“His speech was deceitful
and I call on those who listened to this speech
not to be deceived,” said Mr. Erekat, who added that
Netanyahu would have to wait “1,000 years
to find one single Palestinian who accepts his plans.”
Iran Bans Opposition Rally as Critics Are Detained
By ROBERT F. WORTH and NAZILA FATHI
Published: June 15, 2009
TEHRAN – The Iranian authorities denied permission Monday for the opposition to hold a major rally to protest the outcome of Friday’s presidential vote, according to news reports and an opposition Web site, deepening a mood of confrontation as violence and acrimony over the disputed election intensified.
Word spread on Sunday that more than 100 prominent opposition members had been detained; riots erupted in Tehran and other cities; and the triumphant incumbent hinted that his top challenger risks punishment for questioning the result.Early Monday, security forces raided a dormitory at Tehran University and 15 people were injured, opposition Web sites reported, but there was no immediate confirmation of the incident from the authorities.
Netanyahu’s speech prompts anger from Palestinians, praise from the White House
Palestinian negotiator Erekat calls it a ‘slap in the face,’ while the White House calls the speech ‘an important step forward.’
By Joshua Mitnick | Correspondent
from the June 14, 2009 edition
TEL AVIV – The White House praised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s endorsement Sunday of a Palestinian state as “an important step forward,” giving the Israeli leader a key victory in his attempt to mend a diplomatic rift with the US over the Israeli-Arab peace process.In Israel, however, the foreign policy speech immediately drew fire from Palestinians and all sides of the Israeli political spectrum. But Mr. Netanyahu appeared to garner enough initial backing to keep his governing coalition out of danger of faltering.
PALESTINIANS NOT IMPRESSED
Although right-wing ideologues in his coalition assailed the speech as “dangerous” for supporting the creation of a Palestinian state, Palestinians said Netanyahu closed the door for peace talks by ruling out the repatriation of refugees to Israel and by insisting that Jerusalem remain united under Israeli rule.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat assailed the speech as a “slap in the face” to President Obama’s recent efforts to bring peace to the region.
USA
Obama Is Pressed to Tax Health Benefits
Seeking GOP Votes, Democrats Split Over Plan for New Levy
By Lori Montgomery and Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, June 15, 2009
The White House is caught in a battle within its own party over how to finance a comprehensive overhaul of America’s health-care system, as key Democrats advocate a tax plan that could require President Obama to break his campaign pledge not to raise taxes on the middle class.Sensitive to voter anxiety about a soaring federal deficit, Obama and congressional leaders have vowed to pay for a sweeping expansion of the health-care system — expected to cost more than $1 trillion over the next decade — without additional borrowing.
Much of the money is likely to come from reining in spending on federal health programs for the elderly and the poor.
Mexican police fleeing cartels find U.S. reluctant to grant asylum
Officers often must choose between doing drug gangs’ bidding or risking death by refusing. Some who have come to the U.S. to escape the dilemma find the system unsympathetic.
By Andrew Becker
June 15, 2009
Julio Ledezma had been chief of police in La Junta, a town of 8,700 in northern Mexico, for barely three months when a pair of strangers paid him a visit.They said an aide to the mayor had sent them, and they bore gifts: a briefcase stuffed with cash and a truck for Ledezma’s personal use.
In return, the new chief was to distract federal police at security checkpoints with fake calls for assistance. The diversion would allow drug traffickers to drive through the area without inspection.
Ledezma could refuse — and be killed.
He could take the bribe — and be owned by the Juarez cartel.
He chose to stall. He told the men he had to talk to his boss first. He approached civic leaders, trying to rally support. Word got back to the traffickers, and on Ledezma’s 45th birthday, six men with military rifles surrounded his home while he was out buying steaks and jalapeños for his birthday dinner.
Middle East
As Iraq runs dry, a plague of snakes is unleashed
An unprecedented fall in the water levels of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers has left the rural population at the mercy of heat, drought – and displaced wildlife. Patrick Cockburn reports
Monday, 15 June 2009
Swarms of snakes are attacking people and cattle in southern Iraq as the Euphrates and Tigris rivers dry up and the reptiles lose their natural habitat among the reed beds.Doctors in the area say six people have been killed and 13 poisoned. “People are terrified and are leaving their homes,” says Jabar Mustafa, a medical administrator, who works in a hospital in the southern province of Dhi Qar. “We knew these snakes before, but now they are coming in huge numbers. They are attacking buffalo and cattle as well as people.”
In Chabaysh, a town on the Euphrates close to the southern marshland of Hawr al-Hammar, farmers have set up an overnight operations room to prevent the snakes attacking their cattle.
A face in the crowd, a cry from the heart
‘Maryam’, a 24-year-old Tehran student, mourns for her country
Monday, 15 June 2009
I cannot put my feeling into words. I can only express my sorrow for my country. The result is unbelievable. It is a blatant lie. And now we have this kid, this stupid child who claims that his re-election is a victory of the people.How can we withstand this man ruling us for four more years? Of course Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, our supreme leader, supported him in stealing this election. He is the “father” of this kid. I didn’t want to vote on Thursday but this election was totally different from previous votes.
