Thursday, August 07, 2008

LIVNI LEAD IN KADIMA RACE

Hummas bridges Jerusalem divide
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=9149094&ch=4226714&src=news

Pressure over Jewish settlements
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=9131746&ch=4226714&src=news

Israel's Livni boosted in Kadima leadership bid AUG 7,08

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni won the the support of a minister close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday, boosting her bid to lead the ruling Kadima party and possibly become premier. I will support Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in her candidacy to lead Kadima and the next government, said Finance Minister Roni Bar-On, a key member of the centrist Kadima and close Olmert ally.Over the past 10 years she has had an impressive political career... In the past three years she has been at the heart of Israel's decision-making process in political and security issues. I consider her apt and worthy of the job, he said at a news conference.Olmert, who is facing multiple corruption investigations, announced last week he would step down after Kadima elects a new leader in a September 17 primary election.Bar-On urged other party members to get off the fence and announce their support for one of the candidates.Livni appears to have garnered strong backing among Kadima MPs, but faces stiff competition from her main rival in the race, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, a former chief of staff who is running on a security ticket.

Public Security Minister Avi Dichter on Thursday insisted that although he is trailing behind the two front-runners in opinion polls, he will still run in the primary.It might seem that I am alone in this race, but I am not. I have many supporters, the former chief of the Shin Beth internal security service said.The winner of the primary will be formally asked by President Shimon Peres to form a government, although analysts say the new Kadima leader might find it impossible to form a strong enough coalition.

That would force a general election, and opinion polls indicate that right-wing Likud leader and former premier Benjamin Netanyahu, who has called for snap elections, is the favourite to take over the helm of government.Israelis are not scheduled to go to the polls until 2010.

Israel, Palestinians agree to boost postal cooperation AUG 7,08

GENEVA (AFP) - Israel and the Palestinian authorities have agreed to take joint steps to improve the postal services in the Palestinian territories, the Universal Postal Union said Thursday.

The two parties have agreed to start direct mail exchanges between the Palestinian Authority and the 191 member states of the UPU, with mail transitting via Jordan, the organisation's Director General Edouard Dayan said.Dayan said in a statement that the announcement would help to prepare the ground for work to develop and improve the quality of the Palestinian postal service. He welcomed the spirit of dialogue and total cooperation shown by both parties.The UPU is currently holding its annual congress in Geneva, which runs from July 23 to August 12.

Olmert pushes ahead on Palestinian, Syrian peace tracks By Adam Entous Thu Aug 7, 4:00 AM ET

Jerusalem - Despite Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decision to resign, the peace process continues on several tracks. Israel agreed on Wednesday to free scores of Palestinian prisoners this month as a gesture to President Mahmoud Abbas. Separately, a senior Syrian official told Reuters that indirect talks between Syria and Israel will continue.Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said between 120 and 150 prisoners, and possibly more, would be released on Aug. 25. Israel has roughly 11,000 Palestinians in custody.The Israeli side will be releasing Palestinian prisoners towards the end of August as a sign of good faith and a confidence-building measure towards the Palestinians, Mr. Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, said after Olmert and Mr. Abbas met in Jerusalem.Mr. Erekat said Abbas wanted any release to include long-serving prisoners, women, and children, as well as political leaders, a reference to Marwan Barghouti, who is seen as a possible successor as Palestinian president.Israeli sources said that releasing Mr. Barghouti was an option. The Hamas Islamist group, which controls the Gaza Strip, has included Barghouti, as well as Hamas leaders and hundreds of other prisoners on its list of Palestinians it wants freed in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured in a cross-border raid two years ago.Some Israeli officials see the release of Barghouti to Abbas as preferable to freeing him to Hamas in a deal over Corporal Shalit that Egypt is trying to broker.

Israel freed 429 Palestinians as a gesture to Abbas after the resumption of peace negotiations in November at a conference in Annapolis, Md.At their meeting Wednesday, Olmert and Abbas discussed how to press ahead with the peace talks that had set a goal of reaching a Palestinian statehood agreement by the end of 2008. Olmert has vowed to press ahead with talks with Abbas and indirect negotiations with Syria until he leaves office. The Syrian talks have made progress but not enough to move to face-to-face talks as favored by the Jewish state, a senior Syrian official said Wednesday. If the talks had not progressed then they would have been stopped, said Buthaina Shaaban, who was recently promoted to adviser to President Bashar al-Assad.A fourth round of talks between Israel and Syria took place last week. The fifth round is expected later this month.

Israel to release over 150 Palestinian prisoners By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer Wed Aug 6, 11:18 PM ET

JERUSALEM - Israel's prime minister pledged to free more than 150 Palestinian prisoners in a meeting Wednesday with President Mahmoud Abbas, a gesture meant to energize their sluggish peace talks. The release could also boost the prestige of the embattled Palestinian leader, whose Fatah movement is engaged in a tense power struggle with the militant Islamic Hamas.The meeting at Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's official Jerusalem residence was the first since the Israeli premier announced last week that he would resign next month because of corruption investigations against him. Palestinians have been seeking assurances that peace talks, started with great fanfare at a U.S.-sponsored conference last November, would continue despite Israel's political turmoil.Olmert says he is determined to press ahead with peace efforts as long as he is in office. Because of Israel's complicated political system, his term could extend into next year.The Olmert-Abbas summit came on the day Israel freed five Palestinian prisoners as part of its exchange with Hezbollah guerrillas to bring back the bodies of two soldiers captured in 2006.With Hamas demanding freedom for several hundred prisoners in exchange for Sgt. Gilad Schalit, an Israeli soldier also captured in 2006, Abbas needs to show his people that he can win freedom for prisoners in Israeli jails by peaceful means, as opposed to the militants' tactics of attacks and abductions.

However, the modest numbers Abbas achieved were not likely to prompt celebration among Palestinians or reduce Hamas' influence. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that on Aug. 25, more than 150 prisoners would be freed, out of about 11,000 held by Israel.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said prisoners would be released this month as a confidence-building measure, as a gesture of good will.But it was seen highly unlikely that Olmert would agree to a key Abbas demand: freedom for Marwan Barghouti, the highest Fatah official in Israeli custody, who is serving multiple life terms for involvement in deadly attacks on Israelis. Israeli officials said only that Olmert did not commit to specific names.

