war that has been fought since 2001. Johnson said that when this happened, America had to "be able to say ... that our efforts should no longer be considered an armed conflict against al-Qaida and its affiliates". Instead, the responsibility for tackling al-Qaida should pass to the police and other law enforcement agencies. Johnson has been general counsel at the US defence department for the past four years and has given advice on every military operation that needs the approval of the president or defence secretary. In a speech due to be presented l tonight in the UK on Friday, Johnson was expected to set out the legal principles underpinning the conflict against al-Qaida and insisted they were rooted in domestic and international law. Congress had authorised the president to use "all necessary and appropriate force" against the nations, organisations and individuals responsible for the 9/11 attacks; the US supreme court had endorsed this in 2006 by ruling "our efforts against al-Qaida may be properly viewed as armed conflict". But Johnson also made clear these principles were not open-ended, and that the US government would need to respond when circumstances change. And though he said he could not predict when the conflict would draw to a close, he said the US must not be afraid to change its tactics. "I do believe that on the present course there will come a tipping point, a tipping point at which so many of the leaders and operatives of al-Qaida and its affiliates have been killed or captured, and the group is no longer able to attempt or launch a strategic attack against the United States, such that al-Qaida as we know it, the organisation that our Congress authorised the military to pursue in 2001, has been effectively destroyed. "At that point we must be able to say to ourselves that our efforts should no longer be considered an armed conflict against al-Qaida and its associated forces, rather a counter-terrorism effort against individuals who are the scattered remains of al-Qaida … for which the law enforcement and intelligence resources of our government are principally responsible." America's military assets would then be available in reserve, he said. The US could not "capture or kill every last terrorist who claims an affiliation with al-Qaida" and the enemy "did not include anyone solely in the category of activist, journalist, or propagandist". Washington's pursuit of suspected al-Qaida terrorists has been controversial, such as the use of UAVs – or drones – to launch attacks in countries such as Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. The administration has been criticised by human rights groups and US academics who say the tactic enrages local populations and causes civilian deaths. It is also legally dubious, they argue. A fortnight ago the US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, claimed America had "decimated core al-Qaida" and that the group was "widely distributed, loosely knit and geographically dispersed". His remarks echoed those of Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, who is Barack Obama's nominee to succeed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. She has been pilloried by Republicans for suggesting the attack in Benghazi, Libya, that led to the death of US ambassador Christopher Stephen was spontaneous rather than planned. Such characterisations will put Washington under greater pressure to review and justify the military campaign against al-Qaida, which has been virtually wiped out in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and now exists only in small, disorganised regional splinter groups. Speaking at the Oxford Union, Johnson insisted the US was applying conventional law to an unconventional enemy, and justified detaining prisoners indefinitely and using "targeted lethal force" – such as drones – to kill suspects. He conceded these techniques would be questionable "viewed in the context of law enforcement or criminal justice, where no person is sentenced to death or prison without an indictment, an arraignment, and a trial before an impartial judge and jury". But, he added: "Viewed within the context of conventional armed conflict, as they should be, capture, detention and lethal force are traditional practices as old as armies. Capture and detention by the military are part and parcel of armed conflict. We employ weapons of war against al-Qaida but in a manner consistent with the rule of law. We employ lethal force, but in a manner consistent with the law of war principles of proportionality, necessity and distinction." Johnson said that when the military conflict came to an end, those still in detention would not necessarily be released immediately. He said that after the end of the second world war, the US and British governments delayed the release of some Nazi prisoners of war. "We refuse to allow this enemy, with its contemptible tactics, to define the way in which we wage war," he said. "Our efforts remain grounded in the rule of law."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | President Morsi expected to try to hurry vote through before constitutional court can dissolve Islamist-dominated assembly Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi is expected to call a quickfire referendum on Saturday on the country's new draft constitution in order to hurry it through before Egypt's supreme constitutional court can dissolve the assembly that drafted it. On Friday tens of thousands of protesters once again descended on Tahrir Square calling for Morsi to resign and vowing to stop the constitution. "All indications point to the president calling for a referendum on Saturday after he officially receives and ratifies the draft constitution," said Sameh El-Essawia, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party. "There is a rush because you can't leave the country like this and wait for a politicised verdict from the supreme constitutional court." The Muslim Brotherhood fears the court will dissolve the Islamist-dominated assembly that created the constitution when it meets on Sunday. By law, once Morsi calls for the referendum the assembly's dissolution becomes a moot point. Morsi issued a decree on 22 November granting himself extensive powers including judicial immunity on his decisions. This immunity extended to the assembly, but caused uproar with mass demonstrations on the scale of those that brought down ex-president Hosni Mubarak. The assembly had rushed to finish the draft constitution, working through the night until Friday morning, prompting criticism of the document's content as well as the manner in which it was adopted, with liberal and minority voices woefully under-represented. Assembly member and head of the Doctors Syndicate Khairy Abdel Dayem – who ran on a Brotherhood ticket – admitted that the race to finalise the draft was an attempt to address the current crisis brought about by Morsi's decree. "We thought this was a way to defuse the problem," Dayem said. "The decree will no longer be valid once a constitution is passed. There is anger in Tahrir and there could be trouble if we take our time." The draft has been criticised for its ambiguous language on civil liberties and the status of women. It also blurs the lines between religion and the state. Amnesty International said it "falls well short" of protecting human rights and restricts freedom of expression in the name of protecting religion. "This document, and the manner in which it has been adopted, will come as an enormous disappointment to many of the Egyptians who took to the streets to oust Hosni Mubarak and demand their rights," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa. Dayem defended the lack of minority representation in the assembly. He said: "Read it and decide for yourself if it is biased against women or Christians. Islamists are sometimes sensitive about such criticisms and so an extra effort was made to ensure that wasn't the case." The document has drawn criticism from many quarters, with opposition figurehead Mohamed ElBaradei recently saying that it would eventually be consigned to the "dustbin of history". University professor Mustafa Kamel El-Sayed was one of the members that withdrew from the assembly. He said: "The contentious issues have not been resolved, especially regarding the relationship of the state to religion, and that takes us away from a modern civil state." UN human rights chief Navi Pillay has written to Morsi, urging him to reconsider the decree and warning that "approving a constitution in these circumstances could be deeply divisive," Reuters reported.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | US government attempts to justify treatment of soldier after his arrest on suspicion of leaking thousands of documents The military court hearing the court martial of the WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning was on Friday shown a noose that the soldier made from a sheet in his cell just days after his arrest for having allegedly committed the largest leak of state secrets in US history. The knotted pink sheet, which was held aloft by the chief prosecution lawyer, Major Ashden Fein, dramatically illustrated the suicidal state that Manning was in when he was brought to Kuwait immediately after his arrest at an operating base outside Baghdad in May 2010. The prosecutor also produced a second noose made from sandbag ties and two metal objects that he suggested Manning may have intended to use to harm himself, though the soldier said he did not recollect those items. The exhibits were shown at the start of the prosecution case in a so-called Article 13 hearing – a motion brought by Manning in an attempt to have his charges thrown out or any sentence reduced, on grounds that he was subjected to unlawful pre-trial punishment while he was held at the brig in Quantico marine base in Virginia in 2010-11. The soldier was kept on an extreme custodial regime designed to thwart suicide attempts that included removing his clothes at night, keeping him under constant observation and chaining him whenever he left his cell, which he was allowed to do for only 20 minutes every day. On Thursday Manning, 24, delivered his first publicly spoken statements since he was put into custody 918 days ago on suspicion of having handed hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks. Under questioning from his own defence lawyer, David Coombs, he painted a picture of a Kafkaesque world in which the more he tried to convince Marines authorities that he had recovered and was no longer a suicide risk, the more he was treated as though he were vulnerable and put under harsh restrictions that expert witnesses this week described as worse than Guantanamo Bay or even death row. In a theatrical move, Coombs placed white tape on the floor of the court room in exactly the dimensions of Manning's cell throughout the nine months he was held in Quantico, marking out a 6ft by 8ft (180cm by 240cm) area. The cell contained a toilet that was in the line of vision of the observation booth, and Manning was not allowed toilet paper. When he needed it, he told the court, he would stand to attention and shout out to the observation guards: "Lance Corporal Detainee Manning requests toilet paper!" The burden of proof falls to the US government to justify why it imposed such stringent restrictions on the soldier. Fein's line of questioning was clearly intended to portray Manning's conditions in a more favourable light than had been suggested by the defence the previous day – he invited Manning to talk about the books he was allowed to read (which included Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier), about the complaints procedure he was allowed to follow and the contact he was granted with lawyers and friends. But Manning frequently corrected the prosecution's version of events. When Fein said there had been a skylight and windows outside his cell, Manning replied: "Further down the hallway, yes sir." On Thursday Manning had testified that he could only see the natural light that came from these windows as a reflected gleam when he held his head to the door of his cell and looked through the crack. Fein read from a weekly series of reports signed by Manning that gave a progress report to his army liaison officers. Most of the reports recorded that the inmate thought his treatment at the hands of the guards and the brig facility was "excellent" and several said that he had "no issues" of concern to raise. Manning, however, said he had regularly discussed his frustration at being held so long under a so-called "prevention of injury order" or PoI – which is only marginally more relaxed than full suicide watch – but the officers had chosen not to write that on the form. Despite this being the most serious stage of the pre-trial proceedings that began last December, there were moments of levity as Manning displayed to the court his quirky sense of humour. Asked by Fein if he wanted a comfort break, the soldier replied: "In seven minutes, I can control my bladder." He also explained why he had asked for new underwear during his spell at Quantico by saying: "No matter how much you washed them, they still smelled of Iraq." The Article 13 hearing is just one of several ways in which Manning and his defence team are seeking to reduce the severity of any possible sentence. Under the most severe of the 22 counts he faces – "aiding the enemy" – he could be detained in military custody for the rest of his life. In the hope of avoiding that fate, Manning has effectively admitted that he transferred government information to WikiLeaks while he was working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq. It remains to be seen whether such a manoeuvre will persuade the US government to handle his prosecution more leniently.