NEWS,05.08.2013

U.S. Embassy Closings: State Department Says Posts In 19 Countries To Remain Closed

U.S. diplomatic posts in 19 cities in the Mideast and Africa will remain closed for the rest of the week amid intercepted "chatter" about terror threats, which lawmakers briefed on the information likened to intelligence picked up before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
One lawmaker said the chatter was specific as to certain dates and the scope of the operation; others said it suggested that a major terrorist attack, akin to 9/11, was being planned by the al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen.
Diplomatic facilities will remain closed in Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, among other countries, through Saturday, Aug. 10. The State Department announcement Sunday added closures of four African sites, in Madagascar, Burundi, Rwanda and Mauritius. The U.S. reopened some posts on Monday, including those in Kabul, Afghanistan and Baghdad.
Last week the State Department announced a global travel alert, warning that al-Qaida or its allies might target either U.S. government or private American interests. It said Americans should take extra precautions overseas and cited potential dangers involved with public transportation systems and other prime sites for tourists.
Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the decision to keep certain embassies and consulates shuttered throughout the week was done out of an "abundance of caution" and to "protect our employees, including local employees, and visitors to our facilities."
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Monday the briefings he has received "certainly emphasize these threats are specific and credible, equal if not more serious to the kind of chatter, as the intelligence called it, that was heard prior to 9/11."
But he added: "The average American should continue to be alert and vigilant and cautious but certainly not unduly alarmed or panicky." He spoke on MSNBC.
The intercepted intelligence foreshadowing an attack on U.S. or Western interests is evidence of one of the gravest threats to the United States in years, said several lawmakers said Sunday.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the conversation was "very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11." Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said it was that chatter that prompted the Obama administration to order the closures and issue the travel warning.
Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC's "This Week" that the threat intercepted from "high-level people in al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula" was about a "major attack."
Yemen is home to al-Qaida's most dangerous affiliate, blamed for several notable terrorist plots on the United States. They include the foiled Christmas Day 2009 effort to bomb an airliner over Detroit and the explosives-laden parcels intercepted the following year aboard cargo flights.
Rep. Peter King, the New York Republican who leads the House Homeland Security subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence, told ABC that the threat "was specific as to how enormous it was going to be and also that certain dates were given."
The Obama administration's decision to close the embassies and the lawmakers' general discussion about the threats and the related intelligence discoveries come at a sensitive time as the government tries to defend recently disclosed surveillance programs that have stirred deep privacy concerns and raised the potential of the first serious retrenchment in terrorism-fighting efforts since Sept. 11.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has scoffed at the assertion by the head of the National Security Agency that government methods used to collect telephone and email data have helped foil 54 terror plots.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a House Intelligence Committee member, said while he takes the threat seriously he hasn't seen any evidence linking the latest warnings to that agency's collection of "vast amounts of domestic data."
Other lawmakers defended the administration's response and promoted the work of the NSA in unearthing the intelligence that led to the security warnings.
King, a frequent critic of President Barack Obama, said: "Whether or not there was any controversy over the NSA at all, all these actions would have been taken."
The State Department noted that previous terrorist attacks have centered on subway and rail networks as well as airplanes and boats. It suggested travelers sign up for State Department alerts and register with U.S. consulates in the countries they visit. The alert expires Aug. 31.
The intelligence intercepts also prompted Britain and Germany to close their embassies in Yemen on Sunday and Monday. British authorities said some embassy staff in Yemen had been withdrawn "due to security concerns." France said Monday it would keep its embassy in the Yemeni capital closed through Wednesday.
Interpol, the French-based international policy agency, has also issued a global security alert in connection with suspected al-Qaida involvement in recent prison escapes including those in Iraq, Libya and Pakistan.

