NEWS,24.10.2012

Obama and Israel: The Record, the Facts

 

President Obama has been criticized for being wrong for Israel. Even in the third debate of the Presidential campaign, a lovefest toward Israel, which was mentioned 31 times by the candidates, Governor Romney managed to get in a couple jibes against Obama's Israel policy. "I think the tension that existed between Israel and the United States was very unfortunate." He went on to complain that Obama had not visited Israel, inferred that Obama had a poor relationship with the Jewish State, and accused Obama of wanting "to create daylight between ourselves and Israel." Others opposed to the president have even been known to claim that Obama is the worst president for Israel in American history. But history emphatically tells us otherwise. Many presidents saw Israel as a burden and acted accordingly. Truman recognized Israel's existence six minutes after its birth, but also embargoed arms before and during Israel's War of Liberation. Eisenhower, who doubted whether Israel should have even been created, forced Israel to return its gains in the Sinai and Gaza in 1956 by making a variety of threats, including ending tax-deductible gifts to Israel. Ford set up a reassessment of America's Middle East policy in 1975 because he was angry at the Israelis for refusing a proposed disengagement agreement with Egypt. Carter brokered the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, but otherwise endlessly clashed with Israel. George H.W. Bush's secretary of state told Israeli Prime Minister Shamir publicly to phone the White House when he was ready to talk peace, and later denied Israel critical loan guarantees when refugees from the Soviet Union were arriving. There are no similar episodes in Obama's record. Instead, he established the closest working military and intelligence relationship with Israel in the country's history: joint exercises and training, increased security assistance every year, unprecedented advanced technology transfers, doubling of funding for Israel's missile defense system, and assistance in funding for the Iron Dome system that today intercepts rockets headed for Israel. Indeed, in the debate he was emphatic that Israel "is a true friend and our greatest ally in the region," and went on to say later, "I will stand with Israel if they are attacked. And this is the reason why, working with Israel, we have created the strongest military and intelligence cooperation between our two countries in history."More facts. The Obama administration has opposed efforts to boycott or divest from Israel. It backed Israel on the infamous Goldstone Report, the anti-Israel Durban Conference, the Gaza flotilla incident, Palestinian effort to gain recognition as a state, and others. And the U.S. voted with Israel at the UN 100 percent of the time under this administration, a first in modern history.So what's the problem? Certainly, the poor personal relationship between the Israeli and American leaders does not help. But this is not the first time that an American president found an Israeli leader frustrating, yet managed to enhance U.S.-Israeli relations. Ronald Reagan had a number of diplomatic conflicts with Israel the peace process, the U.S. sale of AWACS jets to Saudi Arabia, Israel's attacks against Iraq's nuclear reactor and the Lebanon War yet strengthened security ties with Israel. Like Reagan, Obama has exponentially enhanced U.S.-Israel security cooperation. But unlike Reagan, Obama did not suspend arms transfers to Israel because of a disagreement with its leaders.Recently, the Israeli-American discord has centered on Iran. The president and prime minister disagreed over setting a red line delineating when military action would be taken. But few noticed when the U.S. and Israel quietly resolved the issue, with Netanyahu agreeing to delay action until next year at the earliest and praising the president at the UN for his efforts.In fact, Obama has supported the toughest sanctions on Iran in history, in pursuit of the goal of preventing Teheran for gaining nuclear weapons. In the foreign policy debate, he stated categorically that "...as long as I'm president of the United States Iran will not get a nuclear weapon. I made that clear when I came into office."His statements and actions are far tougher than anything provided by President George W. Bush. Standing with Prime Minister Olmert in Jerusalem in January 2008, Bush could only offer, "I believe it's incumbent upon the American Presidents to solve problems diplomatically. And that's exactly what we're in the process of doing. I believe that pressure economic pressure, financial sanctions will cause the people inside of Iran to have to make a considered judgment about whether or not it makes sense for them to continue to enrich.''For Obama, opposing Iran's nuclear weapons is part of his longstanding opposition to nuclear proliferation. In 2004, even as he opposed the war in Iraq, Obama told The Chicago Tribune editorial board: "The big question is going to be, if Iran is resistant to these pressures, including economic sanctions, which I hope will be imposed if they do not cooperate, at what point are we going to, if any, are we going to take military action?" Admitting that attacking Iran might hurt America's image in the Arab world, he concluded, "On the other hand, having a radical Muslim theocracy in possession of nuclear weapons is worse." Obama's Iran policies have been working, with intensifying sanctions helping to cause accelerating economic chaos, and protests, in Iran, which is today weaker than four years ago. Tehran may have made advances toward a nuclear force, but the costs of that movement are clearer than ever, and the worldwide opposition more determined and tougher. Iran is paying a heavy price for its pursuit of nuclear weapons, and that price will grow higher. There is no argument between Israel and the U.S. on that score.The critics are simply wrong. Obama has been an exceptional supporter of Israel where it counts on the hard-core security and diplomatic issues that provide assistance and protection in a very dangerous region.

