world politics review

New Russian bomber taking shape

2013-03-11T17:17:00.000+01:00

The development of the Russian Perspective Aviation Complex of Long-Range Aviation (PAK DA) which is to replace Tupolev-95MC and Tupolev-22M3 planes, except the latest Tupolev-160, in the 2020s-2030s is being discussed in the press again.
According to some reports, the Russian Air Force have already chosen the shape of the new plane. It is to be a small inconspicuous long-distance subsonic plane. The media report that the development of the new plane is being carried out by the Tupolev Design Bureau.
Some information published by the media raises experts’ doubts. First of all, many experts do not believe that the Tupolev Design Bureau is capable of independently developing such a large-scale project. In this connection it is believed that one of the participants in the project, if not the chief developer, will be the Sukhoi Design Bureau. It has enough experience in designing heavy planes, though it has never designed long-distance bombers.
It is believed that the PAK DA project could be based on the results obtained while making the T-50 fifth-generation fighter.
It is not the ultimate truth either that the speed of the new plane would not exceed the speed of the sound. One should take it into consideration that the prospective bomber is not only to replace the strategic Tupolev-95 but also Tupolev-22M long-distance bombers one of whose tasks is fighting against the enemy’s Navy. In this case supersonic speeds are essential.
Russia has inherited the USSR’s huge experience in the development and operation of the Air Force long-distance supersonic aircraft and naval missile-carrying supersonic aircraft. A platform for long-distance flights at maximum supersonic speeds could also be useful for reconnaissance and targeting in the Russian Navy. The Navy always stakes on the fire power of rocket launchers and submarines. For these vessels an outside firing pointer is of paramount importance.

Hard to say how much this reasoning coincides with the train of thought of the Russian Defence Ministry or the United Aircraft-Building Corporation. However, it is not too long to wait now, as the new aircraft is to rise into the sky before the end of this decade.

After election win, Anastasiades tackles Cyprus bailout

2013-02-26T17:29:00.001+01:00

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cypriot president-elect Nicos Anastasiades, armed with a clear mandate from voters to spare the island from insolvency, said on Monday he was committed to reforms in return for a financial bailout.

The Conservative Anastasiades won decisive backing in a presidential election on Sunday for an aggressive approach to resolving the island's worst financial crisis in four decades.

Less than 24 hours after his resounding victory on Sunday, Anastasiades said he would appoint Michael Sarris, a former World Bank economist who enjoys broad respect at home and abroad, as his finance minister.

Anastasiades has promised a quick deal with foreign lenders and to bring Cyprus closer to Europe, in a shift from the policies of the outgoing Communist government that first sought aid from Russia before turning to the European Union.

"Long-term prospects for Cyprus are excellent as we are committed to carrying out necessary structural reforms. We only need a helping hand now," Anastasiades told Germany's Bild newspaper, according to advance excerpts of an interview to be published in Tuesday's edition.

Christopher Pissarides, a Nobel laureate for economics in 2010, was appointed head of a group of consultants to the government on the economy.

Sarris, a soft-spoken and down-to-earth economist known to many Cypriots by his first name, successfully ushered Cyprus into the euro zone during a stint as finance minister between 2005 and March 2008 under a previous center-left government.

He had refused a ministerial appointment by the outgoing Communist-led government in mid-2011, saying he needed a clear mandate to handle a then-looming financial crisis.

"I think it is a very strong choice, he is clearly respected in the EU but also in the U.S., which could be important for getting IMF support for a bailout." economist Fiona Mullen said, referring to Sarris's appointment.

SMALL ISLAND, BIG PROBLEM

Eight months of talks on a bailout package have turned Cyprus, one of the euro zone's smallest economies, into a big headache for the currency bloc, triggering fears of a financial collapse that could reignite the European debt crisis.

Anastasiades will be sworn in on February 28, and fully assume duties on March 1. With state funds depleting rapidly and a 1.4 billion euro ($1.9 billion) debt maturing in June, he has little time.

In a joint statement on Monday, the French and German finance ministers said talks must begin with prospective lenders soon so a deal can be reached by the end of March.

Cyprus sought aid from the EU and the IMF last June, after a Greek sovereign debt restructuring saddled Cypriot banks with losses. It is expected to need up to 17 billion euros in aid - about the size of its entire economy.

"There is a pressing need to recapitalise our banking sector," Anastasiades told Bild. "I agree with Germany and France that we should reach an agreement by March."

Virtually all rescue options - from a bailout loan to a debt writedown or slapping losses on bank depositors - are proving unpalatable because they push Cypriot debt to unmanageable levels or risk hurting investor sentiment elsewhere in the bloc.

Although a draft bailout deal says banks may need "up to" 10 billion euros to recapitalise, a banking source said an asset review still under wraps has earmarked between 5.98 billion and 8.86 billion euros for banks.

With Cyprus's fiscal needs at 7.0 to 7.5 billion over the next four years, the final bailout could reach 16 billion euros.

GERMAN WORRIES

German misgivings about Cyprus's commitment to fighting money laundering and its strong financial ties with Russia - which has already extended a 2.5-billion-euro loan to the nation - have further complicated negotiations.

Known for his no-nonsense style and impressive access to European policymakers such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Anastasiades took 57.5 percent of the vote in the run-off election, 15 points ahead of his anti-austerity Communist-backed rival Stavros Malas.

"Money laundering is a global problem and no country can remain immune to this problem. However I believe the comments about Cyprus are wrong and exaggerated. We have gone through proper checks," Anastasiades said.

The island was ready to agree to further inspections by international or European committees and take on board proposals for improvement, he said.

Cyprus has been shut out of international capital markets for almost two years, with the outgoing administration resorting to heavy borrowing from state-owned corporations to pay public sector salaries.

Yet prices on the island's internationally traded bonds have rallied in recent weeks. The quoted yield on a Cypriot 10-year benchmark bond has fallen to an 18-month low of 9.45 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Berlusconi revives political career in chaotic Italian election

2013-02-26T17:28:00.002+01:00

Silvio Berlusconi, the three-time Italian prime minister, billionaire playboy and perpetual criminal defendant who was all but counted out of Italian political life when a debt crisis forced his resignation in 2011, shocked the country Monday by shooting back into a position of influence.

Even by the chaotic standards of Italian politics, the resurgence of Berlusconi’s People of Liberty party, which seems to be in contention to win the most seats in the Italian Senate, along with the astonishingly strong showing of a naysaying protest party led by Beppe
Grillo, a seething ex-comedian opposed to the euro, has cast the Italian government into confusion.

The results have created the remarkable possibility that Italy could find itself next week without a government or a pope.

That instability rippled across the Atlantic. As details of the election became clear through the day, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 200 points, or about 1.5 percent, in a potent reminder of how sensitive markets remain to events in the euro zone. The currency region’s financial crisis has ebbed in recent months, but only on the assumption that political leaders would follow through on promised economic policies — something the Italian results may throw into doubt.

There was no clear victor in the election held Sunday and Monday. There were, however, losers. The left-leaning Democratic Party, led by Pier Luigi Bersani, a mild-mannered former industry minister, appeared likely to barely win the lower house of Parliament, but fell far short of expectations.

Bersani, 61, is weighed down with far-left partners such asNichi Vendola, a gay, ex-communist southern governor that the Italian press once dubbed “the white Obama.” Vendola once assessed himself to The Washington Post as “beloved.” He is less cherished by the potential partners Bersani needs to form a coalition, setting the stage for yet another collapse-prone Italian government.

“We have a problem of governability,” said the party’s spokesman, Roberto Seghetti. The banner headline on Il Messaggero on Tuesday read: “Ungovernability wins.”

The smallest electorate since World War II sent a clear message of dissatisfaction to the country’s caretaker prime minister, Mario Monti, who was advised by David Axelrod, top campaign strategist for President Obama. Monti, an international darling for his technical government’s emphasis on responsibility and personal austerity, proved a political flop at home and won less than 10 percent of the vote, dashing his hopes to finish a mission that counted Obama among its supporters.

