Illiterate Bush’s Reading Copy of Speech Posted to UN Website

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[White House went ballistic when the copy of Bush's speech provided to
him for READING at the UN was exposed for all the world to see...
complete with PRO-NUN-SEE-A-SHUN guides for the illiterate moron.

USA Today Blog - Sep 25, 2007
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/09/white-house-ups.html

"On Deadline"

White House upset over copy of Bush speech posted to U.N. website

Posted by Mike Carney
12:33 PM/ET, September 25, 2007 in Washington

Apparently, a marked-up draft of the president's speech popped up on
the U.N.'s website as President Bush delivered his remarks this morning
before the General Assembly, USA TODAY's David Jackson reports. The
draft included phonetic spellings of some names and countries, and the
cellphone numbers for Bush speechwriters.

Press secretary Dana Perino downplayed the incident, and said phonetic
spellings are used to help interpreters. Asked if the president has
trouble pronouncing some country's names, Perino deemed it "an
offensive question."

"There was an error made," Perino said, noting it was not a final draft.

"It was taken down and there's nothing more to say about it."

Update at 12:43 p.m. ET: See the version they replaced it with on
the U.N. website. HERE:
http://www.un.org/webcast/ga/62/2007/pdfs/usa-eng.pdf

Update at 12:46 p.m. ET: Blake Hounshell at Foreign Policy says he has
a copy of the speech that got the White House so worked up this
morning. Here are some of the phonetic guides it included, according to
the magazine's blog:

    * Kyrgyzstan [KEYR-geez-stan]
    * Mauritania [moor-EH-tain-ee-a]
    * Harare [hah-RAR-ray]
    * Mugabe [moo-GAH-bee]
    * Sarkozy [sar-KO-zee]
    * Caracas [kah-RAH-kus]

Update at 2:33 p.m. ET: Here’s an excerpt from the press secretary’s
exchange with reporters about the speech snafu. It was released by the
White House.

PERINO:  On the speech — your question about the speech, the drafts
are circulated, and there was an error made in trying to make sure that
interpreters had what they needed.  I don’t know how the draft of the
speech — it was not final — was posted, but it was, and it was taken
down.  There’s really nothing more to say about it.

REPORTER: And they were phonetic spellings of various countries  – as
well, we understand.

PERINO:  That’s not unusual.  We do that for many speeches.

REPORTER: Does the president have a hard time pronouncing some of these
countries’s [sic] name?

PERINO:  I think that’s a offensive question. I’m going to just decline
to comment on it.

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UN revs up over global warming

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sent by tsimonds (activ-l)

Christian Science Monitor – Sep 24, 2007
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0924/p01s01-wogi.html

U.N. revs up over global warming

The session Monday may be the largest high-level meeting ever on climate
change.

By Howard LaFranchi

UNITED NATIONS, N.Y.–The annual summertime retreat of the Arctic
icecap, greater this year than perhaps at any time during the 20th
century. The nightmare of intensifying storms in some areas and
extended drought in others, already taking place in developing
countries of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

It is against this backdrop of almost daily news of what scientists
describe as signs of advancing global warming that the United Nations
holds Monday what may be the largest high-level international meeting
ever on climate change.

The conference, called by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, kicks off
what many experts and officials say will be the high week of a
turning-point year in the global political response to the challenge of
a warming planet.

More than 80 heads of state or government are expected among the
representatives of better than 150 countries attending the UN session.
Then on Thursday, President Bush will convene at the White House a
gathering of leaders from the world’s top emitters of greenhouse gases.

In addition, the Clinton Global Initiative will host a forum in New York
Wednesday, drawing business and international political leaders to
promote grass-roots responses to global warming.

Over the past weekend, at a UN conference in Montreal, the governments
of about 200 countries agreed to accelerate a treaty to phase out
hydrochlorofluorocarbons.

Together, the meetings put climate change at the center of the global
stage this week  and they will make it harder for leaders to drop the
issue in the future, experts say. That may be especially true of Mr.
Bush: He may be known internationally as the foot-dragging leader of a
top emitter of fossil-fuel pollutants, but by endorsing Mr. Ban’s
meeting and then calling for his own at the White House, he will be
seen as committing to a path of no return on climate-change action.

