Al-Jazeera journalists' stiff sentences prompt international outrage at Egypt

John Kerry embarrassed by long jail terms handed down just a day after the US restored military and economic aid to Egypt

theguardian.com, Patrick Kingsley in Cairo, Monday 23 June 2014

Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed have been jailed
for endangering Egypt's national security. Photograph: Mohammed Bendari/Rex

International outrage at Egypt's brutal crackdown on dissent intensified on Monday after three journalists for Al-Jazeera English were sentenced to up to a decade in jail for endangering Egypt's national security in a verdict that dealt both a shocking blow to Egyptian free speech and a humiliating rebuke to American attempts to moderate the worst excesses of Egypt's security state.

US secretary of state John Kerry said it was "chilling and draconian", British prime minister David Cameron condemned the verdict as "completely appalling" while Australia's foreign minister, Julie Bishop – whose fellow countryman, Peter Greste, was one of those convicted – said that the "Australian government simply cannot understand it based on the evidence that was presented in the case". Australia, the Netherlands and Britain all summoned their respective Egyptian ambassadors to explain the verdict in what marked the fiercest international condemnation of Egypt's crackdown on dissent since the murder of over 600 anti-government protesters last August.

The backlash followed the sentencing of former BBC correspondent Peter Greste, the ex-CNN journalist Mohamed Fahmy, and local producer Baher Mohamed to seven, seven and 10 years respectively for endangering Egypt's national security, falsifying news, and helping terrorists. Four students and activists indicted in the case were sentenced to seven years.

Rights campaigners portrayed the verdict as a frightening assault on what remains of Egyptian free speech. But it also represented a shaming slapdown to American diplomacy, coming only a day after John Kerry, America's top diplomat, landed in Egypt for a brief meeting with Egypt's president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, in which he raised the impending trial in their discussion and called for Egypt to improve its human rights record. That a guilty verdict was still reached hours later, despite Kerry confirming the return of US military and economic aid to Egypt, represented an embarrassment for US diplomacy, analysts argued.

In court, 10-year sentences were also handed to British journalists Sue Turton and Dominic Kane and the Dutch reporter Rena Netjes, who were not in Egypt but were tried in absentia.

The courtroom, packed with reporters, diplomats and relatives, erupted at the verdict which came despite prosecutors failing "to produce a single shred of solid evidence", according to Amnesty International, which monitored the trial.

Family and friends of the convicted men broke down in tears, while inside the defendants' cage the journalists reacted with defiance. Greste, who had only been reporting in Egypt for a fortnight when he was arrested last December, silently held his arm aloft. Fahmy, a dual Canadian-Egyptian national, clung to the bars of the cage as he was pulled away by police, shouting: "They'll pay for this. I promise you they'll pay for this."

Fahmy's mother and fiancee both broke down in tears, while his brother Adel, who had travelled from his home in Kuwait for the verdict, reacted with fury.

"This is not a system," he said. "This is not a country. They've ruined our lives. It shows everything that's wrong with the system: it's corrupt. This country is corrupt through and through."

Greste's two younger brothers, Mike and Andrew, who came from Australia to attend court, were grim-faced. "I'm just stunned," said Andrew Greste, as police pushed reporters from the courtroom. "It's difficult to comprehend how they can have reached this decision." Thousands of miles away in Australia, Greste's father Juris was filmed receiving the news from his Twitter feed. "That's crazy, that's crazy, that's absolutely crazy," a distraught Greste senior was heard saying as he walked away from the camera.

Outside the courtroom – as police jostled journalists, and pushed one into the path of a passing car – diplomats and trial observers expressed incredulity at the verdict.

"On the basis of the evidence that we've seen, we can't understand the verdict," said Ralph King, the Australian ambassador in Cairo.

Evidence provided by the prosecution included footage from channels and events that had nothing to do with Egyptian politics or al-Jazeera. It included videos of trotting horses filmed by Sky News Arabia, a song by the Australian singer Gotye, and a BBC documentary from Somalia. The prosecution's case was also severely undermined by the retraction of key testimonies from three lead witnesses, who admitted during proceedings they did not know whether the three journalists had undermined national security – contradicting written claims they made before the trial.