Critics of Berlusconi were sure that the onetime cruise ship singer was gone from national politics for good. Berlusconi, whose last public appearances before the election included a favorable comparison between the Sicilian mafia and the Italian judicial system, had promised to forgive the building of illegal houses and personally pay about 4 billion euros worth of property taxes for Italian citizens. He also expertly benefited from the fragmentation of the Italian political universe.

“He’s the best campaigner,” said Roberto D’Alimonte, professor of political science at the Luiss university, who added that the “winner” of the elections, however, was Grillo’s raging Five Star Movement, which garnered about a quarter of the vote. “We have never seen anything like it in Europe,” he said of Grillo’s campaign.

The 64-year-old Grillo, who has sapped the votes of the Italian left, transformed himself from theoretical funnyman to public scourge
of Italy’s corrupt political class
in 2007, when he began holding V-Day protests (short for an Italian expletive). Hundreds of thousands of supporters have turned out in recent weeks to hear Grillo, who has put a mask of notorious plotter Guy Fawkes on his Tsunami Tour’s campaign camper, has the most-read blog in Italy and exhausts himself screaming “Thieves!” and bemoaning the country’s myriad woes.

What worries many of Italy’s more sober politicians and analysts is that the protest leader does not seem to be in favor of much. A conviction for vehicular manslaughter in an accident that killed three people means that Grillo himself cannot serve in Parliament, and his candidates have no governing experience, having won by railing against tax collectors, vaccines, citizenship for children born to Italy’s legal immigrants and the euro.

Outside a voting station on Via Tevere, Enrico Beccarini, 61, said he was disappointed by a Monti campaign that amounted to “putting up posters” and the chilly economist trying to warm his image by adopting a dog named Empathy. He voted for Grillo’s party because “it’s a strong protest vote,” he said.

Giancarlo Pagotto, a retired banker, walked out minutes later and said he had cast his ballot for Berlusconi. “At this moment, he seems to me the only acceptable choice,” he said with a shrug. “I’m anti-communist so I can’t vote Bersani; Grillo is leading a good rebellion, but we have no idea what he’s for, and Monti disappointed me.”

As for Berlusconi’s pledge to personally pay for the country’s real estate tax, Pagotto said, “you say a lot of things in an electoral campaign. My hope is that he wins and then steps aside for someone else in his party and becomes economy minister. He’s a great entrepreneur.”

Tunisia arrests suspect in killing that sparked unrest

2013-02-26T17:28:00.000+01:00

A hardline Islamist has been arrested in connection with the killing of a Tunisian opposition politician whose death earlier this month touched off protests across the country, a security source said on Monday.

Tunisia was plunged into political crisis when the secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid was gunned down outside his house on February 6, igniting the biggest street protests since the overthrow of strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali two years ago.

"The police arrested a Salafist suspected of killing Belaid," the source told Reuters without giving more details.

Last year, Salafist groups prevented several concerts and plays from taking place in Tunisian cities, saying they violated Islamic principles. Salafists also ransacked the U.S. Embassy in September, during international protests over an Internet video.

Tunisian radio station Express FM cited a senior security official as saying police had arrested three Salafists, including a police officer, in connection with Belaid's killing.

Abd Majid Belaid, brother of the victim, said he could not confirm or deny the report. The Ministry of Interior and Justice was not available for comment.

Interior Minister Ali Larayedh said last week that arrests had been made but gave no details.

"The investigation has not led yet to identify the killer, those behind the murder and its motives," he said.

Secular groups have accused the Islamist-led government of a lax response to attacks by ultra-orthodox Salafi Islamists on cinemas, theatres, bars and individuals in recent months.

After Belaid's killing - Tunisia's first such political assassination in a decade - Hamadi Jebali resigned as prime minister after he failed to form a cabinet of technocrats to take Tunisia to elections in a bid to restore calm.

Tunisia's President Moncef Marzouki has asked Interior Minister Ali Larayedh to form a new government.

The so-called Jasmine Revolution that toppled Ben Ali in January 2011 was the first of the Arab Spring revolutions.

Tunisia's political transition has been more peaceful than those in other Arab nations such as Egypt, Libya and Syria, but tensions are running high between Islamists elected to power and liberals who fear the loss of hard-won liberties.

BBC blocked in China just days after reporting on Chinese hackers

2013-02-26T17:27:00.000+01:00

The British Broadcasting Corporation may have discovered a new “red line” for the Chinese government: don’t bring reporters near the Shanghai complex where China’s suspected military hacking team is thought to be located.

The BBC says its “World Service” broadcast is being jammed inside China, preventing people there from hearing the program. The network said in a statement, “The jamming of shortwave transmissions is being timed to cause maximum disruption to BBC World Service English broadcasts in China.”It’s hard to pinpoint the rationale behind the blocking, and not just because the Chinese government does not of course claim responsibility. But we have a pretty good hint in this story from last week, when members of the Chinese military detained some BBC journalists who were trying to film outside the Shanghai complex where China’s elite military hacker team is thought to work. The BBC journalists were held inside the building until they surrendered their footage, which sounds as it were mostly just banal exterior shots.

The incident, and now China’s possibly related move to block BBC broadcasts, are a sign of how serious the Chinese government is about keeping prying eyes away from the suspected military hackers.

The Shanghai-based Unit 61398 of the People’s Liberation Army, as it is named in a report by the cyber security company Mandiant, is thought to be behind Chinese cyber-attacks on just about every federal agency and major institution in Washington.

China doesn’t declare its “red lines” for foreign reporters openly, typically setting them by precedent. It’s not hard to find Western reporters who wrote something a little too critical or ventured somewhere a little too sensitive and suddenly found themselves unable to renew their visas. The New York Times and Businessweek Bloomberg seemed to find a Chinese government red line last year when their Web sites were both blocked in the country, presumably for their groundbreaking reporting on corruption in the top levels of the Chinese Communist Party.

Sri Lankan forces 'raped' Tamils in custody, study says

2013-02-26T17:26:00.000+01:00

Sri Lankan security forces have committed crimes of sexual violence against ethnic Tamils in state custody, a new Human Rights Watch report says.

The study focuses on cases of alleged rape of men, women and minors detained between 2006 and 2012 because of their suspected links to Tamil Tiger rebels.

It documents 75 accounts of alleged sexual abuse and torture, saying most of them are backed by medical evidence.

Sri Lanka's government has dismissed the report as "rubbish" and "lies".

At least 100,000 people died during the 26-year war between government troops and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighting for a separate homeland. The Tamil Tigers were defeated in 2009.

Both sides were accused of human rights abuses throughout the conflict and particularly in its final stages, when thousands of civilians were trapped in a thin strip of land in the north of Sri Lanka as fighting raged around them.The report comes during a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, which is expected to discuss a resolution critical of Sri Lanka's human rights record and the army's conduct during the last phase of the war.

'Unlawful tool'

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says sex crimes committed by government security forces "sharply increased" following a ceasefire breakdown in 2006.

Most of the abuses were politically motivated, according to the report.

"Rape was one of the unlawful tools used by the military and police against suspected LTTE members or supporters to gather intelligence during the fighting and immediately after the conflict ended in May 2009, as well as to obtain information about any remnants of the LTTE since then, whether in Sri Lanka or abroad," it says.

The findings focus on 75 cases of alleged rape or torture of 31 men, 41 women, and three boys aged under 18, all arrested for suspected links to Tamil Tiger rebels.

In one of the accounts, a woman said she was raped just over a year ago in the Colombo office of the Criminal Investigation Department.

In another case, a former rebel who surrendered in 2009 said a metal rod and metal balls were inserted inside his penis and had to be surgically removed after he escaped from Sri Lanka.

A third man said he was raped, beaten and hung upside down when he was 17 years old.