Obama, Romney plunge into final 2 weeks

President Barack Obama set off on a marathon, two-day campaign journey on Wednesday  touching down in five states and making an appearance on a popular late-night television programme as he tries to break out of the neck-and-neck race with Republican challenger Mitt Romney with just 13 days left before voters cast their ballots on 6 November.Obama is hammering Romney over his sudden shift to moderate positions both at home and abroad after months of campaigning as a hard-right conservative. Romney, looking to sustain momentum that grew out his overwhelming victory in the first presidential debate three weeks ago, is bashing Obama as a leader who has failed to bring the economy back to full speed after the Great Recession and warning that re-electing the president is a prescription for continuing hard times.Both men are making extraordinary efforts to sway the small pool of undecided voters while imploring their millions of supporters to vote, particularly in key battleground states such as Ohio and Iowa where early voting is already under way.Casting own voteObama planned a short stop in Chicago on Thursday to cast his own vote - the first time an incumbent president has opted for early voting.In remarks to an Iowa newspaper that were released Wednesday, Obama predicted he'll reach agreement with lawmakers to reduce the US deficit in the first six months and overhaul immigration law within the first year of a second term if he's re-elected.His comments to The Des Moines Register were originally off the record, but Obama's campaign agreed to release a transcript under pressure from the newspaper.On immigration, Obama said he'd be blunt since the interview was off the record. He said if he wins a second term, "a big reason" will be because Republicans have "so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community".Battleground statesThe election map has shrunk to no more than nine of the 50 US states, and that's where both candidates will be spending virtually all of their time in the final days before the election.Residents in those so-called battleground states do not reliably vote either Republican or Democrat. The states assume outsized importance because the president is chosen according to state-by-state contests, not the national popular vote.Obama was planning to cover 8 500km on Wednesday in the most-travelled single day of his re-election bid. He was going from Washington to Iowa, Colorado, California and Nevada, and then overnight to Florida. It was the first time Obama was spending the night flying on Air Force One for a domestic trip but far from unprecedented by incumbents scrambling to keep their job.Obama will break for an appearance on the widely watched The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and make calls to voters from the plane.Pace picking upRomney, too, was picking up the pace. He was campaigning on Wednesday in Nevada and Iowa before a three-stop campaign in Ohio on Thursday.Romney told a crowd of 10 000 supporters on Tuesday that Obama's promise of more of the same is "why he's slipping and it's why we're gaining".Obama's campaign insisted that the president was holding on to a slight lead in most of the nine battleground states - Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and New Hampshire"We have the ball, we have the lead," Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod insisted.Obama's challenge is to convince voters who may be hurting financially that he is better qualified to lead the country back to economic prosperity than Romney, who made a fortune as the head of a private equity firm.TrustworthinessObama is trying to capitalise on polls that show voters see him as more trustworthy than Romney. A Washington Post/ABC News poll last week showed 55% of likely voters said Obama is "honest and trustworthy" compared to 47% who felt that way about Romney.The president has spiced his rhetoric with humour to temper his underlying charge - that Romney is lying about what he would do as president."You know me. You know I say what I mean, and I mean what I say," Obama told an Iowa crowd on Wednesday. "With your help, I've kept the commitments that I made."Obama's remarks came after Monday night's third and final presidential debate, where Romney revealed dramatic shifts to the centre on foreign policy and largely expressed agreement with how Obama has conducted US foreign policy.The Obama campaign responded this week to the complaint that the president had, after more than a year of speeches, failed to articulate his second-term vision.
The campaign produced a 20-page booklet called the Blueprint for America's Future outlining his proposals, including spending more on education, boosting US manufacturing jobs and raising taxes on the wealthy.