The case was riddled with procedural errors – including the misspelling of the name of convicted Dutch journalist Rena Netjes in the court papers, and her wrong passport number. "It's ridiculous that a non-existent Dutch citizen with a non-existent passport number has been convicted of terrorism," Netjes said later by telephone.

Ostensibly, the trial was a broadside against al-Jazeera, a Qatar-owned news channel that Egypt's government feels is biased towards Sisi's predecessor, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi. But Mohamed Lotfy, executive director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, who has observed the trial for Amnesty, said the verdict sent a frightening message to all opposition figures in Egypt.

"It's a warning to all journalists that they could one day face a similar trial and conviction simply for carrying out their official duties," Lotfy said. "This feeds into a wider picture of a politicised judiciary and the use of trials to crack down on all opposition voices."

According to Egypt's interior ministry, at least 16,000 political prisoners have been arrested since last July's overthrow of Mohamed Morsi – some of whom have been disappeared, many of whom have been tortured, and many more sentenced to draconian jail terms and death sentences based on little evidence.

In an official Amnesty statement, the group called the verdict a "dark day" for press freedom. "In 12 court sessions," the statement read, "the prosecution failed to produce a single shred of solid evidence linking the journalists to a terrorism organisation or proving that they had 'falsified' news footage."

Amnesty's reaction was matched by a furious international response that saw several foreign ministers including Britain's William Hague expressing outrage at the verdict.

But relatives of the jailed journalists and defendants convicted in absentia said foreign governments must now go beyond banal statements and apply real pressure to help reverse the verdicts. "It's outrageous that Egypt gets away with this and the rest of the world keeps sending them money," said Rena Netjes, in views supported by Fahmy's brother Adel.

"I feel diplomatic pressure is the most important thing," said Adel Fahmy after leaving court. "There has to be lobbying from any country that cares about the freedom of expression in Egypt. It can't just be statements any more. They have to make it clear to Egyptians that this is unacceptable."

But the verdict may have revealed the limits of foreign influence in Egypt, with Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry issuing a "complete rejection of any foreign interference in the country's internal affairs."

It also represented an embarrassing humiliation for John Kerry, analysts argued. The US secretary of state expressed hopes of a positive outcome to the trial in a meeting with Sisi on Sunday – only to find his pleas unanswered the next day. Commenting on Kerry's apparent ineffectiveness, Michael Hanna, Egypt analyst at the Century Foundation, said: "When you're thinking of making a stop in Egypt, there are a whole range of issues that come into play. And one of the things you have to consider is the pending verdict. The trip could have made sense if assurances had been given regarding the verdict. But if not, then it's sloppy scheduling."

Inside Egypt, where al-Jazeera journalists are portrayed as terrorists due to their perceived support for the ousted Mohamed Morsi, many cheered the verdict. "Aljazeera channel are evil," wrote one Twitter user in a typical response. "They support only the [Muslim Brotherhood] and change stories and want to show Egypt [is] not safe for tourism."

It is this hostile domestic reaction to al-Jazeera that may dissuade Egypt's new president from pardoning the defendants – a move foreign observers have optimistically speculated Sisi might now take. In the absence of a pardon, the convicted journalists will have to navigate Egypt's appeals system – a process that is considered less politicised than the rest of Egypt's judiciary, but may take until at least October to start. "We've lost a good amount of faith in the justice system," said Greste's brother Mike after Monday's verdict. "But [an appeal] may be the only process left available to us."

L to R: Al-Jazeera English producer Baher Mohammed, Canadian-Egyptian acting
Cairo bureau chief Mohammed Fahmy, and Australian correspondent Peter Greste
during their trial on terror charges in Cairo, Egypt. Photograph: Heba Elkholy/AP

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Beware ISIL, Iran's Rouhani warns 'petrodollar' states

Yahoo – AFP, 22 June 2014

A handout picture released by the official website of the Iranian president 

show President Hassan Rouhani speaking in Khoramabad on June 18,

 2014 (AFP Photo)

Tehran (AFP) - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani warned on Sunday that Muslim states which funnel petrodollars to jihadist Sunni fighters wreaking havoc in Iraq will become their next target.

