There was great attention during the works of the United Nations General Assembly towards Iran’s new President. However the debate of the last week was not characterized just by the Middle East question.

Iran and Middle East

In contrast to Ahmadinejad, Iran’s President Hasan Rouhani doesn’t deny the Holocaust or predicts that Israel has to disappear from the Map. He has clearly made a break from his ultraconservative predecessor, and from his politics of confrontation and provocation.

His Iran will be an anchor of stability in a volatile region and he highlighted his commitment to resolve regional conflicts with diplomacy.

On the sides of the General Assembly in New York he called on Israel to acknowledge its nuclear arsenal and join the Non-Proliferation Treaty. He also criticized the country for being the only Middle East state to not sign onto the pact.

“Almost four decades of international efforts to establish a nuclear-​weapon-​free zone in the Middle East have regrettably failed. He added that all nuclear activities in the region should be subject to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections and nuclear safeguards.

“No nation should possess nuclear weapons, since there are no right hands for these wrong weapons,” he said. “As long as nuclear weapons exist, the risk of their use, threat of use and proliferation persist. The only absolute guarantee is their total elimination.”

Latin America

The latin american countries drew the attention to the global network of electronic espionage, seeking more respect for their rights and their sovereignty. It was also proposed a reform of the United Nations Security Council.

Dilma Youssef highlighted that citizens’ personal data, corporate information and diplomatic information had been intercepted, as well as communications of the Office of the President.  “Tampering in such a manner in the affairs of other countries is a breach of international law and an affront to the principles that must guide relations among them, especially among friendly nations.”

“The right to safety of citizens of one country”, she said, “could never be guaranteed by violating fundamental human rights of citizens of another”. As many other Latin Americans, she had fought against authoritarianism and censorship, and she could not be defend the right to privacy — of individuals and the nation itself. In the absence of privacy, there could be no true freedom of expression and opinion, and therefore, no effective democracy. In the absence of respect for sovereignty, there was no basis for the relationship among nations. She demanded from the United States’ Government explanations, apologies and guarantees that such procedures would never be repeated.

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales said that much had been heard about democracy, respect and social justice during the debate. But, he asked, “What justice are they talking about? What democracy were they talking about when countries like the United States could spy even on their democratic allies? What peace could be discussed when there were so many unemployed in that country and yet billions of dollars went to military expenditure every year?”

He said terrorism was not to be fought with more military spending but with more democracy, more social justice and more education.

The West can maybe be happy for the the detente of its relations with a part of Middle East, but it has certainly to reconsider its behavior towards that part of the world who decided to get through several years of misery and oppression.

US President Barack Obama used his speech at the UN General Assembly to demand the world take action on the crisis in Syria. Syria and renewed talks on Iran’s nuclear program are set to dominate the annual meeting.

President Obama defended his threat of force against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime at the annual UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, saying Damascus must face consequences after the use of chemical weapons.

"There must be a strong Security Council resolution to verify that the Assad regime is keeping its commitments, and there must be consequences if they fail to do so," Obama said to the world leaders.

His remarks come as the US and Russia negotiate a UN Security Council resolution in connection with an agreement by Damascus to give up its chemical weapons.

The US-Russia brokered deal was struck following a push by Obama for a military strike on Syria.

Obama denounced critics who questioned whether Assad carried out the August 21 chemical attack outside Damascus, which the US says killed more than 1,400 people.

"It is an insult to human reason - and to the legitimacy of this institution - to suggest that anyone other than the regime carried out this attack," he said.

"Nevertheless, a leader who slaughtered his citizens and gassed children to death cannot regain the legitimacy to lead a badly fractured country," he said of Assad.

Obama cautioned, however, that military action would not achieve lasting peace and that any nation, including the US, should not determine who will lead Syria.

Renewed talks on Iran

Obama also used his time in front of the Assembly to welcome the new Iranian government's pursuit of what he called a "more moderate course," in relation to stalled negotiations over its nuclear program.

"The roadblocks may prove to be too great, but I firmly believe the diplomatic path must be tested," Obama said.