The Monday UN meeting "is looking to be quite an extraordinary event in
what is turning out to be a remarkable year in the international
response to climate change," says Richard Kinley, deputy executive
director of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Typically, such international sessions draw environmental ministers, who
may or may not attend with the full-fledged backing of their government.
This time, many heads of state are involved, with the meeting coinciding
with the opening of the UN General Assembly. Such high-level involvement
suggests that the world has turned a corner in perception of the
seriousness of the climate-change challenge, Mr. Kinley says.

"Increasingly, leaders are seeing this as an issue of national interest,
and not just a question of responsibility. And the fact is that states
are more apt to act when they see their interests at stake," he says.

Other factors this year, he says, include what many experts describe as
a "conclusive" report from an international group of scientists and
officials finding evidence of global warming to be "unequivocal." The
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded with what it termed
near certainty that the warming taking place is the result of human
activities.

"That doesn’t mean we won’t hear some unorthodox views" at the meeting,
Kinley says. Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus, for example, intends
to portray the idea of man-made global warming as a "myth" that does not
justify constrictive measures.

Yet other experts cite factors beyond scientific findings in global
warming’s rise to the international spotlight. David Sandalow, a
specialist in the political dimensions of climate issues at the
Brookings Institution in Washington, spoke at a forum earlier this year
on the "new political climate" around climate change and listed factors
such as: the business community’s "astounding" rallying to the issue,
the Democrats’ taking control of Congress, increased Republican support
for action starting with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R)  and
even the documentary featuring Al Gore, "An Inconvenient Truth."

What UN experts hope for  and what Ban wants coming out of Monday’s
meeting  is fresh momentum for action at the UN climate-change
conference set for Bali, Indonesia, in December. The Bali conference
will take up the crucial question of what kind of agreement should
replace the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, which
expires in 2012.

"What I want  is a strong political commitment at the leaders’ level for
the meeting in Bali," Ban told reporters last week. "There must be no
vacuum" after expiration of the Kyoto accord, "so we must address the
challenge boldly." That means reaching a replacement agreement by 2009
so national governments can act and implementation can begin in 2012, he
says.

None of this means that the debates on climate change are over, or that
global accord on measures for action will be easy to reach.

Many eyes will be focused on this week’s White House meeting to gauge
just how committed the United States is to action  and what kind of
action the Bush administration will accept. Some experts worry that the
administration will stick to a preference for voluntary goals in
emissions cuts rather than reduction commitments, or that the
Washington meeting signals a willingness on the part of the US to go
outside the UN framework for addressing climate change.

Another potential stumbling block is the continuing disagreement between
industrialized and developing countries over who should make the most
substantial commitments to cutting greenhouse-gas emissions. It was the
exclusion of developing countries from the Kyoto Protocol that in part
led Bush to reject the agreement.

Major developing powers like China, India, and Brazil are still wary of
any accord that would place the same burden on them as on developed
economies, which they say have much higher per capita emission rates.

But these developing countries are also beginning to signal a
seriousness about global warming and to address pollution and
sustainable-development issues on their own, leading some experts to
find hope that the divide can be narrowed. "Among a number of
developing countries, we’re seeing a growing realization that they have
to take a new approach for their own well-being. And the leading
example of that is China," says Kinley of the UN.

"That is not to say they have changed their position that the
industrialized world should take the lead," he adds. But he says a door
once shut tight has now been opened.

"What we hear more now is talk of incentives, of the right investment
and technology flows into the developing countries, and that is
bringing the two sides closer together," he says. "That’s crucial,
because it’s clearly only through international cooperation that this
challenge can be addressed."
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Bailed out by taxpayers, Brit bank raises dividend,  continues CEO’s huge salary

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn’t Fit

[Hilarious! Thieves and knaves "advising" thieves and knaves. ]

Bailed out by taxpayers, bank raises dividend,
continues CEO’s huge salary

The Telegraph via GATA – September 25, 2007
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/09/25/cnr…

Anger as Northern Rock Plans Dividend

By Philip Aldrick and Harry Wallop

The Government has hired investment bank Goldman Sachs to advise
it on options for Northern Rock amid fading hopes of a rescue and
growing anger at the beleaguered mortgage lender’s decision to pay
shareholders a dividend.