Rouhani did not name any country, but officials and media in mainly Shiite Iran have hinted that insurgents from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are being financially and militarily supported by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

"I advise Muslim countries that support the terrorists with their petrodollars to stop," Rouhani said in remarks reported by the website of Iran's state broadcaster.

"Tomorrow you will be targeted... by these savage terrorists. Wash your hands of killing and the killing of Muslims," he added. ISIL militants have seized a swathe of Iraqi territory in a lightning offensive, with the Baghdad government's security forces hard-pressed to prevent the advance.

Riyadh has warned that Iran-ally Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is steering Iraq towards civil war through policies that exclude the country's Sunni minority.

Iran, the predominant Shiite powerhouse in the Middle East, says it will support Maliki against ISIL, which is also battling the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, another Tehran ally.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he was against any foreign intervention in Iraq, accusing the United States of seeking to "take advantage of fanatics with no will of their own," referring to ISIL.

Khamenei reiterated Iranian declarations that the Maliki government "has the ability to stop this plot, with collective efforts that include the people.

"This is not a Shiite versus Sunni war, unlike what American officials say," he said in comments published on his website, blaming -- without giving further details -- the US for "disrupting (Iraq's) stability and threatening its territorial integrity."

Rouhani meanwhile called for unity between "Shiites and Sunnis who are brothers".

"For centuries, Shiites and Sunnis have lived alongside each other in Iran, Iraq, the Levant, Lebanon, the Persian Gulf and North Africa... in peaceful coexistence," he said.

Since ISIL began its Iraq offensive, Tehran has urged Iraqis to unite against the jihadists.

"The Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds are our friends," parliament speaker Ali Larijani said in remarks reported on the Majlis website.

"We have always insisted that all ethnic groups must have active and constructive participation in Iraq's power structure."

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Kerry urges Iraqi leaders to rise above sectarianism

US secretary of state urges Egypt to pursue moderate policies and fight terrorism

In the highest-level American visit to Egypt since the new government took office, the secretary of state has urged political moderation and a stand on terrorism in the Middle East. Improved relations are being sought.

Deutsche Welle, 22 June 2014

US Secretary of State John Kerry held what he called "candid" discussions with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi in Cairo on Sunday.

"We're on the same page about what's needed for Egypt," Kerry said after the meeting. He added that he was "hopeful Egypt would get the full amount of aid and get on track."

"Terrorists are the greatest threat to the Middle East," Kerry said.

The US State Department said there were concerns about Egypt's crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and the threat which the conflict in Iraq posed to the Middle East. Earlier, Kerry held talks with Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

"This is a critical moment of transition in Egypt (and) enormous challenges," Kerry said. "There are issues of concern ... but we know how to work at these."

"The US is very interested in working closely" with the new government "in order to make this transition as rapidly and smoothly as possible," Kerry said.

Egypt's foreign ministry issued a statement saying the relationship between the US and Egypt should be based on "mutual respect and joint interests and with no interference in internal affairs."

Improving relations

The US has had close relations with Egypt since 1979, when Cairo signed a peace treaty with American ally Israel. However, relations in recent months have been strained. After President Mohammed Morsi was ousted almost a year ago, the US froze some of its $1.3 billion (956 million euros) in annual military aid to Egypt.

About $575 million in suspended funds have been released over the past 10 days and are to be used to pay existing defense contracts, according to the State Department. Washington has also said it is to provide ten Apache attack helicopters to help soldiers battling militants in the Sinai peninsula. Kerry said they would arrive "very soon."

Kerrry's visit came a day after an Egyptian court confirmed death sentences against 183 members of deposed President Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, including its leader Mohamed Badie, in a mass trial on charges related to violence in which one policeman was killed.