Sri Lankan government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella dismissed the report as "total fabrication".

"If they are making allegations they should give us the medical evidence so we can see if we've investigated," he told the BBC.

"[The allegations are] beyond any criminal activity, designed to tarnish the image of the country, total blatant lies. There's not 1% of truth in it."

HRW conducted the interviews over a 12-month period with former detainees in Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The research was carried out secretly because of government access restrictions, the organisation says. As a result, it was able to speak only to ex-captives and not to current detainees, whose "fate is of urgent concern".

Based on the witness accounts, those behind the sex crimes are thought to have included members of the Sri Lankan army, police, and pro-government Tamil paramilitary groups.

"In all of the cases documented, the acts of rape and sexual violence were accompanied by other forms of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by state security forces," the report says.

"The continued large-scale deployment of the armed forces in former LTTE areas of northern Sri Lanka, coupled with increased surveillance of civil society groups, has stymied community responses to rights abuses including sexual violence."

Based on its findings, the report has called on the Sri Lankan government to investigate and prosecute "those responsible, including persons with command or other superior responsibility, in proceedings that meet international fair trial standards".

Other recommendations include abolishing detention without charge or trial; granting humanitarian groups better access to the north of the country; and releasing individuals held without charge under emergency or anti-terrorism laws.

Philippines Martial Law Victims to Receive Reparations

2013-02-26T17:24:00.000+01:00

Philippine President Benigno Aquino signed into law Monday legislation that would recognize and compensate victims of human rights abuses during martial law under former President Ferdinand Marcos.

Lawmakers spent 14 years trying to pass various forms of a proposal that would make the government recognize human rights victims of injustices under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Congressman Walden Bello says it passed this year because many legislators realized the victims were aging, if not dying, and had grown sickly.

“It’s great that we were finally able to muster the forces to get it through both Houses of Congress," Bello said. "Also, I think it’s very significant because the Philippines is one of the few if not the only government that has in fact designated reparations payments for human rights violations that have been admitted by its agencies.”

The new law sets aside $250 million to compensate victims or families of victims, determined by an independent panel, to have been murdered, tortured or suffered other injustices at the hands of law enforcement and the military of the Marcos administration.

The Marcos family continues to deny any human rights violations took place under Ferdinand Marcos’s rule.

Marie Hilao-Enriquez is chairperson of SELDA, a victims’ advocacy group that lobbied hard for the law. She was an activist during the martial law years and was thrown in jail where she gave birth to her first child. She escaped, but her sister was later detained and killed.

Hilao-Enriquez says the group is happy to finally be recognized by the government. But she says the fight is not over.

“This is a small portion of justice," she said, "the reparations and recognition because to us complete justice means the perpetrators should acknowledge the sins they have committed. They should issue an apology. They should be prosecuted for their sins.”

Money for the fund comes from part of the Marcos estate which allegedly came from ill-gotten wealth that was frozen by the Swiss government and returned to Philippine authorities.

President Aquino signed the Human Rights Victims Recognition and Reparation Act into law on the 27th anniversary of the bloodless revolution that catapulted his mother to the presidency and restored democracy. Aquino’s father, a vocal opponent of Marcos, was killed by unknown assassins during those years.

Vietnam to Participate in UN Peacekeeping Missions

2013-02-26T17:23:00.002+01:00

Vietnam says it will begin participating in United Nations peacekeeping operations early next year, a further sign that it wants to assume a bigger role in international affairs. Facing rising demand, the U.N. has appealed for countries to send more troops and police officers to help carry out its peacekeeping missions around the world. Vietnam didn't say how large a contribution it is prepared to make. Most of the 115 participating countries currently make only token contributions of less than 40 people.

The state-controlled Tien Phong newspaper on Tuesday quoted Vice Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh as telling visiting U.N. Assistant General Secretary Edmond Mulet that Vietnamese troops would be available from early next year. The report gave few other details.

Vietnam opened its economy to foreign investment in the 1990s and has followed a steady policy of embracing regional and international institutions. But the Communist rulers of the country's 87 million people have shown no sign of relaxing bans on freedom of speech and political activism even as they seek greater global clout.

Countries contribute troops to the U.N. for a variety of reasons, including national prestige, the ability to influence individual missions and a perception that doing so may help in bids for elected seats at the world body. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged in 2011 that sourcing peacekeepers was a major problem, saying he had been "begging leaders to make resources available to us."

There are currently 15 U.N. peacekeeping missions around the world. Bangladesh is currently the biggest contributor with more than 8,000 personnel, closely followed by Pakistan and India. The United States and most European countries, while being the major bankrollers of the peacekeeping program, mostly prefer to deploy their troops with NATO and EU or other Western-led missions.

A study last year by the International Peace Institute placed Vietnam among 33 countries that had potential to either begin contributing troops or significantly strengthen their commitment. Vietnam's neighbor and fellow Communist state China is a moderate contributor that the study said could become a larger player.

Drop in Taliban attacks incorrect

2013-02-26T17:22:00.003+01:00

The U.S.-led military coalition in Afghanistan incorrectly reported a decline in Taliban attacks last year, and officials said Tuesday that there was actually no change in the number of attacks on international troops from 2011 to 2012.

The corrected numbers - from the original reports of a 7 percent decline to one of no change - could undercut the narrative promoted by the international coalition and the Obama administration of an insurgency in steep decline.

A coalition spokesman, Jamie Graybeal, attributed the miscounting to clerical errors and said the problem does not change officials' basic assessment of the war.

The 7 percent figure had been included in a report posted on the coalition's website in late January as part of its monthly update on trends in security and violence. It was removed from the website recently without explanation. After The Associated Press asked last week about the missing report, coalition officials said they were correcting the data and would re-publish the report in coming days.

U.S. and allied officials have often cited declining violence as a sign that the Taliban has been degraded and that Afghan forces are in position to take the lead security role when the last U.S. combat troops leave Dec. 31, 2014.

In mid-December, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said "violence is down," in 2012, and that Afghan forces "have gotten much better at providing security" in areas where they have taken the lead role. He said the Taliban can be expected to continue to attack, "but overall they are losing."

On Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman George Little said Panetta was "concerned to learn of the errors" and was only very recently briefed on the matter.

"This particular set of metrics doesn't tell the full story of progress against the Taliban, of course, but it's unhelpful to have inaccurate information in our systems," Little said.

The Taliban have lost a good deal of territory since a 2010 surge of U.S. forces in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, and they failed to recover it during the last two fighting seasons. Even so, they are resilient, and they are expected to severely test Afghan forces as the U.S. and its coalition partners step further into the background this year and complete their combat mission next year.

Graybeal did not fully explain ISAF's erroneous reporting of 2012 Taliban attacks. It was not clear, for example, at what point the data errors began or who discovered them.

"During a quality control check, ISAF recently became aware that some data was incorrectly entered into the database that is used for tracking security-related incidents across Afghanistan," Graybeal said from Kabul, speaking for the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF.

Graybeal said an audit determined that portions of the data from unilateral Afghan military operations were "not properly reflected" in the trends ISAF had reported in its monthly updates.

"After including this unilateral ANSF (Afghan National Security Force) data into our database, we have determined that there was no change in the total number of EIAs (enemy initiated attacks) from 2011 to 2012," Graybeal said.

"This was a record-keeping error that we recognized and have now corrected," he added.

The coalition defines enemy initiated attacks as attacks by small arms, mortars, rockets and improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. But it does not include IEDs that are found and cleared before they explode.

Trends in Taliban attacks are one yardstick used by ISAF to measure war progress. Others include the state of security in populated areas, the number of coalition and Afghan casualties, the degree to which civilians can move about freely, and the performance of Afghan security forces.

Graybeal said that even though the number of 2012 Taliban attacks was unchanged from 2011, "our assessment of the fundamentals of campaign progress has not changed. The enemy is increasingly separated from the population and the ANSF are currently in the lead for the vast majority of partnered operations."