Barghouti is also said to be on the list of prisoners Hamas wants released in exchange for the soldier it is holding, but Israel is unlikely to give that kind of boost to the Islamic militants, who do not recognize Israel and have sent dozens of suicide bombings to attack Israelis.Over the past week, tensions have flared again between Hamas and Abbas' Fatah, starting with a bombing in Gaza that killed five Hamas militants and a girl. Hamas reacted with mass arrests of Fatah loyalists and Fatah hit back with arrests in the West Bank. Then over the weekend, Hamas launched an assault on a Fatah stronghold in Gaza City, an operation that ended with 11 dead, dozens wounded and about 90 Fatah fugitives fleeing Gaza for the West Bank.On Tuesday a Hamas official hinted darkly of a Hamas uprising similar to its sweep through Gaza last year, when it expelled Fatah forces and took over the territory.After nightfall Palestinians fired a rocket at Israel from Gaza, the military said, in violation of a June 18 cease-fire. It exploded harmlessly in a field.Israel is trying to stay out of the internal Palestinian conflict, but it is negotiating with Abbas while boycotting Hamas as a terror group.Some Israelis have hinted that Barghouti, who had broad contacts with Israeli doves, might be freed someday — but probably in the context of significant progress toward a peace accord. Israel's official position is that Palestinians convicted in fatal attacks cannot be freed.However, it has made exceptions, most recently three weeks ago when it released Lebanese prisoner Samir Kantar as part of the Hezbollah deal. Kantar was convicted of the 1979 killing an Israeli father, his daughter and a policeman.

Erekat said Abbas asked for release of imprisoned politicians, including Barghouti, as well as hundreds who have served more than 20 years in prison, women and minors. But Erekat said the criteria were not agreed on at the meeting.Associated Press Writer Mohammed Daraghmeh contributed to this report from Ramallah, West Bank.

Jordan in secret talks with Hamas: Islamist Wed Aug 6, 10:46AM ET

AMMAN (AFP) - Jordan's intelligence chief Mohammed Dahabi and Hamas politburo member Mohammed Nazzal held secret talks in Amman last month, a leading Islamist said on Wednesday. Dahabi and (Syria-based) Nazzal met for talks in Amman two weeks ago, Zaki Bani Rsheid, secretary general of the key opposition Islamic Action Front (IAF) party, told AFP.Bani Rsheid refused to give details about the meeting while government officials said they had no information about the alleged secret talks.Relations between Hamas and Jordan have been rocky since 1999, when the Jordanian authorities expelled Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal and three other members of the Palestinian Islamist movement after a crackdown on the group.An arrest warrant had also been issued against Nazzal but he had gone into hiding.At the time Hamas was accused of threatening Jordan's security and stability.Relations between Jordan and Hamas soured in 2006 after Amman accused members of the group of having smuggled arms into the kingdom from neighbouring Syria.In June three suspected Hamas members were jailed for plotting attacks in Jordan. Five other Jordanians suspected of belonging to the movement are currently on trial over charges of gathering information on behalf of Hamas.

Amman had offered at the end of 2006 to host reconcilitation talks between Hamas and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.Jordan has been bound by a peace treaty with Israel since 1994 while Hamas refuses to recognise the Jewish state.The IAF is the political arm of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood and has traditionally good ties with Hamas.

Israel releases 5 prisoners in Hezbollah swap By ALI DARAGMEH, Associated Press Writer Wed Aug 6, 5:50 AM ET

TULKAREM, West Bank - Israel released five Palestinian teenagers from jail Wednesday as part of a prisoner exchange agreement made with Lebanon's Hezbollah militia last month. The five were driven from a prison in central Israel to the West Bank town of Tulkarem, where one of them, 15-year-old Zakariya Shurbaji, told reporters they were only informed of their impending release a day earlier. They were never told that it was part of the deal with Hezbollah, Shurbaji said.The emotional July swap between Israel and Hezbollah brought back to Israel the bodies of two slain soldiers in return for five live Lebanese prisoners. One was reviled in Israel as the perpetrator of a 1979 attack in which four Israelis were killed, including a civilian and his two young daughters.As part of the deal, Israel agreed to release some Palestinian prisoners, but sought to minimize the concession by selecting some of the most insignificant offenders. All five freed Wednesday were minors serving short sentences for throwing stones and other objects and were due to be freed next year, according to data posted on the Prisons Authority Web site.

By insisting on the release of a token number of Palestinians, Hezbollah sought to bolster its standing beyond its core following of Shiite Muslims to the broader Arab world.Four of the youngsters freed Wednesday said they were supporters of the secular Palestinian nationalist Fatah movement and the fifth said he was involved in the radical leftist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.Shurbaji said they were all grateful to Hezbollah's leader.I say thank you to Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah for all the efforts he made on our behalf, he said.

Iran is root of all evil: Israel PM contender Wed Aug 6, 4:23 AM ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli cabinet minister Shaul Mofaz, a contender to succeed the prime minister, denounced his native Iran on Wednesday as the root of all evil and said its nuclear program constituted a threat to world peace. Mofaz was speaking a day after he launched a campaign for a party leadership election next month that will lead to the replacement of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Opinion polls show that Mofaz, a deputy prime minister and transport minister, is a frontrunner in the contest to lead the centrist Kadima party but trails Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

Olmert, dogged by a corruption probe, said last week he would step down once a successor for the party leadership was chosen.The Iranians are the root of all evil, Mofaz said in a live interview on Israel Radio, adding that Tehran's nuclear program would pose a threat to Israel's existence.He urged the West anew to impose stiffer sanctions on Tehran to pressure Iran to stop a nuclear program that Israel believes is intended to produce atomic weapons. Iran says the developments are for civilian purposes only, to produce energy.Israel is widely believed to have assembled the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal which experts say comprises as many as 200 warheads.Israel does not discuss its nuclear capabilities under a strategic ambiguity policy designed to ward off enemies while avoiding the sort of provocation that can trigger arms races.Mofaz, who was born in Tehran before many Iranian Jews moved to the new state of Israel, accused his native country of trying simply to bide its time, by rejecting Western proposals to stop enriching uranium.This has been the Iranian strategy for years, to bide their time and continue with their enrichment, Mofaz said.