Turkey's Ergenekon Trial: Alleged 2002 Coup Plotters Convicted, Including Former Military Chief Ilker Basbug

In a landmark trial, scores of people including Turkey's former military chief, politicians and journalists were convicted on Monday of plotting to overthrow Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government soon after it came to power in 2002.
Retired Gen. Ilker Basbug was the most prominent defendant among some 250 people facing verdicts after a five-year trial that has become a central drama in tensions between the country's secular elite and Erdogan's Islamic-oriented Justice and Development Party.
The trial has sparked protests, and on Monday police blocked hundreds of demonstrators from reaching the High Criminal Court in Silivri, 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Istanbul, in a show of solidarity with the defendants.
But Monday's verdicts were not expected to set off the kind of violent anti-government demonstrations that were recently sparked by a government plan to build a replica Ottoman-era barracks at a park near Istanbul's central Taksim Square.
In addition to Basbug, at least 18 other defendants were sentenced to life in prison, including 10 retired military officers and Dogu Perincek, leader of the left-wing and nationalist Workers Party. At least 64 other defendants received sentences ranging from a year to 47 years, according to state-run TRT television news.
At least 21 people were acquitted. The fully tally of verdicts and sentences was not immediately available.
The defendants were accused of plotting high-profile attacks that prosecutors said were aimed at sowing chaos in Turkey to prepare the way for a military coup. The prosecutions already have helped Erdogan's government reshape Turkey's military and assert civilian control in a country that had seen three military coups since 1960.
The trial, which began in 2008, grew out of an investigation into the seizure of 27 hand grenades at the home of a noncommissioned officer in Istanbul in 2007.
The defendants were accused of being part of an alleged ultranationalist and pro-secular gang called Ergenekon, which takes its name from a legendary valley in Central Asia believed to be the ancestral homeland of Turks.
In thousands of pages of indictments, prosecutors maintained that the gang was behind a series of violent acts, including one in 2006 on a courthouse that killed a judge. Prosecutors say that the incidents were made to look as though they were carried out by Islamic militants, in a bid to create turmoil and provoke a military intervention.
Prosecutors say the gang also plotted to kill Erdogan, Nobel laureate author Orhan Pamuk and other high-profile figures.
The defendants have rejected the accusations, and they are expected to appeal Monday's verdicts and sentences to the Court of Appeals in Ankara.
Representatives of Turkey's main pro-secular opposition party lashed out against the verdicts, accusing the government of influencing the justice system.
"A verdict that was decided five years ago was made public today," said Akif Hamzacebi, a legislator from the opposition Republican People's Party. "All principles of rights, justice, human rights, fair trial were trampled on here."
Peter Stano, spokesman for the EU's Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele, said he would not comment on the specific rulings, but noted that the European Union has expressed concern before about defendants' rights in Turkey and indictments that are too general.
Prosecutors demanded life prison terms for 64 of the defendants, mostly on terrorism charges. Others were charged with possession of firearms or merely membership in Ergenekon.
Mehmet Haberal, a surgeon and founder of a university in Ankara, and Mustafa Balbay, the Ankara representative of pro-secular Cumhuriyet newspaper, both faced life prison terms but received sentences of 12 years and 34 years, respectively. The two men were elected to Parliament in 2011, while in prison, but were not able to take their seats. The court ordered Haberal released on time served because of health considerations.
Tuncay Ozkan, a prominent journalist who helped organize a series of anti-government protests in 2007, was given a life sentence.
The case has polarized the country between those who see it as an opportunity to unravel a shadowy network of ultranationalists known as the "Deep State" that allegedly acted behind the scenes with impunity, and those who believe it is a government attempt to muzzle Erdogan's secular-minded foes and undermine Turkey's secular legacy.
In a separate case, more than 300 military officers, including Turkey's former air force and navy chiefs, were convicted last year of other plots to bring down the government in 2003 and some were sentenced to 20 years in prison. Those verdicts are being appealed.

 

Gibraltar Entrance Fee: Chief Minister Compares Spain To North Korea Over Exit Charge

The chief minister of Gibraltar on Monday accused Spain of acting like North Korea after suggesting it could impose steep new entry and exit fees for the British territory.
Spain has long laid claim to Gibraltar, and the British territory on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula is the source of occasional diplomatic friction between Madrid and London.
The latest spat involves an artificial reef being built in Gibraltar that Spain says is hurting its fishermen. It has floated the idea of charging people entering and leaving Gibraltar 50 euros ($66) as compensation.
Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told BBC radio that such fees would violate European Union freedom of movement rules, and said "hell would freeze over" before the reef would be removed.
"What we have seen this weekend is saber-rattling of the sort that we haven't seen for some time," Picardo said, describing threats of border fees as "more reminiscent of the type of statement you'd hear from North Korea than from an EU partner."
Under Spain's former Socialist government, relations between Madrid, London and Gibraltar eased greatly.
But in an interview published Sunday in Spanish newspaper ABC, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said the "playtime" of that era was over.
Britain's Foreign Secretary said late Monday that he had spoken to Picardo to express solidarity with territory's residents.
"The U.K. stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Gibraltar at this time of increasing Spanish pressure and rhetoric," William Hague said in a statement, repeating that the U.K. had pledged "not to compromise on British sovereignty over Gibraltar."
But he also nodded to the fact  so far the talk of sanctions had not amounted to real clampdown on the territory.
"We agreed that it was important to respond to actions, not rhetoric," he said.