Iran said to deploy aging foreign tankers, avoiding sanctions

2013-02-26T17:22:00.001+01:00

Iran is using old tankers, saved from the scrapyard by foreign middlemen, to ship out oil to China in ways that avoid Western sanctions, say officials involved with sanctions who showed Reuters corroborating documents.

The officials, from states involved in imposing sanctions to pressure Iran to curb its nuclear program, said the tankers - worth little more than scrap value - were a new way for Iran to keep its oil exports flowing by exploiting the legal limitations on Western powers' ability to make sanctions stick worldwide.

Officials showed Reuters shipping documents to support their allegation that eight ships, each of which can carry close to a day's worth of Iran's pre-sanctions exports, have loaded Iranian oil at sea. Publicly available tracking and other data are consistent with those documents and allegations.

"The tankers have been used for Iranian crude," one official said. "They are part of Iran's sanctions-busting strategy."

Dimitris Cambis, the Greek businessman who last year bought the ships - eight very large crude carriers, or VLCCs - to carry Middle East crude to Asia, flatly denied doing any business with Tehran or running clandestine shipments of its oil to China.

Cambis said he had not been involved in shipping before but had bought the tankers as part of a new venture he runs from the United Arab Emirates. He denied trading with Iran - though he has contacts there from his previous work in the oil industry.

He denied his vessels have loaded oil from Iran while at anchor in the Gulf. Known as ship-to-ship transfers, or STS, such movements are hard to track as crews can switch off tracking beacons or not update their recorded positions for periods to conceal that one vessel has come alongside another.

Cambis also explained a stop in Iran by one of his tankers - recorded in publicly available tracking data - as having been only for an emergency repair, not to load an oil cargo.

"There is no Iranian vessel that has done any STS with us," Cambis told Reuters in Athens in response to the officials' allegations of taking oil from Iranian tankers owned by Tehran shipping group NITC. "We have nothing to do with NITC."

The officials involved with sanctions dispute his account and showed documents detailing several ship-to-ship loadings. They said all eight of the tankers were involved in Iran trade.

In one instance in early December, according to the shipping documents shown to Reuters by the officials, an NITC tanker named Marigold loaded Iranian crude onto the Leycothea, one of Cambis's eight ships, while both were at anchor off the UAE emirate of Sharjah. Public tracking showed Cambis's tanker made a call about a month later to Zhanjiang oil terminal in China.

Loading at sea lets vessels pick up a cargo without visiting the country of origin of the crude. Officials allege the tankers are also used as offshore storage for Iranian oil which can then be transferred onward to other ships, concealing its origins.

Officials in Iran, which rejects Western allegations it is seeking nuclear weapons, did not respond to requests for comment.

MUDDYING WATERS

Experts on sanctions law said that by operating outside the European Union, ship-owners had no clear obligation to observe rules barring EU companies from buying Iranian oil, though banks and insurers with EU or U.S. business ties are giving a wide berth to firms they suspect of dealing with Iran, given U.S. and EU efforts to penalize such firms within their own jurisdiction.

"Such ships would be used to delete traces of a trade taking place," a London-based ship broker said.

While Iran has its own substantial tanker fleet, capable of carrying over 72 million barrels, the 2 million barrels that each of the eight tankers can move would be a useful addition to its capacity, analysts said - particularly as their foreign ownership and management could help conceal the Iranian origin of the oil, making it easier to obtain insurance, finance and other ship services that are affected by EU and U.S. sanctions.

Cambis said that between August and November he bought the eight ships: Leycothea, Glaros, Nereyda, Ocean Nymph, Seagull, Zap, Ocean Performer and Ulysses I. The first five are now managed by his firm, Sambouk Shipping, in Sharjah and he is in the process of transferring management of the remaining three.

In other movements indicated by the shipping documents, the Nereyda was also involved in a separate ship-to-ship transfer with NITC's Rainbow in the Gulf in November, while the Glaros took an offshore transfer from the Marigold there in December.

The Nereyda was later recorded arriving at a terminal in China in December. The Glaros appears to have remained in the Gulf since that December transfer, according to tracking data.

Asked about publicly available ship tracking data showing that the Glaros stopped at Iran's Larak Island oil terminal on October 20 last year, Cambis provided what he said was an affidavit by the ship's master describing an emergency repair carried out by Iranian divers when the tanker was headed to Saudi Arabia.

The master, named as I. Bonoutas, could not be reached for comment. Cambis denied loading any oil in Iran. After its stop at Larak, Glaros's next recorded visits, according to ship tracking data, were at Chinese ports between November 24 to December 1.

The eight tankers, built up to 20 years ago, can carry about 16 million barrels of oil among them, shipping databases show.

Iranian crude exports declined to an average of 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2012, down about 1 million bpd from 2011 levels, data from the International Energy Agency showed.

NITC BLACKLISTED

The eight tankers were bought last year for a total of about $204 million, ship trading sources said - reflecting prices only 3-4 percent above their worth as raw metal. The purchases have been the object of considerable discussion among ship brokers - not least because they would more typically have been broken up.

A ship dealer based in London said, however: "They can carry on trading for as long as people are willing to employ them.

"There's really not much that any authorities can do."

NITC has been blacklisted by the West and the EU has imposed an outright ban on providing ship insurance that would benefit Iran. The exit from Iran of top providers of ship certification, vital for port access, and the removal of Iranian vessels from international registries have added to operational challenges.

While NITC has expanded its fleet in recent months, experts say access to additional foreign tankers would give Tehran more flexibility in maintaining exports.

"The key word for the Iranians is resistance as in the Supreme Leader's declaration of a resistance economy," said Scott Lucas, a specialist on Iran at Birmingham University.

"This is not an economy which is going to produce growth but it is one which is going to try and avoid a domestic collapse."

Raytheon and General Atomics team-up to integrate onto MALD Reaper

2013-02-14T18:17:00.002+01:00

Raytheon and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Have joined forces, to integrate the Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) onto the MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft.

The companies say That Were ground verification tests completed in November 2012 at General Atomics' Gray Butte flight operations facility in Palmdale, California. Raytheon's MALD of integration onto the General Atomics-built aircraft is expected to be completed in 2013.

"Integrating MALD is remotely Piloted aircraft weaponry systems is integral to Maintaining air superiority in today's and tomorrow's conflicts," says Harry Schulte, Raytheon's vice president of air warfare systems. "This new Offering Provides Unprecedented electronic warfare capability Enabling remote, unmanned suppression of enemy air defenses"

The two companies are Funding the integration efforts with Their own money. The U.S. Air Force Does not Have a current requirement for the jamming MALD or its variant, the MALD-J, to be integrated onto the Reaper.

Selon Raytheon, the MALD is designed to confused an integrated air defense system (IADS) after which "kinetic weaponry" are used to "Permanently disable IADS nodes"

Elbit Develops Unique Surveillance System with BEL

2013-02-14T18:16:00.003+01:00

The company is icts Expanding cooperation in India, signs memorandum of understanding with BEL at Aero India exhibition for the development of a new surveillance system

Elbit Systems has signed HAS memorandum of understanding with the Indian company Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) at Aero India, the 9th International Exhibition on Aerospace, Defense and Civil Aviation, taking up at Bengaluru, India. El-Op, an Elbit filiale, at the expo Announced That it will Jointly economic development of a Compact Multi Purpose Advance Stabilization System (COMPASS) for naval applications with BEL.

Compass is a surveillance system Intended for day and night applications and includes a color camera, a sensor 3rd generation FLIR, Laser Target Designator and a Rangefinder (LTDRF) as well as automatic tracking and command and control capabilities.

The compact system includes a mission computer further Top, fire control radar, GPS and other subsystems, and it is Intended for use in a variety of platforms and interfaces
.

The signing of the agreement signed by enclosing another year agreement filiale Elbit, Elbit Systems Land and C4I, with the Indian concern Bharat Forge of the Kalyani Group, for the building of strategic enterprise joined in India in the field of artillery.