Berlusconi calls it a day

Italy's Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday that he would not run in elections early next year and hand his People of Freedom party over to a successor, ending months of uncertainty over his candidacy."I will not be presenting my candidacy but I will remain at the side of younger people who can play and score goals," said the media magnate, who founded the party in 2009 and is famous for talking politics in football terms.The 76-year-old tycoon, who owns AC Milan football club and three national television channels as well as several private villas, said in a statement that his successor would be appointed by the end of December following a party vote."I still have good muscles and a head on my shoulders, but my role will be to give advice", he said, adding that the vote may take place on 16 December."For the love of Italy one can do crazy and wise things. Eighteen years ago I came onto the scene, a mad move that did not lack wisdom: I now take a step back," the billionaire said, putting to an end speculation over his return.The move came as his scandal-hit PDL party tries to boost its credibility following a series of investigations into misuse of party funds.The former prime minister had retreated from the political frontlines after handing over power in November 2011 to former European competition commissioner Mario Monti amid a parliamentary revolt and a wave of financial market panic.There had been speculation since then as to whether he would try a comeback.The PDL has suffered a series of local election setbacks and is riven by infighting, and many supporters had been urging Berlusconi to return to lead the party in the upcoming elections, set for April next year.Ruby the Heart StealerBerlusconi said it was now up to the party secretary Angelino "Alfano and a new generation of young people to reproduce the miracle of 1994", when the man famed for his love of wild parties was first appointed prime minister.His decision to step aside revealed fears that he could not hope to muster enough support to lead Italy's centre-right to victory.The former premier, who was seen as a blast of fresh air when he burst onto the scene in the 1990s after a period of political corruption and scandal, has been hit hard by his own fraud and sex scandals and has lost many supporters.The PDL has been unable to persuade smaller centrist parties to join forces with them for the upcoming elections despite several attempts at deal-making.Berlusconi will be hoping that a fresh face at the head of the party can help it regain ground in the polls.The former premier has been fighting legal battles for 20 years. Despite some initial convictions for fraud and lingering accusations of alliances with convicted crooks, all cases against him were won on appeal or have expired.He is currently on trial for fraud, bribery and paying for sex with a 17-year-old prostitute nick-named "Ruby the Heart Stealer".The sex trial was one of the last in a series of scandals that helped precipitate the media tycoon's downfall.

NEWS,22.09.2012

Afghanistan in flux as U.S. surge troops exit

The U.S. military says it has now fully withdrawn the last of the 33,000 "surge troops" sent to pacify Afghanistan two years ago, but they are leaving behind an uncertain landscape of rising violence and political instability that threaten to undo considerable gains in security, particularly in the former Taliban strongholds in the south and southwest.As the troops head for home, a good week ahead of schedule, the U.S. coalition and its Afghan partners are bedeviled by a host of problems.The tempo and audacity of Taliban attacks have increased. Insider killings of Americans by Afghan troops have raised tensions between the allies, forcing severe cutbacks in strategically vital training programs. Both governments are arguing publicly over whether to keep battlefield prisoners locked up without trial, while nervous officials on all sides are worrying that riots over an inflammatory anti-Muslim video, which have killed dozens in other countries, will break out in Afghanistan.Friday's milestone, which still leaves 68,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, was announced on the other side of the planet by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, during a trip to New Zealand, while both U.S. and Afghan officials in Kabul studiously ignored the moment, at least in public.Some pro-government Afghans boasted it showed their own forces were ready to take over, while pro-Taliban forces exulted that they were not, but most Afghans just worried about what it would really mean for the final two years of the U.S. presence in the country."What did the surge give us?" a senior U.S. official reflected Friday, speaking anonymously as a matter of military policy. "We're going to hit a point where, I won't say that's as good as it gets, but now it's up to them to hold what we gave them. Now, really, it's Karzai's turn."No one claimed there was not a great deal yet to be done against an insurgency that its foes describe as tenacious and determined. "They're not going to go away for years," the senior official said. "Every fighting season the Taliban, or some number of them, come out of the corner and they're ready to fight again."Both U.S. and Afghan officials have acknowledged the seriousness of the green on blue attacks, which this year have seen the killings of more than 50 U.S. soldiers at the hands of their Afghan allies.