North Korea Floods: Army Drills Cut Short To Provide Relief

North Korea has cut short summer military drills to mobilise troops for flood relief efforts after torrential rains left dozens killed and ravaged farmlands nationwide, according to a South Korean report.
The North's military ordered troops based in the country's west and southeast regions to hold "minimum" summer exercises and to instead focus on post-floods reconstruction, Yonhap news agency said.
It cited an unnamed Seoul government source.
"Many military units stopped the exercises and have mobilised troops for floods relief works," said the source quoted by Yonhap.
The communist state has staged summer military drills that partially coincided with the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise conducted by its rival South Korea and the United States, that usually takes place in August.
"But this year's summer drill in the North will be scaled back considerably because it needs to focus on repairing floods damages," the source was quoted as saying.
Floods caused by heavy rains that pummelled the North since early July have destroyed some 6,000 houses, displaced more than 23,000 people and washed away a large swathes of farmlands, the North's state media said late last month.
The death toll has reached 33 across the nation and some 13,300 hectares of farmlands have been damaged, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said last week, warning of "longer-term impact" on the country's food security.
Decades of deforestation and decrepit infrastructure have left the impoverished North vulnerable to floods, which led to some 170 deaths last summer.

Berlusconi: 'I Am Innocent'

Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi pledged his support for Italy's fragile coalition government to a gathering of thousands of supporters on Sunday, but he remained defiant in the face of a supreme court ruling confirming his tax fraud conviction and four-year prison sentence, declaring: "I am innocent."
The three-time ex-premier and media mogul, who also faces a ban from public office, said he would not resist criticizing the verdict against him, nor the judges who passed it, calling Italian magistrates "irresponsible."
Berlusconi looked energized and appeared to speaking off the cuff throughout the 15-minute rally in front of his Rome residence, in contrast to his nine-minute video address after last week's ruling in which he appeared shaken and on the verge of tears as he read a prepared statement.
The crowd, many of whom arrived on buses during the day, waved flags and posters urging Berlusconi, 76, not to give up and declaring support from cities and regions throughout Italy. Supporters repeatedly chanted: "Silvio."
"I don't believe that anyone can come and say to us that this is a subversive demonstration, as many have said," Berlusconi said. "And no one can come and say, as they have, that we are irresponsible. Because we have said loud and clear that the government needs to continue to approve economic measures that we have requested."
The confirmation of Berlusconi's conviction on final appeal has put more stress on Premier Enrico Letta's uneasy cross-party coalition government, which requires the support of both Berlusconi's conservative forces and the center-left to pass urgent economic measures.
Berlusconi said the last few days were "the most anguished and painful of my life," and he thanked supporters for demonstrating their affection.
"I am here. I am staying here. I won't give up," Berlusconi said.
Italy's highest court on Thursday upheld Berlusconi's four-year prison sentence, the first time that the media mogul was definitively convicted and sentenced in two decades of trials and other criminal probes.
A law to reduce prison overcrowding slashes his sentence to one year and since he is over 70, he can choose home confinement or perform social services instead of going to prison.
He also faces a public office ban, which would deprive him of his Senate seat and prevent him from running in elections for the duration of the ban. Another appeals court in Milan has been ordered to decide its length.

