Spokesperson’s Morning Headlines For Friday, 31 August 2012
IRAN: UN chief Ban Ki-moon has called on Iran to free all its political prisoners, in a speech obtained by AFP on Friday and delivered in Tehran on the sidelines of a Non-Aligned Movement summit. (AFP)
UN chief Ban Ki-moon voiced concern about food supplies in North Korea following recent floods, in a meeting in Tehran with a top official from the communist state, his spokesman said on Friday. (AFP)
There are three strange aspects about the Nonaligned Movement meeting in Tehran: why the movement exists altogether - after the fall of the Soviet Union it doesn't make very much sense, and most of the countries are very aligned -, what the UN Secretary-General is doing in the very country that the UN has been sanctioning for years, and why President Morsi decided to join the meeting as the Mullah regime crushed the very same movement for democracy that made Morsi president. The result? Legitimizing the oppressive theocratic Iranian regime, writes journalist Gunnar Jonsson. (Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm, Op-Ed)
IRAN/I.A.E.A.: Iran was under increased diplomatic pressure on Friday after an International Atomic Energy Agency report said it was expanding its controversial nuclear programme and had "hampered" the UN watchdog's work. (AFP) Iran has installed three-quarters of the nuclear centrifuges it needs to complete a site deep underground for the production of nuclear fuel, international inspectors reported Thursday, a finding that led the White House to warn that “the window that is open now to resolve this diplomatically will not remain open indefinitely.” (NYT)
The International Atomic Energy Agency also said in a report that “extensive activities” – a reference to a suspected clean-up – at Iran's Parchin military complex would hamper its investigation of possible past nuclear weapons development there, if inspectors are ever granted access. (Jerusalem Post)
Iran on Friday rejected allegations in a new International Atomic Energy Agency report that it was frustrating UN inspection of a suspect military site by apparently scrubbing it clean. (AFP) A report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog that accused Iran of doubling the number of uranium enrichment centrifuges it has in an underground bunker was politically motivated, an Iranian lawmaker said on Friday. (Reuters)
Iran is urging member countries to dilute the clout of Western nations at the U.N. nuclear agency that fears it may be trying to make atomic arms. Instead, it wants its allies to have more authority. The bid is outlined in a document submitted for the International Atomic Energy Agency's General Conference next month. (AP)
IRAN/ISRAEL: Israel is facing growing international pressure not to attack Iran unilaterally, with the United States in particular making clear its firm opposition to any such strike. (Reuters)
IRAN/PALESTINE: President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday held his first meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad since taking office. The presidents discussed bilateral issues and items on the agenda of the Non-Aligned Movement summit. (Ma'an News Agency)
SYRIA: Fierce fighting between Syrian government forces and rebels were reported Friday in the northern city of Aleppo, as the rebels said they had adopted new military tactics against President Bashar al-Assad's troops. (dpa)
Human rights workers and diplomats said Thursday that Syria's military was increasingly relying on indiscriminate air power to crush the insurgency, as top United Nations officials attending a special Security Council session reported alarming new data on the severity of the crisis, including a doubling in the number of civilians who need emergency aid. (NYT)
A U.N. Security Council meeting on Syria's aid crisis achieved nothing new on Thursday except to highlight global paralysis on the 17-month conflict as western powers warned that military action to secure civilian safe zones was still an option. (Reuters)
By convoking on Thursday in New York a meeting of the Security Council on Syria, France has just uncovered the impotence of the international community in bringing an end to the repression. (Le Soir, Brussels) While French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was ambitious, the meeting only led to minimal results. (Le Temps, Switzerland) Paris wants to provide financial and material assistance to the "liberated zones" in Syria to prepare for the post-Assad era and encourages Syrians who want to flee to remain in these areas, said Foreign Minister Fabius. (Le Monde, Paris)
Turkey told the UN to step in "without delay", but the UN deputy head said the issue raised "serious questions". (BBC) Turkey will keep up its diplomatic efforts to protect refugees within the Syrian territory, despite the lack of an agreement at the UN Security Council, a Turkish diplomat told AFP Friday. (AFP)
Syrian civilians' living conditions are worsening dramatically, as dozens are killed every day in the fighting and it is becoming harder to obtain food and other basic needs, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Friday. (Reuters)
The United States and Israel are responsible for the conflict scorching Syria by "flooding weapons" to rebels there, the supreme leader of Iran -- the main ally of Syria's regime -- said on Friday, according to his official website. (AFP)