On Monday, the EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, announced that Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, would join talks with six key nations due to "energy and determination" shown by Tehran for fresh talks.

The foreign ministers of the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are set to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Thursday.

The meeting between the six powers and Iran will be the first since April, when discussions on how to reduce fears that Tehran might use its nuclear technology to create weapons stalled at a meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The UN Security Council has imposed several rounds of sanctions against Iran over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment and sanctions from the US and its allies have had a crippling effect on Iran's economy.

Obama did not say whether he will meet with Iran's new moderate conservative President Hasan Rouhani. Even a handshake would mark the first such encounter between US and Iranian leaders in over 30 years.

Obama faces criticism over NSA

Despite the focus on Syria and Iran, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff used her opening speech at the General Assembly to criticize Obama and the US National Security Agency (NSA) over reports it had spied on Brazilian government communications.

She announced Brazil would adopt legislation and technology to protect it from illegal interception of communications.

Last week, Rousseff called off a high-profile state visit to Washington scheduled for October over the reports.

"Meddling in such a manner in the lives and affairs of other countries is a breach of international law and, as such, it is an affront to the principles that should otherwise govern relations among countries, especially among friendly nations," Rousseff said to the gathering of world leaders.

President Obama was en route to the UN during her speech and therefore not present.

hc/kms (Reuters, AFP, AP)

Angela Merkel has said she expects the US not to break German laws in data collection. A newspaper has reported that Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service knew about the US National Security Agency’s snooping for years.

The online espionage activities of the National Security Agency have firmly established themselves as an election talking point in Germany.

"I expect a clear commitment from the US government that they will adhere to German law in the future when on German soil," Merkel said, adding that she did not yet know whether German laws were breached by the NSA or other bodies in the past. "We are friends and allies. We are in a defense alliance and we need to be able to rely on each other."


Ends versus means
The Christian Democrat said that while cooperative efforts to combat terrorism were important and would continue, boundaries should be defined, preferably on an international scale.
"Not everything that is technically feasible - and more and more will be in the future - should be allowed," Merkel said. "The ends don't justify the means here, in our view."

The chancellor added that she would sound out EU leaders on a continental data protection standard agreed by all, saying strong German data protection laws could do nothing to help people using websites based abroad.
"We have a truly excellent federal data protection law, but if Facebook is registered in Ireland, then Irish law applies, and that's why we need a unified European directive," Merkel said. The chancellor also said that, so far as she was aware, her communications had not been tapped.



Asleep at the wheel?
Opposition politicians have sought to pounce on the government's reaction to the NSA spying allegations, claiming that German authorities must have known about the activities and arguing that the government's response was too soft once Snowden went public.

"Mrs. Merkel has sworn as chancellor to protect the German people from harm," Social Democrat challenger Peer Steinbrück said in an interview with the mass-circulation Bild am Sonntag, calling for a parliamentary probe into possible dereliction of duty. "I envisage damage limitation as something rather different."

"Whoever is at the wheel carries the responsibility, regardless of whether they're awake or have dozed off," Steinbrück surmised.

Steinbrück's colleague, SPD secretary general Andrea Nahles, said Merkel's Sunday interview offered only "trivialities."

Meanwhile the daily newspaper Bild reported Monday that Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service has known about NSA snooping for years. Bild reported that the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) had, for example, asked US intelligence services for help when German citizens were kidnapped abroad.

"We know of a long cooperation between the German intelligence service and US agencies," an official quoted by the newspaper said. "The government has not made the details of this cooperation public, except for to a parliamentary committee."

Election countdown

September 22: Germany votes
41% - CDU poll rating
5 % - pro-business Free Democrats (CDU allied)

If the elections were today "Frau" Merkel could not form a government. 