In the past FEW years, India has-been regarded one of the major markets for the Israeli defense industry.

RQ-21A Small UAV Completes First Flight Ship-Based

2013-02-14T18:16:00.000+01:00

RQ-21A Small Tactical Unmanned Air System Completes First Flight Ship-Based

GULF OF MEXICO --- The Navy's RQ-21A Small Tactical Unmanned Air System (STUAS) completed icts first flight at sea Feb. 10 from the San Antonio-class amphibious dock transportation USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19).

The system completed three months of trial flights land-based at Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division in China Lake, Calif.., Before launching from a LPD-class ship.

The photograph shows the RQ-21A Small Tactical Unmanned Air System (STUAS) is Recovered with the flight apparatus cable recovery on the flight deck of the San Antonio-class amphibious dock transportation USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) after icts first flight at sea. Mesa Verde is Underway Conducting exercises in the Gulf of Mexico.

EADS confirms offer for Denis Ranque his presidency

2013-02-14T18:10:00.001+01:00

The Appointments Committee of EADS confirmed on Wednesday proposed to appoint former CEO Denis Ranque, Thales to its presidency in the context of the evolution of its governance.

This proposal will be considered by the new Board of Directors at the end of an extraordinary general meeting held on 27 March, which will also decide on a proposed acquisition of shares, said the European aerospace and defense .

The parent company of Airbus announced the selection of Denis Ranque on the social network Twitter.

The former CEO of Thales, aged 61, is expected to succeed to the presidency Arnaud Lagardère, the group plans to sell its stake in EADS.

The announcement Wednesday confirmed the information obtained last week by Reuters from two sources familiar with the matter.

This choice was seen as a sign of willingness to EADS to win independence from the United shareholders. The French government initially wanted to see Anne Lauvergeon, the former president of Areva, to head the board.

Anne Lauvergeon nevertheless come to the Board of Directors of EADS as a representative of the French state.

The No. 2 Pentagon Patriot inspects the Syrian-Turkish border

2013-02-05T11:11:00.003+01:00

During his first official visit to Ankara, the number two at the Pentagon, Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter spent the day with Turkish officials of the defense, and he then went southeast of Gaziantep near the Syrian border to inspect one of two Patriot missile batteries that are U.S. Border Syrian-Turkish.

But before meeting with Turkish leaders, the number two defense in the United States was stopped at the U.S. Embassy on Atatürk Boulevard, where Friday 1st February, a suicide attack against a checkpoint on the perimeter the embassy, killed Mustafa Akarsu a guard in his forties, father of two teenagers.

At the embassy, Monday, February 4, Ambassador Frank Ricciardone ordered the American flag be flown at half mast until sunset Wednesday, February 6, and hours of work and staff at the embassy were temporarily reduced .

Members of the Embassy staff working today to welcome the Deputy Secretary of Defense, observed a minute of silence at 13:13 one minute, hour Ankara, exactly 72 hours after the explosion of the bomb. The explosion blew out the windows on Friday checkpoints, throwing shards of glass and debris, killing and injuring several people who tried Akarsu Mustafa tried to save the lives of his colleagues and friends.

Carter met with Ambassador this morning and visited the site of the explosion. He then met with colleagues Akarsu strength local protective guards and seven Marine Corps to protect the embassy. He also met - in person and by telephone and digital videoconferencing - about 45 staff members of diplomatic missions in Ankara, Istanbul and the American Consulate in the city of Adana, as well as staff members of the airbase American Incirlik.

In the afternoon Ashton Carter met with Turkish officials defense.

The Ministry of National Defence, he and Secretary Turkish Industry, Murad Bayar, Industries discussed three major programs US-Turkish Defence purchase States.

Later, during a meeting on U.S. Undersecretary, Turkish Minister of Defense Ismet Yilmaz said: "This unfortunate incident [involving the death of Mustafa Akarsu] again showed that the new [era ] is an era in which cooperation between countries has become more important than ever, "adding:" The fight against terrorism is important and calls for continued cooperation. "

Tonight, after leaving Turkey, Carter will travel to Amman, Jordan, where he will meet with the staff of the U.S. embassy and government leaders and defense. It will also have lunch with the troops to thank them for their service to the nation.

Senators ask Obama for Legal Basis for Targeted killings of Americans

2013-02-05T11:10:00.002+01:00

U.S. Senators Have Requested the legal justification for the killings of U.S. Citizens Suspected of Terrorism by the Obama administration. Meanwhile a 'chilling' leaked memo que le Showed little need for government Sees constraint on the outcome.

A group of 11 Senators wrote a letter on Monday to President Barack Obama, Asking him to release all Justice Department memo 's on the practice of targeting U.S. Citizens Suspected of Being terrorist leaders with lethal force, drone airstrikes Particularly. The request comes as the administration seeks Senate approval for John Brennan, Obama's nomination for CIA chief.

"As the Senate considers a number of nominees for senior national security positions, we ask That You Ensure That Congress is Provided with the secret legal opinions Outlining your authority to Authorize the killing of Americans in the course of counterterrorism operations," the letter's opening paragraph reads.

Brennan, who is deputy national security advisor to the president, is to face questioning from the Senate Intelligence Committee on February 7. As the Obama administration caries on Many of the Bush-era Policies That exist in something of a legal gray area, Lawmakers want to be sour They Have all the information possible in order to "avoid year Unnecessary confrontation That Could Affect the Senate's consideration of nominees for national security positions. "

And in case the White House Attempts to block the release of the document by appealing to some legal "privilege," the Legislators continues, "We would encourage you to simply waive whatever privilege might apply, if you Would like to make it clear That You are not setting a precedent That Applies To other categories of documents. "

The Legislators are not alone in Their desire to see the justification for secrecy Targeted killing of Americans by the U.S. administration. The New York Times and the ACLU filed a lawsuit seeking Have Access to the Justice Department memos on the issue under the Freedom of Information Act.

Previously a number of U.S. Officials, Including Brannon, Attorney General Eric Holder and others, in public speeches Have argued in favor of drone killings of Americans who pose an imminent threat to the year country. Purpose apparently in practice the administration HAS Broader view on what constitutes the imminence of a threat.

NBC News on Tuesday published a copy of a 16-page memo detailing legal reasoning of the killings, Which was Provided to members of the Senate Judiciary committees Intelligence and in June we provided That It Would not be discussed Publicly.

The white paper que la Argues U.S. is operating lawfully kill in "senior operational leader of Al-Qaeda or associated forces year" even if a person happens to be a U.S. citizen and is not known to be attack on America year schedule.

"The condition That year operational leader present an 'imminent' threat of violent attack against the United States Does not require the United States to clear Have Evidence That a specific attack on U.S. persons and intérêts will take place in the immediate future," the memo states.

That year it is Sufficient "informed, high-level" official of the U.S. government DETERMINED que les target of the killing has been "recently" involved in "activities" posing a threat of a violent attack and "there is no evidence Suggesting That he HAS renounced or abandoned Such activities "the document says. It Gives no definitions of "recently" or "activities".

Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the ACLU, Called the white paper "a chilling documents" that "redefines the word imminent in a way That deprives the word of icts ordinary meaning."

"Basically, it Argues que les Has the government right to carry out extrajudicial killing of the year American citizen. It Recognizes some limits on the authority it sets out, aim the limits are elastic and vaguely Defined, and it's easy to see How They Could be manipulated, "he Told NBC News.

Attempted to nominate Obama HAD Brennan for the post in 2009, at the start of his first term, Brennan withdrew his name purpose from consideration Effective facing claims That he supported President George W. form Bush's torture program. Brennan was Described as a "supporter of the 'dark side' policies," with critics Claiming his appointment "would dishearten and alienate Those Who Opposed Torture under the Bush administration," read a letter to Obama feels in 2008.