A showpiece summit hosted by Iran stumbled as soon as it opened on Thursday when the head of the UN pressed Tehran on its nuclear stand, and Egypt's new leader publicly sided with Syria's opposition. (AFP) The United States Thursday called Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's expression of solidarity with the Syrian opposition "helpful" and "very clear and very strong (dpa)
An independent American journalist was detained by the authorities. (Le Monde, Paris)
ISRAEL: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has finally decided to address the UN General Assembly in its session next month in New York. The decision was made following yesterday's summit in Tehran, but political sources say that this is an attempt by Netanyahu to force Obama to meet him. (Yediot Ahoronot)
ISRAEL/PALESTINE: A rocket fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza has struck a house in Israel. The Israeli military says no one was hurt in the attack before dawn Friday on the border town of Sderot, less than a mile (2 kilometers) from Gaza. (AP)
Israeli security forces evacuated and demolished two dwellings in the wildcat settlement of Ramat Migron during the night, a police spokeswoman said Friday. (AFP)
PALESTINE: For decades, Palestinian women seeking to divorce their husbands risked years of miserable, expensive litigation or lengthy domestic battles as they begged their spouses for permission to leave. Now Palestinian religious authorities announced sweeping reforms of divorce laws that will make it easier for a woman to end her marriage. (AP)
LEBANON: The UN Security Council on Thursday warned against attempts to destabilize Lebanon as it renewed the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in the country for another year. (AFP)
ANGOLA: Angolans are voting for a new president and parliament, in the second national elections since the oil-rich country's 27-year civil war ended a decade ago. (BBC) The big question is now on the honesty of the polls. The EU has not made an effort to send observers, judging apparently that the victory of the MPLA would not be put in doubt. ( La Libre Belgique, Brussels)
COTE D'IVOIRE: Seventy-three people have been detained on charges that include violating state security following attacks on the army this month, a military prosecutor said on Thursday. (News24 Online, South Africa)
D.R. CONGO: As the situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo continues to deteriorate in the wake of an armed rebellion that began in April, some activists have strengthened calls for foreign military intervention that would be under the auspices of both the African Union and the United Nations. (All Africa Online)
ERITREA: Three Eritrean journalists imprisoned for more than ten years died in prison in the country, said Reporters Without Borders. (Le Monde, Paris).
GHANA: The ruling National Democratic Congress met on Thursday and was expected to endorse President John Dramani Mahama for December elections following the death of John Atta Mills last month. (News24 Online, South Africa)
KENYA: Leaders from the across the religious divide have urged Muslims to call off planned protests Friday over the killing of a hard-line Islamist preacher whose death sparked deadly riots in Kenya's second largest city. (Independent Online, South Africa)
SIERRA LEONE: Gripped by its worst cholera outbreak in nearly 15 years, which has already left 229 dead, Sierra Leone is likely to see cases triple in the next month as the rainy season hits its peak, NGOs reported yesterday. (News24 Online, South Africa)
SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa's justice minister has demanded an explanation after 270 miners were charged with the murder of their colleagues who were shot by police. (BBC)
ZIMBABWE: An independent research group says Zimbabwe's capital is the world's fourth-worst city to live in, based on daily hardships and political risk. Cities in war zones are excluded from the "livability" index. The British-based Economist Intelligence Unit put Harare 137th out of 140 cities surveyed and gave it a 39.4 rating on a scale to 100 for ideal urban conditions. In its report available Thursday, Harare ranked marginally better than Lagos in Nigeria, Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea and Dhaka, Bangladesh. (AP)
PAKISTAN: A Pakistani court Friday ordered a Christian girl accused of blasphemy to be held in prison for two more weeks as police finish their investigation and decide whether to charge her, her lawyer and police said, the latest step in a case that has stoked controversy at home and abroad. (AP)
INDIA: An Indian court has sentenced a senior BJP party figure to 28 years in jail for her part in murdering 97 people in the 2002 Gujarat religious riots. (BBC)
UZBEKISTAN: The upper chamber of Uzbekistan's Parliament approved on Thursday a draft law proposed by the President, according to which the Central Asian country is not allowed to participate in military blocs and to deploy foreign military bases or facilities on its soil. (Vedomosti, Moscow)
CHINA: With China facing a worsening economy, the biggest political crisis in two decades and growing public anger and domestic unrest, what do people here say about the seismic change about to take place in country's top leadership? “Wu suo wei.” It doesn't matter. (WP)
The death toll in China's worst mine accident in nearly three years rose to 41 on Friday with five others still trapped underground. (AP)
INDONESIA/AUSTRALIA: Indonesia's search and rescue authority says 54 asylum seekers who were pulled from the water after their boat sank are being transferred to the country's mainland. (ABC News, Australia) Australian rescue officials ended their search Friday for nearly 100 asylum seekers who vanished in choppy seas off Indonesia after their overcrowded boat sank en route to Australia. (AP)