US Navy's new floating base gets a workout in Gulf 

A new, key addition to American-led naval efforts to ensure Mideast oil keeps flowing has emerged as an unusual mix of a ship combining decades' worth of wear and tear with state-of-the-art technology and a largely civilian crew.After winning a reprieve from the scrapyard, the USS Ponce was reborn through a rush retrofit earlier this year and turned into a floating base prowling the waters of the Persian Gulf. It is now getting its biggest workout since refurbishment as the centerpiece for sweeping naval exercises under way that serve as a very public warning to Iran. The Islamic Republic has threatened to shut the Gulf's entrance at the Strait of Hormuz, the route for a fifth of the world's oil supplies, and would likely use mines to do so.Anti-mine divers on practice drills deployed in small boats off the Ponce's stern gate early Saturday, and MH-53 minesweeping helicopters launched from the ship kicked up sea spray as they hauled mine-detecting equipment through the water. Later in the day, a U.S. destroyer pulled alongside, fighter jets roared past and gunners fired thunderous rounds from .50 caliber machine guns during a simulated encounter with a hostile vessel.Senior Navy officials in the Gulf are quick to downplay talk of conflict with Iran, which is locked in a dispute with the U.S. and its allies over Tehran's disputed nuclear program. The West suspects Iran aims to develop a nuclear weapon; Tehran denies the charges.U.S. military officials in the region insist the exercises, which include forces from more than 30 countries, are defensive and not directed at any country. They prefer to focus instead on the Ponce's role as an innovative new tool to help ensure security in the region, and on the need to train with allies to keep sea lanes open.Still, the message is clear."Any extremist group, any country that puts mines in the water would be cautioned" by the exercises, said Marine Gen. James R. Mattis, the U.S. Central Command chief, during his first visit onboard the Ponce since it deployed June 1. "We do have the means to take mines out of the water if they go in. We will open the waterways to freedom of navigation."Military leaders believe the Norfolk, Va.-based Ponce is central to that mission.More than half the length of most U.S. aircraft carriers, the Ponce can accommodate multiple helicopters on deck and small boats in a well deck below.The ship was originally an amphibious transport dock built at the height of the Vietnam War. Those types of vessels are typically used to carry landing forces of Marines.It's now known as the Navy's first "afloat forward staging base-interim," a name given because the Ponce is meant to be a stopgap until a similar base built from scratch is delivered. That won't happen until at least 2015."This will more or less act as a test for using floating platforms in the sea for military operations," Riad Kahwaji, chief executive of the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, said of the reconfigured Ponce. "There'll be a lot of defense industry officials observing the performance of this."Much of the original ship remains, including the tight Marine-style bunks stacked four high from floor to ceiling in some parts of the ship. But there are plenty of 21st Century additions too.Berths for around 100 people were removed and replaced with a high-tech joint operations center, where streaming video and data feeds can be shown on flat-screen displays.Powerful MK-38 guns installed during conversion include remotely controlled digital cameras that let operators zoom in on far-off targets of interest. And a ScanEagle surveillance drone launched from and recovered by the ship keeps an eye on the sea for miles around all day long.In its new role, the Ponce is initially intended to be a close-to-the-action support hub for mine-clearing ships, coastal patrol vessels and helicopters. Ships can take on fuel and supplies without having to return to port, and a wide range of repairs can be handled by machinists onboard. That means far less downtime for minesweepers and other vessels using the Ponce as a stopping-off point, according to analysts and Navy officials.The Ponce's Spartan accommodation can also handle hundreds of additional personnel, such as the French anti-mine divers in distinctive camouflage shorts currently onboard. In theory, special operations forces could also fill bunks aboard the Ponce, which is able to launch the small boats and helicopters they often use.There is also the benefit of not needing to secure approval from allied countries where U.S. troops are based before conducting operations from an offshore staging base such as the Ponce."A country that's believed to be friendly to the U.S. could overnight become hostile to the U.S., and this could pose a threat to U.S. operations," Kahwaji said, citing recent violence directed at American embassies in response to an anti-Islam film.Although it is under the command of a Navy captain, most of the Ponce's crew are civilians. It has more than 155 civilian crew members from the Military Sealift Command and 55 Navy sailors, according to the ship's commanding officer, Capt. Jon Rodgers. The number of civilian crew can fluctuate depending on who is onboard.The MSC is normally responsible for running about 110 supply ships and other non-combat vessels for the Navy, but the Ponce's hybrid crew is unusual.Visitors arriving by helicopter are met on the flight deck by some crew in uniform and others in civilian coveralls. Civilian employees keep the floors and toilets clean, and dish out corned beef hash and French toast on the mess deck. Some of the MSC crew members have dreadlocks  a no-no for enlisted sailors and many are in their 40s or beyond. A handful are older than 60.It's not just the civilian crew that's showing its age. The Ponce is among the Navy's oldest ships. Construction began in 1966, and it was commissioned during the Nixon administration in 1971.Rust is prevalent throughout the ship, and many of the fittings retain a Cold War feel."Just walk around and you can see," said Kevin Chavis, 45, a retired Navy electronics specialist from Brooklyn who is now part of the Ponce's civilian crew. "Yeah, it's old. But just like a car, if you change the filters and the oil, it'll keep running."