Goldman was brought in after the Treasury guaranteed Northern Rock’s
debts alongside savers’ deposits. It will advise on implications
for taxpayers of any rescue plan, while considering alternative
scenarios and working through the detail of the guarantee.

For the time being, Goldman will take a back seat, leaving the
rescue plan to Merrill Lynch, which is advising Northern Rock’s
board. Merrill Lynch is seeking a buyer, but banks appear to have
balked at the lender’s potential L20 billion funding liability. The
shares fell a further 22 to 172p yesterday as bankers said a white
knight was unlikely to emerge.

Northern Rock’s growing troubles have led to resentment that
shareholders will profit from the taxpayers’ guarantee. The bank
plans to pay a L59 million dividend next month to everyone on the
share register this week, despite having drawn L2.9 billion from
the Bank of England’s emergency facility just to keep the business
running.

Professor Andrew Clare at Cass Business School, said: "Had the
Government not stepped in, there would be no dividend and no company.
. I’m sure it wasn’t the Government’s intention for the dividend
to be paid."

The Taxpayers’ Alliance pressure group added that the payment set
"a very bad precedent."

A spokesman for the bank said: "We confirmed on September 14 that
the intention was to pay the dividend. If there is anything new to
announce on that then we would make that announcement."

Matt Ridley, Northern Rock chairman, also appeared to defend the
dividend policy in a letter sent to almost 100 MPs yesterday. He
wrote: "The board is well aware of its responsibility to its many
shareholders, including tens of thousands of small shareholders,
as well as to our largest shareholder, the charitable Northern Rock
Foundation. The board fully acknowledges its responsibilities and
stands ready to account for its actions."

The Prime Minister yesterday issued a thinly-veiled rebuke over
Adam Applegarth’s L1.3 million pay. Gordon Brown told Radio 4′s
Today programme: "A company doing badly cannot afford to pay its
executives exorbitant salaries or even high salaries."

Goldman Sachs’ appointment is a clear signal that the Treasury is
ready to seize control of the lender. Bankers say if a buyer cannot
be found soon, the Treasury may wind up the bank, leaving shareholders
with nothing. They added the lender’s L113 billion of mortgage
assets are unlikely to be sold as, at present prices, buyers would
demand a 5 percent discount that could mean a L5.65 billion loss.
With just L2.35 billion of net assets, the bank would then be
insolvent.

A Treasury spokesman said: "We do not comment on or disclose advice
provided by external advisers." Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

* * *

GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the
United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at
http://www.gata.org/.
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Iran’s Pres Lambasts US at UN General Assembly

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn’t Fit

[He is "defying" only the US Bush Reich, of course, since he says the
whole issue is now in the hands of the UN body, the IAEA. But the BBC
calls his speech "defiant." -NYTr]

Video of Ahmadinejad’s Address to the UN General Assembly is
available at the BBC in a variety of formats:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_7010000/ne…

OR: http://tinyurl.com/yoxynd

There’s also a clip at C-span 2nd item in center, at
http://www.c-span.org/

BBC – Sep 25, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7011938.stm

Iran leader defiant in UN speech

Iran’s president has criticised "illegal" UN Security Council sanctions
against his country, in a speech to the General Assembly in New York.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said debate over Tehran’s nuclear programme was
"closed" and the issue was now in the hands of the UN’s nuclear
watchdog.

Earlier, France’s president said a nuclear Iran could threaten the
world.

Other issues raised by world leaders included Darfur, climate change,
protests in Burma and human rights.

‘Transparent’ programme

During a wide-ranging speech, Mr Ahmadinejad reiterated his assertions
that all of his country’s nuclear activities had been "peaceful and
transparent".

Iran’s nuclear work would be monitored by the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), its "appropriate legal path", he added.

He denounced the "arrogant" and "bullying" permanent members of the
UN’s Security Council, which has imposed sanctions on Iran over its
uranium enrichment programme.

And he offered educational programmes to help other UN member states
with their own nuclear work.