Mofaz, a former head of the Israeli military, has been one of Israel's most outspoken ministers against Iran.While he supports diplomacy to resolve the standoff with Tehran, Mofaz said in June an Israeli attack to halt the project may be unavoidable unless a deal was reached.Israel's security cabinet met behind closed doors on Wednesday to discuss its intelligence assessments that Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon have been rearming with rockets since a 2006 war.Some 1,200 Lebanese and 159 Israelis died in that month-long war. Israel launched an air campaign and then invasion after Hezbollah staged a lethal cross-border raid against a military patrol.Security officials said ministers discussed reports the guerrillas were seeking to obtain anti-aircraft missiles to fire at Israeli warplanes that fly over Lebanese territory on reconnaissance missions.(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Editing by Alastair Macdonald and Samia Nakhoul)

Assad arrives in Turkey for talks and holiday: media Tue Aug 5, 12:58 PM ET

ANKARA (AFP) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Turkey Tuesday for a brief holiday and to discuss the indirect negotiations taking place in Turkey between his country and Israel, local media reported. The Syrian leader, who was accompanied by his wife, was welcomed by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife at the airport in Bodrum, a major tourist destination, NTV and CNN-Turk television stations reported.The two men then had a working lunch and discussed the Israel-Syria talks as well as the wider situation in the Middle East, according to the networks.

Assad and his wife plan to spend nearly a week on holiday in a luxury hotel in Bodrum, which is visited by hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists each year, the online edition of the Hurriyet newspaper reported.Israeli and Syrian officials completed a fourth round of talks in Turkey in July and agreed to resume negotiations later this month.Under the format of the talks, which started in May after an eight-year freeze, Israeli and Syrian officials do not see each other and Turkish diplomats shuttle between the two sides.

Israel and Syria have been formally in a state of war since the Jewish state was created in 1948, but the two countries have since signed an armistice.

Israel's Olmert to be grilled again in graft probes Tue Aug 5, 9:36 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is to be questioned on Friday over allegations of graft, for the second time since he announced his resignation last week, police said. The interview at Olmert's official residence in Jerusalem will be the fifth in three months.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld declined to give further details but Israeli public radio said Olmert would be questioned over allegations he billed the same overseas trips several times over, and separate claims he traded favours in exchange for a discount on a house he bought in Jerusalem.Olmert, 62, is under investigation in six different cases of alleged wrongdoing in the years before he took office in 2006, when he was mayor of Jerusalem and trade and industry minister.He announced last week he would step down after his centrist Kadima party holds a leadershipo election on September 17, but insisted he was innocent.Olmert had faced a growing chorus of calls for his resignation over the claims of wrongdoing.

Iceland, Sweden to take in Iraq's Palestinian refugees Tue Aug 5, 7:54 AM ET

GENEVA (AFP) - Palestinian refugees stranded for two years in desperate conditions on the Iraq-Syria border will be resettled in Iceland and Sweden in the coming weeks, the United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday. More than two dozen vulnerable Palestinians from the Al Waleed camp will be leaving for Iceland while another group of 155 refugees from the Al Tanf camp are bound for Sweden, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Ron Redmond told journalists.Redmond said that an estimated 2,300 Palestinians were living in camps along the border amid dire health conditions, unable to return to Iraq or cross into neighbouring countries.

Human rights group Amnesty International warned last year that thousands of Palestinian refugees had been ill-treated in Iraq, with many abducted, tortured and murdered by armed Shiite Muslim groups.Palestinians are targeted, Amnesty said, because they are seen to have received preferential treatment from the ousted dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni like most of them, or they are suspected to support Sunni insurgents.Redmond said that the refugees would be well supported in Iceland, which has a long history of accepting refugees from conflict-riven countries despite its small size and relative geographical isolation.Iceland has taken in refugees from the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s and also from Colombia and has a good support structure, he said.

Israel's Barak predicts more strikes on Gaza Tue Aug 5, 6:43AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Israel will return to its pattern of military strikes on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip despite the ongoing month-old truce, army radio reported on Tuesday. Those who miss the operations in the Gaza Strip, don't worry, they will come, Barak told a Labour party event in Jerusalem, without elaborating.A spokesman for Hamas, which violently seized power in Gaza in June 2007 and is pledged to Israel's destruction, called the remarks ridiculous and said the Islamist movement was prepared for all options.Barak's remarks reflect the state of confusion of the Israeli occupation in dealing with Hamas and the Gaza Strip, and the vacillation between an aggressive escalation and the truce, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP.

In June, Israel agreed to an Egyptian-brokered truce with Palestinian militants in Gaza that has virtually halted the near daily rocket and mortar attacks launched from the impoverished territory on southern Israel.But Israeli officials remain wary of the deal and suspect Gaza's Hamas rulers and other armed groups are using the calm to train and rearm with weapons smuggled through a vast network of tunnels under the border with Egypt.Israel had also said the truce depended on progress in releasing Gilad Shalit, an Israeli corporal seized by Gaza militants in a deadly cross-border raid on June 25, 2006.Israel's army chief said on Monday that the military knows Shalit's location and the identity of those holding him, raising the possibility that Israel could seek to extract him through military means.The army later insisted that General Gabi Ashkenazi meant only that Israel knew Shalit was being held by Hamas in Gaza.Israeli officials have in the past ruled out a rescue mission, saying that Shalit's exact location was unclear and that such an operation would be extremely risky.Israel and Hamas have been holding indirect negotiations through Egyptian mediation on a prisoner swap expected to include the release of hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons in exchange for Shalit.But Israel has so far refused to release the prisoners demanded by Hamas, who include several people implicated in deadly attacks on Israelis.

Olmert-Abbas to meet Wednesday: Palestinians Tue Aug 5, 3:18AM ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank, (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will meet Wednesday for the first time since Olmert announced he will step down, a Palestinian official said Tuesday. Tomorrow there will be a meeting between president Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert in Jerusalem, senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.He said the two men would discuss final-status issues in US-backed peace talks formally relaunched last year, Israeli checkpoints and closures in the occupied West Bank, and the fate of thousands of Palestinian prisoners.The two leaders have met roughly twice a month since talks were formally revived at an international conference hosted by US President George W. Bush in November in which they vowed to reach a peace deal by the end of this year.The future of the talks is unclear however following Olmert's surprise announcement earlier this month that he will step down in the wake of several corruption scandals after his Kadima party chooses a new leader in September.

The United States and the Palestinians have vowed to work with whomever succeeds Olmert, and have said they still think a deal is possible by 2009.