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Assad's battle-weary forces stretched by increasingly confident opponents Intense fighting raged throughout Damascus for a second day and much of Syria continued to be cut off from the outside world as an emboldened opposition attempted to break through defences in the capital. Internet access remained off limits to almost all of the country and Damascus airport was again closed as battles were fought nearby between the Syrian army and rebels. Mortar rounds fired by opposition groups damaged at least one runway and international airlines suspended flights. Regime reinforcements, including some of its most loyal and capable units, were understood to be trying to push rebels back to rural areas and consolidate their hold on parts of Damascus where the key institutions of state are located. After months of skirmishes with the army on the capital's outskirts, rebel groups said they were attempting to storm strongholds of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, including security buildings from where the regime side of the civil war has been run and the presidential palace. Seizing the airport was also a stated goal of the second co-ordinated attempt to take Damascus in the past four months. The first ended in failure, followed by a series of crushing regime reprisals on opposition communities. The new push appears to have been sparked by a series of advances elsewhere in the country, especially in the north and east, where militant groups near the Iraqi border have made sweeping gains. "We want to liberate the airport because of reports we see and our own information we have that shows civilian aeroplanes are being flown in here with weapons for the regime," rebel spokesman Musaab Abu Qitada said of the latest assault. "It is our right to stop this." Two Austrian members of a UN peacekeeping force were shot in crossfire near the airport on Thursday and evacuated to Israel through the Golan Heights. They are now in hospital in the northern city of Haifa. In far eastern Syria, the jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra was believed to have seized several oilfields including the Omar field, north of the town of Mayedin. Al-Nusra, which contains scores of militants battle hardened in Iraq, was instrumental in overrunning the Mayedin military base last week. It is believed to have used the booty of weapons seized during the raid to storm key regime outposts and assets ever since. The rebel momentum is largely being fuelled by weapons seized during recent raids. Syrian forces are thought to have lost control of much of the east of the country and to be maintaining only a tenuous hold on the city of Deir Azzour. In the north fighting again flared in and around Aleppo, where jihadists have combined with Free Syria Army units both in the opposition-held countryside and in the city itself. Rebels fighting near Aleppo have shown an increasing strategic awareness since they stormed Syria's second city from the hinterland towns and villages in mid-July. After several months of stalemate, opposition forces have been picking off regime bases and outposts that were still operating in the north. They have also succeeded in cutting several key roads that had been used by loyalist troops as supply lines in the western half of Aleppo, which is still under regime control. The fighting in the ancient city has seen no side yield substantial ground. It is still split roughly in half north to south. After many months of pleading for international help to defeat the Assad regime, rebel groups contacted by the Guardian say they are beginning to feel confident in their ability to finish by themselves what they started, as civilian protests gradually changed into full-blown insurrection over the past 20 months. While Damascus does not appear to be at imminent risk of falling, Assad's battle-weary forces remain stretched and heavily engaged in all corners of the country. Recent defectors speak of low morale and growing problems with supply lines in the city. The outgoing US secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, who with Barack Obama had refused to supply weapons to the Free Syria Army, said recent developments showed the dynamic in Syria was changing. "I don't know if you can say that the entire country is at a tipping point, but it certainly seems that the regime will be harder pressed in the coming months," she said. "It appears as though the opposition is now capable of holding ground and that they are better equipped and more able to bring the fight to the government forces."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Battle-hardened jihadis seize oilfields and combine with Free Syrian Army in divided Aleppo Intense fighting has raged throughout Damascus for a second day and much of Syria continued to be cut off from the outside world as an emboldened opposition attempted to break through defences in the capital. Internet access remained off limits to almost all of the country and Damascus airport was again closed as battles were fought nearby between the Syrian army and rebels. Mortar rounds fired by opposition groups damaged at least one runway and international airlines suspended flights. Regime reinforcements, including some of its most loyal and capable units, were understood to be trying to push rebels back to rural areas and consolidate their hold on parts of Damascus where the key institutions of state are located. After months of skirmishes with the army on the capital's outsirts, rebel groups said they were attempting to storm strongholds of President Bashar al-Assad's regime including security buildings from where the regime side of the civil war has been runand the presidential palace. Seizing the airport was also a stated goal of the second co-ordinated attempt to take Damascus in the past four months. The first ended in failure, followed by a series of crushing regime reprisals on opposition communities. The new push appears to have been sparked by a series of advances elswehere in the country, especially in the north and east, where militant groups near the Iraqi border have made sweeping gains. "We want to liberate the airport because of reports we see and our own information we have that shows civilian airplanes are being flown in here with weapons for the regime," rebel spokesman Musaab Abu Qitada said of the latest assault. "It is our right to stop this." Two Austrian members of a UN peacekeeping force were shot in crossfire near the airport on Thursday and evacuated to Israel through the Golan Heights. They are now recovering in a hospital in the northern city of Haifa. In far eastern Syria, the jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra was believed to have seized several oilfields including the Omar field, north of the town of Mayedin. Al-Nusra, which contains scores of militants battle hardened in Iraq, was instrumental in overrunning the Mayedin military base last week. It is believed to have used the booty of weapons seized during the raid to storm key regime outposts and assets ever since. The rebel momentum is largely being fueled by weapons seized during recent raids. Syrian forces are thought to have lost control of much of the east of the country and to be maintaining only a tenuous hold on the city of Deir Azzour. In the north, fighting again flared in and around Aleppo, where jihadists have combined with Free Syria Army units both in the opposition-held countryside and in the city itself. Rebels fighting near Aleppo have shown an increasing strategic awareness since they stormed Syria's second city from the hinterland towns and villages in mid-July. After several months of stalemate, opposition forces have been picking off regime bases and outposts that were still operating in the north. They have also succeeded in cutting several key roads that had been used by loyalist troops as supply lines in the western half of Aleppo, which is still under regime control. The fighting in the ancient city has seen no side yield substantial ground. It is still split roughly in half north to south. After many months of pleading for international help to defeat the Assad regime, rebel groups contacted by the Guardian say they are beginning to feel confident in their ability to finish by themselves what they started, as civilian protests gradually changed into full-blown insurrection over the past 20 months. While Damascus does not appear to be at imminent risk of falling, Assad's battle weary forces remain stretched and heavily engaged in all corners of the country. Recent defectors speak of low morale and growing problems with supply lines in the city. The outgoing US secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, who with Barack Obama had refused to supply weapons to the Free Syria Army, said recent developments showed the dynamic in Syria was changing. "I don't know if you can say that the entire country is at a tipping point, but it certainly seems that the regime will be harder pressed in the coming months," she said. "It appears as though the opposition is now capable of holding ground and that they are better equipped and more able to bring the fight to the government forces."
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Battle-hardened fighters seize oilfields and combine with Free Syrian Army in divided Aleppo Intense fighting has raged throughout Damascus for a second day and much of Syria continued to be cut off from the outside world as an emboldened opposition attempted to break through defences in the capital. Internet access remained off limits to almost all of the country and Damascus airport was again closed as battles were fought nearby between the Syrian army and rebels. Mortar rounds fired by opposition groups damaged at least one runway and international airlines suspended flights. Regime reinforcements, including some of its most loyal and capable units, were understood to be trying to push rebels back to rural areas and consolidate their hold on parts of Damascus where the key institutions of state are located. After months of skirmishes with the army on the capital's outsirts, rebel groups said they were attempting to storm strongholds of President Bashar al-Assad's regime including security buildings from where the regime side of the civil war has been runand the presidential palace. Seizing the airport was also a stated goal of the second co-ordinated attempt to take Damascus in the past four months. The first ended in failure, followed by a series of crushing regime reprisals on opposition communities. The new push appears to have been sparked by a series of advances elswehere in the country, especially in the north and east, where militant groups near the Iraqi border have made sweeping gains. "We want to liberate the airport because of reports we see and our own information we have that shows civilian airplanes are being flown in here with weapons for the regime," rebel spokesman Musaab Abu Qitada said of the latest assault. "It is our right to stop this." Two Austrian members of a UN peacekeeping force were shot in crossfire near the airport on Thursday and evacuated to Israel through the Golan Heights. They are now recovering in a hospital in the northern city of Haifa. In far eastern Syria, the jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra was believed to have seized several oilfields including the Omar field, north of the town of Mayedin. Al-Nusra, which contains scores of militants battle hardened in Iraq, was instrumental in overrunning the Mayedin military base last week. It is believed to have used the booty of weapons seized during the raid to storm key regime outposts and assets ever since. The rebel momentum is largely being fueled by weapons seized during recent raids. Syrian forces are thought to have lost control of much of the east of the country and to be maintaining only a tenuous hold on the city of Deir Azzour. In the north, fighting again flared in and around Aleppo, where jihadists have combined with Free Syria Army units both in the opposition-held countryside and in the city itself. Rebels fighting near Aleppo have shown an increasing strategic awareness since they stormed Syria's second city from the hinterland towns and villages in mid-July. After several months of stalemate, opposition forces have been picking off regime bases and outposts that were still operating in the north. They have also succeeded in cutting several key roads that had been used by loyalist troops as supply lines in the western half of Aleppo, which is still under regime control. The fighting in the ancient city has seen no side yield substantial ground. It is still split roughly in half north to south. After many months of pleading for international help to defeat the Assad regime, rebel groups contacted by the Guardian say they are beginning to feel confident in their ability to finish by themselves what they started, as civilian protests gradually changed into full-blown insurrection over the past 20 months. While Damascus does not appear to be at imminent risk of falling, Assad's battle weary forces remain stretched and heavily engaged in all corners of the country. Recent defectors speak of low morale and growing problems with supply lines in the city. The outgoing US secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, who with Barack Obama had refused to supply weapons to the Free Syria Army, said recent developments showed the dynamic in Syria was changing. "I don't know if you can say that the entire country is at a tipping point, but it certainly seems that the regime will be harder pressed in the coming months," she said. "It appears as though the opposition is now capable of holding ground and that they are better equipped and more able to bring the fight to the government forces."
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Binyamin Netanyahu's plan for mass building on occupied terrorities seen as retaliation for recognition of Palestinian state The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has ordered the construction of thousands of new homes in Jewish settlements in the occupied territories in what will be widely interpreted as retaliation for the United Nations vote to recognise a Palestinian state on Thursday. Israeli officials said the new construction would centre on expanding existing West Bank settlements and more home for Jews in occupied East Jerusalem where the government is imposing demographic changes in order to diminish the proportion of Arab residents. Netanyahu also ordered the advancing of plans for construction to link up Jerusalem with a Jewish settlement, Ma'aleh Adumim, which would have a profound effect on any future Palestinian state based on 1967 borders by cutting deep into the centre of it. The US and Europe have long pressured the Israeli government not to build there. The announcement is a reflection of Israel's anger at the vote, and the Palestinian leadership at pushing for it. Israel condemned the UN's recognition of a Palestinian state as damaging to peace while also, more privately, expressing concern at how many European countries backed the move. Palestinian officials were mixed in their reactions with warnings that if the UN recognition is not used to renew the dormant peace process, then it will lead to more violence, while Hamas described the vote in New York as also a victory for armed resistance. The Israeli government worked hard to portray the UN decision to effectively recognise a Palestinian state as undermining peace. The prime minister's spokesman, Mark Regev, described the move as "negative political theatre because it takes us out of a negotiating process". "It's going to hurt peace," he said. Dore Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the UN, told the BBC that the Palestinian move was a "massive violation" of the Oslo peace accords. "The main issue is what does this do to the peace process," he said. Gold said that if the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, attempted to use the new status to declare an independent state then Israel would have to act and could go so far as "annexing territory". But other Israeli officials sought to downplay the vote, saying it was symbolic and did not require action unless the Palestinians followed through with measures such as acceding to the International criminal court (ICC). The Palestinian leadership rejected pressure from the US and Britain to renounce its new right to go to the ICC, but has said it is not likely to accede immediately. Instead, Abbas sees the issue as a card that can be played in negotiations, particularly over the issue of Jewish settlements – which some international lawyers believe are a clear cut breach of the Geneva Convention preventing "belligerent nations" from moving their nationals to live on occupied territories. Salam Fayyad, prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, warned in Washington that if the UN vote is not used to put renewed impetus into the dormant peace process, it will strengthen armed groups such as Hamas. "What we can all do is to see how we can take advantage of what happened, to enhance the political process. I hope more will begin to see things this way. Let's get together and have a serious discussion on whether things in the past few years proceeded the way they should have proceeded. We demonstrated, we