NEWS,09.04.2013

Swiss banks to root out undeclared funds

Amid a massive scandal involving France's former budget minister and an undeclared Swiss bank account, Swiss banks are more eager than ever to kick out tax cheats and clear their names, bankers and industry experts say.
Tax evasion has become "a real problem for Swiss banks, because it is damaging their reputation" an analyst with a large Zurich-based bank said, requesting anonymity.
"A few years ago, the banks saw taxation as the client's problem, but today, that has changed. It has become the bank's problem," he added.
A scandal surrounding former French budget minister Jerome Cahuzac, who last week was charged with tax fraud after admitting to having an undeclared foreign bank account, has not only sent shockwaves through the French political establishment, but also through the Swiss banking sector.
Cahuzac once in charge of tackling tax evasion has admitted to opening an undeclared Swiss bank account in 1992, and, after Switzerland pledged to cooperate with foreign tax authorities in 2009, transferring the some €600 000 to Singapore.
Switzerland with its cherished banking secrecy rules was long considered a prime destination for undeclared funds, but the country has recently been cracking down in a bid to clear its reputation as a tax haven.
"We are moving towards a model of (accepting only) declared funds, but I can't tell you how long or what shape it will take," a high-level executive at one of Switzerland's main banks said on condition of anonymity.
Under pressure from all sides, Swiss banks have gradually been trying to solve the problem, case by case, country by country.
After Washington a few years ago began aggressively going after Swiss banks enabling US clients to evade the taxman, a solution has been reached that basically blocks banks from hosting undeclared accounts for Americans.
And Switzerland reached agreements last year with Britain, Austria and Germany to ease its cherished bank secrecy and ensure that their nationals' holdings in Swiss banks were taxed.
The accords with London and Vienna took effect on January 1, but the German parliament ended up blocking that country's deal late last year, considering it too easy on tax cheats.
Banks have begun closing undeclared accounts
Even though the German deal fell through, two large Swiss banks, Credit Suisse and Julius Baer, have opted to start kicking out German clients who do refuse to declare their holdings back home.
While no measures have yet been announced when it comes to French nationals with Swiss bank accounts, Geneva tax attorney Philippe Kenel said he believed they would soon receive the same treatment as their German counterparts.
"The large Swiss banks first, and then the small ones, will begin closing French citizens' undeclared accounts," he predicted.
"This is already happening when it comes to German clients, and it will happen with French clients as well," he added.
A Geneva banker who asked not to be named agreed.
"What is clear today is that the number of clients with undeclared accounts will shrink," he said.
Closing the door on all tax-cheating clients could be painful exercise for a number of Swiss banks.
According to a banking law professor at the University of Geneva, who did not want his name published, more than half of the European funds stashed away in Swiss bank accounts are undeclared.
In practice, however, the Swiss banks can do little to weed out clients intent on cheating the system.
Demanding that all clients provide full tax returns from their home countries is considered mission impossible, due to the mountains of paperwork and since most clients would likely refuse outright, banking industry sources say.
Instead, banks are opting to have clients sign a document certifying that their tax papers are in order, and blindly trusting that they are telling the truth.
Cahuzac for instance reportedly handed over a "bogus" certificate to the Singapore branch of a wary Julius Baer bank, purportedly proving that his money had been declared to tax authorities.
Convinced that he was telling the truth, the bank had agreed to transfer his funds to Singapore.
According to the latest available statistics from Switzerland's central bank, Swiss banks in 2011 managed 31.78 billion Swiss francs for French clients.
That is not counting the some 2.55 billion Swiss francs that Swiss trusts handled for French nationals that year.

US economy 'still far' from desired state

Federal Reserve chairperson Ben Bernanke said on Monday that the US economy still has far to go to recover to an acceptable state of health.
"Today the economy is significantly stronger than it was four years ago, although conditions are clearly still far from where we would all like them to be," he said.
The statement, made in a speech on banking in Stone Mountain, Georgia, came as economists and investors seek signs on whether the US central bank is ready to tighten up its easy-money policy aimed at holding long-term interest rates down.
Since December the Fed has stuck to its ultra-low rates and its $85bn per month "quantitative easing" bond purchase program despite economic indicators that led many to believe the economy is picking up speed.
Bernanke has consistently tied tightening monetary policy to a substantial improvement in unemployment, with the rate currently 7.6%, and his statement echoed comments made in previous months that he was not satisfied with the pace of recovery.
On Friday the Labour Department reported that just 88 000 new jobs were generated in March, the slowest growth in nine months.