Peace push with Syria should go on: Israel's Mofaz By Dan Williams Mon Aug 4, 11:06 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israel's peace efforts with Syria should continue, without preconditions, after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert steps down, a candidate to succeed him said on Friday. My opinion and my goal will be to continue to speak to the Syrians without preconditions, Deputy Israeli Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz said in a speech. The way is - peace for peace.Olmert and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad announced in May they we holding Turkish-mediated negotiations. But Olmert, dogged by corruption scandals, said earlier this week he would resign after his party picks a new leader in September.Public statements suggested the sides remain divided on core issues like Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights and Syria's ties to Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas.Syria has made clear it wants a return of the occupied Golan Heights to be on the agenda of any serious peace talks. Mofaz, a former defense minister, has come out against any plan by Olmert to return the Golan. Olmert says he had made no such undertaking to the Syrians.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has the edge in the ruling Kadima party race to replace Olmert, but Mofaz is her closest rival within the party, and contenders in other parties are vying for the job as well.Though Mofaz, as chief of Israel's armed forces, led crackdowns on a Palestinian revolt that erupted in 2000, on Wednesday he cast himself as a potential peacemaker.

As a father who has three children in the military, I want peace for them, he said.I will do my best to achieve peace with our neighbors ... Our first priority should be the Palestinians but there are some problems, some obstacles, he said, alluding mainly to the 2007 takeover of Gaza by Hamas.(Editing by Anthony Boadle)

Israel knows where captive soldier is: army chief Mon Aug 4, 4:55 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel's chief of staff said on Monday that the military knows where a serviceman captured by Gaza Strip militants more than two years ago is and who is holding him. We are making every effort to make sure that Gilad Shalit returns home as soon as possible. We know Gilad is alive, we know where he is held and by whom, Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi said in remarks broadcast on army radio.I hope we succeed in bringing this affair to an end, he told new recruits in Tel Aviv.Shalit was captured by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid on June 25, 2006, and is believed to be held in the Gaza Strip by the Islamist Hamas movement.

Israeli officials have in the past ruled out a military operation to extract Shalit from the densely populated territory, saying that his exact location was unclear and that such an operation would be extremely risky.Israel and Hamas have been holding indirect negotiations through Egyptian mediation on a prisoner swap expected to include the release of hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons in exchange for Shalit.His captors have since delivered to his family several letters and one tape recording in which Shalit said he needed medical treatment.

Jordan tells Abbas infighting threatens Palestinian state Sun Aug 3, 10:51 AM ET

AMMAN (AFP) - Jordan's King Abdullah II warned visiting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Sunday that Palestinian infighting threatens their efforts to form an independent state, the palace said. Continued factional infighting harms the Palestinian cause and threatens efforts to help establish an independent Palestinian state, the king said according to a palace statement.The king also expressed concerns about developments in the territories, saying that the Palestinians should resort to dialogue to resolve their differences.Palestinian unity is key to tackling the current challenges, he added.Israel on Sunday began returning Fatah members who had fled deadly clashes in the Gaza Strip to the Hamas-ruled territory following a request by Abbas.On Saturday Abbas had asked that about 180 people be allowed out of Gaza after nine people were killed during the day in the deadliest internal fighting with Hamas since the Islamists seized power in June 2007.It followed a July 21 bombing that killed five Hamas militants and a little girl, which the Islamists blamed on Fatah's Helis clan.Abbas said meanwhile that Egypt plans to invite Palestinians for talks in Cairo.

Dialogue is important. We have called for it. Egypt has agreed to invite Palestinian factions to meet in Cairo, he was quoted in the statement as saying.We can't lose hope. We disagree and fight, but we have to work together to bridge the big gap created unfortunately by Hamas.Abbas urged the Islamists to resort to reason and logic and accept the law.

Monday, August 04, 2008

TROOPS ON ITALYS STREETS

THIS SHOULD BE HOW THE EU WILL COME INTO ISRAEL AND GUARENTEE THEIR SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE 7 YR TREATY. AND THIS COULD BE WHAT SETS IN MOTION THE EU ARMY. INTERESTING ITS IN ROME ITSELF WERE THE EU ARMY MAY COME INTO BEING.

Troops deployed in Italian cities against crime and illegal immigration By Elisabetta Povoledo Published: August 4, 2008

ROME: Soldiers were deployed throughout Italy on Monday to control embassies, subway and railroad stations and centers for illegal immigrants as part of broader government measures to fight crime.

By the time it is fully in effect next week, the effort will place about 3,000 soldiers alongside regular police and military police officers, a visible signal to citizens that the government has responded to their demands for greater security, Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said in an interview on the Italian Sky News channel.The conservative government of Silvio Berlusconi won elections in April promising to crack down on petty crime and illegal immigration, which polls have indicated are primary concerns here.Security is something concrete, La Russa said Monday. And the troops will be a concrete deterrent to criminals, though they cannot make arrests.Critics have condemned the deployment as a superfluous measure that could prove counterproductive.

Today in Europe
Solzhenitsyn, 20th-century oracle, diesTwo ways of looking at the Lisbon Treaty.Anglicans agree to seek accord to stave off schism
Putting troops on the street sends a dramatic message that the situation is more serious than it is in reality, the leader of the opposition party Democratic Left, Marco Minniti, said in a telephone interview.Instead of instilling a sense of security, he asserted, militarizing Italian cities will do quite the opposite.On Monday, soldiers began patrolling dozens of cities. In Milan, troops were stationed around the Gothic cathedral, and in Naples they kept an eye on the American Consulate.Television news stations showed military officials searching immigrants' suitcases at subway stations.In the capital, troops will be stationed around embassies, consulates and centers for illegal immigrants in outlying neighborhoods.They will not be securing the city's historic monuments. Local officials said they felt that a military presence could scare off tourists.They will only be in areas where they have no impact on normal citizens, said Rome's mayor, Gianni Alemmano.

Other critics of the measure, part of a larger anti-crime package pushed through Parliament last month, argued that Italy's military was better suited to dealing with emergencies in Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iraq than with domestic urban crises.You need to be specially trained to carry out some kinds of controls, said Nicola Tanzi, the secretary of a trade union that represents the police. Soldiers just aren't qualified.He also questioned whether the cost of the operation, put at €60 million, or $93 million, might not have been better spent increasing the budgets for the police and military police.Structures and qualified people already exist, and they do an excellent job with dwindling means at their disposal, Tanzi said. This is not the right way to create security.The armed forces have been used in domestic security missions in the past, in particular in fighting Mafia violence. In 1992, after the anti-Mafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were killed in Mafia bombings, the government sent 20,000 troops to Sicily where they remained until 1998.Troops also have been sent to fight organized crime in Campania and Calabria, and they were deployed to protect airports, electricity power stations and potential terrorist targets after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.IHT

Italy deploys 3,000 soldiers in city centres by Martine Nouaille Mon Aug 4, 1:52 PM ET

ROME (AFP) - Italy deployed 3,000 troops to patrol major cities and sensitive areas Monday in a controversial move by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's right wing government to boost security.

