BREAKING NEWS ALERT: U.S. Ends Push to Renew Israeli Freeze on Settlements Topic: israeli-palestinian conflict, na
by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, BBC News. Nasra reported from Jerusalem.
After three weeks
of negotiating with the Israeli government, the Obama administration has given up its effort to persuade Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to renew an expired freeze on the construction of Jewish settlements, two senior officials said on Tuesday. The decision leaves Middle East peace talks in limbo, with the Palestinians refusing to resume talks absent a settlement freeze and the United States struggling to find another formula to bring them back to the table.
BREAKING NEWS ALERT: Elizabeth Edwards Dies of Cancer at 61, Family Says Topic: elizabeth edwards, bbc news
Tue, December 07, 2010 -- 5:07 PM ET
by Biodun Iginla, BBC News -----
(Personal Note: I knew Elizabeth Edwards briefly when I was writing for FireDogLake in 2008, when she was still married to John Edwards. It goes without saying that we will all miss her terribly. May she find the peace that eluded her during her last few years on earth.)
Elizabeth Edwards, who as the wife of former Senator John Edwards gave America an intimate look at a candidate's marriage by sharing his quest for the 2008 presidential nomination as she struggled with incurable cancer and, secretly, with his infidelity, died Tuesday, her family said. She was 61.
Austerity delayed Topic: us economy, us senate, us congre
by Judith Stein and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and the Economist
Dec 7th 2010, 3:11 | WASHINGTON
FOR a brief interlude after the mid-terms Americans seemed seduced by the siren song of Germanic austerity. Feeble economy or no, the talk was all of rising taxes, pay freezes and spending cuts.
Austerity will have to wait for its turn in the limelight. On Monday Barack Obama and Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress struck a deal on a massive new package of stimulus and tax cut extensions, worth some $800 billion (around 5% of GDP). Though it must still pass the parties’ respective caucuses, this is good news for the economy: the prospect of inadvertent fiscal tightening was the biggest cloud hanging over the 2011 outlook. But it’s a political setback for Mr Obama who gave up more than Republicans did, and worse news for those who had hoped such stimulus would be coupled with a serious medium-term deficit reduction package.
The package comes in two parts. The first is an extension of all of George Bush’s tax cuts for the next two years. Mr Obama acquiesced to an extension for the upper 2%, bowing to the reality that he did not have 60 votes in the Senate to extend only the cuts for the lower 98%. Tax credits for child care, education and for low-income wage earners are also extended.
The second part is an injection of short-term fiscal steroids: a two-percentage point cut in the Social Security payroll tax for workers for one year, worth $120 billion (that’s double what Mr Obama’s “making work pay” credit was worth), one year of complete expensing of business equipment, worth $200 billion, and a 13-month extension of emergency unemployment insurance benefits.
A senior administration official says the result is even more stimulus for the economy than Mr Obama had planned in last February’s budget. Fiscal policy goes from being a source of drag on the economy to a source of stimulus next year, he figures. “This is a much better deal for the near term economy than what we put in the budget, and what passed the House last week. The combination of unemployment insurance, business expensing, the payroll tax holiday and [refundable tax credits] is very high impact.”
While the stimulative boost is probably worth some $800 billion, or roughly 5% of GDP, the 10-year cost is lower largely because tax deferred by accelerated business investment expensing will eventually be paid.
Economists had generally projected growth next year at only 2.5%, and the biggest risk to that already tepid outlook had been the prospect that some or all of Mr Bush’s tax cuts would expire at the same time as much of Mr Obama’s temporary stimulus. Tonight’s deal is likely to lead to a round of upward revisions. Last week Goldman Sachs raised its forecast for growth next year in part because of the prospect of a deal on taxes.
Politically, it’s hard to see this as anything but a loss for Mr Obama. First, he vowed not to extend the tax cuts for the rich, then sought to extend them only temporarily while making the rest permanent. Republicans forced him to retreat on both counts. They also put all other legislation, including the START nuclear arms treaty, on hold until the tax issue was finished. (The administration official disputed this interpretation, noting that a stronger economy in the next year or two works against Republican hopes of denying Mr Obama a second term.) Mr Obama’s remarks last night had not a single kind word for Republicans, with every concession to their position acknowledged through clenched teeth.