Palestinians can govern ourselves in an effective way," he said. The Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal, said that the UN vote was in parallel with what many Palestinians see as a victory over Israel in the fighting in Gaza earlier this month. He told Reuters that armed struggle was necessary in conjunction with diplomacy. "Negotiating without powerful cards on the ground has no meaning," said Meshaal. "It will turn into begging. This enemy doesn't give anything unless under pressure." But the facts that Israel won the support of just nine countries, including the US, in the UN has caused a degree of alarm inside the Jewish state. Israeli officials were shocked at the scale of European support for the Palestinian resolution, with France switching sides and Germany abandoning a pledge to vote against. Among EU nations, only the Czech Republic supported Israel. For months, Israeli diplomats worked to persuade governments in the EU to, at the least, abstain in the vote in the hope that the Jewish state would then be able to deride a Palestinian victory as delivered by dictatorships and other less than democratic regimes. Israel's position was supported by the EU's foreign affairs representative, Catherine Ashton, and Tony Blair, envoy for the Quartet of the US, EU, Russia and the UN attempting to kick start peace talks. But the fighting in Gaza, fears about strengthening Hamas by not supporting a high profile diplomatic move, and the extreme position taken by Israel, particularly its foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who threatened to overthrow Abbas, helped push many countries toward the Palestinian position. Israel regards France has having led the charge after President François Hollande abandoned his earlier opposition to the Palestinian UN bid. Britain abstained and was isolated enough to feel it had to justify its position by saying it would have supported the resolution if the Palestinians had renounced the right to accede to the ICC and had agreed to immediately renew peace negotiations. The Israelis were particularly stung by the German decision to shift from opposition to abstention. Haaretz reported that Germany moved because of Israeli intransigence of Jewish settlement construction and because Israel had not met previous commitments to the German government. The paper said senior Israeli foreign ministry officials were "shocked" by Berlin's decision. An opinion poll released on Friday showed that a slim majority of Israelis, 51%, do not believe there will be a lasting peace deal with the Palestinians. About 40% say there will eventually be an agreement but that it will take at least five years to reach. More than one third of Israelis expect the conflict with the Palestinians to intensify in the coming years.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | President Obama makes the case for a tax deal to avoid fiscal cliff, after Republicans attack first White House offer
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The woman in line to become the face of America abroad has been hit with strong opposition from Republicans, but her many defenders see a principled, engaged and highly intelligent force It is a remark that has come back to haunt Susan Rice. At the height of the 2008 election cycle, the then foreign policy adviser to Democratic candidate Barack Obama took a swipe at Republican opponent John McCain who had once donned body armor to visit a Baghdad market on a visit to Iraq. Rice, who is now battling for a nomination to be America's next secretary of state, did not hide her scorn at McCain as she spoke about Obama's upcoming trip to the Middle East: "I don't think he'll be strolling around the market in a flak jacket," she said. It was the sort of blunt, insulting language common during a hotly contested election and also fairly common with Rice. But it is hardly the sort of sentiment suited for the position of America's top diplomat. Now, McCain is making Rice pay. The Arizona senator is leading a fierce charge against Rice, using her public comments over who was behind a September terrorist attack in Libya that killed a US ambassador to beat back her hopes of replacing Hillary Clinton. While the attack on the Benghazi consulate is the nominal reason for McCain vowing to "do everything" to block Rice, there are some who see personal motivations rooted in an aspect of Rice's personality that has reared its head repeatedly throughout her career: her bluntness. "The fact that Susan ridiculed him for wearing body armor walking in a market really stuck in McCain's craw. That made it very personal. He got called a sissy by a woman who has never served in the military," said one close Washington observer of the spat. McCain and the Republicans are not alone in picking up on Rice's temperament when it comes to being the next face of America abroad. Influential Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank wrote a scathing piece in which he concluded Obama needed someone with more sensitivity. "Obama can do better at State than Susan Rice," he wrote. The Russians too have been grumbling with anonymous leaks declaring Rice "too ambitious and aggressive". Yet Obama has doubled down on Rice. He warned, in a rare western gunslinger kind of way, that if McCain and others "… want to go after somebody, they should go after me". Obama has put his presidential authority on the line to get his way. That might be because Rice is far more than just someone known to speak bluntly. At her current job as US ambassador to the United Nations she is seen as a savvy and tough operator who has done much to repair America's status there after the willful neglect of the George W Bush years. She has had a glittering career in foreign affairs via senior roles on the National Security Council, being America's top diplomat in Africa and numerous engagements in wonkish think-tank circles. Her many defenders see her as principled, engaged and highly intelligent. "She is a sharp woman. She's Type A. She likes to achieve her goals and she is tireless," said Michael Williams, co-editor of Power in World Politics and who worked with Rice on the 2008 Obama campaign. Indeed Rice has been a high-flying achiever since high school, racking up an enviable CV in academia and practical diplomacy all over the world. But, in the vipers' nest of Washington DC, she has now made enemies. Nor do they seem likely to be placated. Rice earlier this week held private meetings with McCain and other Republican senators, but some came out even more critical afterwards, including moderate Maine senator Susan Collins. Again, a few observers see Rice's perceived prickly personality at work. "Maybe she rubs them up the wrong way when she's trying for a love in," speculated one. No 'sharp elbows'But what sort of woman is Rice? She does not have a hard luck origin story. Unlike her President, there is no tale of a struggling single mom. Nor, like her famous Republican namesake Condoleezza Rice, did she grow up in a racially divided South. Instead Rice is a child of privilege and wealth among the Washington DC establishment. Rice's father, Emmett J. Rice, was a governor of the Federal Reserve, and her mother, Lois Dickson Rice, is an education expert at the famed Brookings Institution – an august body Rice herself would eventually join. Rice, 48, attended the city's famous National Cathedral School, where generations of Washington's elite offspring have been educated. She stood out in that heady crowd, becoming president of the student council and class valedictorian. She also showed a tough streak being known for her physical play on the basketball court (something appreciated by the hoops-loving Obama) and earning the nickname "Spo" which was short for "Sportin". She left an impression. After Milbank penned his critical piece one of Rice's former teachers, John Wood wrote in to fiercely defend his ex-pupil. "I saw no 'sharp elbows' whatsoever. In a very demanding school she was laid back and funny, but also focused and hard-working," Wood wrote, pointing out the school still used the revised honor code that Rice drew up three decades earlier. Rice has often been good at getting people to step up for her. The most important being Bill Clinton's secretary of state, Madeline Albright, who has long acted as a mentor. The Rice and Albright families knew each other socially as Rice grew up. Albright helped her get her first job at State in 1997, when she catapulted in as head of the Africa desk to the reported annoyance of older Africa hands and the African press. When she was sworn in, as one of the youngest assistant secretaries of state ever, Albright was reported to have told Rice's mother: "I feel like I'm swearing in family." But Rice shone in the role which saw her deal with major crises like the bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Dar es Salaam and bloody conflicts in Congo, Eritrea and Ethiopia. "She was a wonderful ambassador for Africa policy. She knows her dossiers; she is hard and she is sharp," said Professor William Zartman, an Africa expert at John Hopkins University who worked with her on African policy. Indeed Africa has long been Rice's expertise. The transition from white rule to black rule in Zimbabwe was the subject of her prize-winning doctoral thesis. She worked for five years for Bill Clinton at the National Security Council, specialising in peacekeeping and Africa and increasingly working as an advocate for a more interventionist policy. That belief sprang out of a failure to prevent the 1994 Rwandan genocide and was cemented on a visit to the benighted country where Rice saw piles of bodies in the streets. She told one reporter of the experience: "I swore to myself that if I ever faced such a crisis again, I would come down on the side of dramatic action, going down in flames if that was required." That explains, many say, much of Rice's tough-minded stances on issues like the intervention in Libya, taking a hardline on Sudan and her open criticism of China and Russia when they blocked a UN resolution condemning brutality in Syria (she called it "disgusting"). "The part that people miss in all of this is that she is a believer. She really does care," said John Norris, a director at the Center for American Progress. That passion is coupled with a ferocious work ethic. While pregnant with her first child Rice did not take any time off until the day before the birth. It also comes with a keen intellect and a breadth of knowledge that few match. While working with Rice when she was a foreign policy adviser to Obama, Williams remembers her briefing foreign ambassadors at the Denver Democratic convention in 2008. He was stunned at her mastery of issues far outside what he had understood to be her specialty. "I had not expected her to be so clued in," Williams said. But that work ethic – unlike the famously single Condoleezza Rice – has not prevented her from a suburban family life. Rice met her husband, Canadian television journalist Ian Cameron, while at college at Stanford. The pair have two children and live in Washington with Rice commuting to New York for UN duties. That has sparked a few complaints that she has missed important meetings, but most analysts see Rice as having done well at the UN – the brusque treatment of Russia and China aside. "At the UN she has put a bunch of savvy political professionals in there who know the UN pretty well," said Norris. She has also developed a good working relationship with Hillary Clinton, which was not always guaranteed. When Rice – who served so long in the Clinton White House – plumped for Obama in 2008 it was seen by some around Hillary as a betrayal. But, it seems, the wounds have healed. Nor is that the first time. 'She is a sharpie. But she follows orders'For all those who say she has a reputation as a bare-knuckle fighter, there are others who say it is just the nature of her work and professional passions. Michael O'Hanlon, a fellow at Brookings, clashed repeatedly with Rice when he worked for Clinton's 2008 campaign. "We battled hard yet parted as close friends despite it all. She is very likeable and appealing," O'Hanlon said. Indeed some believe the current sniping around Rice has a lot to do with sexism. Few male political figures are critiqued for their aggression. There is also serious politics at play. Almost 100 Republican members of the House of Representatives have come out against Rice now, but that might be simple party strategy. If Rice fails to make it through the nomination process, then the next choice is likely to be Massachusetts senator John Kerry, which will open up his Senate seat for a fresh election. But that sort of cynical politics is the world Rice has lived in for a long time. Nor has Obama exactly carried out a US foreign policy in his first term defined by morality, rather than Realpolitik. Obama surged troops in Afghanistan, escalated drone attacks all over the globe and failed to close Guantánamo Bay. "Barack Obama became a less ideological but more effective version of George W Bush," said Professor Aaron Miller, a vice-president at the Woodrow Wilson Centre. That is a philosophy that almost no one thinks Rice will change. Clinton has her own vast power base and has been seen as an effective global ambassador for America, yet her fundamental foreign policy is seen as still emanating from the White House. But Rice is far closer to Obama than Clinton and thus far less likely to be able to push back. Her recent career has been tied closely to Obama's and she is a member of his inner circle. "She is tough. She is a sharpie. But she follows orders," said Zartman. That last characteristic – one rarely mentioned in most profiles – may end up being the most important personality trait of all if Rice does indeed ascend to America's diplomatic hot seat. "Will American foreign policy change? That is not a question up to Rice. That is a question driven by Barack Obama," said Miller.