Representatives of the US and Israel were absent for Mr Ahmadinejad’s
speech, in which he also repeated his verbal attacks on Israel as an
"illegal Zionist regime".

Earlier on Tuesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that while
Iran had the right to nuclear energy, allowing Tehran to develop
nuclear weapons would mean an "unacceptable risk" for regional and
world stability.

There would be no world peace if the international community showed
"weakness in the face of the proliferation of nuclear weapons", Mr
Sarkozy added.

But there were dissenting views, among them Nicaraguan President Daniel
Ortega, who asked how the US – the only country to have used nuclear
weapons – could challenge the rights of Iran and North Korea to a
peaceful nuclear programme.

US sanctions

US President George W Bush used his 15 minutes at the podium to
highlight human rights violations around the world, highlighting
Belarus, North Korea, Syria and Iran.

The central theme of the US president’s speech was the struggle against
extremism.

He focused on the themes that have dominated much of his presidency:
the need to spread freedom, to reward advocates of democracy and to
isolate regimes whose policies run counter to what he sees as the tide
of history.

Mr Bush contrasted those who were seeking the path of democracy:
Lebanon, Iraq and those he dubbed moderate or mainstream Palestinian
leaders, as opposed to the leadership of North Korea, Syria and Iran.

‘Climate of change’

UN chief Ban Ki-moon told global leaders the world faces "daunting
challenges" from tackling climate change to ending conflict in Darfur.

Addressing the general assembly for the first time as UN chief, Mr Ban
called for "an internal climate of change" at the international body to
deal with a "fractured world". He said the UN needed to adapt and focus
not on rhetoric but on results.

He stressed that peace in the Middle East was vital to regional and
world stability, and insisted that "no stone would be left unturned to
end the tragedy in Darfur".

"I expect the year ahead to be among the most challenging in our
history. And I am sure that, together, we can make it one of the most
successful," he said.

He also called on Burma’s military leaders to show restraint in the
face of continued pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks.

This line was echoed by Mr Bush, who said Americans were "outraged by
the situation in Burma".

He announced "tighter" economic sanctions against the junta and urged
other nations to apply pressure.

The ritual of the general assembly allows each country’s head of state
or government – though some are represented by their foreign minister –
to speak for 15 minutes.

The will be nearly 200 speeches over several days. Each country
determines the issues that it wants to raise.

There is no agenda as such, but the speeches of key countries are
closely watched for any evidence of an inflection or shift in their
foreign policies.

                            ***

AFP via ABC News – Australia – Sep 26, 2007
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/26/2043433.htm?section=world

Ahmadinejad lambasts US at UN

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used his address to the United
Nations General Assembly to launch a broad assault on the United
States, accusing Washington of violating human rights.

In a wide-ranging speech, Mr Ahmadinejad laid into the administration
of US President George W Bush, who had addressed the General Assembly
earlier in the day.

"Unfortunately human rights are being extensively violated by certain
powers, especially by those who pretend to be their exclusive
advocates," Mr Ahmadinejad said, without mentioning the United States
by name.

"Setting up secret prisons, abducting persons, trials and secret
punishments without any regard to due process, extensive tapping of
telephone conversations intercepting private mail… have become
commonplace and prevalent," he added.

The US and Israeli delegates walked out before Mr Ahmadinejad’s speech.

He continued by criticising the US-led invasion of Iraq, which he said
was "occupied under the pretext of overthrowing the dictator and the
existence of weapons of mass destruction."

"Unfortunately, we are witnessing the bitter truth that some powers do
not value some nations or human beings and the only things that matter
to them are themselves, their political parties and their groups."-AFP

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Cuba Condemns Bush Speech; UN Chief Decries Rhetoric

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Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

UN Chief Decries Rhetoric

United Nations, Sep 25 (Prensa Latina) UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon
urged the 192 member countries to leave rhetoric aside when it comes to
facing the world"s "moving challenges."

At the inauguration of the annual session of the General Assembly, the
South Korean diplomat indicated that in his opinion, next year "will
figure among those representing a great challenge in our history." He
mentioned issues including global warming, poverty, epidemic outbreaks,
as well as efforts to solve conflict in Darfur and Sudan, and promote
peace in the Middle East.