Dressed in shirt-sleeve order and equipped with handguns, some 1,000soldiers joined local police in Rome, Naples, Milan and other urban centres.Another 1,000 were deployed around potential targets ranging from embassies to railway stations and churches, while a similar number were guarding holding centres for illegal migrants.

But mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno said no soldier would patrol in the historic city centre where most tourists are concentrated.On the island of Lampedusa, where thousands of migrants have arrived from Africa in recent months seeking to enter Europe, 70 air force troops were supplementing police who patrol the perimeter of a reception centre.They are part of another 1,000 troops meant to be deployed around immigration centres.The Italian left and police unions have criticised the use of troops, accusing Berlusconi's government of seeking to militarize city centres and cover up cuts in spending on defence and security.Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, of the anti-immigrant Northern League, said he wanted to give the public a better perception of security.The government which took office in April has linked crime and illegal immigration and passed a series of measures aimed at cracking down on both.

But officials Monday played down the decision to draft in troops.

In 1992, 20,000 men were sent to Sicily alone to allow police to concentrate on fighting the Mafia after attacks on judges, deputy chief of the general staff General Mario Buscemi was quoted by Monday's daily La Repubblica as saying.The support provided by 3,000troops spread across Italy would be minor and essentially symbolic, he said.Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa announced in June that troops would be put at the disposal of regional governments for anti-crime missions. Parliament gave its backing to the measure last week.Thousands of African migrants seeking to enter Europe have arrived in Lampedusa in recent months.Of the 11,949 people who landed in Italy in the first six months of 2008, 10,402 arrived in Lampedusa, around double the number for the same period in 2007.

About 1,200 arrived on the holiday island off Sicily last Wednesday and Thursday.

Italy deploys troops to fight street crime Story Highlights
Soldiers deployed around sensitive sites in Rome, Milan, Naples, Bologna, Palermo.Defense Ministry: 3,000 to be deployed as part of a security package Measure, proposed by Silvio Berlusconi's govt., to remain for six months.Critics say the deployments will end up militarizing the cities


ROME, Italy (AP) -- The Defense Ministry says hundreds of soldiers have been deployed in cities across Italy as part of government measures to fight street crime.Italian soldiers on patrol outside the U.S. embassy to the Holy See in Rome. 1 of 2 In Rome, some 400 men and women are deployed at subway and railway stations and at an immigrant center. They are not expected to be immediately deployed in the capital's historic center.In Milan, some 150 soldiers were patrolling the Duomo cathedral and sensitive sites such as the U.S. consulate and the city's synagogue. Soldiers were also deployed in Naples, Bologna and Palermo, Italian reports said.More soldiers will be deployed in coming days, reaching an overall total of 3,000, said Lt. Col. Mario Busi of the Defense Ministry.Premier Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government had proposed the measure as part of a security package that also toughens rules for illegal immigrants, whom some Italians link to crime. The measure, recently approved by parliament, remains in effect for six months.Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa dismissed criticism that the soldiers would scare residents, saying that instead they could help address citizens' concerns on security. The people more likely to be afraid, he said, were the thieves, the rapists, the criminals.

Berlusconi has made law and order a priority after winning April elections on promises to crack down on crime.Some critics say the deployments will end up militarizing the cities, while others bring up the opposite argument that a deployment of 3,000 soldiers is little more than a show.In the 1990s, soldiers were sent into Sicily to help free up police for investigations of the Mafia.

Sunday, August 03, 2008

GAZA INFIGHTING

GAZA INFIGHTING
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=9099043&ch=4226714&src=news

VIOLENCE ERUPTS IN GAZA CITY
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=9096611&ch=4226714&src=news

Hamas arrests Fatah men sent back to Gaza by Sakher Abu El Oun AUG 3,08

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Israel on Sunday began sending Fatah members who had fled deadly clashes in the Gaza Strip back to the territory, where they were immediately detained by Hamas-run security forces, officials said. The return of around 180 Gazans who fled to Israel on Saturday was at the request of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who heads the Fatah party, Israeli security officials said.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Hamas had received dozens of returnees and had detained them for questioning.Those who are accused of breaking the law will be investigated and if found to be guilty they will be brought to justice. Those who are proved innocent will be released, Abu Zuhri told AFP.By Sunday afternoon, 32 people had been sent back, and the remainder of those who fled were expected to be returned later in the day, officials said.More than 20 people who were evacuated from Gaza and hospitalised for wounds inflicted in the fighting will remain in Israel until they recover.Abu Zuhri earlier said that the decision of the Fatah supporters to flee confirms these people are breaking the law, because they prefer to surrender themselves to the (Israeli) occupation than to stay in their homes.Abbas had asked Israel to allow his supporters to leave Gaza after 11 people -- mainly Fatah members -- were killed in Saturday's clashes, which marked the deadliest internal fighting since the Islamists seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007.The bloodletting was sparked when Hamas forces attempted to arrest suspects they claimed were behind a beachside bombing more than a week ago that killed five senior Hamas militants and a little girl.Yesterday evening Abu Mazen (Abbas) and (Palestinian prime minister Salam) Fayyad made a request for Israel to allow them to cross into Israel and then to hospitals and the West Bank, a senior Israeli official told AFP.