It is also a depressing reminder that for all the talk of a new era of austerity in America, politicians here still find it easier to give money away than to take it back. To the extent that Mr Obama is able to spin this as a victory, it's through his use of tax cuts for the wealthy as a means to obtain bigger short-term stimulus. Thoughtful economists, including those advising Mr Obama, think the ideal fiscal package would couple short-term stimulus with medium-term consolidation. We got the first in spades tonight, but there is still no sign of the second. The cold shoulder that most elected officials gave to the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission last week is evidence enough that austerity’s appeal remains mostly theoretical.
Optimists think there might be an opportunity to hammer out some sort of medium-term package in the coming months: Mr Obama’s state-of-the-union speech, his budget in February, and the imminent need to raise the statutory ceiling on how much debt the Treasury may issue could all provide the setting. There is potential common ground between Republicans and Mr Obama on tax reform, Social Security, and on rules limiting discretionary spending. But administering such bitter medicine usually requires a helping of sugar, and now that both Mr Obama’s and the Republicans’ near-term priorities have been satisfied, most of the sugar is gone.
A debt crisis has never been likely for America, much less imminent. But it looks to me that while the odds remain low, they went up tonight. By putting off the expiration of the tax cuts to the month after the next presidential election, the negotiators have again set us up for another nail-biting collision between the economic and political calendars. Hopefully the markets will remain as tolerant as they have so far.
tl;dw?: 30-year-old new mom follows all of the Transportation Security Administration's rules about bringing breast milk on planes, and even prints out the rules and brings them with her, but TSA harasses her anyway. She missed her plane, of course.
Roger Ebert, of all people, is in contact with someone who claims to be Stacey Armato, the woman in the video. He has more at his blog.
As Hot Air's Howard Portnoy points out, this story isn't going away. The Christmas/New Year travel period will bring a whole new set of videos, stories, and complaints about how the airport security treats people. The TSA wants you to know that not all of the horror stories are true. But a lot of them are—and the fact that people are going to the trouble of inventing TSA horror stories and emailing them around suggests that the "terrible airport security experience" yarn has become an indelible part of the culture. As the New York Times' David Carr noted in an excellent column, the TSA story hits all the right notes.
If I had to guess, I'd say the "tale of the mistreated airline passenger" becomes the next decade's version of the "bus plunge" story. Neither a bus crash nor someone being hassled by airport security is an unusual or particularly noteworthy event—they're both sort of "dog bites man." But they're both stories that media will report anyway because the stories are so easy to find and reporters know readers will be interested regardless, because people identify with the victims (lots of people have been on scary bus rides, or hassled in airport security).
BREAKING NEWS ALERT: Clinton Blasts 'Deeply Distressing' Leak of Key Sites Topic: wikileaks, bbc news, biodun igin
by Melissa Gruz, BBC News US Desk, for the BBC's Biodun Iginla
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regretted the "deeply distressing" release of a secret list of key infrastructure sites that could threaten U.S. security if hit by terror strikes.
"I will underscore that this theft of U.S. government information and its publication without regard for the consequences is deeply distressing," Clinton said as she briefed reporters with Japan and South Korea's top diplomats.
NEWSNIGHT - Tuesday 7 December 2010 at 10.30pm on BBC 2NEWSNIGHT - Tuesday 7 December 2010 at 10.30pm on BBC 2 Topic: bbc 2, biodun iginla ============================================================
============================================================ ------------------------------------------------------------ Presented by Kirsty Wark ------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Biodun!!!--
Tonight we can promise excitement aplenty.
Is Wikileaks a lot bigger and more powerful than Julian Assange? Amidst extraordinary scenes he was finally arrested and remanded in custody today in connection with allegations of rape and sexual molestation in Sweden - allegations he denies. There will be a full extradition hearing on December 14th. High profile supporters - Jemima Khan, John Pilger, Ken Loach - were in court today offering to stand bail. The argument was made in court that Mr Assange might fall prey to unstable characters. Richard Watson is investigating as I write.