Shipborne helicopters of the Russian Navy will have a new 'vision'

2013-02-03T18:12:00.003+01:00

Ka-27M helicopters of the Russian Navy will have a "vision" of improved radar, they will be equipped with tactical command systems based on a new radar.

The complex systems unite aboard the helicopter, including precision acoustic monitoring, radio magnetic, and radar systems. All data will be displayed on the dashboard.

The new radar will be used for further development of helicopters on station Kopye-A.

Venezuelan opposition cracks could help Chavez's allies

2013-02-02T10:27:00.002+01:00

Venezuela's multiple opposition parties took a decade to unite against President Hugo Chavez, but old strains are emerging again just as he could be forced from power by cancer.The increasingly public tensions between moderates and radicals within the five-year-old Democratic Unity coalition play into the government's hands should Chavez fail to recover from the disease and a new presidential election be held."They're beating each other up. They have no respect for agreements, that's the opposition we have," gloated Congress head Diosdado Cabello, the third most powerful government figure after Chavez and Vice President Nicolas Maduro.After years of in-fighting, election defeats and chaotic attempts to remove Chavez through street protests, an oil industry strike and even a brief coup, some 30 ideologically diverse political groups formed the opposition coalition in 2008.

It had an auspicious start, winning half the total vote in 2009 parliamentary elections. Then it stayed united - and kept egos in check - during a long primary race to elect state governor Henrique Capriles as its 2012 presidential candidate.Even though Capriles' defeat by Chavez was crushing for many in the opposition ranks, he galvanized them like never before and they had their best showing - 44 percent or 6.6 million votes - at a presidential election during the Chavez years.Yet troubles began almost the next day with murmurings from some wings of the opposition that the center-left Capriles had been too soft in his public discourse while too controlling in his exclusion of older parties from his campaign.A thrashing by Chavez's ruling Socialist Party at regional elections held in December, where the coalition took just three of 23 governorships, accentuated the malaise.HANDLING CHAVEZ'S ABSENCENow with Chavez unseen since his December 11 cancer surgery, and a new presidential election soon a real possibility, the differences appear to be widening.On one hand, Capriles and another state governor, Henri Falcon, have been urging opponents to stay cool and avoid street protests despite concern over the legitimacy of Maduro's now de facto leadership of government.They both shook hands with Maduro at a recent meeting.And though they disagree with the ruling, they have insisted Venezuelans must respect a Supreme Court judgment that Chavez's failure to be sworn in for a new term on January 10 did not mean an end to his 14-year rule.At the other end of the coalition's spectrum of politicians, right-wing legislator Maria Corina Machado led a walkout of parliament when Maduro gave an annual speech that is normally given by the president, and she has been on the streets whipping up student demonstrators.Other well-known opposition leaders, such as Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma, are also pushing for a stronger line.Former presidential aspirant Diego Arria - who came second to last in the 2012 opposition primary - accused Capriles' Justice First party of big-footing the coalition."The opposition was born fractured because it's a collection of various parties where each one keeps their individuality. There's no way to avoid internal tensions and incoherencies," said political analyst Luis Enrique Alcala.It is all music to the ears of Maduro and Cabello.Despite rumors of a long rivalry between the pair - Maduro is a civilian ideologue who rose from being a bus driver to one of Chavez's closest allies; Cabello is a military buddy of the president's with close ties to business - they have been embracing in public and mocking those who predicted squabbling.That, combined with Chavez's endorsement of Maduro as his preferred successor, has served to keep a lid on jostling within the Socialist Party, or PSUV, during his seven-week absence.Maduro, who appears to be in a potential election campaign mode, misses no opportunity to bash the opposition during daily speeches, ceremonies and visits around Venezuela that are an imitation of his boss's energetic, on-the-street style.COULD CAPRILES BEAT MADURO?In almost every speech, he stresses the words "unity," "loyalty" and "discipline" among Chavez's supporters.In his latest attack on the opposition, Maduro said PSUV lawmakers would present proof next Tuesday of "immense corruption" involving an unnamed senior figure in Primero Justicia (First Justice), the party which Capriles helped found in 2000."Maduro is in campaign and Primero Justicia is the stone in his shoe. That's why they attack us," party leader Julio Borges said later on Twitter.Though past polls showed Capriles to be far more popular than Maduro and other senior government officials, the picture has almost certainly changed now given the vice president has Chavez's blessing and has taken a high profile in his absence.The charismatic Chavez, 58, has a fanatical following among Venezuela's poor thanks to his own humble roots, common touch and channeling of oil revenues into social projects. That is bound to rub off onto his chosen heir, although no one will ever be able to replace Chavez in the eyes of his supporters.The cracks emerging in the opposition coalition are another factor leading most analysts to predict Maduro would likely win, albeit in a potentially tight race, should Chavez be declared unfit to rule and an election called a month later as laid out in the constitution.Though unlikely to break up altogether, perceptions of disunity within the coalition would inevitably demoralize some supporters and put off potential voters.The intellectual architect of the Democratic Unity movement, Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, insisted however that Venezuelans should see debate within the coalition as a sign of health."This is not an army," he told Reuters at his office in Caracas, where coalition leaders meet every week. "In an alliance like this one, each person chooses his own emphasis."Despite the wide policy differences inside the coalition, there is little doubt about who will be their candidate if there is a new vote. When Aveledo told a recent rally the coalition would again field a unity candidate if there were an election, many in the crowd roared back: "Capriles for president!"The 40-year-old governor is currently focusing on tasks in his Miranda state and refusing to speculate on another presidential bid. Perhaps with one eye on any future campaign, however, he often berates Maduro and other officials for failing to deal with Venezuela's grassroots problems, including last weekend's jail riot that killed nearly 60 people."Maduro, get to work!" he sniped via Twitter. "Stop trying to hide your incompetence with insults and threats."

Spain’s Premier Is Drawn Into a Widening Graft Scandal Gripping His Party

2013-02-02T10:26:00.000+01:00

Just as Spain’s financial troubles seemed to be diminishing, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has become engulfed in a widening corruption scandal involving paymeOn Thursday, El País, Spain’s leading newspaper, published what it said were excerpts from the party’s financial accounts that showed regular payouts to leading party members above their official salaries. Mr. Rajoy first appeared in the ledgers in 1997 and received sums averaging $34,000 a year through 2008, the newspaper said. The money, it said, came from “donations” from companies, particularly construction companies.

Former party treasurers, including Luis Bárcenas, who has been at the heart of the scandal, are suspected of maintaining the ledgers. Two weeks ago, the Swiss authorities informed Spanish investigators that Mr. Bárcenas had deposited as much as $29 million in Swiss bank accounts. El País, which said it gained access to the Popular Party’s internal accounts from 1990 to 2008, said that Mr. Rajoy declined to comment on its report until internal and external audits ordered by him into the party’s finances were complete. The audits were ordered after news of the Swiss accounts emerged.

But the report is certain to compound the troubles facing his government as it tries to navigate Spain’s economic crisis in a climate of increasing anger and suspicion from the public of all politicians, as scandals related to Spain’s boom years before the 2008 economic collapse come to light in all corners of the country.

“For Rajoy, whether the claims about illegal funds prove true or false, this is incredibly damaging because it weakens not only his party but his whole government at a very delicate moment in terms of trying to ensure Spain’s economic recovery,” said Fernando Seco, director of the Fundación Antares Foro, a policy debate forum in Seville. “If the Popular Party cannot shed light and justify its funding, we could enter a new period of political uncertainty.”

On Thursday, María Dolores de Cospedal, the secretary general of the Popular Party, denied that the party maintained a parallel account, saying at a news conference in Madrid that “the Popular Party only has one set of accounts, and it is clean, transparent and submitted to the official accounting authority.”

El País reported that Ms. de Cospedal was listed in the ledgers as having twice received payments of about $10,000 in 2008, after she was confirmed to her post at the party’s convention that June.