Families lobby Congress over gun control

Relatives of victims of the horrendous Connecticut school shootings are mounting a face-to-face lobbying effort on Tuesday in hopes of turning around enough lawmakers to gain a Senate floor vote on meaningful gun restrictions as Senate Democrats approach a key decision on gun legislation.

Their effort follows President Barack Obama's remarks in Connecticut on Monday night on gun control, an issue catapulted into the national arena by December's gruesome slaying of 20 young children and six educators at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

"If you want the people you send to Washington to have just an iota of the courage that the educators at Sandy Hook showed when danger arrived on their doorstep, then we're all going to have to stand up," the president said.

Obama's proposals  headlined by background checks for more gun buyers and bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines  have hit opposition from the nation's powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, and are struggling in Congress. Conservatives say they will use procedural tactics to try preventing the Senate from even debating firearms restrictions.

Underscoring the high emotional stakes, some Newtown families are in the Capitol lobbying senators to support gun restrictions, including 11 relatives Obama ferried back to Washington on aboard Air Force One after his speech.

The administration was continuing its efforts to pressure Republicans, with Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder making remarks on Tuesday at the White House, joined by law enforcement officials.

Shakier path

Senate Democrats, meanwhile, are approaching decision time on whether they should try to get Republican support for expanding background checks for firearms sales or will follow the shakier path of pursuing the cornerstone of Obama's gun control effort on their own.

Democrats were holding a lunchtime meeting on Tuesday to assess whether to seek a compromise with Republicans or try the shakier path of trying to advance a gun control bill over opposition objections.

Party leaders were giving Democratic Senator Joe Manchin until later on Tuesday to complete the talks with Republican Senator Pat Toomey and see if they could reach an acceptable compromise.

An agreement between the two senators, both among the more conservative members of their parties, would boost efforts to expand background checks because it could attract bipartisan support. Abandoning those negotiations would put Democrats in a difficult position, making it hard for them to push a measure through the Senate and severely damaging Obama's gun control drive.

The administration was continuing its efforts to pressure Republicans, with Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder making remarks Tuesday at the White House, joined by law enforcement officials.

Majority Leader Harry Reid brought gun control legislation to the Senate floor on Monday, though actual debate did not begin. He took the step after receiving a letter from 13 conservative Republican senators who said they would use delaying tactics to try to prevent lawmakers from even beginning debate on the legislation. Such a move takes 60 votes to overcome, a difficult hurdle in the 100-member chamber.

Violation of Second Amendment

Further underscoring the tough road ahead for the Obama-backed legislation, a spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he would join the effort to block debate on the legislation if Reid tries to bring the measure to the floor.

There are 53 Senate Democrats and two independents who generally vote with them, meaning Republican support ultimately will be needed to reach 60 votes to move ahead.

The conservative senators said the Democratic measure would violate the Second Amendment of the US Constitution which guarantees the right to bear arms, citing "history's lesson that government cannot be in all places at all times, and history's warning about the oppression of a government that tries".

"Shame on them," responded Reid. "The least Republicans owe the parents of those 20 little babies who were murdered at Sandy Hook is a thoughtful debate about whether stronger laws could have saved their little girls and boys."

N Korea urges foreigners to evacuate South

North Korea said on Tuesday the Korean peninsula was headed for "thermo-nuclear" war and advised foreigners to consider leaving South Korea, as the UN chief warned of a potentially "uncontrollable" situation.

Tuesday's advisory  greeted largely with indifference followed a similar one last week to foreign embassies in Pyongyang, to consider evacuating by 10 April on the grounds war may break out.

"The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching close to a thermo-nuclear war," the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee said in a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

Saying it did not want to see foreigners in South Korea "fall victim", the statement requested all foreign institutions, enterprises and tourists "to take measures for shelter and evacuation".

The committee blamed the heightened war risk on the "warmongering US" and its South Korean "puppets" who were intent on invasion.

The "thermo-nuclear war" threat has been wielded several times in recent months - most recently on 7 March - despite expert opinion that North Korea is nowhere near developing such an advanced nuclear device.

"It is our current assessment that there is no immediate risk to British nationals in South Korea," a British embassy spokesperson said, echoing similar statements from the US, French and other missions.