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Want to shoot a really big gun? Six ranges have opened this year alone, catering to tourists who want a bang for their buck A tourist is aiming an assault rifle at a paper zombie. His name is Craig Auringer, 42, and the gun is a fully automatic MP5, a model designed for Swat teams and special forces. He peers through the scope and finds the zombie's head in its crosshairs. He squeezes the trigger, an explosive hammering fills the room and holes appear in both the zombie and its busty, blond hostage. "Nice shot!" the range master shouts. He shoots again, spraying through the rest of the magazine in seconds. To his right, a 19-year-old girl grips an M16. A shotgun blasts to the left. Welcome to Las Vegas, where the nation's loosest gun laws, an aggressive tourism market and weak local economy have triggered a fast moving, powerful trend. Six machine gun shooting ranges have opened here in 2012, including this one: the Range 702. They follow several more open since 2010, and more are on the way. Quintessentially American, risky and bold, this surge has provided a rare glimmer of economic sunshine to Nevada, which has the highest unemployment rate in the US and is still reeling from the 2008 housing crisis. Many of the entrepreneurs behind this trend previously owned businesses in the construction industry in fact; they were big-time gun enthusiasts beforehand too, of course, but the main reason they opened shooting ranges recently, they say, is that the development boom is dead. And then there's the strong demand. Lynda Ducas, owner of the Arizona Last Stop restaurant en route to the Grand Canyon, said she had customers regularly asking where they could shoot guns in Las Vegas. So, a few months ago, she made some calls, bought an arsenal of weapons and launched the "Bullets and Burgers Experience": a day trip to her property that includes a scenic drive through the desert, shooting a .50-caliber sniper rifle, blasting an M249 SAW machine gun, and eating a "world-famous cheeseburger". Yet while each range has a unique theme and ambition, they're all after the same tourists and target them the same way essentially. Nevertheless, there's room for all of them to thrive, they insist. Demand to shoot assault rifles has never been higher apparently, and this is the perfect place to exploit it because, well, it's Vegas. "You're just looking for thrills when you're here," Craig Auringer said after shooting "Osombie" Bin Laden with an M4. A real estate agent vacationing from London with his brother, he added that: "We did the Mario Andretti Indy racing experience yesterday, so we decided to come get our kicks here today." Dan Schott (pronounced "shot") of the Vegas Machine Gun Experience called it a bucket-list item for out of towners. "It's skydiving but without having to jump out of the plane," he said. A majority of these customers are also coming from places with strict gun control laws, he said. As many as 20% are from the UK, while most of the rest arrive from Canada, California or New York. Renting machine guns to tourists has always been legal, though, and one range, the Gun Store, has been doing for almost 30 years with the whole market to itself. So why the sudden boom now? Schott said he could answer that one in three words: Call Of Duty. "Video games are largely responsible for raising interest in firearm use," he said. "That's a first person shooting experience on a TV, this is a first person shooting experience in reality. "People come in every day, look at the wall and quickly go: 'Do you have an M4? Do you have this?' And it's because that's their gun of choice on the game, and that's the only reason they came," he said. "And it's completely different: you feel the thump in your chest. You feel the feedback from the weapon, the recoil in your shoulder. It always exceeds the expectation the game player had sitting in front of the TV." Ranges offer different shooting packages, such as the kid's package with .22 caliber rifles and handguns, the mob package with a shotgun and Tommy gun, the second world war or zombie apocalypse packages, but all of them offer the Gamer's Package with weapons straight out of Modern Warfare. They even stock their arsenals through research on the Internet Movie Firearm Database, a website that lists guns appearances in media the way IMDB does actors. But since these are incredibly violent video games, and the intention here is to make elements of the gaming shooting fantasy a reality, it's fair to ask: Is this safe? Benjamin James, a psychology professor at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, told the Guardian that, upon exiting the range, some tourists might experience the "weapons effect", a biological reaction to handling firearms that causes individuals to behave more aggressively. "I'm not saying they will shoot up a casino afterwards by any stretch. But I do see the possibility of people becoming incrementally more aggressive," he said. Frank McAndrew, a psychology professor at Knox College, agreed. "I don't see any massive problem for society. I think the biggest danger is the safety of the place itself: if you put the wrong person in there, and they're running around with a gun and decide they don't want to play by the rules … But I don't think that's something that would be caused by the gun," he said. "That's just an unstable person being put into a bad place." Perhaps with that dreadful scenario in mind, each site employs a range master who stands with the shooter, loads their weapons, guides them through safe handling and makes sure gun barrels are pointed downrange at all times. But as in any competitive business environment, ambitions have a way of outgunning safety precautions. One industry supplier, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the Guardian that some gun enthusiasts plan to build a "Circus Circus of gun ranges", one including their incredible idea of a funhouse: a "kill room" inspired by those inside law enforcement and military training facilities. They apparently envision a course, packed with visceral distractions and decoys and moving targets, where tourists armed with automatic weapons can roam and fire bullets 360 degrees. This source declined to identify the individuals behind that idea, but the Las Vegas branch of the Zombie Eradication Response Team, an international weapons training group that calls itself Zert for short, posted a video recently announcing an "unconventional zombie warfare school" – a "12,000-square-foot, live-fire shoot house" – available on the second floor of the Range 702. That site's chief executive, Brian Lake, denied such a thing existed there however, saying he is studying a different plan for the space. And all of this – the boom, the "kill room" rumor – has Bob Irwin, the godfather of Las Vegas shooting ranges, shaking his head. "Anybody who knows what they're doing is going to realize that's incredibly dangerous," he said. For almost three decades his site, the Gun Store, has beaconed tourists with billboards bearing AK-47s next to the words: "try one." He's familiar with, and even admires, entrepreneurial spirit, he said, but his competitors' willingness to gamble worries him. "Somebody will build it. I have no doubt," he said regarding the kill room. "And when they get a customer killed, I'm going to be a witness in that court case." Irwin has testified as a forensic expert in 34 court cases involving shooting accidents, including four that took place inside shooting ranges. "The public assumes this is really dangerous. It's not. But it can be if you just look at traffic numbers and go: 'I can build a range too', and you hire some guy because he says: 'I was in the army and therefore I can run a range for civilians who have never shot before; I know how to be safe.' They don't. They do not understand what they're looking at," he said. "They won't understand until someone is bleeding on the floor." It may come to that. Purely in the interest of research, this reporter donned a pair of shooting goggles at the Vegas Machine Gun Experience and fired a 9 mm Glock, a Beratta, an fully-automatic UMP, an M4 and a Browning 1919 – a tripod-mounted, belt-fed, flame-spouting killing barrel – and afterward was still left asking: "What else you got?" The tourist from London looking for thrills, Craig Auringer, had the same reaction. When asked what he wanted from his next gun range experience, he answered: "I don't know. They do bazookas around here? Got any Stingers? Send up a drone maybe?" Indeed, in a city still down on its luck, with loose gun laws and an aggressive willingness to raise the ante, the way things are now might one day seem quaint. One man unlikely to send up a drone, though, is Neil Coplin, 31, a computer programmer from Columbus, Ohio, who after shooting at the Gun Store said: "It was kind of exhilarating, but kind of scary at the same time. It's definite raw power. If you're not familiar with it, and it's not commonplace to you, it's scary. You know this thing can kill someone." He seemed to echo the concerns expressed by Irwin, the vanguard of this industry, when he added: "You know that you're in a safe environment; there was no point where I felt threatened at all. But still: it's a gun. It's something that you take seriously. You don't want to take it lightly because it's a gun."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow how day unfolded as communication restrictions remained in place in Syria
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Calderón's crackdown was supposed to wipe out the cartels, but six years on one gang pervades everyday life in Tierra Caliente The road into Mexico's Tierra Caliente winds down through pine forests into a fertile paradise where tropical fruit seem to burst from the ground, before climbing again into the mountains of the untamed sierra. Remote, mysterious and not a little wild, this corner of the Pacific coast state of Michoacán has for centuries existed at the periphery of government rule. Today it represents an open challenge: a de facto state within a state run by a gang as bizarre as it is bloodthirsty. This is the stronghold of Los Caballeros Templarios (The Knights Templar), a crime syndicate which combines pseudo-mystical ideology with cut-throat business instincts – and a capacity for extreme violence. "Nobody enters without them knowing about it, they have lookouts everywhere," says one local, quietly. "You get good at making neutral comments because you never know who is listening," says another. "They are the law, not the government," says a third. It was in this remote region that the outgoing Mexican president, Felipe Calderón, launched the first stage of what would become a nationwide military offensive against organised crime. Days after taking office in December 2006, he deployed battalions of masked troops and heavily armed federal police – first a few thousand in his home state of Michoacán and eventually 50,000 across the country. He even wore a military uniform when he appeared at a Michoacán army base to cheer on the soldiers. The message was simple: after decades of playing down the growing power of the drug cartels, it was time for the Mexican state to flex its muscles. But as Calderón leaves office, the reality of life in Tierra Caliente (Hot Land) offers a stark rebuke to his strategy. The flow of drugs northward appears to have continued unabated despite a string of cartel bosses being captured or killed in the years since he launched the offensive. In that time, at least 60,000 people – possibly 100,000 – have been killed in violence across Mexico. Thousands more have disappeared. Scores of judges, journalists, politicians and local mayors have been assassinated, and the armed forces have been accused of systematic torture and abuse. The number of deaths appears to have plateaued in the past year, but the experience of Tierra Caliente suggests a falling murder rate is not necessarily any indication that the government is winning. 'We are a necessary evil'In this part of Michoacán, the immediate result of Calderón's offensive was a surge of violence as the military presence exacerbated a power struggle between rival groups of narcos. "Instead of helping, it produced more violence," observes one young professional in a small Tierra Caliente town. That phase ended when the Caballeros beat off their rivals, and set about consolidating control. As a general in the region recently admitted, the recent relative calm owes more to the group's victory over its rivals than it does to the efforts of the federal forces. "What Los Caballeros Templarios is doing is maintaining tight control on organised crime in this area," General Miguel Angel Patino told the Associated Press. "The dominance allows the area to stay quiet, to a certain point." Instead of targeting the federales (federal police) the caballeros has now focused its efforts on building up its image, presenting itself as a crusading brotherhood dedicated to protecting the population, but which also happens to run a brutal criminal enterprise. Like its predecessor, La Familia Michoacána, the caballeros have a system of bizarre and arcane rituals. New members are initiated wearing the costume of medieval warriors, complete with plastic helmets and swords. Cartel pamphlets combine a "code of honour" with demands for social justice. A video released from August shows the cartel's leader, Servando Gómez Martínez, a former teacher, sitting in front of a statue of a knight, a sword, a Mexican flag and large framed pictures of Che Guevara and Pancho Villa. "Our only function is to help the people," he says. "We are not interested in causing chaos or terror and we want you to understand that because of the adverse circumstances we are here today as a necessary evil." Despite their eccentricities, the caballeros have built a genuine local support base – aided by resentment over abuses committed by federal forces. Locals say dozens of people have disappeared after being detained by the security forces. One resident, who is no fan of the cartel, describes federal police brandishing assault rifles at locals as they drive through town, and claims soldiers regularly search houses without warrants, and steal from residents. "People are frightened of organised crime, but they are frightened of the federal police and the army as well," he says. "The difference is that they think the criminals might help them out." The cartel has infiltrated local institutions. In one small town, not only does the group take a cut from the municipal budget, but its lookouts are on the town payroll. "Since the caballeros took over here, things have got much better," a young female resident says. "I would rather this than what we had before." Even if there were popular support for a confrontation, there are few incentives for local mayors to stand up to organised crime. Earlier this month, Maria Santos Gorrostieta, the former mayor of Tiquicheo, was dragged from her vehicle in front of her young children. Her body was found later with signs of torture. It was the third attempt on her life. When Michoacán's governor obliquely blamed the caballeros for the murder, they responded with banners and pamphlets that denied the charge. They went on to allege that they had helped to get him elected last year as part of a secret pact made with his close associates that included getting the vote out in the Tierra Caliente. Now, the banner claimed, they merely wanted him "to tell us directly whether we can expect some return on our investment". Calderón has consistently argued that taking the war to the cartels was the only way to stop Mexico becoming a "narco-state," but in this part of the country, the caballeros have already taken control of areas of everyday life that have nothing to do with the production or shipment of drugs. Locals say the cartel decides when the mango or lemon harvest should start, according to its reading of market trends. Farmers who cannot wait for the best prices must sell their fruit in secret, at considerable personal risk. The caballeros are also said to have become the preferred option for sorting out disputes among members of the community, ranging from the disagreements over boundary fences to unpaid debts or a violent husband. One witness describes how a cartel representative courteously welcomes disputing parties into his office and delivers his judgment without so much as a hint of a threat. "There is no need for that," the witness says. "Everybody knows what could happen." The failure of the government's strategy in the Tierra Caliente could conceivably be blamed on the region's remoteness, its tight-knit, family-based communities, and traditional distrust of central government. But things are not much better in the nearby city of Uruapan. In some ways they are even worse. Uruapan describes itself as the avocado capital of the world, but it now better known as the setting for a pivotal incident in the history of the drug wars. It was here, in 2006, that five severed heads were rolled on to the tiled floor of a nightclub called Sol y Sombra. Since then, Mexico has grown used to ever more creative displays of savagery, but at the time decapitations