And my city, Tehran, these last few weeks, felt like a different place.
Asia
Pakistan orders attack on Taleban leader Baitullah Mehsud
From Times Online
June 15, 2009
Jeremy Page in Islamabad
Pakistan has ordered its army to attack Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taleban, in his mountainous stronghold of South Waziristan – also believed to be the hiding place of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda chief.The order to open a new front was announced last night by Owais Ahmed Ghani, governor of North West Frontier Province, and confirmed by the army, which is already fighting the Taleban in several regions across the northwest.
The announcement will be welcomed by the United States, which has been pushing Pakistan to attack South Waziristan, although some officials and experts have raised concerns about over-stretching the Pakistani army.
In India, a mandate and a test
Repeat win by United Progressive Alliance shows faith in party on economy and security.
By Anuj Chopra | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the June 14, 2009 edition
MUMBAI, INDIA – Manmohan Singh, the blue-turbaned prime minister of India, hurried to appoint cabinet ministers from a string of allies shortly after a stunning victory in parliamentary elections in May that defied predictions of a hung parliament.But as he prepares to shepherd the victorious Congress Party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) into its second consecutive term, he faces myriad challenges – from a flailing economy to a tenuous security situation, both at home and in the region.
“My first task is to restore the economy and its growth momentum. There is global recession and we have to protect our growth,” Mr. Singh said soon after he was sworn in as prime minister.
Buffeted by the global economic meltdown, the growth of India’s gross domestic product has ebbed – to between 6 and 7 percent after a high of 9 percent in 2007. After many years of witnessing rising incomes, the country faces the dour prospect of job losses.
Europe
Subversives planning palace coup against me, says Silvio Berlusconi
From The Times
June 15, 2009
Richard Owen in Rome
Italy is facing a subversive plot by forces determined to impose an unelected leader on the country, according to Silvio Berlusconi.In a speech to a business lobby group, the embattled Prime Minister said that he believed a “palace coup” was being planned to oust him.
“There is a campaign of scandals against me. It is a subversive plan because its aim is to bring down a Prime Minister and to put in his place another not elected by Italians. If that is not subversion, tell me what is.”
Although Mr Berlusconi did not identify the alleged plotters, Francesco Cossiga, a former Italian President and Prime Minister, said that those behind the scheme planned to install Mario Draghi, the governor of the Bank of Italy, as the head of a caretaker government of national unity. Mr Draghi, the head of the central bank for the last three and a half years, declined to comment.
EU conference on migration and integration kicks off in Berlin
How well is Europe coping with the integration of its foreign residents? A two-day EU conference in Berlin will discuss methods to monitor migratory trends within Europe.
IMMIGRATION | 15.06.2009
For decades the nations of the expanded European Union, now comprising 27 countries, have wrangled over the integration of the EU’s 30 million foreign residents. The question: how to deal with those who try to enter what human rights advocates call Fortress Europe?At the Berlin conference the catchwords will be “monitoring” and “benchmarking,” in other words, how to measure the success or failure of efforts to integrate so-called “legal migrants” across Europe.
Residents with foreign passports make up about five percent of the EU’s total population of nearly 500 million. Luxembourg excels, with 38 percent of its population listed as foreigners. Germany is in mid-field at 8.9 percent or about seven-million foreign residents.
UN food is stolen from the starving in Somalia fake camp fraud
From The Times
June 15, 2009
Jonathan Rugman in NairobiOne of the UN’s largest international relief efforts is under investigation after it emerged that thousands of sacks of food aid were being diverted from starving refugees and openly sold for profit.
The head of the UN’s $955 million (£580 million) aid operation in Somalia has launched an inquiry after being shown footage showing tonnes of food bearing the World Food Programme (WFP) logo widely on sale in Mogadishu, the capital.
Stacks of bags of maize and wheat and tins of cooking oil – marked “not for re-sale” and bearing the UN stamp – are on sale from ten warehouses and 15 shops in the city’s main market.
About 45,000 tonnes of WFP food are shipped to Somalia from Kenya every month. Mogadishu traders told Channel 4 News that they bought their supplies straight from UN staff. “We buy [food] aid from WFP staff directly or from people they employ,” one market trader said.
Nigeria rebels threaten FIFA junior World Cup
LAGOS (AFP)
Rebels in Nigeria’s restive Niger Delta on Monday claimed more attacks against facilities run by US oil giant Chevron and warned FIFA against letting Nigeria host the under-17 World Cup tournament.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) also threatened to extend its operations to other states in the oil-rich region.
MEND said it had started a massive fire that destroyed the Abiteye flow station and had blown up two other Chevron facilities there early on Monday.
Likening its operations to a hurricane, the group said it would be extending its actions beyond Delta state.
It would move “into the neighbouring states of Bayelsa and Rivers before passing through the remaining states of Ondo, Edo, and Akwa Ibom then finally head off-shore,” said MEND.