Rattling the investment market

Last week's warning to embassies in Pyongyang was also largely dismissed as empty rhetoric, with most governments making it clear they had no plans to withdraw personnel.

"It's almost comic," said Daniel Pinkston, a North Korea expert with the International Crisis Group.

"They want to rattle the investment market, create pressure and make people nervous.”

"But it's just not working. It's as if they didn't get a rise out of the embassies in Pyongyang, so they're just moving on to the next target," Pinkston said.

The South Korean stock market closed slightly up Tuesday, before the KCNA statement was published.

The Korean peninsula has been locked in a cycle of escalating military tensions since the North's third nuclear test in February, which drew toughened UN sanctions.

Dangerous level of tension

Pyongyang's bellicose rhetoric has reached fever pitch in recent weeks, with near-daily threats of attacks on US military bases and South Korea in response to ongoing South Korean-US military exercises.

Yonhap news agency Tuesday cited South Korean intelligence as saying the North had completed preparations for an expected missile test-launch - possibly to coincide with 15 April celebrations for the birthday of late founder Kim Il-Sung.

"Technically, it can fire off [a missile] tomorrow," it quoted a senior military official as saying.

Japan said on Tuesday it had deployed Patriot missiles in its capital as a pre-emptive defence measure.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said during a visit to Rome he had spoken to the Chinese leadership to try to calm tensions, and would discuss the issue with President Barack Obama on Thursday.

"The current level of tension is very dangerous, a small incident caused by miscalculation or misjudgement may create an uncontrollable situation," he said.

North’s action ‘very dissapointing’

However Tuesday's threat was unlikely to worry South Korea's foreign community of around 1.4 million that has calmly weathered the rhetorical storm thus far.

"A few months ago I would be worried but by now I think they're just trying to scare people," said Jone Geyskens, aged 21, a Belgian studying in Seoul.

"I know a lot of South Koreans, they don't seem to be scared."

Earlier on Tuesday North Korean workers followed Pyongyang's order to boycott the Kaesong joint industrial zone with South Korea, signalling the possible demise of the sole surviving symbol of cross-border reconciliation.

The North announced on Monday it was taking the unprecedented step of pulling out its 53 000 workers and shutting the complex down indefinitely.

Established in 2004, Kaesong has never closed before. Pyongyang's move reflects the depth of the current crisis, which has otherwise been notable more for fiery rhetoric than action.

Kaesong, 10km inside North Korea, is a crucial hard currency source for the impoverished North, mainly through its cut of the workers' wages.

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye said the North's action was "very disappointing" and displayed a total disregard for investment norms that would return to haunt Pyongyang in the future.

"If North Korea, under the full eyes of the international community, breaches international rules and promises like this, then there will be no country or company which will invest in North Korea," Park said.

Kerry ends Mideast trip with Israel talks

Top US diplomat John Kerry met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday at the tail end of three days of talks to piece together a plan for resuming Middle East peace negotiations.

During the visit, his second trip to the region in as many weeks, Kerry said he was pursuing a "quiet strategy" for ending decades of mistrust between the two sides, who have not met for direct talks since September 2010.

Netanyahu and Kerry met at David's Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, after what the secretary of state said were "very productive" dinner talks late on Monday.

"We made progress ... and each of us agreed to do some homework" with the aim of "seeing how we can really pull all of the pieces together", he told reporters as Netanyahu stood next to him.

"I'm determined not only to resume the peace process with the Palestinians, but to make a serious effort to end this conflict once and for all," the Israeli leader said.

Questions of "recognition and security" were key issues, he said, referring to Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.

Uphill struggle

So far, Kerry has been tight-lipped on specifics but has said one area of focus is bolstering the teetering Palestinian economy, saying movement in areas like the economy "could be critical to changing perceptions and realities on the ground, all of which can contribute to forward momentum".

He is scheduled to leave for London mid-afternoon to attend a meeting of G8 foreign ministers.

But he looked set for an uphill struggle, with Israeli officials pessimistic his shuttle diplomacy would work, suggesting it would merely trigger a resurgence of the "blame game", public radio said.

Israel's army radio said Netanyahu's government would refuse a Palestinian request to hand over a map of the future borders and also dismissed the idea of making any "significant goodwill gestures" to convince the Palestinians to return to talks.