And there'll be more Wikileaks revelations tonight including information on the release of the Lockerbie bomber. Will they reignite the controversy about the release of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi and the issue of business links with Libya?
Are the Liberal Democrats in big trouble ahead of Thursday's vote on tuition fees? Following a BBC ring-round of MPs it is clear that some will defy the leadership's exhortation to support the government. Lib Dem MPs are meeting tonight at Westminster and we will have the latest. Are we about to witness the first big crack in the Coalition?
And we have a fascinating film from Yemen, following a Muslim televangelist's quest to de-radicalise a country in the grip of al-Qaeda.
MediaBistro News Feed by Biodun Iginla, BBC News and MediaBistro Topic: media, mediabistro, bbc news
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WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Arrested In London(Mashable) British police arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on an arrest warrant from Sweden that stems from accusations of sexual assault by two women Assange had met in Sweden during a business trip. The charges of rape were initially dropped, but the case was reopened and an appeals court has upheld the original accusations. Assange surrendered to the police himself, stating earlier that he agreed to meet with the U.K. police with regard to the outstanding warrant. Yahoo!:The spokesman for WikiLeaks says Assange's arrest is an attack on media freedom and it won't prevent the organization from spilling secrets on the Web. Kristinn Hrafnsson declined to comment on Assange's state of mind prior to the arrest but confirmed that he has been in touch with the 39-year-old Australian over the past 24 hours. He says the arrest will not derail the release of more secret documents.
Some News Outlets Stop Calling WikiLeaks A 'Whistle-Blower' (Yahoo! / The Cutline) News organizations have seemed unsure about how to describe WikiLeaks. The Associated Press, for one, used "whistle-blower" as recently as Thursday in describing WikiLeaks, but it has since opted against it. AP spokesman Paul Colford didn't say whether the AP considers whistle-blower to be inaccurate. He simply said, "We think we have a better, clearer description, and that's what we're using." Wired / Threat Level:Days after Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs caused an uproar by warning its students against linking to WikiLeaks or discussing the secret-spilling Web site's latest cache of diplomatic cables online, the prestigious training ground for future diplomats has changed tack and embraced free speech.
Why A Day Of Tumblr Down Time Matters To The Entire Web And World (ReadWriteWeb) Fast-growing lightweight blogging service Tumblr had been down for most of the past day, and its users were being mocked for their concern. But one person's silly diversion is another person's life-changing communication channel to the world. The fact that many suffer withdrawal when their publishing tool of choice goes down isn't just a symbol of our civilization's decline from meaning -- it's an illustration of how much things have changed because of these new technologies that have democratized publishing.
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The Sidney Hillman Foundation is now accepting nominations and submissions for the 2011 Hillman Prizes, honoring investigative journalism that fosters social and economic justice.
Categories include: books (non-fiction), reporting in newspaper, magazine, and online (including blogs), film and broadcast journalism (includes television and radio), and photojournalism. Click here for more information and to make a nomination.
NY Times, B&C Editorialize On Comcast-NBCU Merger As The Process Nears Its End (TVNewser) With the proposed merger between Comcast and NBC Universal entering its final stages, The New York Times and Broadcasting & Cable have weighed in on the deal in dueling editorials. B&C said the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission ought to get going and approve the deal. In an editorial yesterday, the NYT took a decidedly different position: "Regulators do not need to rush. The combined company would have the ability, and the incentive, to hamstring online innovation."
Which TV Channels Can't Cord-Cutters Live Without? (paidContent) Needham & Co. analyst Laura Martin reported the results of a request she made of 300 respondents in October: "Please list which TV channels you must have available online for you to turn off your TV subscription." The Big Four finished 1-2-3-4. While it may not seem impressive that HBO finished behind all four broadcasters and three cable channels, HBO is in less than one-third the homes of those networks and requires an additional charge.