were still rare, and the incident was one of the triggers for Calderón's offensive. Kidnapped and torturedToday, Sol y Sombra is open for business as usual and – aside from the lines of federal police vans parked in the central plaza – all seems reasonably calm. But the surface conceals a world of rampant criminality and state complicity. "I am not a coward, but if any information about my identity gets out then I am a dead man," says a local man who agrees to describe his kidnapping. The blindfold, shackles, threats and beatings were just the white noise of his ordeal, he says. The day he was forced to stand naked with his head in a noose and ordered to choose between rape or death was harder to bear. He shudders as he recalls the screams of another victim being cut into pieces in the same room with an electric saw, and the sensation of the saw being held within inches of his own neck. And throughout the month-long ordeal, he heard his captors in regular radio contact with police chiefs. On at least one occasion, a patrol car escorted the vehicle moving him between safehouses. When a person is abducted in Uruapan, their family's best hope is to discretely approach somebody thought to have links with the underworld. Relatives almost never go to the police unless that "somebody" is in uniform. "In Michoacán we used to say that almost everybody here had a friend or a relative who was a migrant working in the US," one resident says. "Now we say we all have a relative or friend who is involved with organised crime." This is partly because the crime syndicates no longer concentrate exclusively on drugs. The Michoacán cartels were among the first to diversify their business model to activities with a much more direct impact on the local population, including kidnapping, extortion, people trafficking and even the production of pirate DVDs. As in the backcountry valleys of Tierra Caliente, Uruapan's legal economy is also dominated by the cartel. Taxi drivers are said to pay a monthly cut to the narcos, and are often required to act as spies, as are employees at the convenience store on the outskirts of town. Avocado growers pay a yearly fee per hectare, truck drivers fork out protection money, slot machines carry a sticker verifying that their owners are doing the same, and petrol stations are forced to buy stolen oil. "Six years ago, everybody was in their own trench, but now there is a kind of symbiosis," says one well-connected resident. "That is the real impact of the Calderón strategy." Calderón, now heading safely out of the country for a teaching fellowship at Harvard, has argued to the end that his decision to militarise the drug war was right. "I am sure that the Mexicans of tomorrow with remember these days as the moment when the country took the decision to defend itself, with all its force, against a voracious criminal phenomenon of translational dimensions," he said at the inauguration of a monument to fallen soldiers on 20 November. Around the same time, the caballeros took their leave of the president with printed banners reminding Caldéron that they were not going anywhere. "As we are not going to have you as president from December," it read, "we wish you and your family well." Incoming President Enrique Peña Nieto has pledged to continue Calderón's offensive, but he has also promised to "adjust" the strategy to focus on bringing down the violence. His team talks of improving co-ordination within the security forces, attacking corruption and money laundering, and has acknowledged the need to improve opportunities for poor young people vulnerable to being sucked into the cartels. There have even been discreet noises about reconsidering the strategy in the light of the recent votes to legalise marijuana in some US states. But the new government's plans are all still very vague on everything except Peña Nieto's categorical denial that he will ever negotiate with criminals. The Knights Templar, however, think otherwise. Residents of the Tierra Caliente say known members of the cartel campaigned in favour of Peña Nieto on the assumption that a dialogue will eventually come. "For the good of the country, Enrique Peña Nieto will have to negotiate," says an influential figure in the region who speaks well of the traffickers. "If he doesn't this could get worse. They will feel betrayed." Even some of those who have suffered unspeakable torments at the hands of organised crime say they see no other realistic solution. "There have always been narcos and I think there always will be," says the kidnap victim from Uruapan. "But there has to be a way to reach a deal that allows them to get on with business without messing with ordinary people." The cartel: regrouped – and rebornWith its remote valleys and dense pine forests, the Pacific coast state of Michoacán has for generations been a stronghold for Mexico's drug trade. Marijuana and opium plantations have been hidden in the mountainous region of Tierra Caliente for decades, and more recently local traffickers expanded their business to include metamphetamine production and the management of cocaine shipments heading north from South America. President Felipe Calderón's military-led offensive in the area was originally aimed at containing the vicious rivalry between a locally based cartel called La Familia Michoacána and the Zetas, then the enforcement arm of the Gulf cartel, which was revolutionising organised criminal warfare in Mexico with military-style strategising and unbridled sadistic violence. The Familia, which rivaled the Zetas' brutality, was also unusual in its claim to be executing "divine justice" and the personality cult around its spiritual leader, Nazario Moreno González, nicknamed The Craziest One and author of a book of self-improvement platitudes entitled Thoughts. After winning its battle with the Zetas in Michoacán, the Familia began directly attacking the federal forces but the federales pushed back and in December 2010 killed The Craziest One. The death of its spiritual leader sent the Familia scrambling for the mountains, where the leadership descended into crisis and split in two, prompting triumphalist government assertions that Michoacán would soon be back under control. But while one of the factions has started to fade away, the other relaunched itself as the Caballeros Templarios, which reigns supreme in the Tierra Caliente today and holds significant sway in the nearby city of Uruapan as well as other parts of Michoacán. They maintain a presence in several states beyond that. This year the Caballeros publicly called on other criminal organisations to form a countrywide alliance against the Zetas.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Barack Obama makes the case for a tax deal to avoid fiscal cliff, after Republicans denigrate first White House offer
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Bundestag has approved the Greek aid deal, with 473 MPs voting in favour and 100 against, but Angela Merkel misses out on the Chancellor's Majority
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Under the terms of the agreement Greece will get €44bn in critical rescue loans to avert bankruptcy and exit from eurozone German lawmakers approved latest aid package for Greece by a large majority on Friday , but the voting also showed growing displeasure with the impact on German taxpayers in the run-up to elections next year. Chancellor Angela Merkel failed to secure an absolute majority from her centre-right coalition after 23 MPs rebelled, leaving her relying on the votes of the main opposition Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens. Of 584 deputies present in the chamber, 473 voted for the bailout with 100 against. Under the agreement, reached by European finance ministers this week, Greece will be given two more years to reach its budget goals. It paves the way for Greece to receive €44bn (£35.6bn) in critical rescue loans, without which the country would face bankruptcy and a possible exit from the single currency zone. The package, which aims to cut the Greek debt load to 124% of national output by 2020, has fuelled speculation among German lawmakers and media that eurozone governments will eventually have to write off much of the Greek debt they hold. German government, as the biggest contributor, acknowledged for the first time this week that the bailout will mean lost federal revenues, starting with a €730m shortfall next year. During the debate, finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble defended the aid package and said that speculation about a possible writedown could undermine the Greek government's reform drive. "If we say the debts will be written off (Greece's) willingness to make savings is correspondingly weakened. Such false speculation does not solve the problems," he said. "A Greek bankruptcy could lead to the break-up of the eurozone." Frank-Walter Steinmeier, SPD parliamentary leader and their candidate for chancellor, said the deal on the table "is not a sustainable solution for Greece" and argued that the government had merely "bought time" above all to avoid addressing "unpleasant truths." However, he said his party would back the deal because "we cannot leave the Greeks in the lurch." Finland and the Netherlands are two other eurozone countries which must give parliamentary consent before the funds for Greece are released. According to think tank Open Europe the French parliament will also need to approve the deal but this is likely to be done along with the 2013 budget vote, this means it is very likely to pass. There are also reports that Slovenia will need to accept the deal by 13 December.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Unauthorised man acting for Spain's Gas Natural Fenosa signed agreement for new liquid gas plant It was the deal of the century, a $1bn contract for a brand new gas plant that would rescue Ukraine from its dependence on energy supplied by Vladimir Putin's Russia. The prime minister, Mykola Azarov, oversaw the signing ceremony as a video feed appeared to show welders already at work on the liquid gas plant, and the representative of the Spanish company Gas Natural Fenosa, Jordi Sardà Bonvehí, put his name to the agreement. Not until several days after the event on Monday did it emerge that no one at Gas Natural had heard of Bonvehí. "This person does not represent the company," a spokesman for the firm said. "Gas Natural Fenosa has not signed any contract to invest in a LNG plant project in Ukraine," the company added. "Nor does it have representatives working in Ukraine on this issue." The deal had been hailed by the Ukrainian government as a chance to free the country from the Russian yoke. Vladislav Kaskiv, head of the state investment agency, reportedly proclaimed the signing to be Ukraine's "energy independence day". Little is known about Bonvehí, who reportedly gave the name of Gas Natural's communications boss, Jordi García Tabernero, as his link at the firm headquarters in Barcelona – but company sources said the two had never met. Bonvehí hails from the small Catalan town of Sant Vicenç de Castellet, though relatives in the area told the Guardian he had moved away. He reportedly previously worked in the real estate sector but now styles himself as a representative of Spanish companies in the Ukraine. "I thought I could sign it and then settle it with the company," a man claiming to be Bonvehí told Reuters by phone. Investment agency officials said Bonvehí told them Gas Natural Fenosa officials were on the way, but had been held up "for technical reasons". "He expected the company would confirm his powers [as a representative]," an official said. Kaskiv said Ukraine would press ahead with the project, which also saw it sign a genuine deal with US company Excelerate to provide machinery. "The Spanish company's possible refusal to take part in the project will not be critical," he said. It was not clear who might take up the 75% of the consortium that had originally been destined for Gas Natural. Ukraine is reliant on gas coming from Russia, leading to constant friction and complaints that Moscow is bullying the country. It had hoped the new plant would allow it to import gas more cheaply.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Unauthorised man acting for Spain's Gas Natural Fenosa signed agreement for new liquid gas plant It was the deal of the century, a $1bn contract for a brand new gas plant that would rescue Ukraine from its dependence on energy supplied by Vladimir Putin's Russia. Prime minister Mykola Azarov oversaw the signing ceremony as a video feed appeared to show welders already at work on the liquid gas plant and the representative of the Spanish company Gas Natural Fenosa, Jordi Sardà Bonvehí, put his name to the agreement. Not until several days after the event on Monday did it emerge that no one at Gas Natural had heard of Bonvehí. "This person does not represent the company," a spokesman for the firm said. "Gas Natural Fenosa has not signed any contract to invest in a LNG plant project in Ukraine," the company added. "Nor does it have representatives working in Ukraine on this issue." The deal had been hailed by the Ukrainian government as a chance to free the country from the Russian yoke. Vladislav Kaskiv, head of the state investment agency, reportedly proclaimed the signing to be Ukraine's "energy independence day". Little is known about Bonvehí, who reportedly gave the name of Gas Natural's communications boss Jordi García Tabernero as his link at the company headquarters in Barcelona – but company sources said the two had never met. Bonvehí hails from the small Catalan town of Sant Vicenç de Castellet, though relatives in the area told the Guardian he had moved away. He reportedly previously worked in the real estate sector but now styles himself as a representative of Spanish companies in the Ukraine. "I thought I could sign it and then settle it with the company," a man claiming to be Bonvehí told Reuters by mobile telephone. Investment agency officials said Bonvehí told them Gas Natural Fenosa officials were on the way, but had been held up "for technical reasons". "He expected the company would confirm his powers [as a representative]," an official said. Kaskiv said Ukraine would press ahead with the project, which also saw it sign a genuine deal with US company Excelerate to provide machinery. "The Spanish company's possible refusal to take part in the project will not be critical," he said. It was not clear who might take up the 75% of the consortium that had originally been destined for Gas Natural. Ukraine is currently reliant on gas coming by pipeline from Russia, leading to constant friction and complaints that Moscow is bullying the country. It had hoped the new plant would allow it to import gas more cheaply.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Bundestag has approved the Greek aid deal, with 473 MPs voting in favour and 100 against
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow live updates as fears grow of a showdown in Damascus as flights and communication restrictions remain in place