The UN chief also referred to UN reforms and called for "an internal
change in climate" to face a number of issues that require joint action.

hr ccs rma tgj PL-26

                                ***

Cuba Strongly Rejects Bush Speech at UN

United Nations, Sep 25 (Prensa Latina) The Cuban delegation to the
62nd UN general Assembly session period withdrew from the plenary"s
hall, during the speech by US President George W. Bush.

This action was a sign of strong rejection to the arrogant and mediocre
speech by the US president, a press release that circulated in this
headquarters said.

The Cuban statement makes Bush responsible for "the assassination of
more than 600,000 civilians in Iraq," and authorizing to torture
prisoners Guantanamo"s naval base.

It also accuses him of giving the ok to the kidnapping of people,
secret flights and prisons.

"He is a criminal and does not have moral or credibility to judge any
other country," the Cuban document says.

"Cuba condemns and rejects each letter of his despicable speech," said
the press release issued by the Cuban representation to the United
Nations.

The Cuban delegation, headed by Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque,
abandoned the General Assembly, when the US president attacked Cuba,
Iran, Zimbabwe, and Mianmar, due to what he called "situations of human
rights in those countries." hr iom ir PL-43
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At UN, Bolivia Defends Links with Iran

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Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

At UN, Bolivia Defends Links with Iran

United Nations, Sep 25 (Prensa Latina) President of Bolivia Evo Morales
defended the sovereign character of his government in establishing
relations with other countries, including Iran, in a working breakfast
with foreign journalists at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Morales made it clear that relations with Iran, including new
cooperation agreements in the field of energy, are oriented to more
development rather than death.

He said these links will be consolidated in La Paz Thursday at the
visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadineyad.

"We agreed to open this accord and diplomatic relations with Iran, not
to harm or offend anyone, but to complement each other and improve the
country"s economic situation," said Morales as he explained that "we,
indigenous families, are for the culture of dialogue and life, without
marginalization or discrimination, based on unity, solidarity and
complementarity." hr ccs rma ga PL-45
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Scornful Ahmadinejad says issue of Iranian nuclear programme  closed

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The Independent – Sep 26, 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2998989.ece

Scornful Ahmadinejad says issue of Iranian nuclear programme closed

By David Usborne

The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, remained on a direct
collision course with the Western powers last night, unilaterally
declaring that as far as he is concerned the issue of his country’s
nuclear enrichment activities should henceforth be "closed".

In an address filled with scornful references to the United States and
the other "bullying powers", Mr Ahmadinejad insisted that all Iran’s
nuclear steps have been "completely peaceful and transparent" and
therefore should be handled only by the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency.

His remarks, reiterated in a sometimes raucous meeting with reporters,
came as foreign ministers of the Security Council nations prepare to
meet on Friday to debate a third round of sanctions on his country for
its continuing refusal to abide by resolutions demanding it suspend
enrichment operations.

The President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, meanwhile underscored the
toughening attitude of his government, openly hinting in New York that
a failure of the Western powers to deflect Iran from a course towards
obtaining nuclear weapons would result in war.

"If we allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, we would incur an
unacceptable risk to stability in the region and in the world,"
President Sarkozy said. He added: "Weakness and renunciation do not
lead to peace. They lead to war." M. Sarkozy said that if the Council
steps back from imposing harsher sanctions on Tehran, the European
Union would seek to introduce its own measures.

Mr Ahmadinejad repeatedly assailed the decisions of the Council on Iran
saying it had been pressured by "certain big powers which have been
hostile to our nations for the past 30 years, which have made every
effort to turn a simple legal issue into a very loud, controversial
political issue". It has been pressure that Iran has been able to
resist, he added.

The President made almost gleeful mockery of the travails of the US and
its allies in Iraq, meanwhile. "Is it not high time for these powers to
return from the path of arrogance and obedience to Satan to the path of
faith in God?" he asked the Assembly. "Do they not notice that we are
nearing the sunset of the time of the empires?"

After a reporter challenged the President to clarify his remark during
a student forum at Columbia University that homosexuals do not exist in
Iran and said that she herself knew many, he did not blink but merely
smiled back at her and declared: "Seriously I don’t know of any! I
don’t know where this is. Give me an address so we are also aware of
what happens in Iran."