Did Gawker's Attack On Barry Diller Go Too Far? (Forbes) "Meet Barry Diller's Hot Gay Facebook Friend" was a follow-up, of sorts, to a recent Gawker post, "Barry Diller's Sexy All-Boy Thanksgiving," which featured the photos from a Thanksgiving 2009 trip. That story was putatively about Diller's use of corporate resources: "[G]iven IAC's lackluster stock performance, shareholders must be wondering whether they should subsidizing Diller's holiday temptations?" wrote its author, Ryan Tate. The newer post, by Brian Moylan, makes no such claims to legitimacy.
Tina Brown Consults Ciro Scotti On Beast Transition (Mediaweek) The Newsweek-Daily Beast merger isn't final yet, but editor Tina Brown is moving forward, tapping longtime Bloomberg Businessweek managing director Ciro Scotti to consult during the transition. It's unclear how long his gig will last; the deal, announced Nov. 12, is expected to close in late December, but no official date has been set. His hire isn't a formal one, but his role appears to be a critical one.
Washington Post Watching Online Pay Experiments (AFP) The Washington Post is monitoring efforts by The New York Times to charge readers online, but it has no plans to do the same for now. "On pay models, obviously, what The New York Times is doing is of interest to us," chairman and CEO Donald Graham told financial analysts at UBS' 38th Annual Global Media & Communications Conference. "We'll be watching it and we wish them well," Graham said, adding that his newspaper was also monitoring paywall efforts by Rupert Murdoch's The Times.
The Messy Falling Out Between The AP And iCopyright (paidContent) Back in 2008, The Associated Press and iCopyright talked excitedly about their new partnership, an early attempt to make bloggers license AP's content instead of simply scraping it. Now, the two aren't so friendly anymore. iCopyright has sued the AP, and a copy of the suit is finally available. The AP has claimed, "[T]he lawsuit brought by iCopyright is without merit. AP plans to defend its rights vigorously."
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How Online Reading Habits Have Changed Over 2010 (ReadWriteWeb) One of the more subtle trends of 2010 has been the way that people's reading habits have changed due to a convergence of other Web trends: mobile apps, real-time Web (mostly Twitter), and social networking as a way to track news (mostly Facebook). In the previous era of the Web, the so-called Web 2.0, RSS readers and start pages were all the rage. Over 2010, though, more people used tools like Twitter, Facebook, Instapaper, Flipboard, LazyWeb, and Feedly to track news.
Newsday Redesigns Web Site, Offers Free Access Through Jan. 7 (Poynter / Romenesko) In a memo to staff regarding the site's redesign, Newsday editor Debby Krenek points to its new color scheme and faster loading time. One month of free access to the revamped site is sponsored byRadio City Christmas Spectacular. "Every enhancement was inspired by feedback from our users and advertisers -- all part of an effort to continue improving our customers' experience. We want to showcase these improvements for those people who might be missing out," said Krenek.
Dexter Filkins Leaves The New York Times For The New Yorker (WWD) Middle East correspondent Dexter Filkins is leaving The New York Times and heading to The New Yorker. But Filkins may not just be limited to the Middle East. "The plan here is to send Dexter to a wide variety of foreign stories that we will work out mutually," said David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker. "I'm sure that he will get his fill of Afghanistan and Pakistan, but I'd also be very surprised if he didn't travel far and wide -- whether that's the Middle East or Africa or India."
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We are seeking fellowship applications from journalists writing or broadcasting in a variety of beats to submit project/research ideas based on the major theme of the CMCJ/H.F. Guggenheim symposium: the role courts play in the criminal justice system. Applications will consist of a 150-word biography + a 300-word project pitch + supporting letter from editor. Journalists can access applications, contest rules and contact information at www.jjay.cuny.edu/cmcj.