On Monday, a court in Cairo is due to issue a verdict in the trial of three journalists with the Al Jazeera television network held since December. Mohamed Fahmy, Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste face up to 15 years in jail if found guilty of aiding terrorists, doctoring footage and endangering Egypt's national security. Their colleague, hunger-striker Abdullah Elshamy has been released.

jm/pfd (Reuters, AP)

Map showing the Galaa military camp in Ismalila and the location of the Azoulu

 military prison within it. The S1 block, which detainees describe as an interrogation

block, is a few minutes drive from the jail

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US Presbyterians vote to divest from firms to pressure Israel

Yahoo – AFP, 21 June 2014

Israeli soldiers patrol a street in the West Bank village of Beit Furik,

southeast of Nablus, early on June 20, 2014 (AFP Photo/Jaafar Ashtiyeh)

Washington (AFP) - The nearly 1.9 million member Presbyterian Church USA voted Friday after a contentious debate to divest from three companies that provide supplies to Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank.

The 310 to 303 vote at the influential Protestant denomination's meeting in Detroit, Michigan, means the group will pull any financial investments out of Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions, according to the church's official news service.

Israeli soldiers arrest a young Palestinian

 boy following clashes in the West Bank

 town of Hebron, on June 20, 2014 (AFP

Photo/Thomas Coex)

Assembly moderator Heath Rada emphasized the decision "in no way reflects anything but love for both the Jewish and Palestinian people," the news service said.

The measure also included a reaffirmation of Israel's right to exist, an endorsement of a two-state solution and encouraged interfaith dialogue, The New York Times reported.

It also included a provision to encourage "positive investment" to improve the lives of Israelis and Palestinians, the Times said.

The close vote came after a week of intense lobbying and "most contentious debate of this assembly," the church's news service said, noting that divestment has historically been seen as a "last resort" after "other engagement tools have failed."

In a statement ahead of the vote, Presbyterian Church USA said it was considering divestment in Caterpillar because its responsible investing committee found the company provides the bulldozers "used in the destruction of Palestinian homes, clearing land of structures and fruit and olive tree groves, and in preparation for the construction of the barrier wall."

Hewlett-Packard, it said, "provides electronic systems at checkpoints, logistics and communications systems to support the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, and has business relationships with illegal settlements in the West Bank."

And Motorola Solutions "provides military communications and surveillance systems in the illegal Israeli settlements," the Church added.

HP spokeswoman Kelli Schlegel insisted, however, that "respecting human rights is a core value at HP and is embedded in the way we do business."

The HP systems used at checkpoints help expedite "passage in a secure environment, enabling people to get to their place of work or to carry out their business in a faster and safer way," Schlegel added.

Motorola Solutions emphasized in a statement the "company has a long record of working with customers" throughout the Middle East and "supports all efforts in the region to find a peaceful resolution" to conflict.

The company added it has "a comprehensive set of policies and procedures that addresses human rights, which is designed to ensure that our operations worldwide are conducted using the highest standards of integrity and ethical business conduct applied uniformly and consistently."

Caterpillar did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

At the 2012 General Assembly, Presbyterian USA voted to boycott products made in the Israeli settlements and to "begin positive investments in Palestinian businesses."

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Also in the garden of the Vatican embraced Peres
and Abbas together. (NOS/AFP)

Israel concerned at growing boycott threat

Norway fund blacklists Israeli firms with settlement ties

EU takes tougher stance on Israeli settlements

Presbyterian Church Votes To Allow Gay Marriages

The Huffington Post, Jaweed Kaleem, 06/19/2014

Gay marriage supporter Kara Speltz, center, of Oakland, Calif., holds hands

 with other supporters after the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church on

 Friday, July 9, 2010 voted in Minneapolis not to reconsider a motion seeking to

redefine the definition of marriage. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

In a monumental move, the nation's largest Presbyterian denomination voted Thursday to change its definition of marriage and allow its pastors to officiate same-sex ceremonies in states where gay marriage is legal.