Shortly afterwards (Israeli Defence Minister Ehud) Barak was contacted again by Abbas who asked him to allow all of them to return to Gaza, the official said on condition of anonymity.Another security official said the decision was taken by Abbas following assurances given from a foreign party -- a reference to Egypt which has brokered indirect negotiations between the rival Palestinian factions.Abbas, who was Sunday in Jordan, said Egypt plans to invite representatives of the rival Palestinian factions for talks in Cairo.Dialogue is important. We have called for it. Egypt has agreed to invite Palestinian factions to meet in Cairo, he said in a statement issued in Amman after talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II.We can't lose hope. We disagree and fight, but we have to work together to bridge the big gap created unfortunately by Hamas.Abbas urged the Islamists to resort to reason and logic and accept the law.King Abdullah II, meanwhile, warned Abbas that Palestinian infighting threatens their efforts to form an independent state, the palace said.Continued factional infighting harms the Palestinian cause and threatens efforts to help establish an independent Palestinian state, the king said according to a palace statement. The Fatah supporters had fled Gaza after 11 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in Saturday's clashes between Hamas-run security forces and the pro-Fatah Helis clan, according to three Gaza-based human rights groups. The groups identified those killed as eight members of the Helis family, two Hamas gunmen and a man caught in the crossfire. The clashes followed a week in which the Islamist movement cracked down on its Fatah rivals, detaining upwards of 300 people. Tensions have been high in the impoverished coastal strip of 1.5 million people since Hamas blamed Fatah for the beachside bombing. On Saturday Hamas accused members of the Helis clan over the attack. Fatah denied any involvement in the beach bomb, but in an apparent tit-for-tat arrest campaign Abbas's security forces detained dozens of Hamas members in the Israeli-occupied West Bank over the past week.

Jordan tells Abbas infighting threatens Palestinian state AUG 3,08

AMMAN (AFP) - Jordan's King Abdullah II warned visiting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Sunday that Palestinian infighting threatens their efforts to form an independent state, the palace said. Continued factional infighting harms the Palestinian cause and threatens efforts to help establish an independent Palestinian state, the king said according to a palace statement.The king also expressed concerns about developments in the territories, saying that the Palestinians should resort to dialogue to resolve their differences.Palestinian unity is key to tackling the current challenges, he added.Israel on Sunday began returning Fatah members who had fled deadly clashes in the Gaza Strip to the Hamas-ruled territory following a request by Abbas.On Saturday Abbas had asked that about 180 people be allowed out of Gaza after nine people were killed during the day in the deadliest internal fighting with Hamas since the Islamists seized power in June 2007.It followed a July 21 bombing that killed five Hamas militants and a little girl, which the Islamists blamed on Fatah's Helis clan.Abbas said meanwhile that Egypt plans to invite Palestinians for talks in Cairo.Dialogue is important. We have called for it. Egypt has agreed to invite Palestinian factions to meet in Cairo, he was quoted in the statement as saying.We can't lose hope. We disagree and fight, but we have to work together to bridge the big gap created unfortunately by Hamas.Abbas urged the Islamists to resort to reason and logic and accept the law.

Top Syrian general assassinated: reports AUG 3,08

BEIRUT (AFP) - Arab media reported on Sunday that a brigadier general thought to be the Syrian regime's liaison with Hezbollah in Lebanon has been assassinated. The reports came almost six months after the killing in a Damascus car bomb of top Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughnieh, which the Shiite militant group blamed on Israel.The Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat on Sunday quoted informed sources in London as saying that a senior Syrian officer had been found dead.The circumstances of the incident are not clear, the London-based paper said in its report, which said the sources suggested that the slain officer had been in charge of sensitive files and closely linked to the Syrian top brass.Al-Bawaba, an Arab news website, named the officer as Mohammed Sleiman and said he was Syria's liaison officer with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.It said he was killed by a sniper in the northwest Syrian town of Tartus and would be buried in his hometown of Driekesh on Sunday.The Lebanese anti-Syrian daily al-Mustaqbal quoted a Syrian news site as saying Sleiman was the head of security at the presidential palace in Damascus and President Bashar al-Assad's right-hand man.The paper made no mention of Hezbollah in its report.

A Hezbollah official told AFP in Lebanon that he did not know Mohammed Sleiman and had not heard about any killing.Israel has denied the Hezbollah charge that it was behind the assassination of Mughnieh in the Syrian capital on February 12.

Israel to free Palestinians in Hezbollah deal Sun Aug 3, 6:03 AM ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved the release of five Palestinian prisoners as part of a swap deal with the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrilla group that brought the bodies of two Israeli soldiers home. Israel is expected to free the prisoners, none of whom were involved in deadly attacks against Israelis, in the coming weeks following a review period, Israeli officials said.Israel freed five Lebanese prisoners and returned the bodies of nearly 200 Arab fighters last month as part of the deal with Hezbollah. The two Israelis were killed in a Hezbollah raid that triggered a 34-day long war in 2006.(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Sami Aboudi)

Nine killed, 95 hurt in Hamas-Fatah violence in Gaza By Nidal al-Mughrabi Sat Aug 2, 4:56 PM ET

GAZA (Reuters) - Three Hamas policemen and six pro-Fatah gunmen were killed in the Gaza Strip on Saturday in the deadliest confrontation between the rival factions since Hamas seized control of the coastal territory a year ago. The fighting erupted when Hamas gunmen surrounded the Shejaia suburb in Gaza City to arrest 11suspects, who the Islamist group believes were behind bombings that killed five Hamas gunmen and a girl last Friday.Members of the Helles clan, affiliated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, surrendered to Hamas after clashes that also wounded five Hamas policemen and 90 other people, including 16 children, a Hamas official said.Clan leader Ahmed Helles and 179 of his men escaped to the border with Israel. An Israeli army spokesman said soldiers allowed all 180 men to cross the border and some were evacuated to Israeli hospitals for treatment.Hamas Interior Minister Saeed Seyam, speaking in Gaza City, said police arrested dozens of gunmen, including four of the 11 men Hamas believes were behind the bombings, and confiscated large quantities of arms and explosives.We can confirm that Fatah are implicated in the bombings, Seyam said, accusing pro-Fatah cells of inciting violence against the Hamas government. Fatah denies the charges.The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Abbas had telephoned Ahmed Helles, a senior Fatah representative in the Gaza Strip, to express solidarity. Abbas called Hamas's campaign unacceptable and a blow to his call for national dialogue.The violence could hamper Egyptian efforts to reconcile Fatah with Hamas. Tension between the two spiked last year after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from pro-Abbas forces.Ehab al-Ghsain, a spokesman for Hamas's Interior Ministry, said: The Helles family has become a military force and its members have been attacking, abducting and even killing people. We must put an end to their attacks on innocent citizens.