Give Patch A Chance (AJR) When is a company hiring 500 journalists in a year a bad thing for journalism? According to some, it's when that company is Aol. One key difference between Patch and others in the hyperlocal space is Patch's decision to invest in locally based reporters producing original content, rather than relying on aggregation. That sounds like something journalists would get behind, but as Patch has swept through small towns across the country, a litany of complaints and allegations has followed.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck Wins Plagiarism Lawsuit (HuffPost) Elisabeth Hasselbeck has won a lawsuit charging her with plagiarism. The U.S. District Court in Massachusetts found no evidence that Hasselbeck had plagiarized a book by author Susan Hassett. Hassett contended that Hasselbeck, a co-host on The View, had plagiarized a book she had written on coping with digestive disorder celiac disease. Hasselbeck, who suffers from the disease, wrote a book on the subject called The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide.
'Digital Death' Campaign Raises $1M; Celebs Allowed Back On Twitter (TheWrap) Those celebrities who died a "digital death" to raise money for an AIDS charity last week are no longer dead. The organizers of Alicia Keys' "Keep a Child Alive" announced Monday that the campaign has reached the $1 million mark in donations -- meaning Ryan Seacrest, Kim Kardashian, and the rest of those who vowed to stay off Twitter and Facebook until their goal was met are free to Tweet and update once again.
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• Had a great time with @BenjLerer — @MediaBeat • Meidaite says it will try to compete with mediabistro.com job board in NTTimes today. Bring it on. — @AlanMeckler • Mother and Tanqueray: Match made in boozy heaven? http://bit.ly/f1hAu8 —@AgencySpy • The microblogging site Tumblr has been down for 20 hours. Where are we supposed to find book deals? http://mbist.ro/fkFLSp — @GalleyCat • Branding in the Digital Age: You're Spending Your Money in All the Wrong Places - Harvard Business Review http://t.co/JamR7UP — @PRNewser
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has agreed to talk to British police "in the foreseeable future", his London-based lawyer said Monday. Although Scotland Yard has received an arrest warrant for Assange, his lawyer insists he is not being charged.
Monday proved to be another day of political unrest in Ivory Coast as incumbent Laurent Gbagbo named his prime minister and challenger Alassane Ouattara announced his cabinet. Meanwhile, the EU announced possible targeted sanctions.
L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, France’s richest woman, reconciled with her daughter on Monday and agreed to end all ongoing court cases. Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers had tried to declare her mother “mentally unfit” to handle her fortune.
Results from the second round of Egypt's parliamentary elections leave long-time President Hosni Mubarak in the top spot after his ruling party swept to a huge win with both major opposition parties boycotting the election amid allegations of fraud.
France will be the next to face a financial crisis after Spain and Portugal, according to Xavier Rolet, the head of the London Stock Exchange (pictured). But other analysts, and especially the French government, think France's fundamentals are sound.
France will be the next to face a financial crisis after Spain and Portugal, according to Xavier Rolet, the head of the London Stock Exchange (pictured). But other analysts, and especially the French government, think France's fundamentals are sound.
European Union regulators will investigate whether Internet advertising and search giant Google has abused its dominant position by deliberately lowering links to smaller rivals' sites in its search results.
European ministers ratified an 85-billion-euro bailout package for Ireland in Brussels on Sunday, a day after tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Dublin to voice opposition to financial intervention from the EU.
US President Barack Obama proposed a two-year government pay freeze Monday, in an effort to cut back the country's massive deficit of 1.3 trillion dollars in 2010, and to fend of Republican attacks that Obama is a big spender.
Two days after Portugal staged a crippling general strike, its parliament adopted unpopular spending cuts which it says will save the country from financial ruin and keep it from seeking an international bailout.
Gaël Monfils of the French Davis Cup team lost to Serbia's Novak Djokovic on Sunday, tying the final at 2-2 and setting up the evening's grand finale when Gilles Simon takes on Janko Tipsarevic.
A media frenzy is underway after FIFA’s announcement Thursday that it had awarded the next two World Cups to Russia and Qatar, which are now the targets of speculation over corruption and the influence their oil wealth had on FIFA's decision.
The International Olympic Committee said on Tuesday that it would look into corruption allegations against one of its members who was named in a BBC report targeting three FIFA officials, vowing to pursue a "zero tolerance" policy on corruption.