By a vote of 429-175, leaders of the 1.76 million-member Presbyterian Church (USA) voted during the biennial General Assembly in Detroit to change the denomination's Book of Order to describe marriage as being between "two people."

The decision opens a path toward gay marriage across the denomination's 10,000 churches.

A majority of the church's 172 regional bodies, called Presbyteries, must now approve the decision before it's official, a process that can take up to a year. But after years of failed efforts to get the church to approve gay marriages, LGBT activists and pastors said they were optimistic.

“This is a glorious day for the church and for LGBT people who have been seeking full inclusion here for decades,” Pittsburgh-based Rev. Randy Bush, the co-moderator of the board for pro-LGBT church group Covenant Network, said in a statement.

In a separate vote, 371 to 238, the church assembly also approved a measure to allow pastors who minister in places where same-sex marriage is legal, which currently includes 19 states and the District of Columbia, to officiate those weddings. That move is final and doesn't need further approval.

Many smaller, more conservative Presbyterian denominations, including the Presbyterian Church in America and Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians, don't ordain gay people or official same-sex marriages.

But the decisions for the USA group, which came after hours of tense debate, follow years of discussions on the meaning of marriage in the church and a rapidly changing tide of support for religious and civil same-sex marriage. The Presbyterian Church (USA) voted in May 2011 to allow the ordination of openly gay men and women in same-sex relationships, and other Christian denominations have also increasingly ordained openly gay clergy.

The Episcopal Church started allowing same-sex marriage blessings last year, though individual priests have been performing gay marriage ceremonies for years in states where they are legal. The United Church of Christ has allowed same-sex marriages since 2005. Going further back, the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations has officially supported same-sex marriages since 1996. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America allows individual church ministers to make decisions on gay marriages. Among Jews, two of the three major Jewish denominations, Reform and Conservative, allow same-sex marriages.

Like most religious groups that have policies allowing same-sex marriage, Presbyterians decided Thursday to let pastors who are against gay marriages make the choice to not perform them.

Some speakers at the assembly said they were afraid the decision would cause more conservative people to leave the church, which has been gradually losing members. As recently as 2010, the Presbyterian Church (USA) had 2.1 million members. According to the Presbyterian News Service, at least 100 congregations have defected in recent years, in part because of the church's increasingly liberal views on gay issues.

To combat splintering, Presbyterians voted to include language that marriage is not only between "two people," but also "traditionally of a man a woman" in the change passed Thursday.

While all Presbyterian Church (USA) congregations are affiliated nationally, congregations tend to differ widely in worship style and views on homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Liberal pastors are known to publicly and privately officiate same-sex marriages, but the church has censured some of these people. In one high-profile case in 2010, the church's highest court found a California minister guilty of misconduct for officiating gay marriage ceremonies.

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Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon: Regarding homosexuality or transsexuals. WHY are they the way they are and WHY are they not accepted in mainstream society?

Answer: [From the Kryon Office]

There is often a tremendous amount of information on subjects that are not necessarily part of the on-line magazine Q&A database. Kryon has been channelling for fourteen years, with 9 books covering many, many topics. Homosexuality was one of them from the very beginning. Please see our "Books index page" for subjects contained in the Kryon books: [http://www.kryon.com/direct.html]

An excerpt from Kryon Book 6, page 306

Question from the book: Dear Kryon, I am gay, and an enlightened man. I live in an American society that barely tolerates me, and actually has some laws against my way of life. The church I used to belong to cast me out as being evil and anti-God. I don't feel that I am violating some Human ethic. My love is as true as any heterosexual, and I am a light worker. Tell me what I should know.

Answer from the book: Dear one, less than two generations from now, there will be those who find this book and laugh at the quaintness of this very question. Before I answer, let me ask you and those reading this to examine a phenomenon about Human society and "God."

Thirty years ago, interracial marriage was considered to be wrong by the laws of God. Now your society finds it common. The spiritual objections around it were either dropped or "rewritten" by those divinely inspired and authorized to do so. Therefore, your actual interpretations of the instructions from God changed with your society's tolerance level--an interesting thing, indeed, how the interpretations of God seem to change regularly to match a changing culture!