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Youth unemployment rate hits 23.9% – with more than 55% of Spanish and Greek under-25s out of work Unemployment in the eurozone hit a new high in October, with young people bearing the brunt of the crisis. And with inflation in the currency bloc dropping to an almost two-year low of 2.2% in November, economists believe the European Central Bank could soon cut interest rates. Almost 19 million people in the eurozone were out of work in October, pushing the jobless rate to a record high of 11.7%. There were stark differences between northern and southern European countries, with Austria seeing unemployment of just 4.3% compared with Spain's eye-watering rate of 26.2%. Across the 27 member states of the EU, unemployment also rose, although to a lower 10.7%. Young people, in particular, struggled to find work and youth unemployment in the eurozone hit 23.9%, up from 21.2% in October last year. There are now 3.6 million people under the age of 25 out of work in the region. Spain was among the worst hit, with 56% of its young people out of work. Only Greece fared worse, with slightly older data showing 57% of young people were out of work in August. Here too, different member states had wildly divergent fortunes, with just 8.1% of young people unemployed in Germany, 8.5% in Austria, and 9.8% in the Netherlands. Economists said the situation was likely to get worse before it got better. Christian Schulz at Berenberg Bank said: "Since the labour market usually lags the economic cycle and the overall eurozone economy is likely to deteriorate further in the fourth quarter, unemployment rates could climb further well into next year. The labour market reforms implemented this year have often made it easier for companies to lay off staff, which could contribute to unemployment rises in the short term." There was some good news, in the form of consumer price inflation figures, which fell much more than expected to 2.2% in November, from 2.5% in October. That will ease the pressure on European household incomes but economists were doubtful it would prompt a big rise in spending. Jonathan Loynes of Capital Economics, said: "Whether that will get them spending in an environment of austerity and rising unemployment is another matter". Inflation was helped lower by a smaller increase in energy prices – from 8% in October, down to 5.8% – while food price inflation also eased from 3.1% to 3%. The news could prompt an interest rate cut from the ECB, as policymakers will be less concerned that cheap debt is fuelling inflation. Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global Insight, said: "With the further, appreciable rise in unemployment in October highlighting that the eurozone faces a difficult fourth quarter and beyond, after moving into modest recession in the third quarter. And with the underlying inflation situation in the eurozone looking far from alarming, we believe that the ECB has ample justification and scope to take interest rates down from 0.75% to 0.5%."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Chinese court sentences Chen Kegui to more than three years in prison for assaulting officials after uncle fled house arrest A Chinese court has jailed the nephew of the activist Chen Guangcheng for assaulting officials who forced their way into his home after his uncle fled house arrest. Human rights campaigners and lawyers immediately condemned his conviction, which followed a snap trial on Friday, with one supporter describing the case as a "judicial farce". Chen Kegui's father said a court-appointed lawyer rang at 10am to say his son's trial would begin four hours later at Yinan, Shandong province. He and his wife were not allowed to attend. He said a relative who witnessed the hearing had told him that his 33-year-old son had been sentenced to three years and three months for intentional injury. Chen Guangcheng, a self-taught legal activist, fell foul of officials after exposing forced abortions in Shandong, north-east China, and was jailed on charges of "disrupting traffic and damaging property". After his release in 2010 his family was placed under tight guard in their village of Dongshigu. He and his wife were beaten by thugs, their young daughter was prevented from going to school and supporters who tried to visit were assaulted, detained or pelted with stones. In April this year he escaped, reaching the US embassy in Beijing. He is now in the US, with his wife and children, but has warned that he fears retribution against relatives who remain in China, including his nephew. Before his detention Chen Kegui said he had used knives in self-defence when he was assaulted by men who forced their way into the family home after realising his uncle had fled after 19 months of house arrest. He was initially accused of "intentional homicide", despite no one dying. The charges were later downgraded. But while supporters had feared his sentence would be far heavier, they said he should not have been convicted in the first place. Chen Kegui's father said his son's lawyer had refused to meet him to discuss the case. Chen Guangfu, who is Chen Guangcheng's older brother, said before the hearing: "They are not the lawyers I want or trust, and they don't want to talk to me … I know nothing and have no information at all, neither from the government, court, or the lawyer." He and his wife reached Yinan before the trial started, but another court-appointed lawyer told them that his wife was barred because she had been an accomplice – she was with their son when the clash happened – and he could not attend because he was a witness in the case. Chinese trials usually rely on written witness statements rather than oral testimony. Chen Wuquan, who was hired by Chen Kegui's family to defend him but rejected by the court, said: "I can't accept the result. Chen Kegui is not guilty at all. His behaviour was legitimate self-defence, not the crime of intentional injury. From a legal perspective, the result is unacceptable." Sophie Richardson, Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said: "Chen Kegui's prosecution has been marred by almost all of the same pathologies as Chen Guangcheng's – dubious charges, incommunicado detention, failure to have counsel of his choice, and now an unfair trial." Jerome Cohen, a leading expert on Chinese criminal law and a friend of Chen Guangcheng, said it was even worse than that case. "This is the ultimate example of judicial farce in China, not a happy example of how human rights will be protected by China's new leadership," he said. "The 'trial' was held in ways guaranteed to prevent any possible defence or any possible observer to attend." No witnesses were allowed in Chen Kegui's defence and he was not given the opportunity to use his right to appeal, Cohen added. Teng Biao, another lawyer rejected by the court, said holding the case at such short notice ensured that they had no time to reach Yinan to help the family with legal advice. Teng added that the defendant's relatives had not seen him since his detention, noting: "No one has a clue about his condition." A spokesman for the court, who gave his name only as Director Li, initially said that the judgment would not be issued on Friday, adding: "The trial is of course open to the public. Some Chinese media are already here for it. Media and people are welcome to attend."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Justine Greening stops release of £21m in budget support to Kigali after Democratic Republic of Congo conflict escalates The British government will withhold aid to Rwanda following allegations that the country has been financing rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In a defining moment for UK aid policy to Rwanda, the international development secretary, Justine Greening, announced on Friday that £21m of budget support – money that goes directly to the Kigali government – due to be handed over next month will not now be released. In July, Britain withheld £16m in aid after an interim UN report alleged Rwanda's involvement in neighbouring DRC, but the money was controversially restored by Greening's predecessor Andrew Mitchell in September on his last day at DfID. Greening's decision is perhaps no surprise. Last week, she and the foreign secretary, William Hague, said a subsequent report by the UN expert group (pdf) into the fighting in the DRC provided "credible and compelling" evidence of Rwandan support for the M23 rebels who are fighting government troops. The violence has led to the displacement of almost half a million people in eastern Congo, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis. Rwanda's president, Paul Kagame, denies the allegations. The EU, US, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden have already suspended aid to Rwanda. Greening said on Friday that the evidence DfID had gathered "constitutes a breach of the partnership principles set out in the memorandum of understanding [between Britain and Rwanda], and as a result I have decided not to release the next payment of budget support to Rwanda". She added: "We are committed to finding lasting solutions to the conflict in this region and will work with the governments of Rwanda and DRC to secure a peaceful resolution to the situation in eastern DRC." The UK international development select committee backed Greening's decision, but in a report published on Friday it said DfID should consider the alternative channels to deliver its aid and the wider implications for its programmes if unrest in the region continues. The committee also questioned how Mitchell could have concluded in September that Rwanda's support for the M23 rebels had ended. Britain is Rwanda's largest bilateral donor, and planned to increase its aid from around £75m in 2012-13 to £90m by 2015. The UK has praised the east African state for making progress on poverty alleviation and meeting the millennium development goals. Human Rights Watch's UK director, David Mepham, said withholding aid to Rwanda sent an "unequivocal message" to Kigali to stop supporting the "abusive M23 rebels in eastern Congo". A HRW report in September said the Rwandan army had deployed troops in eastern Congo to support M23's military operations. Mepham added: "The UK is also rightly calling on Rwanda to respect basic human rights … For years, these principles have been breached by Rwanda without triggering any response from the UK government. We hope today's statement marks the beginning of a new era in which the UK government will uphold its principles on human rights and require its development partners to do the same." The head of the African Development Bank, Donald Kaberuka, this month urged donors to unfreeze aid to Rwanda to avoid causing long-term damage in the country. East African Business Week reported Kaberuka saying the consequences of withholding aid could be costly and take a long time to repair. DfID will provide a further £18m of support for immediate humanitarian needs in DRC, it announced on Friday. Aid agencies have warned that thousands of people are seeking shelter in camps for internally displaced persons that are already beyond capacity, raising concerns of a cholera outbreak. The DRC country director of Mercy Corps, Mark Dwyer, said: "Thousands of displaced people are in and around Goma now, searching for a safe place for their families. Many have moved from one camp to another and back again across the last week, fleeing the fighting. "Preventing cholera is our absolute No 1 priority. In some areas right now there are over 200 people for every one latrine, and 700 people sharing a single hand-washing station. The combination of poor sanitation like this and a shortage of clean water makes water-borne disease a very real threat. Our engineers and staff are working around the clock to help bring water to more than 400,000 people here who need it, as well as building many more latrines and washing facilities, and training those living in camps on the importance of basic sanitation practices like hand-washing."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Everyone has got a favourite bar or pub, whether it's a place that holds special memories from a trip or just the local boozer. Here readers choose theirs
• Add a tip for next week and you could win a £250 bag of travel kit WINNING TIP: Apotheke, New YorkBased on an old-fashioned European apothecary shop, Apotheke, in Chinatown, is a cocktail bar like no other. The menu is eclectic and the bar is more of a chemistry lab than a drinks station, surrounded by medicinal jars from around the world. Great atmosphere and potent cocktails.
9 Doyers Street, apothekenyc.com
Emily167 UKThe Kings Head, Norwich In the early 2000s you only ventured into the Kings Head if you had lost the will to live. In 2005 it reopened, run by two former surveyors who cared about beer and the environment in which to enjoy it. Today this is a friendly, comfortable, 21st-century take on the traditional English pub, selling mainly Norfolk beers and a selection of Belgian ales. With the exception of the odd free-range pork pie, there is no food, or music or entertainment. A bar billiards table sees a considerable amount of use. Definitely worth passing a few pubs for, even in Norwich, a fine city for ale.
42 Magdalen St, kingsheadnorwich.com
darkerlight Trailer Happiness, London
Trailer Happiness is a little bit of Tiki heaven in Notting Hill Gate's Portobello Road for an easy relaxed atmosphere and a drink at the end of a hard day. It's been around for about eight years, and recently got even better under the new management. Food is great and as the home of the Notting Hill Gate Rum Club it's definitely the place to go for rum-based drinks.
177 Portobello Road, trailerhappiness.com
rosamundg Inn on the Pier, Aberystwyth
Large octagonal bar, TVs all round, emphasis on sport, choices of beers, pizzas and other traditional food, spectacular views of the Aber seafront and Cambrian coastline, and from autumn to spring thousands of starlings swooping to their roosts below the pier.
Royal Pier, Marine Terrace, royalpier.co.uk
Russellhp IrelandFallons, Dublin
Fallons is a stand out gem even in a city with an embarrassment of riches when it comes to pubs. This tiny bar hunkered in the shadow of St Pat's Cathedral is the true soul of Dublin. A single room, with too few seats and a plethora of characters is ably served by charismatic bar staff. No music plays to disturb your chat or your drinking and the only television is buried in the corner. If you want a genuine Dublin pub, you will not find a better example than this. Rumour has it that it is Shane MacGowan's favourite bar too, so you're in good company.
129 The Coombe
sicreer SpainBoadas, Barcelona
I found this little cocktail bar just off the Ramblas during one summer in Barcelona and I loved it. There are no drinks menus, you just tell the suit-clad barmen what you like and they'll invent it for you. It's the perfect place to escape the heat and crowds of central Barcelona, without walking too far. The low jazz music keeps a comfortable mellow vibe running. No strict dress code but best not wear trainers.
Carrer dels Tallers 1
kaysmythe Los Diamantes, Granada
Los Diamantes is a tiny, blink-and-you'll-miss-it watering hole and tapas bar on a bustling street full of touristy restaurants. The scrumptious smell of fried seafood, ubiquituous in Granada, is almost intoxicating on Calle Navas. The crowded, noisy, bar looked quite daunting at first but we boldly strode in and found a small space by the corner of the bar reasonably easily. As is the practice in Granada, we got a complimentary plate of tapas with our cervezas to start. It was a generous portion of pulpo (octopus) which my boyfriend, who does not like octopus, wolfed down faster than you could say "I thought you didn't like octopus". Clams were small and sweet, prawns fresh and garlicky, cuttlefish juicy with crunch tentacles. We resolved to go there again the next night. The entire meal, with three beers and bread, came to slightly over €30.