France’s Michael Llodra, who beat Novak Djokovic in the Paris Masters, has stated that he is ready to play both singles and doubles for France in the Davis Cup final against Serbia this weekend.
Legendary French actress Nathalie Baye has a new film, "De vrais mensonges", coming out this week. France24.com sat down with her to talk about her favourite roles, life as an actress “of a certain age”, and her upcoming projects.
Roman Polanski's political thriller "The Ghost Writer" swept the board Saturday at the European Film Awards, the continent's version of the Oscars.
The movie won six of the seven categories in which it had been nominated, including best film.
Polanski, meanwhile, was named best director, to add to the Silver Bear he won at the Berlin International Film Festival in February on the film's world premiere.
Popular French rock band Noir Désir, whose lead singer Bertrand Cantat is best known for beating his actress girlfriend to death in a Lithuanian hotel room, has split up definitively, the band's drummer has confirmed.
The bad boy on a violin, Nigel Kennedy is in Paris for a one off of concert where he returned to the composer who brought him his greatest success, Vivaldi. Plus the most widely recorded saxophonist of his generation - David Murray joins us on the show before his concert at Salle Pleyel in Paris on the 21st December, where he will play "Nat King Cole en Espagnol"...
A retired French electrician has revealed he is in possession of more than 200 previously unknown works by Pablo Picasso thought to be worth around 60 million euros, landing himself in a legal dispute with Picasso’s heirs.
Almost 90,000 cases cholera have been recorded in Haiti’s first outbreak of the disease in more than a century. It has has left over 2,000 people dead, according to Health ministry figures released on Monday.
Souleymane Mboup, Director of the AIDS Research Network for Western and Central Africa, has spent close to 30 years researching HIV and AIDS, and is co-discoverer of the HIV-2 strain of the virus. He has conducted extensive AIDS research with Senegalese prostitutes since the 1980s. On World AIDS Day 2010, he talks to Melissa Bell about his ongoing research.
With a traditional healer appointed Vice Minister for Medicine and traditional treatments written into the constitution, Bolivia is reviving old remedies and wants to create new cures by mixing old and new.
Pope Benedict XVI’s suggestion that the use of condoms may be acceptable in certain circumstances does not reverse the Catholic Church’s long-standing ban on contraception, says the head of France's leading Catholic daily.
Pope Benedict XVI says that condom use can be justified "in certain cases", according to an interview to be published on Tuesday, an apparent reversal of the Vatican's longtime ban on contraception even to prevent sexually transmitted disease.
L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, France’s richest woman, reconciled with her daughter on Monday and agreed to end all ongoing court cases. Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers had tried to declare her mother “mentally unfit” to handle her fortune.
US airline Continental has been found criminally responsible for the fatal 2000 Concorde crash. The crash killed 113 people and bought the era of supersonic passenger flights to an abrupt end.
French company Areva will build two nuclear power plants in west India after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed a seven billion euro agreement with President Nicolas Sarkozy during his four-day trip to the booming nation.
Leaked diplomatic cables published in Le Monde on Sunday reveal Brazil’s plans to purchase French Rafale jets as well as Sarkozy's promise to provide the technology allowing Brazil to construct and export the jets themselves by 2030.
For the first time in history, France has produced two major beauty queens: Laury Thilleman of Brittany was elected Miss France 2011, while Barbara Morel of Provence took home the title of a rival pageant launched by the former Miss France organizer.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has agreed to talk to British police "in the foreseeable future", his London-based lawyer said Monday. Although Scotland Yard has received an arrest warrant for Assange, his lawyer insists he is not being charged.
The financial arm of the Swiss postal system stripped WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of his account after determining he “provided false information regarding his place of residence”. A bank spokesman said Assange will face no criminal charges.
Thousands of youths clashed with police in central Athens Monday, marking the two-year anniversary of the police killing of a 15 year-old boy. His death in 2008 sparked some of the worst riots Greece has seen in decades.
A plane crash in Russia that killed two people – including the brother of the president of Dagestan – has been blamed on human error, investigators say. The plane skidded off the runway after an emergency landing at a Moscow airport on Saturday.