And it looked unlikely there would be any flexibility on the flashpoint issue of Jewish settlement building, with Housing Minister Uri Ariel ruling out any construction freeze in annexed east Jerusalem or the West Bank.

"We are building and we will continue to build everywhere," said the minister just hours after announcing that another 50 new homes would be built in east Jerusalem which would be earmarked for Holocaust survivors.

Return negotiations ruled out

Ariel belongs to the hardline pro-settler Jewish Home, which is one of the main partners in Netanyahu's rightwing coalition government.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has ruled out any return to negotiations while Israel continues to build on land they want for a future state.

Israel's top-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper said Kerry was trying to get the sides to sit down for a four-way meeting in Amman but until now Abbas had flatly refused "unless Israel first took some sort of meaningful action".

In talks with Kerry on Sunday, Abbas said securing Israel's agreement to release Palestinian prisoners was a "top priority" for resuming talks, and a top aide said he was also looking for Netanyahu's agreement that the 1967 lines would be the basis for negotiations - a condition rejected by the Israeli leader.

In parallel to Kerry's efforts, Arab states are also seeking ways of reviving peace moves, with Abbas attending a meeting of the Arab Peace Initiative committee in Doha on Monday.

The Arab Peace Initiative, first proposed in 2002 by Saudi King Abdullah, offers pan-Arab diplomatic recognition of Israel in return for an end to the occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Hagel to visit Jerusalem

An API delegation is due to visit Washington at the end of this month for top-level talks.

Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel is due to visit Jerusalem on 21 April on his first trip to the region since taking over as Pentagon chief, with talks set to focus on Iran's nuclear programme and the crisis in Syria, army radio said.

In a separate development, Turkey delayed talks with Israel over compensation the Jewish state will pay to the families of victims of a deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, in a blow to diplomatic efforts by Kerry.

Talks were due to begin on 12 April, but were pushed back to 22 April, an Israeli official said, citing "logistical reasons".

Two weeks ago, Israel and Turkey patched up a nearly three-year diplomatic rift after Netanyahu apologised for a raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla which killed nine Turks, with Kerry on Sunday saying it was "imperative that the compensation component be fulfilled, that the ambassadors be returned".

NEWS,29.09.2012

US embassy warning: Philippines on alert

Philippine security forces were on stepped-up alert on Saturday after the US embassy issued an emergency advisory about an alleged threat against Americans in the capital."As a matter of precaution, we have augmented security," deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said. "Police visibility has been heightened."The US embassy said in its advisory that the "threat against American citizens in metropolitan Manila ... has been detected by reliable security forces" but it did not give details on the nature of a possible attack."This threat remains in effect until October 10," the embassy said in the advisory posted on its website on Friday.Britain, Australia and Canada also issued warnings to their citizens, citing the US advisory."Any attack could be indiscriminate, and we advise British nationals to exercise particular caution and extra vigilance in places frequented by expatriates and foreign nations," Britain's advisory said.Australia stressed the need for its citizens to avoid travelling to the conflict-wracked southern region of Mindanao, and Canada urged its citizens to be "extremely vigilant and increase their personal security awareness"."Bomb attacks could occur at any time in Manila and other key cities," Canada said in its advisory. "Targets could include places frequented by foreigners, such as large shopping malls and convention centres."Philippine police earlier stepped up security at the US embassy in Manila after violent protests in several countries over a US amateur film considered insulting to Islam.

Last Western detainee leaves Gitmo

The last Western detainee held at the Guantanamo Bay US military prison has returned to Canada after a decade in custody and has been transferred to a maximum security prison in Canada where he awaits parole, Canada's public safety minister said on Saturday.Vic Toews said that 26-year-old Omar Khadr arrived at a Canadian military base on a US government plane early on Saturday and was transferred to the Millhaven maximum security prison in Bath, Ontario.Khadr pleaded guilty in 2010 to killing a US soldier in Afghanistan and was eligible to return to Canada from Guantanamo Bay last October under terms of a plea deal. Khadr was 15 when he was captured in 2002 in Afghanistan, and has spent a decade at the Guantanamo prison set up on the US naval base in Cuba to hold suspected terrorists after the September 11, 2001 attacks. He received an eight-year sentence in 2010 after being convicted of throwing a grenade that killed Army Sergeant 1st Class Christopher Speer during a 2002 firefight.Toews noted that the US government initiated the transfer and suggested that Canada had little choice but to accept him under Canadian law."Omar Khadr is a known supporter of the al-Qaeda terrorist network and a convicted terrorist," Toews said. "Omar Khadr was born in Canada and is a Canadian citizen. As a Canadian citizen, he has a right to enter Canada after the completion of his sentence."John Norris, Khadr's Canadian lawyer, has said Khadr would be eligible for parole as early as the spring of 2013. It will be up to Canada's national parole board to release him, Toews said."I am satisfied the Correctional Service of Canada can administer Omar Khadr's sentence in a manner which recognises the serious nature of the crimes that he has committed and ensure the safety of Canadians is protected during incarceration," Toews said.