The truth, of course, is that you find yourself in a situation that is known to create a test for you. Right now, in this time, you have agreed to come into your culture with an attribute that may alienate you from friends and religious followers. You have faced fear of rejection and have had to "swim upstream," so to speak, just as an everyday life occurrence. Your contract, therefore, has been set up well, and you are in the middle of it. Additionally, like so many like you, you have a divine interest in yourselves! You feel part of the spiritual family. What a dichotomy indeed, to be judged as evil by those who are the high spiritual leaders--interpreting God for today's culture.

Now I say this: What is your intent? Is it to walk with love for all those around you and become an enlightened Human Being in this New Age? Is it to forgive those who see you as a spiritual blight on society? Can you have the kind of tolerance for them that they seem not to have for you? Can you overlook the fact that they freely quote their scriptures in order to condemn you, yet they don't seem to have the love tolerance that is the cornerstone of their own message?

If the answer is yes, then there is nothing else you must do. Your INTENT is everything, and your life will be honored with peace over those who would cause unrest, and tolerance for the intolerable. Your sexual attributes are simply chemistry and setups within your DNA. They are given by agreement as gifts for you to experience in this life. Look on them in this fashion, and be comfortable with that fact that you are a perfect spiritual creation under God--loved beyond measure--just like all humans. But then you know that, don't you?

UN: More than 50 million people forced to flee from violence

The number of people who have been forced to flee their homes by conflict and crisis has climbed to 50 million for the first time since WWII, the United Nations has reported. Half of those forced to flee are children.

Deutsche Welle, 20 June 2014

In an annual trends report, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) announced on Friday that the total number of forcibly displaced people had topped 51.2 million by the end of the 2013, an increase of 6 million from the previous year.

"We are really facing a quantum leap, an enormous increase of forced displacement in our world," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told a news briefing.

This total includes 16.7 million refugees abroad, 33.3 million displaced internally and 1.2 million asylum seekers whose applications were pending.

The civil war in Syria was largely to blame for the increase, according to the report. Since March 2011, 2.5 million people have fled Syria, with a further 6.5 million people internally displaced.

"We are seeing here the immense costs of not ending war, of failing to resolve or prevent conflict," Guterres said. "We see the Security Council paralyzed in many crucial crises around the world."

The report also cited new crises in South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Ukraine and Iraq that have forced more people from their homes.

Overall, the biggest refugee populations under UNHCR responsibility came from Afghanistan, Syrian and Somalia, who together form over half the global total.

Refugees flee to developing world

The report also said the majority of refugees have found shelter in developing countries. The world's top refugee hosts were Pakistan, Iran and Lebanon.

"Usually in the debate in the developed world, there is this idea that refugees are all fleeing north and that the objective is not exactly to find protection but to find a better life," he said. "The truth is that 86 percent of the world's refugees live in the developing world," he added.

Meanwhile, out of the more than 1 million people who submitted asylum applications, the majority in developed countries, Germany was the largest single recipient. Germany has also pledged to resettle more than 25,500 Syrians.

Underlining the stark nature of the international conflicts, a record 25,300 unaccompanied children lodged asylum applications in 77 countries in 2013.

"We see a growing number of unaccompanied minors on all routes. We see them in the Mediterranean routes, we see them in the Caribbean route, through Mexico to the United States, we see them in the Afghan route into Iran, into Turkey, into Europe," Guterres said. "We see them everywhere."

hc/mkg (AFP, Reuters, dpa)

World Muslim body vows to combat 'sectarian policies'

Yahoo – AFP, 19 June 2014

Iraqi Shiite men brandish their weapons as they show their willingness to

 join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Jihadist militants who have taken

over several northern cities in the capital Baghdad on June 18, 2014

The Saudi-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, representing more than 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide, affirmed Thursday a commitment to unity in combatting "sectarian" policies.