ARRESTS, KIDNAPPING

Last week's blasts touched off tit-for-tat crackdowns by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Fatah in the West Bank. Hundreds of Palestinians have since been arrested.On Thursday, Abbas ordered his Fatah-dominated security forces to release all pro-Hamas detainees in the West Bank. Twenty were released on Friday but dozens remained in custody, a security official in the occupied West Bank said.In the West Bank city of Nablus, Fatah militants kidnapped Mohammed Ghazal, a Hamas official, but released him hours later.Hamas said it had released more than half the hundreds of Fatah activists in its custody, including Ibrahim Abu an-Naja and nine other Fatah officials.As part of its crackdown, Hamas closed down a radio station run by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a militant group allied with Fatah.An official said the station's broadcasts were inciting violence against Hamas's forces and government in the Gaza Strip. The PFLP confirmed the station had stopped broadcasting.In the West Bank city of Ramallah, pro-Abbas forces clashed with supporters of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist group whose goal is to establish a pan-national Muslim state including the Palestinian territories and Israel.Witnesses said policemen were trying to prevent the group from holding an illegal gathering at a school in the city. The Palestinian Authority refused the group permission to hold the gathering, citing its links to Hamas. (Additional reporting by Atef Saad in Nablus, Mohammad Assadi and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Joseph Nasr in Jerusalem) (Writing by Joseph Nasr and Avida Landau in Jerusalem; editing by Tim Pearce)

Lebanese reach draft on Hezbollah arms By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer Fri Aug 1, 8:35 PM ET

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanese political factions reached a compromise on Hezbollah's arsenal, the information minister said Friday, releasing a vaguely worded draft statement that implies the militant group can keep its weapons. The position paper must now be approved by Parliament, whose vote will decide whether to accept a unity government that includes Hezbollah. The new Cabinet was formed after Hezbollah gunmen routed armed supporters of the previous pro-Western administration earlier this year.Hezbollah's arms have long been a point of dispute, with many legislators in the Western-backed majority in Parliament wanting to disarm the group. Hezbollah rejects the demand, and it will hold veto power in the new government.The draft statement announced by Information Minister Tarek Mitri is deliberately vague, saying only that the committee agreed on the right of Lebanon's people, the army and the resistance to liberate all its territories.Resistance is Lebanon's jargon for Hezbollah, which is admired by many in Lebanon for its stand against Israel. All territories alludes to Lebanon's territorial claim on the Chebaa Farms area that Israel captured from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war.After Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, militias were ordered dissolved, but Hezbollah fighters were allowed to keep their weapons because they were considered a resistance group fighting Israeli troops that occupied part of southern Lebanon until 2000.Many officials in the pro-Western bloc had argued that statement should not include the word resistance and that it should make liberating the occupied lands solely the national army's responsibility. But Hezbollah and its allies strongly opposed those demands.Lebanon has been rife with tensions as the pro-Western Prime Minister Fuad Saniora has struggled to form the national unity government in which Hezbollah will have veto power in all government decisions.The Hezbollah-led opposition won the concession in May as part of an Arab-brokered deal to end months of political stalemate that had escalated into violence and raised fears Lebanon's sectarian factions could plunge into a new civil war.Before the agreement, 81 people died and more than 200 were wounded as Hezbollah militants and their allies battled supporters of Saniora's government in Beirut and other cities. Sectarian violence since the deal has killed 29 people.

Israeli warns Iran is heading toward nuclear breakthrough Fri Aug 1, 5:43 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Iran is heading towards a major breakthrough in its nuclear weapons capability, Israel's deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz warned Friday. Iran is continuing to advance toward a military nuclear capability and is heading towards a major breakthrough, the Iranian-born Mofaz told a think tank after talks in Washington with US officials.For us such a situation that Iran will have a nuclear power is an existential threat and from the state of Israel point of view, it is unacceptable, Mofaz told the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.Our estimation is that already by (2009) Iran will reach enrichment capability and as soon as 2010 will have option to reach (uranium production) at military levels, he said in broken English.He charged that Iran was playing for time in talks aimed at halting uranium enrichment with the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain -- the permanent UN Security Council members -- and Germany, the so-called P5-plus-1.

One thing is clear is Iranians are continuing their policy of buying time and so far they are succeeding, he said.We all know time is a decisive element in our ability to change the picture and remove the Iranian threat, Mofaz said.And the window of influence is becoming smaller and I believe about to close, he said. It's a race against time and time is winning.He said he favored a diplomatic solution to the showdown with Iran over its nuclear program but refused to rule out all options, including the military option, to stop Iran.

Israel's foreign minister has edge in party race By Adam Entous Fri Aug 1, 3:39 PM ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has a clear edge in the Kadima party race to replace scandal-hit Ehud Olmert, polls showed on Friday, but officials questioned her ability to form a coalition and become prime minister. Two of the three polls published in major Israeli newspapers also showed Livni running nearly neck-and-neck with rightist Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu should snap parliamentary elections be called.

Olmert threw Israel into political turmoil that could hamstring Middle East peacemaking by announcing on Wednesday that he would stand down as premier after a September 17 Kadima leadership contest.Israeli police questioned Olmert for three hours on Friday over allegations he took bribes from an American businessman and made duplicate claims for travel expenses when he was trade minister and mayor of Jerusalem. Police plan to question Olmert again in the near future, officials said.Olmert, who has denied any wrongdoing, would remain caretaker prime minister until his successor builds a new coalition government, a process that could take months.That will give him some time to continue peace talks with the Palestinians and indirect negotiations with Syria, but politicians and analysts said he would lack the mandate to make commitments that would be honored by his successor.Polls in all three major newspapers showed Livni, a former intelligence agent, with a wide lead of 8-18 percentage points over her closest Kadima rival, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz.

EARLY ELECTIONS

Kadima officials questioned the ability of Livni, Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, to build a coalition between the country's fractious parties, increasing the chances of early parliamentary elections.Mofaz, a former defence chief known for his tough tactics in crushing a Palestinian uprising, may have an easier time winning over the ultra-Orthodox Shas party to secure the 61 seats needed in parliament to form a stable government, they said.One top Kadima official said he feared the battle to succeed Olmert will tear Kadima to apart.Speaking in Washington, Mofaz said peace talks with Syria should continue, without preconditions, after Olmert steps down.Former prime minister Netanyahu, a vocal critic of Olmert's peace moves, could try to thwart Kadima's plans to form the next government by mustering a majority in parliament, either to form his own coalition or to move up elections scheduled for 2010.But two surveys published on Friday suggested Netanyahu would face a tighter-than-expected race if Kadima picks Livni as its new leader.A poll in the mass-circulation Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper showed Netanyahu would win 30 seats over Livni's 29. Left-leaning Haaretz had Livni on 26 seats to Netanyahu's 25.Maariv showed Netanyahu clearly ahead, with Likud winning 33 seats in Israel's 120-seat parliament, and Kadima taking 20.Defence Minister Ehud Barak, the Labor Party leader, is widely seen as backing Livni, the most powerful woman in Israeli politics since Prime Minister Golda Meir in the 1970s.In a statement on Friday, he said Labor would consider joining a new coalition but added: If we need to go to elections, then we will be ready.(Additional reporting by Ori Lewis in Jerusalem and Dan Williams in Washington; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Oil prices end higher on Iran nuclear worries By STEVENSON JACOBS, AP Business Writer Fri Aug 1, 4:42 PM ET