Iran condemns US for taking group off terror list

Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of Iranian opposition party National Council of Resistance of Iran, smiles as she attends an international conference on Iran policy in Brussels. Maryam Rajavi, the Paris-based head of the exiled opposition group, said in an interview that she hopes the organization can now have the ear of the world's diplomats to help bolster its bid to overthrow Iran's clerical regime. She stressed that its goal was to replace the Islamic Republic with a democratic government Iran condemned on Saturday the Obama administration for taking an Iranian militant group formerly allied with Hussein off the U.S. terrorism list, saying it shows Washington's "double standards."The Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), which began as a guerrilla movement fighting Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, helped overthrow the monarch in 1979 then quickly fell out with the Islamic Republic's first leader, Khomeini. It fought in the 1980s alongside Saddam's forces in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war but disarmed after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.The State Department delisted the group on Friday, meaning that any assets the MEK has in the United States are unblocked and Americans can do business with the organization. On Saturday, at their Paris headquarters, MEK members gathered to celebrate, tossing flower petals and displaying photos of members killed in the past 15 years."We call on the international community to respect the will of the Iranian people for a regime change in Iran," Maryam Rajavi, the Paris-based head of the exiled opposition group, said Saturday.Iranian State TV criticized the decision, saying that the U.S. considered the MEK "good terrorists" and claims Washington is using the group to work against Tehran. State radio said the move highlights President Barack Obama's anti-Iranian sentiments."There is much evidence of the group being involved in terrorist activities. Delisting them shows America's double standard policy on terrorism," state TV said. The U.S. distinguishes between "good and bad terrorists" and the MEK are now "good terrorists because the U.S. is using them against Iran," the report also said, adding that Washington and Israel use the group to spy on Iran's nuclear program.The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has denied the claims, saying the program is peaceful and is intended for electricity generation and scientific research.The State Department said the MEK hasn't committed terror for more than a decade. The group has also complied with demands that over 3,000 of its once-armed members abandon their base in Iraq near the Iranian border for a camp outside Baghdad, an essential step to ending their decades-long presence in Iraq.The group claims it is seeking regime change through peaceful means, aiming to replace Tehran's clerical system with a secular government.However, a senior State Department official suggested that removing MEK from the U.S. terrorist list does not translate into a shared common front against the Islamic Republic. The official said Washington does not view MEK as an opposition movement that can promote democratic values in Iran. The official on Friday briefed reporters on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the matter.In a rare interview on Friday, Rajavi said "the most important impact ... will be seen inside Iran.""The balance of power is going to change. For example, the first message for the Iranian people will be they won't fear increasing their activity and increasing their demonstrations," she said. The fear "will evaporate ... and that will lead to the expansion of anti-regime activities within Iran."Iran says MEK is responsible for the deaths of more than 12,000 Iranians over the past three decades, including senior government officials.The MEK spent huge sums of money over years lobbying for removal from the U.S. terror list, holding rallies in European capitals and elsewhere that featured luminaries like former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge from the administration of George W. Bush. Former House Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was among those recently welcomed by the MEK to Paris.The group was protected in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, but its members are disliked by the new Iraqi government, dominated by Shiite Muslims like those in Iran.The United States had insisted the MEK's members leave Camp Ashraf, their home in Iraq, as a condition for removal from the terrorist list. All but several hundred militants are now located in Camp Liberty, a former U.S. base outside Baghdad, looking for placement in third countries.The MEK was removed from the European Union's terrorist list in 2009.