A two-day meeting in the Red Sea city of Jeddah affirmed that OIC members will stand "united in combatting sectarian, confessional, and exclusion policies that have led to sedition in some countries and threatened their security and stability," said a statement read by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.

The statement did not explicitly name Iraq, where Saudi Arabia blamed the "sectarian" policies of the Shiite-led government for the takeover by Sunni Muslim jihadists of key cities and large swathes of the country.

Britain is an old, declining empire, says official Chinese newspaper

People's Daily takes swipe at UK's 'eccentric acts' as Chinese premier visits London

theguardian.com, Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent, 18 June 2014

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang applauds as British Chancellor George Osborne
 prepares to address the delegates of the UK-China Financial Forum
Photograph: Sang Tan/AP

Britain is an "old, declining empire" which resorts to "eccentric acts" to hide its embarrassment over its declining power, an official Chinese newspaper has claimed on the second day of a visit by the country's premier, Li Keqiang, to London.

As China was given the chance to take a decisive stake in the next stage of Britain's energy and transport infrastructure on the first day of the premier's visit, the Global Times said a "rising" country such as China should seek to understand a declining power.

The paper, which is owned by the official Communist party People's Daily, took a swipe at Britain after reports last week that Beijing had threatened to call off Li's visit if he were not allowed to meet the Queen. The premier and his wife began their visit on Tuesday with an audience with the Queen at Windsor Castle.

The Global Times wrote of the reports of a Chinese threat to cancel Li's visit: "Diplomats might break out into laughter at such rhetoric. This hype only serves to reflect the narrow-mindedness of the British media and even the whole of its society. The once-powerful British empire must now resort to such trickery to manifest its pride."

The official newspaper added: "Perhaps Chinese people should forgive Britain's confusing sentiment. A rising country should understand the embarrassment of an old declining empire and at times the eccentric acts it takes to hide such embarrassment. Diplomacy has to be based on realistic recognition of the two countries' power. No matter for China or the UK, it will be tiring if they try to distort this reality."

Global Times - Ragout Photograph: Global Times

The official spokesman for the prime minister, David Cameron, sought to shrug off the significance of the article, telling a Westminster media briefing: "I read in the Times of London Premier Li's article when he said this was a great nation. That is the prime minister of China's view."

The barbed comments echo an editorial in the paper during Cameron's visit to China last December. At the time, it described Britain as "just an old European country apt for travel and study".

The criticism follows agreements between Britain and China on the first day of Li's visit that will allow Chinese companies to own and operate a nuclear power station and to help build high-speed rail lines.

The agreements are among trade deals worth £14bn agreed with Beijing. They have prompted Cameron to declare that Britain is playing a part in the rise of China – something he called a defining event of the 21st century.

The two most controversial aspects of the deals will allow Chinese firms to own and operate a Chinese-designed nuclear power station and to build and operate rail lines in Britain. The Chinese have a mixed safety record on high-speed rail.

On Tuesday, Cameron said: "Ours is truly a partnership for growth, reform and innovation. Our partnership goes well beyond the economic field. The UK recognises that the rise of China is one of the defining events of our century.

"We welcome the fact that China's economic growth is lifting millions out of poverty. As premier Li noted, as China grows in economic power that brings greater responsibilities on the world stage."

The government moved to stem criticism of cooperation in the highly sensitive area of civil nuclear power by saying it was part of an overall agreement to tackle climate change. China and Britain also signed a joint statement on climate change.

Li's welcome fit for a Queen as Britain and China sign key deals

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Hillary Clinton backs overhaul of surveillance powers in NSA criticism

Former secretary of state calls for the restoration of constitutional privacy protections weakened after 9/11 attacks

theguardian.com, Dan Roberts in Washington, Wednesday 18 June 2014

Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has called on Congress to
restore constitutional privacy protections. Photograph: Andrew Kelly/Reuters

Hillary Clinton has thrown her weight behind political efforts to rein in US surveillance powers in her most forthright criticism yet of the National Security Agency (NSA).