During a parliamentary debate on Wednesday, Mr. Rajoy made no mention of Mr. Bárcenas while he urged lawmakers to agree on a more transparent system of party financing. But that did nothing to quiet demands for a fuller explanation.

“Mr. Rajoy will now have to give some kind of clearer explanation,” said Gaspar Ariño Ortiz, a lawyer in Madrid and former member of Parliament from the Popular Party.

In the context of a recession and record unemployment, Mr. Ariño Ortiz said, “citizens who are struggling to make ends meet are seeing that huge amounts of money have been handled within a Spanish party funding system that is completely obscure, anonymous and open to corruption.”

Mr. Bárcenas, the former party treasurer, resigned in 2009 after being indicted in the early stages of a continuing investigation into a scheme of kickbacks and illegal payments that other Popular Party politicians are accused of being involved in. He has denied wrongdoing, and through his lawyer, he denied ever keeping a parallel and undeclared set of books in order to make payments to politicians.

When he resigned, Mr. Bárcenas took nine boxes of documents with him from his offices, a trove that stands as an implicit threat to party officials, commentators say, that if he is taken down in the scandals, he plans to take others with him. The recent disclosure that Mr. Bárcenas kept vast sums of money in Switzerland is just one of about 300 corruption investigations being conducted in Spain, many linked to questionable deals made among bankers, developers and politicians during the nation’s decade-long property boom. Few have been convicted so far.

The corruption investigations have also tainted Spain’s institutional fabric, from the monarchy to the Supreme Court, whose chief justice was forced to resign last year over questionable business expense claims. On Wednesday, a judge demanded that Iñaki Urdangarin, the son-in-law of King Juan Carlos, and his former business partner post bond of $11 million as the judiciary deepens its investigation into the possible embezzlement of millions in public money allocated to sports and tourism events.

Mr. Urdangarin has not been formally charged, but last year he became the first member of the royal family to appear in court in modern Spanish history.

The report in El País added to the disillusionment of many Spaniards, including some longstanding supporters of the Popular Party. One was Julian Acevedo Ruiz, a grocery store owner who said he had always voted for the party, including Mr. Rajoy in 2011.

“I wish that I had never voted,” he said, “because really none of our politicians are worthy of the trust that we placed in them.”nts to the leaders of his Popular Party.

Milan court convicts 3 Americans in CIA kidnapping

2013-02-02T10:24:00.002+01:00

A Milan appeals court on Friday vacated acquittals for a former CIA station chief and two other Americans, and instead convicted them in the 2003 abduction of an Egyptian terror suspect from a Milan street as part of the CIA's extraordinary rendition program.
The decision means that all 26 Americans tried in absentia for the abduction now have been found guilty.
The ongoing trials, which have dragged on for years, brought the first convictions anywhere in the world against CIA agents involved in a practice alleged to have led to torture. The case has been the source of diplomatic tensions, although three successive Italian leaders, including the technical government of Premier Mario Monti, have invoked state secrets, which has had the impact of limiting evidence in the successive trials and led to the acquittals of five Italians, including two spy chiefs.
An appeals court sentenced former CIA Rome station chief Jeffrey Castelli to seven years, and handed sentences of six years each to Americans Betnie Medero and Ralph Russomando. A lower court, while convicting 23 other Americans in November 2009, had acquitted the three, citing diplomatic immunity.
None of the Americans have ever been in Italian custody or have ever appeared in court, but they risk arrest if they travel to Europe. Only two have had any contact with their lawyers, both of whom expressly requested their own counsel late in the first trial phase, in the face of U.S. official silence on the case and citing special personal and legal circumstances. A number of the names listed on the official docket are believed to be aliases.

Italy's highest court last year upheld the convictions of the 23 other Americans in absentia in the abduction of an Egyptian terror suspect Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, on Feb. 17, 2003. Nasr was transferred to U.S. military bases in Italy, then Germany, before being flown to Egypt, where he alleges he was tortured. He has since been released.
Those convicted in the original trial included the former Milan CIA station chief, Robert Seldon Lady, whose original seven-year sentence was raised to nine years by Italy's high court. The other 22 Americans, all but one identified by prosecutors as CIA agents, also saw their sentences stiffened on the final appeal, from five to seven years. The high court ruling marked their final appeal.
Justice Minister Paola Severino said in a December statement that extradition can only be sought for Lady, citing a decree issued in 2000 that says extradition may be requested only for subjects whose sentence exceeds four years. A 2006 amnesty, which applies to these cases, reduces the sentences by three years, bringing Lady's to six years; all of the other sentences, including those handed down Friday, would fall below the extradition threshold.
Lady's lawyer, Arianna Barbazza, said any decision on extradition would likely fall to the next Italian government, which will be elected later this month.
"The ministry's statement was ambiguous," Barbazza said. "It was approved three hours before Monti's government stepped down. I don't think they would have sent a request. It will be up to the next government."
The appeals process for Castelli and the other two was separated for technical reasons. The appellate court's reasoning was expected to be released in 15 days, but defense lawyer Alessia Sorgato said the decision noted extenuating circumstances.
"That goes some way to saying they acted on orders of a superior," said Sorgato, who represents Medero. She said she was satisfied that the sentences were less than that for the other Americans. She will decide whether to appeal to the highest court after reading the court's reasoning.
Meanwhile, another appeals trial in the case opened this week in Milan —that of the five Italians acquitted for state secrets. A conviction of the Italians would hold consequences for U.S.-Italian relations by potentially demonstrating official Italian involvement in the case.

Armenia Presidential Candidate Shot, Election in Doubt

2013-02-02T10:23:00.006+01:00

An Armenian presidential candidate was wounded by unknown gunmen in the capital Yerevan on Thursday night, police said, in an attack that could delay February's election. Paruyr Hayrikyan, whose life was not in danger after the shooting, is one of eight candidates running in the February 18 vote but is not seen as a strong challenger to Serzh Sarksyan, who is expected to be re-elected for a second five-year term.

However, according to Armenia's constitution, the election could be postponed by two weeks if a candidate is unable to campaign or run. In the event of a candidate's death, a new election is called, to be held within 40 days.

The 2008 presidential election in Armenia - a landlocked ex-Soviet republic of 3.2 million that is Russia's main ally in the South Caucasus - were marred by violent clashes between opposition protesters and police.

"Those, who did it, wanted to destabilise the situation in the country, but they failed," Hovik Abrahamyan, the parliamentary speaker, told reporters.

"It will depend on Paruyr Hayrikyan's condition whether the election will be postponed or not," he said.

Armenian Shans TV reported that gunmen fired two shots, wounding Hayrikyan with a bullet to his shoulder, in the courtyard of his house in the centre of the capital.

He was taken to hospital after his neighbors, who heard shots and found him, called police and an ambulance.

"(Unknown gunmen) were shooting at the presidential candidate Paruyr Hayrikyan ... Doctors say his life is not in danger," Vladimir Gasparyan, the head of the country's police department, told reporters at the hospital in comments aired by Shans TV.

Hayrikyan, 63, a former dissident, is the leader of a moderate opposition party, the National Selfdetermination Union.

Bank scandal helps surge by Berlusconi ahead of Italy election

2013-02-02T10:23:00.002+01:00

A growing scandal at Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world's oldest bank, has helped Silvio Berlusconi close the gap with the center-left frontrunners to five percent, its tightest so far, weeks before Italy's election, a poll showed on Friday.

An SWG survey showed former premier Berlusconi's center-right coalition had gained 1.3 percent in a week and was now on 27.8 percent, compared to 32.8 percent for Pier Luigi Bersani's center left, which had lost 1.6 percent.

Berlusconi, a 76-year-old billionaire media magnate, has made an astonishing comeback over the last month through a blitz of radio and television appearances, but SWG said the Monte dei Paschi scandal had also had a significant impact.

Bersani's Democratic Party (PD) has ties going back decades with the 540-year-old Tuscan bank through local government and dominance of a charitable foundation which is the lender's biggest shareholder.