Calle Navas 26, barlosdiamantes.com
firsttimebuyer Netherlands
Beer Temple, Amsterdam
Just around the corner from Dam square is an American-style beer bar with a whopping 30 beers on tap (unheard of in Europe, but common in many speciality bars in the US) and over 100 in bottles. The Temple specialises in US ales (and I don't mean Budweiser or Coors) but also has a good selection of UK, Dutch and Belgian beers. On my visit they had all three Westvleteren Trappist beers in stock (some of the rarest and reportedly best beers in the world) and I was able to try all for the first time. Many of the American beers are also particularly rare (Three Floyds, Stone, etc) and Brewdog beers from the UK appear to be popular here. If you are a beer lover this is a must, and for the connoisseur maybe even worth a special holiday. Nieuwezijds voorburgwal 250, beertemple.nl
billhaverchuck Germany
The Fässla Brewery Bar, Bamberg
Bamberg is a beer drinkers' heaven. It is also a Unesco-listed town on the banks of the Main that Bomber Harris failed to visit. Of the nine or so breweries in town, Faessla is the best. Its bar is snug, to say the least, but all the better for it. The beers are also great and will be brought to your table by efficient bar staff who will mark your beer mat every time you have a new drink so you can tot them up when you pay. The whole place oozes charm. You're not in Bavaria, but Franconia, where they are very proud of their brewing culture. Should it be busy, the Spezial (brauerei-spezial.de), opposite, is a very good substitute.
Obere Königsstrasse 19-21, faessla.de
cynicalmagyar Sweden
The Story Hotel bar, Stockholm
There are better views in Stockholm, from Gondolen for example, and there are better settings for hotel bars, such as the Nobis on Norrmalmstorg. But for grown-up drinking, this bar simply cannot be beaten. As part of one of Stockholm's hippest hotels, it's a place that concentrates on the details. An intriguing mix of classics and truly original recipes, all made with the best ingredients and just the right amount of theatre by staff who are friendly, knowledgeable and ready to suggest exactly what you should be trying next.
Riddargatan 6, storyhotels.com/bar
Raptou USThe Cat's Eye Pub, Baltimore
There are bands on at night, but go on a quiet lunchtime. The architecture will take you back to the old whaling days of Baltimore. From the bay you have to take a water taxi to get there and there's something about arriving "by sea" that makes it all rather magical. Half close your eyes and you can imagine Jack London, Edgar Allen Poe and Captain Ahab shooting craps in the back room. A very special place.
1730 Thames Street, Fells Point, catseyepub.com
7thhatfield The Smallest Bar, Key West, Florida
Something about this place brought me back night after night. No pretensions, great cocktails, and immediate friendliness with such other revellers as could fit in this tiny bar.
124 Duval St
leleuviaandy Gibson's, Chicago
The classic American bar at the centre of Chicago's "Viagra Triangle". Big windows so you can watch (in summer at least) the parade of expensive cars and expensive people, while the bar itself is a curving, dark mahogany glory. It's always busy, often with live piano jazz. Get that inner glow with the perfect martini, then tuck into the greatest steak on earth. Absolute heaven!
suivolentis ChileChinaski, Valparaiso
It's a little jazz bar half way up a hill in the scruffy, poetic quarters of Valparaiso. Careful, it's a rough hill. To enter, you step through a doorway of stone piano keys. No English spoken, no beer from a glass, no smoking ban. The place is thick with jazz smoke and there are instruments littered against every wall. Sometimes the regulars pick up a sax or a guitar and jam, cigarettes hanging from their mouths, and the standard of the music is incredible. If you want a beer, you sometimes have to wait for the owner to come back with a slab of cans from the supermarket. Then the party is on. Named after Henry Chinaski – the most famous bar-fly in American literature.
Ecuador 169, no website, probably not even a phone line
sethrowden ArgentinaBar Isabel, Buenos Aires
In a word, fabulous. With a glamorous, mirrored space in a vaguely art deco/Studio 54 style and overhead canopy of flashing lights, the place feels special the second you walk in the door. Park yourself in a booth and be waited on or hang out at the bar. Outside there is a dramatic concrete-lined space with an open fire. Combine this with a staff that knows how to make top-notch cocktails and are friendly to boot (as everyone is in this city) and great DJs. Just don't get lost in the completely mirrored hall of wonders that is the (unisex) bathrooms.
Uriarte 1664, Palermo, isabelbar.com
ididnotgetthat Fiji
Oavalu Club, Levuka
In his book The Road to McCarthy, Pete McCarthy said this was the best bar in the world. Outside it looks like my old cub-hut; inside, the floorboards are bare. The pictures tell the stories: a young Queen Elizabeth II, framed WWI dreadnoughts, and a 1950s Vargas pin-up girl in a negligee. Noël Coward, Rudyard Kipling and King George V drank here. No longer a colonial capital, Levuka is quiet now; offshore is Wakaya, the hideaway island where Keith Richards is said to have fallen out of a tree.
apetergill Thailand
SkyBar, Bangkok
Perched on the 63rd floor of the Lebua Hotel the Sky Bar offers 360-degree views of Bangkok and the Chao Praya river. Get there before sunset and watch the city change from day to night in front your eyes. The cocktails are amazing: dress to impress and don't forget your camera. Not for people who suffer from vertigo!
1055111 Silom Road, thedomebkk.com
stevewilliams72 British Virgin Islands
The Last Resort, Tortola
A restaurant and bar on tiny Bellamy Cay, the Last Resort is renowned for its live music, which often involves musical games, audience participation and plenty of tequila shots from an optic on the drum kit. Making your way back across the bay in a little dinghy after a night at the Last Resort is often much more precarious than it was getting there.
Bellamy Cay, Trellis Bay
chloedavida
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Nine regions have already passed legislation prohibiting promotion of 'homosexual propaganda' among minors Russia's parliament is to consider a nationwide ban on "homosexual propaganda", in a move activists likened to a Soviet-era crackdown. Nine regions including St Petersburg have already passed legislation prohibiting the promotion of "homosexual propaganda" among minors. The Duma, Russia's parliament, will consider the nationwide ban on 19 December. "This is an illegal policy of repression," said Igor Kochetkov, head of the LGBT Network, a Russian gay rights group. "It's a strange coincidence that this law will be looked at on 19 December, and on 17 December 1933, the Soviet authorities made sexual relations between men illegal. They argued that gays were alien to Soviet society. Now and then, we hear the same rhetoric." Russia lifted its Soviet-era ban on homosexuality in 1993. Recent moves clamping down on gay rights have come amid a wider government push to promote traditional values and conservatism, often in concert with the Russian Orthodox church. Last week Milan tore up a 45-year agreement to hold "sister city" status with St Petersburg, in protest at its law. All Out, a global gay rights group, has called on tourists to boycott the Russian city. Kochetkov said the federal law followed "fascist logic". "It divides people into fully valued and half-valued people," he said. The LGBT Network had recorded a rise in the number of attacks against gay people and gay clubs in Russia since the regional laws had been passed, he said. Proponents of the law argue that it is aimed at protecting children and promoting family values. Last week a court in St Petersburg threw out a lawsuit against Madonna after a group of conservative activists tried to sue the pop star for $10.7m (£6.7m), arguing that she had broken the city's homosexual propaganda laws during a summer concert.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | A mother and her metal-head son go on an awkward holiday, while Bryan Talbot produces animal magic This year has delivered us a crop of graphic novels so rich and varied, you could wrap a different one for each family member and have done with other bookish presents altogether. First, though, a universal crowd pleaser, and my graphic novel of the year: Days of the Bagnold Summer (Jonathan Cape £9.99) by Joff Winterhart, which tells the story of a 52-year old librarian called Sue Bagnold, her teenage son, Daniel, whose interests include crisps and heavy metal, and what happens when they're forced to spend the long holiday together. (Answer: it's all a bit funny and sad.) I love this book so much, I would have to instantly excommunicate any friend who didn't feel the same way – though such is its greatness, this won't ever happen. A perfect gift, then, for gloomy teenagers, stressed-out parents, or anyone at all who remembers how completely terrible it was to be 15. For sheer escapism, I recommend Grandville Bete Noire (Jonathan Cape £16.99), the third in Bryan Talbot's adorable anthropomorphic steampunk series (Philip Pullman is just the latest fan) starring a badger detective called Inspector LeBrock, and his rodent sidekick, Detective Sergeant Roderick Ratzi. At Toad Hall, lair of the multibillionaire Baron Aristotle Krapaud, a cabal of fat cats is plotting the overthrow of the French state by automaton soldiers. Meanwhile, our heroes are in hot pursuit of a masked assassin who is stalking the city's art world. The bastard child of Conan Doyle and Beatrix Potter, it's a gripping feast for the eyes. If this sounds too weird – or you have a younger reader in mind – there is always the Julius Chancer series by Garen Ewing (now collected as The Complete Rainbow Orchid (Egmont £14.99), timeless adventure stories that fans of Tintin will adore. A book to dip in and out of is Mrs Weber's Omnibus (Jonathan Cape £20) by Posy Simmonds, a satisfyingly fat collection of her old Guardian comic strips that will make you laugh out loud. (Heaven is a polytechnic sociology lecturer called George.) Those who favour history, politics and current affairs don't have to make do with some 800-page tombstone of tightly packed prose. Give them, instead, A Chinese Life (SelfMadeHero £15.99) by Philippe Otie and Li Kunwu, a fantastic graphic memoir about life under Mao; Best of Enemies (SelfMadeHero £14.99) by Jean-Pierre Filiu and David B, a wonderfully inventive account of US-Middle East relations down the centuries; or Journalism (Jonathan Cape £8.99) by Joe Sacco, a new collection of reportage by the acclaimed author of Palestine. Sacco's book takes him from the Hague, where he attends the trials of those accused of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia; to Uttar Pradesh, India, where he documents the lives of the untouchables; to Malta, where thousands of refugees from sub-Saharan Africa are washed up every year. Moving and informative, I would pair this with my other favourite graphic book of the year, Guy Delisle's Jerusalem (Jonathan Cape £16.99), which makes breathtakingly light work of one of the world's most complex political situations. Or there is always Harvey Pekar's Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me (Hill & Wang £17.99), in which he explores the ways in which Zionism let him down (the great Pekar, author of the American Splendor comics, died in 2010; this, his final book, comes with an afterword by his wife, Joyce Brabner). As I wrote when I reviewed it, no single woman, be she ever-so-happy or ever-so-desperate, is going to want to be given a book called Please God, Find Me A Husband! (Jonathan Cape £14.99) for Christmas. On the other hand, there is something irresistibly joyful about Simone Lia's search for the man of her dreams (it involves, among other things, a stay in a nunnery). It has a magic all of its own. Relationship angst of a different kind is on display in Are You My Mother? (Jonathan Cape £16.99) by Alison Bechdel. I didn't like this half so much as Fun Home, Bechdel's memoir about her closeted father. But for her fans, it is required reading all the same, telling the story from the other side with recourse to the theories of the psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott and the novels of Virginia Woolf. (Quite a bracing present, then.) Finally, nervous cooks will like Helen Ashley's Recipes from the Kitchen Drawer (Square Peg £10). It's not a new idea to do recipes in strip form; Len Deighton got there first with his 1967 Action Cook Book. But this slim volume has the edge on Deighton when it comes to simplicity, and would make a great stocking filler for anyone about to leave home for the first time. Includes a recipe for aduki bean burgers – a dish that would have had Harry Palmer rolling his eyes and reaching for his omelette pan – but also for such meaty staples as shepherd's pie and chilli con carne.