Chavez's record: an oil bonanza squandered?

 

On the streets of Caracas, vast slums blanket the hillsides while squatters hang laundry in the windows of abandoned buildings. Trash-strewn alleys are riddled with potholes and lined with broken streetlamps. The city's main waterway, the polluted Guaire River, is known more for sewage than swimming.While oil has ushered in spectacular construction projects for glittering Middle Eastern cities, including the world's tallest building in Dubai and plans for branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums in Abu Dhabi, it's brought relatively meager changes to Venezuela, which holds the world's largest proven oil reserves.Nearly 14 years after President Hugo Chavez took office, and despite the biggest oil bonanza in Venezuela's history, there's little outward sign of the nearly one trillion petrodollars that have flowed into the country.Venezuela has undoubtedly changed during Chavez's tenure. The populist president has used the oil wealth to buttress his support through cash handouts, state-run grocery stores and a gamut of other social programs. With more money in the economy, incomes are higher and the number of people living in poverty has fallen.Unemployment has dropped from more than 13 percent in 1999 to about 8 percent. The country has also achieved rapid improvement on the U.N. Human Development Index, which measures a range of indicators from living standards to life expectancy."We're applying a successful program successful politically, successful socially, successful economically," Chavez said at a news conference. "With flaws, of course, but it's successful. We're laying the foundations of a historic project that will take our entire lifetime."All of which makes him a tough incumbent to beat in the upcoming Oct. 7 election.Yet some experts say Chavez could have done much more to improve the country's infrastructure, boost its economy and invest in the very oil industry that keeps Venezuela afloat."It's overwhelmingly clear that Venezuela has wasted the windfall," said Francisco Monaldi, an economist and director of the International Center of Energy and the Environment at Caracas' IESA business school. "You should have had much greater economic growth, much greater reduction of poverty."Among Latin American countries, the economies of Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina all have expanded more rapidly than Venezuela's since Chavez took office in 1999, recording average growth between 3 and 5 percent a year.Venezuela, by contrast, averaged a 2.8 percent annual increase of gross domestic product between 1999 and 2011, according to International Monetary Fund figures. By that measure, the country was outperformed by every other member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries except Libya. Even war-torn Iraq posted higher growth.Some Venezuelans, such as tennis instructor Naybeth Figueroa, say Chavez has simply channeled money toward his "Chavista" supporters while neglecting deeply ingrained problems such as soaring murder rates, inflation, crumbling infrastructure and poor government services. Venezuela now ranks among the most violent and corrupt places on earth."The country is falling to pieces," Figueroa said. "Where is the oil money going?"On a rutted unpaved road in the countryside outside Caracas, unemployed housewife Moreli Gonzalez lives in a shack with a dirt floor and walls made of rusting sheets of zinc. She is thankful to Chavez that she now receives a $280-a-month cash benefit through a program called "Mothers of the Neighborhood Mission.""Now we have everything," said Gonzalez, who credits a government education program with helping her learn to read and a state-run grocery down the road that has made food more affordable."We eat better," she said, showing off cupboards filled with bags of rice and pasta. "My children didn't used to eat snacks. Now they eat well."