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Iraqi Resistance "Surge" May Drag Brits Back into Basra

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn’t Fit

The Independent – Sep 26, 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2998939.ece

Surge in Basra killings may force British back to city

By Kim Sengupta in Baghdad

A surge in violence in Basra has raised the prospect of British troops
having to go back into the city if the security situation deteriorates
further. Yesterday, a suicide bomber killed three people and injured 20
others in the city in the latest sign of violence resurfacing in the
Shia south after a comparatively quiet period.

Two senior aides of Grand Ayatollah Sistani, the spiritual head of the
Shia, were killed in the region last week in a series of targeted
assassinations that had also seen the deaths of two provincial
governors and a police chief in recent months.

General Jalil Khalaf, of Basra police, said after yesterday’s blast:
"The target was police headquarters and more people could have died. We
do not know yet who is responsible".

Southern Iraq, with its lucrative oil wealth, has been the scene of
bloody internecine fighting between the Mehdi Army, led by the radical
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the Badr Brigade and the Fadhila party. British
forces, who withdrew from their last remaining base in Basra City
earlier this month, remain officially in charge of security in the area
and UK commanders have said that they are ready to step back in if
necessary with a battlegroup, the Royal Welsh with Challenger tanks, on
standby for such an eventuality.

The Iraqi commander who has taken over from the British in Basra,
General Mohan al-Furayji, had brokered a peace deal between the various
Shia factions but, according to sources in the militia, there is rising
tension between the groups. The American military in Baghdad,
meanwhile, has repeatedly claimed that Iranians are shipping large
quantities of weapons into the south. The killing of the two Sistani
aides raised the number of Grand Ayatollah’s advisers killed to five in
three months. Amjad al-Janabi was shot dead as he left a mosque in
Basra and Ahmad al-Baraqawi was shot as he drove home in Diwaniya. A
Shia politician in Basra said: "I think we know who is ordering these
killings. It is a very powerful and well known man, but we are too
afraid to say the name in public."

Meanwhile, a reconciliation gathering between Sunni and Shia leaders
and the US military at a mosque in Baquba turned into a scene of
carnage after a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing 28 people
including the police chief, senior commanders and sheikhs from a number
of prominent tribes.

The attack, during a ceremonial meal, is the latest in a series of
lethal blows against American attempts to mobilise local groups against
al-Qa’ida in Iraq and its large contingent of foreign fighters. Those
attending the meeting included Shia militia, Mehdi Army and the Sunni
groups the Islamic Army and the 1920 Revolution Brigade, which had
until recently been involved in fighting against American forces.

The deaths at Baquba brought the numbers killed to 45 in less than 24
hours including the Basra bombing, six killed in a double car bombing
in Baghdad and six more in a truck bombing in Tal Afar. A total of 92
people were also injured in the various bombings and shooting around
the country.

The US military confirmed yesterday that American officers had attended
the reconciliation meeting at Baquba, the capital of the volatile
Diyala region. It was the second attack this month by insurgents
against America’s new allies. On 13 September Abdul Sattar Abu Risha,
the Sunni tribal leader fighting al-Qa’ida in Anbar, and lauded by
George Bush during a visit to Iraq, was killed by a bomb near his home
in Ramadi.

The blast at Baquba took place at Ifthar, the breaking of fast during
Ramadan, on Monday evening. Among the dead were Haji Najim, a former
leader of the 1920 Revolution Brigade, named after resistance against
British invaders at the time, who had been instrumental in the group
agreeing to a truce with US forces, and Brigadier General Ali Delyian
al-Jorani, the chief of Baquba police. The governor of Diyala, Raad
Rashid Mulla Jawad, was among those injured while his brother, who was
also his bodyguard, was killed.

Diyala province is of strategic significance in the Iraqi conflict as
it is a route through which Sunni insurgents slip into Baghdad.

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Tamil Tigers call for international pressure on Sri Lanka Tue Sep 25,
1:08 AM ET

COLOMBO (AFP) – Tamil Tiger guerrillas called Tuesday for
international pressure to be cranked up to force the Sri Lankan
government to halt military operations and return to peace
negotiations.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), commonly referred to as
the Tamil Tigers, accused Colombo in a statement of pursuing a
military campaign and committing human rights abuses.