SWG said the scandal had both galvanized previously disillusioned center-right voters and demoralized center-left supporters ahead of the February 24-25 vote.

Some 50 percent of those polled said the PD had responsibility for the trouble at Italy's third largest bank.

Bersani says the national party was not to blame for a scandal over murky derivatives contracts and cash problems that have forced Monte Paschi to take a state bailout.

Outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti's centrist grouping has also gained over the last week by 1.4 points, but he is stuck at 14.2 percent, far behind his 20 percent target and well beaten into third place by the surging anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.

The movement, led by Genoese comic Beppe Grillo, has gained just under 1 percent and is on 18 percent, its best result for weeks. It has exploited not only a series of political scandals but deep voter anger over the pain of Italy's deep recession.

Monti has disappointed hopes among investors and foreign leaders that he could sweep away the old, discredited political order and lead a fundamental renewal of Italy.

SENATE VOTE

Most pollsters still think it unlikely that Berlusconi can overtake Bersani with little more than three weeks to go, but before the media magnate entered the race in December after months of indecision, his PDL part looked close to collapse and was polling around 15 percent. Now the party alone is polling 19.3 percent in the SWG survey.

Because of a much maligned electoral law, Bersani only needs to be ahead to take a winner's premium that will give him comfortable control of the lower house of parliament.

But the race will be decided in the Senate, which has equal law-making powers and where bonus seats awarded to the winner are allocated on a regional basis.

Berlusconi's aim is to win enough senators to stymie a center-left government, although ironically his advances could push Bersani into a post-election coalition with Monti.

Pollsters say the Senate election will be decided in three or four battleground regions where the result is too close to predict, especially Italy's most populous region Lombardy, which returns the most senators. These results may not reflect the nationwide poll ratings.

Despite Monti's failure to gain traction, pollsters think Bersani will fall short of control of the Senate and will have to invite the former European commissioner to join a coalition, although the latter's power of negotiation will depend on how many votes he wins.

Berlusconi was driven out of power in November 2011 when Italy's borrowing costs soared and it slid towards a Greek-style crisis. He was replaced by Monti who brought Italy back from the brink and restored its international reputation.

After emerging from months in the shadows in December, Berlusconi, a born showman, has steadily clawed his way back in the ratings, attacking Monti over a hated property tax and accusing him of being a German puppet.

Taiwan's Premier Resigns Amid Weak Popular Support

2013-02-02T10:19:00.003+01:00

aiwan's top economic official resigned Friday as popular support for the government has plunged, though the island appears to be rebounding from an economic slowdown.Premier Sean Chen said at a news conference that his health condition did not allow him to fulfill his heavy duties as head of the Cabinet.

President Ma Ying-jeou's office said Ma has accepted Chen's resignation. He will be succeeded by Vice Premier Jiang Yi-hua, the office said in a statement.

The 63-year-old Chen is a prestigious financial expert. He became premier shortly after Ma was re-elected to his second term in January 2012.

His first job was a difficult, unpopular task to resolve the government's worsening fiscal problems.

The Cabinet's decision last year to raise oil and electricity prices has led to moderate inflation, which has triggered widespread public grievances. Many Taiwanese complained that their salary levels are among the worst in Asia.

Chen has also been criticized for failing to coordinate and promptly implement policy changes to deal with the impact of the global economic crisis.

Taiwan's export-driven economy has slowed amid weakening foreign demand for its technology and other goods. The island's economy grew only 1.2 percent last year. The government projects 3.5 percent growth for this year amid signs of a global recovery.

Ma's popularity has plunged below 20 percent with rising public complaints about declining living standards and Ma's perceived weak leadership.

Ma won some plaudits this week after he announced a wide-ranging reform to cut pensions for government retirees, from between 90-100 percent to 75-80 percent.

Officials say the pensions, among the best in the world, have pushed Taiwan to a fiscal crisis.

Lebanese soldiers killed near Syria border

2013-02-02T10:19:00.000+01:00

At least three people, including two Lebanese soldiers, have been killed in clashes in the Bekaa Valley
.At least two Lebanese soldiers and a man suspected of links to an armed group have been killed during clashes with armed men near a border town with Syria.

"An army patrol was ambushed in the village of Arsal as it hunted a man wanted for several terrorist acts," the army said in a statement on Friday.

It said an army captain and soldier were killed while several others were wounded in the clash with an unspecified number of gunmen, who also sustained casualties.

"A number of military vehicles were badly damaged," the army said, adding that reinforcements were sent to seal off the area and hunt down the suspects.

An AFP correspondent saw ambulances leave Arsal located in Bekaa Valley and head for Baalbek, the main town in eastern Lebanon.

A security source earlier gave a death toll of five soldiers and a gunman for the clash.

The clash broke out after the army entered the area to arrest a man wanted on terrorism and arms smuggling charges, reported Al Jazeera's Rula Amin from Beirut.

Sources told Al Jazeera that the man had been killed during a the army's operation to arrest him, and that armed men had launched a retaliatory raid against the army unit later in the day.

"The army has sent its enforcement to the area, it's a very sensitive area, between Lebanon and Syria. Arsal itself is a town that is very sympathetic to the Syrian revolution. The Free Syrian Army [an armed rebel group] there has a lot of support. And it is known to be an area where it is very easy to smuggle weapons and people," reported Al Jazeera's Amin.

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2013-02-02T10:17:00.004+01:00

The anti-aircraft missiles that were the target of a disputed Israeli airstrike on Syria this week were on a military base outside Damascus and had yet to reach the highway that leads to Lebanon when they were destroyed, two Israeli intelligence officials familiar with the air assault told McClatchy on Thursday.

The officials differed on the details, with one saying that the convoy carrying the missiles was parked at a military base in the Jamraya district outside Damascus, while the other said the convoy was in the process of being moved from the base to the highway. But both agreed that the location of the base, less than five miles from the Lebanese border, made Israeli officials unwilling to wait any longer to attack.

One said that waiting until the missiles had reached the highway, the main link between the Syrian capital and Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, would have made it more difficult for Israeli aircraft to target them without risking civilian casualties.

"What is important is that a convoy carrying weapons which would have been very dangerous for Israel was taken out before it could reach its target in Lebanon," said one of the officers, who’s based in Israel’s north. Both agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk about the airstrike with journalists.

The Israeli officials’ accounts, if they’re accurate, help explain the Syrian government’s assertion that Israeli jets had targeted a scientific research center in Jamraya and not a military convoy when they flew low over the Israel-Syria border Wednesday in the pre-dawn hours. Syria said two workers were killed and five injured when the planes attacked.

The two versions of events also suggest that Israel not only is closely monitoring the location of Syria’s strategic weapons but also is willing to move to destroy them even before they’re on the verge of being transferred out of the control of Syria’s besieged government.

President Barack Obama has warned the regime of President Bashar Assad that it views the use of chemical weapons against anti-Assad rebels as a “red line” for possible military intervention. Israel’s threshold for taking action, as demonstrated Wednesday, appears to be much lower – and aimed at a much wider variety of potential threats.

Israeli officials have made it known for months that they fear that Syria’s sophisticated weapons systems might be passed willingly to the Islamist militants in Hezbollah, Israel’s arch-foe in Lebanon, or fall into the hands of al Qaida-linked militants who are now the vanguard of the anti-Assad rebellion.

Israeli officials told McClatchy that Wednesday’s attack was aimed at a convoy of Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles that Israel feared were being sent to Lebanon. Russia apparently provided the weapons to Syria after Israeli aircraft destroyed a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria in 2007. One official told McClatchy that the missiles would have been a “game changer” had they fallen under the control of Hezbollah, which fought Israel to a standstill in 2006.

"Israel relies heavily on the strength of our air force, and its strategic deterrence," the official said. "Weapons systems that make our air force vulnerable will not be allowed to fall into the hands of terrorist groups."

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