Finding Poland's sunken royal treasures

Capitalizing on low water levels in Warsaw's Vistula River, police are teaming up with archaeologists to recover gigantic marble and alabaster treasures that apparently were stolen from royals in Poland by Swedish invaders in the mid-17th century.A police Mi-8 helicopter hovered over a riverbed on Thursday, lifting ornaments such as the centerpiece of a fountain with water outlets decorated with satyr-like faces.For police, it was gratifying to provide the chopper and assist Warsaw University archaeologists in "this very important mission of retrievingpriceless national treasures,"saidMariusz Mrozek, a spokesman for Warsaw police.Archaeologists have long known that such well-preserved treasures were located in the riverbed in the Warsaw area, but not exactly where.The archaeologists and frogmen, led by Hubert Kowalski, have previously retrieved some of the stolen stone ornaments from the Vistula riverbed in three years of searching for the sunken treasures. Butonly now, with the river much lower than normal, thanks to recent heat waves and droughts, their findings have become spectacular."This is a precious find. These elements were stolen from Warsaw's royal residences and palaces," said Marek Wrede, a historian at the Royal Castle.The valuable artistic objects marble floor tiles, parts of archways and columns  were robbed from Warsaw by the Swedes who overran the nation in mid-17th century and took heavy loads of spoils from across the country. Today's items probably came from the Royal Castle and from a royal country residence, the Kazimierz Palace.The artifacts probably were being carried by a barge that sank, one of the many such vessels that ferried loot down the river to the Baltic Sea and to Sweden.The find is precious for Poland, which has been repeatedly plundered by neighboring armies over the centuries, including Nazi Germany and the Soviet Red Army during World War II.Kowalski said he knew about the hidden artifacts from 17th century letters that mentioned barges that had sunk in the area.First word of where the treasures might be came in 1906 when sand barge operators discovered some items, but could retrieve only a few.Kowalski said his team is now busy cleaning the newly retrieved items, which are "very well preserved, given the 350 years in water."

Iran accuses Siemens of nuclear sabotage

Iran accused Germany's Siemens on Saturday of implanting tiny explosives inside equipment the Islamic Republic purchased for its disputed nuclear program, a charge the technology giant denied.Prominent lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi said Iranian security experts discovered the explosives and removed them before detonation, adding that authorities believe the booby-trapped equipment was sold to derail uranium enrichment efforts."The equipment was supposed to explode after being put to work, in order to dismantle all our systems," he said. "But the wisdom of our experts thwarted the enemy conspiracy."Siemens denied the charge and said its nuclear division has had no business with Iran since the 1979 revolution that led to its current clerical state."Siemens rejects the allegations and stresses that we have no business ties to the Iranian nuclear program," spokesman for the Munich-based company Alexander Machowetz said.Boroujerdi, who heads the parliamentary security committee, alleged that the explosives were implanted at a Siemens factory and demanded the company take responsibility.Any sale of nuclear equipment to Iran is banned under U.N. sanctions, raising the possibility that if it indeed has some, it may have been acquired through third parties. Boroujerdi did not say when or how Iran obtained Siemens equipment. Despite a wide array of international sanctions, Germany remains one of Iran's most important trading partners.The U.S. and its allies suspect Iran's nuclear work is aimed at producing weapons. Iran says it only wants to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, and asserts it has been the target of a concerted campaign by Israel, the U.S. and their allies to undermine its nuclear efforts through covert operations.Some Iranian officials have also suggested in the past that specific European companies may have sold faulty equipment to Iran with the knowledge of American intelligence agencies and their own governments, since the sales would have harmed, rather than helped, the country's nuclear program.According to Iran, the alleged campaign has included the abduction of scientists, the sale of faulty equipment and the planting of a destructive computer worm known as Stuxnet, which briefly brought Iran's uranium enrichment activity to a halt in 2010.Iran's nuclear chief, Fereidoun Abbasi, said Monday that separate attacks on Iran's centrifuges through tiny explosives meant to disable key parts of the machines were discovered before the blasts could go off on timers.Abbasi also told the U.N. nuclear agency in Vienna that "terrorists and saboteurs" might have infiltrated the International Atomic Energy Agency, after the watchdog's inspectors arrived at the Fordo underground enrichment facility shortly after power lines were blown up through sabotage on Aug. 17.Iran has repeatedly accused the IAEA of sending spies in the guise of inspectors to collect information about its nuclear activities, pointing to alleged leaks of information by inspectors to U.S. and other officials.Five nuclear scientists and researchers have been killed in Iran since 2010. Tehran blames the deaths on Israel's Mossad spy agency as well as the CIA and Britain's MI-6. Washington and London have denied any roles. Israel has not commented.Boroujerdi said the alleged leaks of nuclear information to its adversaries by the IAEA may finally push Tehran to end all cooperation with the agency."Iran has the right to cut its cooperation with the IAEA should such violations continue," he said.