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Indian third-quarter GDP growth at lower-than-forecast 5.3% keeps country on track for its first sub-6.5% year since 2002-03 The Indian economy extended its long slump in the quarter ending in September, with lower-than-expected growth keeping it on track for its worst year in a decade and underscoring the urgency of politically difficult reforms to spur a revival. Quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) grew 5.3% from a year earlier, provisional government data showed on Friday, below the 5.5% posted in the three months ending in June and less than a Reuters poll of economists had forecast. The number matched the performance of Asia's third largest economy in the January-March quarter, which was the weakest growth rate in three years. "The growth is bottoming and we will see an improvement from here, though not a very strong improvement," said Robert Prior-Wandesforde, director of Asian economics research for Credit Suisse in Singapore. Market reaction to the data was muted. Growth was dragged down by subdued manufacturing output growth of 0.8% on the year and farming output of 1.2%. The number was lower than indicated by the finance minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, last week when he warned that India faced "a difficult situation" and needed innovation to boost output. Low growth is making it harder for Chidambaram to rein in a wide fiscal deficit, which global ratings agencies say needs to be controlled if India is to avoid losing the investment grade designation on its sovereign debt. A growth rate below 6% for the third quarter in a row is damaging for a country that aspires to near double-digit expansion to provide jobs for its burgeoning population. The slump also makes it tougher for the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, to fund flagship welfare programmes before a national election due in mid-2014. The crisis prodded Singh into shedding years of policy inertia to launch some of the most daring initiatives of his tenure in September, including raising subsidised diesel prices and opening sectors such as supermarkets to foreign players. But analysts say India needs to take more steps quickly, including speeding up approval for infrastructure projects, overhauling the tax system and reducing its swollen deficit to revive capital investment. Many G20 central banks have been moving to support growth through monetary stimulus, but stubbornly high inflation has made it tough for the Reserve Bank of India to reduce borrowing costs. The next monetary policy review is due on 18 December, but the bank has said any interest rate cut is "highly improbable" at that meeting. The low number raised expectations of some monetary loosening, however. "The growth is below the Reserve Bank of India's trend growth expectation, and I think the central bank will cut rates further from here," said Credit Suisse's Prior-Wandesforde. "I expect a repo rate cut in January and there could possibly be another cash reserve ratio cut in December." Chidambaram told Reuters earlier this month that economic growth for the current financial year that ends in March could be as low as 5.5%. India's economy has not grown at less than 6.5% since the 2002-03 fiscal year.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Madeleine McCann's father expresses concern over PM's reaction to judge's recommendations David Cameron is facing accusations of being too quick to dismiss the Leveson inquiry's proposals after the culture secretary confirmed the government would produce a draft bill of the judge's recommendations in an effort to demonstrate that statutory regulation of the press is unworkable. Maria Miller said on Friday she would meet the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, and Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, next week as the government attempts to head off criticism from victims of press intrusion. The father of Madeleine McCann expressed his concern over Cameron's swift dismissal of a key Leveson proposal, saying that statutory underpinning was the "minimal acceptable compromise" for press reform. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday, Miller repeated her "grave concerns" about Leveson's proposed system of regulation enshrined in law. "The prime minister was very clear: we have some grave concerns about the principle of putting in place statutory underpinning for this new body and we're not convinced it's absolutely necessary to achieve what he's set out," she said. "What we're concerned about is creating amendable legislation that could in the future give parliament the opportunity of stopping reporting on certain areas." Miller also raised concerns about Leveson's suggestion that Ofcom act as a "backstop regulator" of the press, because the culture secretary is responsible for appointing its chief executive. She said it was "surprising" that Miliband had backed all of the recommendations made in the report, but maintained that the government "fully accepts the principles" laid out in the 2,000-page document. Miller refused to be drawn on whether Cameron believed the report to be "bonkers" – a reference to the prime minister's on-air pledge on BBC1's Andrew Marr programme in October that he would implement Leveson's recommendations unless they were "bonkers". Earlier on Friday the deputy Labour leader, Harriet Harman, piled pressure on Cameron when she backed concerns expressed by victims of press intrusion, including the parents of Milly Dowler and the 7/7 survivor Prof John Tulloch. She said: "What we're talking about is ensuring that that code is independently enforced. That is what Leveson has proposed, and for the sake of the victims that does not seem too much to ask." Gerry McCann, the father of Madeleine, who went missing in 2007, said he was dismayed by Cameron's reaction, but also said he believed Leveson's report did not go far enough. "Although we broadly welcome Lord Leveson's report and it has many merits, for me I don't think it has gone far enough. I would have liked to see a properly independent regulation of the press whereas I think he's given them another chance at self-regulation," said McCann. Asked what he made of the prime minister's swift dismissal of the statutory underpinning proposal, McCann told the Today programme: "Full implementation of Lord Leveson's report is the minimal acceptable compromise for me and many other victims that have suffered at the hands of the press. "I think the prime minister and our other elected politicians have an opportunity to do the right thing. I think if they do the right thing for the public then it will help restore a bit of confidence." Alan Rusbridger, the editor-in-chief of Guardian News and Media, said he had spoken to editors on Thursday night and there were "minor differences" about whether statute was necessary. "Our view is if you need a bit of statute to underpin that [incentives to join], to make it effective in the courts, that's something worth having. This big bogeyman of statute I don't think is there," he said. The Sun, the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror – the papers that had campaigned vociferously against any legislation – all heaped praise on Cameron in leader columns on Friday. The veteran journalist and editor Max Hastings also voiced his opposition to Leveson's statutory recommendation. He told Today: "As soon as parliament legislates [that] the British press should be regulated then however you dress it up you have a degree of state regulation." However, the former Sunday Times editor Harold Evans said self-regulation had been a "total failure" and he could not see the problem with "some kind of authority" behind it. Miller will meet phone-hacking victims on Friday and will be pressed to explain why the prime minister earlier said he would implement the Leveson proposals so long as they were not "bonkers", but is now saying he is opposed in principle to any further involvement of the law in the underpinning of a new press regulatory body. She will meet newspaper editors next week to impress on them that she must see signs of progress on their proposals for a new tougher independent regulatory body. But the industry is divided, with the Guardian questioning the wisdom of Lord Hunt, the chair of the Press Complaints Commission, remaining in place after his proposals developed over the past year were roundly rejected not only by Leveson but also by the entire political class on Thursday. Labour accused Miller of prejudging the impracticality of a draft bill, accusing her of preparing to present laws in the next two weeks that would be so draconian that only the Stasi would welcome them. Labour insisted the legislation to underpin the new regulator could be done cleanly, simply and effectively. Miliband has said he will wait until the end of January at the latest to table a motion calling for the Commons to accept statutory underpinning. On current maths, he should be able to win this vote but much will depend on developments between now and then, and whether a cross-party consensus can hold.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rushed vote to pass document inflames row between Mohamed Morsi and opposition Islamists have approved a draft constitution for Egypt without the participation of liberal and Christian members, seeking to pre-empt a court ruling that could dissolve their panel with a rushed, marathon vote that further inflamed the conflict between the opposition and the president, Mohamed Morsi. The vote by the constituent assembly advanced a charter with an Islamist bent that rights experts say could give Muslim clerics oversight over legislation and bring restrictions on freedom of speech, women's rights and other liberties. The draft, which the assembly plans to deliver to the president on Saturday, must be put to a nationwide referendum within 30 days. Morsi said on Thursday it would be held "soon". The Islamist-dominated assembly, which has been working on the constitution for months, raced to pass it, voting one by one on more than 230 articles for more than 16 hours. The lack of inclusion was on display in the nationally televised gathering: of the 85 members in attendance, there was not a single Christian and only four women, all Islamists. For weeks, liberal, secular and Christian members, already a minority on the 100-member panel, have been withdrawing to protest against what they call the Islamists' hijacking of the process. "This constitution represents the diversity of the Egyptian people. All Egyptians, male and female, will find themselves in this constitution," Essam el-Erian, a representative of the Muslim Brotherhood, declared to the assembly after the last articles were passed just after sunrise on Friday. The sudden rush to finish came as the latest twist in a week-long crisis pitting the Brotherhood veteran Morsi and his Islamist supporters against a mostly secular and liberal opposition and the powerful judiciary. Voting had not been expected for another two months. But the assembly abruptly moved it up in order to pass the draft before Egypt's supreme constitutional court rules on Sunday on whether to dissolve the panel. "I am saddened to see this come out while Egypt is so divided," Egypt's top reform leader, the Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, said on al-Nahar TV. But he predicted the document would not last long. "It will be part of political folklore and will go to the garbage bin of history." A new opposition bloc led by ElBaradei and other liberals said the assembly had lost its legitimacy. "It is trying to impose a constitution monopolised by one trend and is the furthest from national consensus, produced in a farcical way," the National Salvation Front said in a statement read out by Waheed Abdel-Meguid, one of the assembly members who withdrew. Thursday's vote escalates the already bruising confrontation sparked last week when Morsi gave himself near absolute powers by neutralising the judiciary, the last branch of the state not in his hands. Morsi banned the courts from dissolving the constitutional assembly or the upper house of parliament and from reviewing his own decisions. In an interview on state TV aired late on Thursday, Morsi defended his edicts, saying they were a necessary "delicate surgery" to get Egypt through a transitional period and end instability he blamed on the lack of a constitution. "The most important thing of this period is that we finish the constitution, so that we have a parliament under the constitution, elected properly, an independent judiciary, and a president who executes the law," Morsi said.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Deal rumoured in civil case between former IMF head and woman behind criminal rape prosecution that collapsed Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former International Monetary Fund chief, is said to have reached a settlement with the hotel maid who accused him of trying to rape her, likely ending a legal saga that forced the onetime French presidential contender's resignation. Details of the deal, which comes after prosecutors dropped related criminal charges in 2011, were not immediately known on Thursday and may be subject to a confidentiality agreement. Lawyers for Strauss-Kahn and the housekeeper, Nafissatou Diallo, made the as-yet-unsigned agreement within recent days, with Bronx supreme court Justice Douglas McKeon facilitating that and a separate agreement to end another lawsuit Diallo filed against the New York Post, said a person familiar with the case. A court date was expected next week. Lawyers for both sides did not comment. Diallo, 33, and Strauss-Kahn, 63, crossed paths when she arrived to clean his luxury Manhattan hotel suite. She told police he chased her down, tried to yank down her pantyhose and forced her to perform oral sex. The allegation let loose a spiral of accusations about the sexual conduct of Strauss-Kahn, a married diplomat and economist who had long been dubbed the "great seducer". He faces separate charges linking him to a suspected prostitution ring in his home country. With DNA evidence showing a sexual encounter and Diallo providing a gripping description of an attack, the Manhattan district attorney's office initially said it had a strong and compelling case. But within six weeks prosecutors' confidence began to ebb as they said Diallo had lied about her past including a false account of a previous rape and her actions after leaving Strauss-Kahn's room. The district attorney's office dropped the charges in August 2011, saying prosecutors could no longer ask a jury to believe her. Diallo had sued Strauss-Kahn in the meantime. Strauss-Kahn called the lawsuit defamatory and countersued her for $1m. Her lawsuit against the Post concerned a series of articles that called her a prostitute and said she sold sex at a hotel where the Manhattan DA's office had housed her during the criminal case. The News Corp newspaper has said it stands by its reporting; a spokeswoman declined to comment on Thursday. In France judges are to decide by 19 December whether charges linking him to a suspected prostitution ring run out of a luxury hotel in Lille can go ahead. He acknowledges attending "libertine" gatherings but denies knowing that some women present were paid. In August a separate case against Strauss-Kahn, centered on allegations of rape in a Washington DC hotel, was dropped after French prosecutors said the accuser, an escort, changed her account to say she wasn't raped. Soon after Strauss-Kahn's arrest in New York last year, the French writer Tristane Banon accused him of attempting to rape her during an interview in 2003, a claim he called imaginary and slanderous. Prosecutors said they believed the encounter qualified as a sexual assault but the legal timeframe to pursue her complaint had elapsed.
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