The timing of the statement was intended to coincide with President
Mahinda Rajapakse’s address to the United Nations in New York later
Tuesday.

The LTTE wants the international community to push the Colombo
administration to honour a 2002 ceasefire arranged by peace broker
Norway. The truce is in tatters after an escalation of fighting since
December 2005.

"Whereas the LTTE continued to respect and urge for a full
implementation of the ceasefire agreement, the Rajapakse regime
eventually embarked on its war of occupation," the LTTE said.

"The government of Sri Lanka must end its deceptions, halt its
military oppression, ethnic cleansing, and serious human rights
violations, accept the aspirations of the Tamil people and come
forward to find a resolution that is based on the right to self-
determination of the Tamil people," the statement said.

"The international community must rein in the government of Sri Lanka
to bring it in line."

It added military operations by Sri Lankan forces continued in the
island’s north and east, but said that the LTTE "continued to restrain
itself, confining only to defensive operations."

The statement came a day after the Sri Lankan military said that at
least 27 people, including 23 rebels, were killed in clashes over the
weekend.

The fighting came despite an offer Sunday by the government’s top
defence official to halt military action in exchange for a resumption
of peace talks, which stalled last October.

Troops would not go on the offensive if Tamil rebels agreed to talks,
defence ministry secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse told a newspaper amid
pressure from the island’s key foreign backers to halt the carnage.

Rights groups accuse the government and Tamil rebels of extra-judicial
killings and scores of disappearances of civilians and political
activists.

More than 60,000 people have been killed in Sri Lanka’s long-running
Tamil separatist campaign.

Sarkozy’s critics emerge

September 16, 2007

By Andrew Borowiec – PARIS – Messages of doubt about the success of
his program have begun to mark the "end of grace" for President
Nicolas Sarkozy as France settles down to an uneasy period of "la
rentree" or return to work after a somnolent summer.

Teachers are threatening strikes following the announcement that about
10,000 retired teachers will not be replaced. Labor union leaders are
holding strategy meetings on how to react to expected cuts in welfare
state benefits. And some intellectuals warn the man dubbed "Sarkozy,
the American" not to tamper with foreign policy.

Across the 27-member European Union, analysts predict growing
difficulties for the conservative president determined to change
France. The initial enthusiasm of his followers is gradually giving
way to concern. Once again, the gnawing question, "Can France be
changed?" is emerging – mainly because there is too much to change and
Mr. Sarkozy’s flexibility, despite the enormous power of his office,
is nevertheless constrained.

"Sarkozy will have to deal with high unemployment, high taxes and
stubborn budget deficits," said Felix G. Rohatyn, former U.S.
ambassador to France. In foreign affairs, he added, the new French
president faces "the economic power of China and India, the
capabilities of Russia to control European energy supplies and the
threat of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of rogue states."

Mr. Sarkozy’s first 100 days in power – a traditional barometer in
French politics – were marked by a plethora of announcements, a
vacation in the United States where he met President Bush, a triumph
by his wife Cecilia Ciganer Albeniz Sarkozy in obtaining the release
of Bulgarian medics held in a Libyan jail, and a policy speech to
French ambassadors thought by some to be signaling closer cooperation
with the United States.

To back up his words, Mr. Sarkozy dispatched Bernard Kouchner, his
socialist foreign minister, to Iraq to demonstrate willingness to get
involved in an area so far considered to be taboo by French
politicians. And there, Mr. Kouchner admitted that the possibilities
were limited and there was basically little France could do of any
significance.

"France has to be modest," he said. "No one imagines that we have a
magic formula, but we can offer a fresh look and help the people there
restore their self-respect."

In an effort to seek a balanced approach, Mr. Sarkozy appointed Hubert
Vedrine, another socialist and former foreign minister, to assess the
"state of France" and its possibilities. His 60-page report, published
during the first post-vacation week of "la rentree," basically
challenged the hope of expected major changes in the concept of
foreign affairs.