D.P.R. KOREA: North Korea's nuclear programme is a matter of "serious concern," the UN atomic agency IAEA said in a report released Thursday, referring in particular to two sites Pyongyang has stopped it from visited. (AFP) The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), citing satellite images, also said ``certain activities'' had been observed at locations where the reclusive Asian state ``reportedly'' conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. (Reuters)
JAPAN/D.P.R. KOREA: Japan believes North Korea's abductions of Japanese citizens will be addressed in the next, more senior round of talks between the two sides as the countries wrap up their first government-to-government discussions in four years. The talks in Beijing this week were initially planned for two days, but were extended to a third day and wrapped up on Friday. (AP)
JAPAN/R.O. KOREA: Vice Foreign Minister Kenichiro Sasae and South Korean Ambassador to Japan Shin Kak Soo discussed on Friday how to improve bilateral ties amid heightened tensions over a pair of South Korean-controlled islands claimed by Japan, ministry officials said. (Kyodo) Japan is now preparing to unilaterally refer its territorial dispute with South Korea to the International Court of Justice. (NHK)
MALDIVES: The president of the Maldives says that he won't resign because an internationally-backed commission has concluded that his rise to power in February wasn't the result of a coup. (AP)
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also urged all parties to accept the findings of the report, while raising concerns at the prospect of renewed political tensions should that not happen. (AFP)
MYANMAR: The names recently trimmed from Myanmar's blacklist read like a who's who of prominent diplomats, human rights campaigners and Asian-based journalists. (AP) On the list were former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, late Philippine President Corazon Aquino, as well as some BBC journalists. (BBC)
SOUTH PACIFIC: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived Thursday in the South Pacific at the top of a six-nation Asia tour during which she aims to reassert American interests in the face of China's growing influence and calm rising tensions over territorial disputes in the South China Sea. (AP)
EUROZONE: The unemployment rate across the 17 countries that use the euro remained at a record high of 11.3 percent in July, official figures showed Friday, underscoring the huge task leaders face to restore confidence in the continent's economy. (AP)
French President François Hollande on Thursday said European Central Bank intervention in bond markets is justified as disparities in borrowing costs across the 17-nation euro zone aren't borne out by economic fundamentals, piling up pressure on the ECB to purchase sovereign bonds of fiscally frail members of the currency union. (WSJ)
The ILO warns of the consequences of the breaking up of the euro zone. Its latest calculations show that a Greek exit from the euro would have drastic consequences for the average employee – “average unemployment in the 17 states would rise to 13%”. (Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Munich)
U.K.: Britain's reputation as a world-class centre for higher education faces irreparable damage, the Government was warned last night, as more than 2,500 foreign students fought desperately to avoid deportation after their visas were suddenly cancelled. (Independent, London)
MEXICO: Mexico's old ruling party cleared the last hurdle in regaining the presidency it held for 71 years, after the country's highest electoral court dismissed legal challenges brought by a leftist opponent trying to overturn the July 1 election. (AP) The seven judges of the court felt that none of the charges of the leftist coalition regarding vote buying or irregular funding were supported by evidence. (Le Monde, Paris)
U.S.: Mitt Romney, whose business success has become his defining credential in a year of economic anxiety, accepted the Republican nomination for president Thursday and took aim at President Barack Obama as a failed steward of the nation's balance sheet and its economy. (WSJ) Romney's speech, which marked the culmination of a five-year quest for his party's nod, was at times personal, as the former Massachusetts governor responded to those who said he needed to show more of himself to narrow an advantage Obama holds in personality polls. (WP)
The Pentagon says it may sue a former US special forces member who has written a first-hand account of the May 2011 raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. (BBC)
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced Thursday that no one would be prosecuted for the deaths of a prisoner in Afghanistan in 2002 and another in Iraq in 2003, eliminating the last possibility that any criminal charges will be brought as a result of the brutal interrogations carried out by the C.I.A. (NYT)
CLIMATE CHANGE: The Green Climate Change fund will be guided by the principles and provisions of the UN framework Convention on Climate Change and the outcome of negotiations on the “Durban Platform” accord reached at COP17 last year. It is envisaged that these negotiations will be completed by 2015 and come into effect from 2020. ( Mail and Guardian, South Africa)
FOOD: Global food prices soared 10 percent in July, increasing the threat to millions of the world's poor especially in Africa and the Middle East, the World Bank said Thursday. (AFP)