NEWS,01.08.2012

Record unemployment in eurozone

Joblessness in the eurozone hit on Tuesday its highest level since the single currency was born, a further sign of economic desperation as hopes erode that the bloc will be saved by its central bank this week.An additional 123 000 people were out of work in the eurozone in June, figures from Eurostat showed, bringing the unemployment rate to a record high 11.2% across the 17 countries that use the single currency.The rate hides wide divergences, with unemployment as low as 4.5% in Austria and as high as 24.8% in Spain, where a shrinking economy makes it ever more difficult to pay off debt.New data showed capital fleeing Spanish banks at a growing rate. Spain has come dangerously close to losing affordable access to financial markets, raising the prospect of a bailout that would swamp the euro zone's hastily erected defences. If Spain goes, Italy, with an economy twice the size, could follow.Eurozone leaders have spent the past week issuing statements promising to take whatever steps are necessary to rescue the currency, but none have raised expectations as much as Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank.His announcement last Thursday that the ECB would do whatever within its mandate to rescue the currency raised expectations that he will deliver forceful new steps this week to lower Spanish and Italian borrowing costs.But market sentiment has since soured, showing that investors doubt whether he can deliver.Germany, which says it is illegal for the ECB to bankroll government borrowing, squelched talk of any easing of its opposition to letting the eurozone's rescue fund borrow from the ECB so it could buy almost unlimited quantities of government bonds.Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, who has campaigned for concerted action by the eurozone's rescue funds and the ECB to bring down ruinous borrowing costs for Spain and Italy, struck an optimistic tone."It is a tunnel but ... some light is appearing at the end of the tunnel. We and the rest of Europe are approaching the end of the tunnel," he told RAI public radio before talks in Paris with French President Francois Hollande.Monti said decisions taken at an EU summit last month were starting to bear fruit. "We are now seeing the results both in the willingness of European institutions as well as from the governments of individual countries, including Germany," he said.After lunching with Hollande, he said there was no time to lose and they had discussed deadlines, adding: "We cannot afford even a minute of distraction." The ECB's Draghi promise last week to act to preserve the euro raised investors' expectations of a resumption of a long-suspended government bond-buying programme. Investors are waiting to see what the ECB announces at a meeting of its policy-setting Governing Council on Thursday."Today will probably be a quiet last day of the month. Everybody is waiting for Thursday to see if Draghi can deliver," said Lex van Dam, hedge fund manager at Hampstead Capital, which manages $500m of assets."He'd better pull a big rabbit out of his hat."However, central bank sources cautioned against expecting dramatic action, saying bold moves could be at least five weeks away because other elements must first fall into place.They said Spain would first have to formally request a eurozone assistance programme, which it has so far resisted doing, and eurozone governments would have to agree to use their rescue funds to buy bonds in tandem with the ECB.Safe-haven German government bonds rallied on Tuesday and European shares fell as scepticism over the prospect of bold ECB action set in and Berlin repeated its opposition to a banking licence for the rescue fund. Monti, who will also visit Finland and Spain, said he was confident Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy would be able to tackle the country's problems.The scale of Rajoy's challenge was highlighted on Tuesday when figures showed that capital flight from Spain accelerated in May, the month when Madrid was forced to nationalise the fourth biggest lender, Bankia, and before eurozone countries agreed to help bail out Spanish banks. Capital outflows in the first five months of this year totalled €163.2bn - equivalent to about 16% of economic output. The same period last year saw a net inflow of €14.6bn.Spanish retail sales fell by 5.2% year-on-year on a calendar-adjusted basis in June, separate data showed, marking a 24th straight month of declines. Near-bankrupt Greece meanwhile reported that it is fast running out of cash as it awaits the next instalment of aid from international lenders. Deputy Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said that in the absence of €3.2bn needed to repay an ECB bond on August 20, Athens would lack the money to pay everyday public expenses ranging from police and other public service wages to pensions and welfare benefits."Cash reserves are almost zero," he told state NET television. "It is risky to say until when (they will last) ... but we are certainly on the brink."Speaking to reporters in London on Monday evening, Hollande voiced support for Monti's campaign to persuade euro zone leaders and institutions to act to reduce Italian and Spanish borrowing costs."European solidarity is of course about laying down discipline, but it's also about allowing countries that made hard choices to be rewarded with lower interest rates," Hollande said during a visit to the Olympic Games. "If countries undertake austerity measures and still have very high interest rates, how can they win the trust of their people?" he said.Monti spoke by telephone over the weekend with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is holidaying in northern Italy.Berlin agreed in principle at an EU summit in June that the eurozone rescue funds could buy bonds of countries that risk losing market access, but was angered when Monti said that such support should not entail any stricter economic conditions or international monitoring.There has also been renewed pressure from France, Italy and some central bankers to give the eurozone's future permanent rescue fund a banking licence so it can borrow money from the central bank to fight bond market contagion.The Sueddeutsche Zeitung said supporters of the idea were gaining ground in the eurozone, but the German Finance Ministry reiterated its opposition on Tuesday, sending markets down.A legal opinion commissioned by the ECB in March 2011 concluded that such a move would breach an EU treaty ban on monetary financing of governments. 