Mr. Vedrine urged a strongly independent foreign policy, opposition to
any plans to rejoin the military structure of NATO, a distance from
Washington’s views and objectives and the continuation of France’s
traditional diplomatic priorities, such as close ties with the former
African colonies and with the Arab World.

On economic issues, the controversial report urged more protection for
people, "strict regulation" against the effects of globalization, and
strong safeguards for France’s strategic industries.

Such views received initial approval across the political spectrum,
which so far has given the new president high popularity ratings,
reaching a rarely seen 70 percent. But public opinion is yet to digest
the deeper meaning of the Sarkozy program, and foreign policy nuances
rarely galvanize French voters.

French analysts cite the difference between the suggestions of the
Vedrine report and Mr. Sarkozy’s own guidelines to about 180 French
ambassadors gathered in Paris toward the end of August. The guidelines
called for "an active role" on the world scene, included a stiff
warning about Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, promised
cooperation with Washington but "not subservience" and a commitment to
Europe’s independent defense force.

Mr. Sarkozy’s choice of the French diplomatic corps for his first
major foreign policy address was surprising because of his past
criticism of diplomats, and particularly of the foreign affairs
ministry, known as the Quai d’Orsay for its location on the banks of
the River Seine.

Yasmina Reza, a well-known playwright and Sarkozy biographer, said he
has spoken of "getting rid of the Quai d’Orsay" and has referred to
several ambassadors as "idiots." But the tempestuous 52-year-old
president is known for his outbursts, when he has referred to his
political enemies as well as to his aides "with unprintable
vulgarities," Miss Reza wrote in "Dawn Evening or Night" (L’aube le
soir ou la nuit), a story of Mr. Sarkozy’s quest for power, which she
observed while following him for a year.

Mr. Sarkozy’s election last May brought an unusual couple to the
elegant presidential Elysee Palace in the heart of Paris. Both he and
his 49-year-old wife openly dislike protocol and "sweep aside rules,"
wrote the conservative Paris daily Le Figaro. Thus, the French first
lady boycotted an official dinner at the June summit of the eight
industrial nations in Heiligendamm, Germany, and while vacationing in
the United States, declined – on short notice – an invitation to have
lunch with the Bush family at their summer residence.

The triumph of the stunning, dark-haired, 5-foot-10 former fashion
model was her trip to Libya, where she met strongman Moammar Gadhafi –
and brought back in the presidential plane six Bulgarian medics
sentenced to death by a Libyan court on accusations of infecting
hundreds of children with the HIV virus.

And then, with the haughty "I am not politically correct," Mrs.
Sarkozy declined to appear before a parliamentary committee to provide
details of her mission to Libya. Some socialist opponents accused the
president of the "personal abuse of power" so that "Madame Sarkozy can
strut around the republican stage."

For the time being, the colorful presidential couple has managed to
avoid stronger criticism, although there are signs that the opposition
is becoming increasingly watchful.

Mr. Sarkozy and his wife have brought to the French political scene a
background that has little to do with France. He is the scion of a
Hungarian aristocratic family and of a mother descended from Greek
Jews converted to Catholicism. His wife claims Spanish Jewish and
Belgian aristocratic ancestry. In a way, they symbolize the concept of
France as a "land of asylum seekers."

It is this president, literally bursting with energy, who will try to
cut through the daunting "Gordian knot" of frequently mind-boggling,
time-sanctioned French laws, privileges and excesses.

Thus, his aides said, on Mr. Sarkozy’s desk are questions of what to
do about the 200,000 often luxurious apartments allotted rent-free to
civil servants and 150,000 officials cars, most of them authorized for
private use; the $3 billion spent a year on the salaries of 190,000
officials administering France’s remaining overseas territories with a
population of about two million; the flight of talented and
enterprising executives who are leaving high French taxation and
restrictions to seek opportunities elsewhere. According to the
Economic Analysis Council, about 10,000 business directors emigrated
during the past 15 years, taking with them $100 billion to invest
abroad.

And finally, the question of impressive emoluments for diplomats:
although the Quai d’Orsay does not release such figures, French
ambassadors are thought to receive the equivalent of $300,000 a year,
compared with the $34,000 for the average civil servant.