Hounded by governments and hackers, WikiLeaks was faced with a new threat on Sunday after payment service PayPal cut off its account used for donations to the website – a major source of revenue for the embattled whistleblower.
Results from the second round of Egypt's parliamentary elections leave long-time President Hosni Mubarak in the top spot after his ruling party swept to a huge win with both major opposition parties boycotting the election amid allegations of fraud.
Argentina and Uruguay announced Monday they were joining Brazil in recognizing Palestine as an independent state on the basis of the country’s 1967 borders. Israel and the US said they regret the decision.
The forest fire in north Israel which killed at least 41 people and entailed the help of firefighting forces from several countries was brought under control on Sunday afternoon, according to fire chief Shimon Romah.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said he would consider dissolving the Palestinian Authority if US-brokered peace talks with Israel fail and the world refuses to recognise a Palestinian state.
Iran on Tuesday agreed to holding new discussions with European Union and UN leaders regarding its controversial nuclear programme. EU chief diplomat Catherine Ashton (pictured) will lead the international delegation to the Dec. 6-7 talks in Geneva.
Monday proved to be another day of political unrest in Ivory Coast as incumbent Laurent Gbagbo named his prime minister and challenger Alassane Ouattara announced his cabinet. Meanwhile, the EU announced possible targeted sanctions.
President Hosni Murbarak’s party look set to win Egypt’s parliamentary elections after Sunday's second round of voting. The two main opposition groups boycotted the election alleging widespread fraud in the first round.
With the Supreme Court confirming the election of Alpha Conde, Guinea emerges from a violent two-week state of emergency surrounding the country’s first free vote since independence.
Egypt’s two leading opposition parties, the Muslim Brotherhood and Wafd, have withdrawn from the second round of legislative elections on allegations of widespread electoral fraud at the hands of the government.
Some say it is a cynical ploy to improve the ruling party’s image and others say it is a positive step forward – Egypt is increasing the number of women in parliament eightfold.
Argentina and Uruguay announced Monday they were joining Brazil in recognizing Palestine as an independent state on the basis of the country’s 1967 borders. Israel and the US said they regret the decision.
Almost 90,000 cases cholera have been recorded in Haiti’s first outbreak of the disease in more than a century. It has has left over 2,000 people dead, according to Health ministry figures released on Monday.
WikiLeaks has released a new diplomatic cable listing key infrastructure units around the world which would “critically impact” the United States if they were to be destroyed in a terrorist attack.
Senate Republicans shot down legislation Saturday that would allow upper-income tax breaks to expire at the end of 2010, arguing that not even millionaires' taxes should rise at a time when US economic recovery is fragile.
The US military has put measures in place to try to stop its Iraq-deployed soldiers from viewing WikiLeaks documents, an army spokesperson said Saturday. Soldiers logging on to the internet receive an automatic legal warning concerning the website.
Monday the International Criminal Court opened a preliminary investigation into whether North Korea's recent clashes with South Korea constitute war crimes. North Korea does not recognize the court’s authority.
A double suicide bombing targeting government seniors and members of an anti-Taliban militia in north-west Pakistan has killed at least 40 people and injured 60, local officials say.
South Korea's military began a major drilling exercise Monday weeks after North Korea's deadly bombardment of islands on the divided neighbours’ disputed border. The North has described the move as a “frantic military provocation”.
Six world powers begin negotiations with Iran today after a 14 month impasse with the rogue state concerning its allegedly worrisome nuclear programme, which the West believes is heading towards the development of atomic weapons.
French company Areva will build two nuclear power plants in west India after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed a seven billion euro agreement with President Nicolas Sarkozy during his four-day trip to the booming nation.
LONDON — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange surrendered to London police Tuesday as part of a Swedish sex-crimes investigation, the latest blow to an organization that faces legal, financial and technological challenges after releasing...Read more
FOR a brief interlude after the mid-terms Americans seemed seduced by the siren song of Germanic austerity. Feeble economy or no, the talk was all of rising taxes, pay freezes and spending cuts.
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