The former secretary of state, who has hitherto largely stayed out of the debate sparked by leaks from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, called on Congress to restore constitutional privacy protections weakened after terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre.

"We are finally taking stock of the laws that we passed after 9/11," she told Fox News interviewer Greta Van Susteren. "We did all of this in an a hurry because we were worried and scared and now we need to take a step back and figure out how we make sure that the balance between liberty and security is right."

Clinton, who admitted in an earlier CNN interview that she had disagreed with her husband's cautious support for Snowden, defended the government's legal right to carry out some bulk collection of American data but said she now backed efforts in Congress to change the law.

"Laws that were passed after 9/11 gave the executive very broad authority ... what has happened is that people have said, OK, the emergency is over and we want to get back to regular order," she said.

"It's a really difficult balancing act, but you are absolutely right that we need to make some changes to secure that constitutional right to privacy that Americans are due."

The House of Representatives recently passed a version of the USA Freedom Act that seeks to outlaw the bulk collection of American data, although civil liberties campaigners worry that it has been watered down by administration lawyers and are pushing for a tougher version in the Senate.

Clinton was also scathing the of NSA's spying on the leaders of foreign allies such as Germany and was asked whether chancellor Angela Merkel was right to be angry.

"Yes, she should be. That was absolutely uncalled for," replied Clinton. "There is [legitimate counter-terrorism] work that we need to do with the Germans and inside Germany ... that has nothing to do with Angela Merkel's cell phone and that should be off limits."

The Fox News interview, a rare foray by Clinton in hostile political territory, was dominated by familiar questions about her reaction to attacks on US consular staff in Benghazi but the former secretary of state also strayed into more contemporary diplomatic questions during a separate interview on CNN.

Clinton appeared to distance herself from suggestions by current secretary of state John Kerry that the US could seek assistance from Iran in stemming insurgent attacks in Iraq.

"I am not prepared to say that we go in with Iran right now until we have a better idea what we are getting ourselves into," she told CNN.

But Clinton also supported a growing consensus inside Democratic circles that unilateral US military intervention could also be a mistake.

She criticised Iraqi prime minister Maliki, claiming he had "purged the military that we trained ... and forced out some of the most able commanders" and suggested the White House was seeking tougher assurances from him before offering support.

"I think that right now there are those hard negotiations going on," said Clinton. "With respect to air attacks that needs to be part of a larger package and I believe that is part of the intense negotiations that are going on."

She also said it was a mistake for Iraq not to strike an agreement for an ongoing US troop presence after its main military withdrawal.

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Iran president leads praise for team's World Cup draw

Yahoo – AFP, 17 June 2014

Iran's team applauds at the end of their Group F match against Nigeria, at

 the Baixada Arena in Curitiba, during the FIFA World Cup, on June 16, 2014

(AFP Photo/Luis Acosta)

Tehran (AFP) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took to Twitter on Tuesday to praise his country's 0-0 draw with Nigeria, after a lacklustre football World Cup opener for Team Melli in Brazil.

"Proud of our boys who secured our first point -- hopefully the first of many more to come," Rouhani tweeted on his English-language account, alongside a picture of him in tracksuit bottoms and a sports shirt adorned with the national flag.

It was a rare casual image of the president, who is normally seen in a formal robe and white turban, sitting alone on a sofa watching the match on television with a glass of tea and some pistachios.

Rouhani's optimistic take on the match was at odds with supporters in Curitba, who booed Iran off the pitch after a defensive performance.

However coach Carlos Queiroz said the crowd had to be realistic about what his side could achieve.

"The spectators maybe didn't see it this way, but in football when you play with attitude, soul, emotions, tension it can also be an attractive game and that is what happened," said the former Real Madrid boss.

Iranian media also circulated pictures of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his nuclear negotiating team watching the match in Vienna, where the Islamic republic is in talks with world powers.

Proud of our boys who secured our first point--hopefully the first of many more to come. #WorldCup2014 #TeamMelli pic.twitter.com/9pzyT1Dr3f
— Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) June 16, 2014

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