Eurozone factory downturn takes root

The eurozone’s manufacturing sector contracted for the 11th straight month in July as output and new orders plummeted, a business survey found on Wednesday. The data, which showed the downturn is deepening its roots in the core, will provide grim reading for policymakers who are battling to contain a debt crisis that has raged across the continent. Markit’s Eurozone Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector fell to 44.0, the lowest reading since June 2009 and below a flash reading of 44.1 and June’s 45.1. The output index sank to 43.4, the lowest since May 2009, under June’s 44.7 and an earlier flash 43.6. Markit said it was in line with the official measure of production falling at a quarterly rate of over 1%. “The eurozone manufacturing sector’s woes intensified again in July. Manufacturing therefore looks to be on course to act as a major drag on economic growth in the third quarter, as the eurozone faces a deepening slide back into recession,” said Chris Williamson at Markit. After stagnating in the first quarter, narrowly avoiding a technical recession, a raft of gloomy data pushed economists in a Reuters poll last month to predict a contraction in the second and third quarters. In a bid to spur growth the European Central Bank cut interest rates to a record low of 0.75% in June and is expected to cut them again to 0.5% before the year is out. At its policy meeting on Thursday, it is expected to restart its dormant government bond buying programme with the aim of lowering Spanish and Italian government bond yields, which have reached levels unsustainable in the long-term. Bank President Mario Draghi vowed last week that “the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro”.Earlier data from Germany, Europe’s largest economy, showed its manufacturing sector contracted at its fastest pace in three years last month and it was a similar story in neighbouring France. Spain, which slid deeper into recession in the second quarter, saw the 15th straight month of contraction, while Italy chalked up a year in contractionary territory. The PMI for Greece, where the debt crisis began, has been below 50 since September 2009. Ireland was the only country to show signs of emerging from the downturn, Markit said, where its PMI was above 50 for the fifth month. Factories across the eurozone cut prices at the fastest pace since early 2010, but the new orders index still fell to 42.8 from the previous month’s 43.5 and has only been lower once in over three years. New export orders were at an eight-month low. “The current weakness of global economic growth suggests that all producers face a challenging environment in export markets as well as at home,” Williamson said. Some of the output was generated by firms running down backlogs for the 14th consecutive month and workforces were cut for the sixth month to reduce costs. Unemployment across the bloc rose to a euro-era high of 11.2% in June, official data showed on Tuesday. 

Average UK home slumps to R2.12

House prices in recession-affected Britain slid in July on an annual basis by the biggest amount in nearly three years, a survey by major home-loans provider Nationwide showed on Wednesday.The average value of a home in Britain stood at £164 389 ($257 743, R2.12m) in July - down 2.6% compared with the same month in 2011, the lender said in a statement.They meanwhile dropped by 0.7% in July compared with one month earlier, it added."UK house prices declined for the fourth time in five months in July, with prices falling by 0.7%. This pushed the annual pace of price growth down to minus 2.6%, from minus 1.5% in June - the weakest outturn since August 2009," said Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner."The weaker price trend observed in recent quarters is unsurprising, given the disappointing performance of the wider economy. Data released last week revealed that the UK recession intensified in the three months to July."