NEW YORK - Oil prices ended slightly higher Friday, pushing back above $125 a barrel as the threat of a conflict with Iran rattled energy markets after a week of wild swings. The gains, however, were limited by lingering beliefs that fuel prices are still too high for cash-strapped Americans who are already cutting back on driving to save money.In another sign of waning demand for gasoline, U.S. filling stations hungry for business lowered the price of a gallon of regular overnight by just over a penny on average to $3.898, according to auto club AAA, Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. Gas is down 5.2 percent from record high of $4.114 a gallon reached July 17.Oil market traders grew jittery after news reports quoted Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz as saying that Iran's nuclear program was nearing a major breakthrough and that his country must be prepared for every option.Mofaz, a hawkish former defense minister and military chief, is a top contender to succeed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who announced Wednesday he will resign in September amid a corruption probe.

Light, sweet crude jumped more than $4 to a high of $128.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest level in nine sessions, before easing back later to settle at $125.10, up $1.02. Prices fell $2.69 to settle at $124.08 on Thursday.Mofaz's comments scared investors who fear that an attack on Iran would plunge the Middle East into more turmoil and threaten oil shipments at a time on increasingly tight world supplies.The Iranian situation is still the wild card, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill. We're simply going to see this geopolitical item come into play and give us these price spikes from time to time.Friday's session capped a week in which crude swung sharply between large gains and losses. Analysts say they expect more volatility as traders wrestle over whether prices will surge on threats to supplies in places like Nigeria and Iran, or whether falling demand will continue to push prices lower.Crude has dropped $22 — or about 15 percent — since reaching a record high of $147.27 on July 11, as high prices force people and businesses to scale back on energy consumption.

The demand destruction theme is definitely still intact, said Ritterbusch, who predicted prices will fall to $117 in the coming days.Concerns of falling U.S. energy demand were boosted by more weak U.S. economic news. The Labor Department said jobs fell for the seventh straight month, while General Motors Corp. reported its third-worst quarterly loss ever.U.S. government data showed employers cut 51,000 jobs in July against an expected loss of 72,000 — but the July unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent from 5.5 percent in June, a five-year peak and slightly higher than forecast.

In addition, the Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index fell slightly from June's reading, but came in better than economists expected.The dollar gained slightly against the euro Friday, a move that normally would have fed selling of crude by traders who bought the contracts to hedge against inflation and weakness in the U.S. currency.Worries about Iran's nuclear ambitions will likely influence trading next week. A deadline expires Saturday for Tehran to show it will stop expanding its uranium enrichment program, at least temporarily, or face the threat of new U.N. sanctions.Earlier this week, Iranian officials, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pledged to continue the country's nuclear program.In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell about 2.25 cents to settle at $3.437 a gallon while gasoline futures added 1.34 cents to $3.0843. Natural gas futures added 27 cents to settle at $9.389 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, September Brent crude rose 62 cents at $124.60 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Associated Press writers Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Hungary and Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.

Friday, August 01, 2008

OBAMA FORERUNNER OF DICTATOR

How Obama prepped world for the Antichrist August 01, 2008
1:00 am Eastern 2008 WND


Obama's World Tour was planned as the high point of his campaign, with the candidate retracing the footsteps of great presidents of the past, hobnobbing with world leaders and as one pundit put it, making the Europeans love us again.Obama drew huge crowds in Berlin where he addressed them, oddly enough, as fellow citizens of the world. It was a typically flowery Obama speech, but it hit an unexpectedly sour note when he dramatically intoned:People of Berlin – people of the world – this is our moment. This is our time. ... With an eye toward the future, with resolve in our hearts, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again.Pundits on both sides are trying to sort it out. It's a great speech, like I said, if somebody is running for president of the world, but it was too much, even for a compliant and Obama-friendly press corps.The politically progressive newspaper of record, the Washington Post nicknamed Obama the presumptuous nominee after his European performance.The Boston Globe's Boston.com ran a piece in its Political Intelligence section called the Obama Arrogance Watch. David Letterman did one of his signature Top 10 skits entitled, Top Ten Signs Obama is Overconfident, leading off with a proposed bill to change Oklahoma to Oklabama.The London Sunday Times Online ran a brilliant satire piece called He ventured forth to bring light into the world.

A sample paragraph: When he was 12 years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organization with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope? Before wrapping up his tour, Obama stopped by to address a gathering of minority journalists in Hawaii, where he once again apologized for what a rotten place America either used to be, or still is. It is hard to tell from his comment, I personally would want to see our tragic history, or the tragic elements of our history, acknowledged.(Wouldn't anybody besides me personally like to see somebody in the White House who doesn't think America needs apologizing for?)Barack has apologized to the French and Germans for Americans who are too ignorant to learn their language before embarking on their once-in-a-lifetime two-week visit abroad.He's apologized for the simple Midwestern rednecks who, forced to cling to religion and guns to justify their antipathy, just can't help themselves.There was a time when it was considered unpatriotic to be ashamed of America, but that time is long past. Being proud of America means you are probably a Bush-loving neoconservative, so the only sure way to prevent such misidentification is to apologize for it at every opportunity.

America has never faced so many different crises at the same time in living memory. The war with al-Qaida and Islamic terror, the Iran crisis, Afghanistan, nuclear proliferation, the rising price of oil, the falling dollar, enemy acronyms like OPEC, NAM, OIC, U.N. ... Obama is correct in saying that the world is ready for someone like him – a messiah-like figure, charismatic and glib and seemingly holding all the answers to all the world's questions.

And the Bible says that such a leader will soon make his appearance on the scene. It won't be Barack Obama, but Obama's world tour provided a foretaste of the reception he can expect to receive.He will probably also stand in some European capital, addressing the people of the world and telling them that he is the one that they have been waiting for. And he can expect as wildly enthusiastic a greeting as Obama got in Berlin.The Bible calls that leader the Antichrist. And it seems apparent that the world is now ready to make his acquaintance.