 Sorce: msh, mkg/av (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

BEIJING (AFP) - A Chinese court awarded damages to the mother of a rape victim after she was sent to a labour camp for demanding her daughter's attackers be punished, a spokesman said on Monday.
Tang Hui, who became a figurehead for critics of the "re-education through labour" system after she was condemned to 18 months in a camp, won a total of 2,641 yuan ($430) following an appeal, a court spokesman surnamed Zhang told AFP.
The court in Changsha, the capital of the central province of Hunan, awarded compensation on the grounds that local authorities had violated Tang's personal freedom and caused her "psychological damage", Zhang said.
But it rejected Tang's demand that the police who sentenced her write a formal apology, because the "relevant people had apologised in court", he added.
The police chief of Yongzhou, who headed the committee that sentenced Tang, said during the hearing that he had "not acted with enough humanity or care", Tang told AFP earlier this month.
She was released last August after just over a week in a labour camp following a public outcry over her case, which was given unusual prominence in state-run media and prompted speculation that the system would be abolished.
The compensation award comes as a surprise after Tang lost her initial case. She herself had estimated the chance of success in her appeal as a "remote possibility".
Tang's daughter, 11 at the time, was kidnapped, raped and forced into prostitution in 2006, prompting Tang to seek to bring to justice the abductors and the police she says protected them.
Seven men were finally convicted in June last year, with two condemned to death, four given life sentences and one jailed for 15 years, but Tang continued to agitate for the policemen to face trial, and soon afterwards she was sentenced for "seriously disturbing social order and exerting a negative impact on society".
China's re-education through labour system gives police the right to hand out sentences of up to four years without a judicial trial.
Premier Li Keqiang said in March that the system would be "reformed", without giving further details.
US-based advocacy group the Dui Hua Foundation said on its website last month that some re-education through labour facilities had been "quietly taking formal steps to transition into compulsory drug treatment centres", citing local media reports.

Sixteen Russian and five Chinese naval ships sailed through an international strait north of Hokkaido from midday Saturday to the Sea of Okhotsk, the Defense Ministry said Sunday.
Russia and China conducted a joint naval drill off the coast of Vladivostok from July 5 to 12, but the purpose of their passage through the Soya Strait is not known, a ministry official said.
The Russian fleet, including missile cruisers, missile destroyers, a supply ship and a hospital ship, traveled through the strait Saturday afternoon, while the Chinese fleet, comprising two missile destroyers, two frigates and a supply ship, passed through the strait early Sunday, the ministry said.

Former U.S. National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden met with Russian human rights activists, lawyers and government officials Friday to seek their support in securing asylum in Russia in order to later travel safely to South America, leaving Russia with little wriggle room to remain neutral.
“I do intend to ask for political asylum in Russia. I believe that the legal means to stay in Russia safely, to attempt to move to Latin America, is to request asylum in the Russian Federation. I can only at this time formally accept asylum in Russia because of the limitations on my ability to travel,” Snowden told his handpicked audience.
The meeting took place in an unidentified room of Sheremetyevo Airport's transit zone, where Snowden has been apparently stuck for three weeks after the United States revoked his passport. Snowden's guests were followed by dozens of frenzied journalists as they made their way to a special door meant for staff only. The drama reached its peak when the overcrowding on the escalator made it malfunction and journalists had to rush up the frozen stairs.
Snowden's plea for Russian protection marks his second attempt to obtain legal status in Russia.  On July 2, he withdrew a request after President Vladimir Putin said he could only stay in Russia if he stopped inflicting damage against “our American partners.”
This time, Snowden reasoned that his request was not at odds with Putin's condition, as he was not actually inflicting damage against the U.S.
“He called on the organizations present to intervene in support of his asylum claim. He also said that he did not find Putin's remark problematic because, as he says, he did not do any harm to the United States and he did not plan to do any,” Tanya Lokshina, senior researcher at Moscow's Human Rights Watch office, said after the meeting, noting that Snowden “looked like a schoolboy.”
Snowden also asked for assistance in convincing international organizations to petition the U.S. and European Union to allow him to travel, since such organizations require applicants to come to them, and he is stuck in the airport, Lokshina said.
The Russian government is clearly watching the situation closely, as representatives of Russia's secret services were evidently present at the meeting, said Sergei Nikitin, head of Moscow's office of Amnesty International.

“If you see men in suits with military bearing and a heavy look on their faces, then who do you think these people are, school teachers?” he said.

Nikitin also said that whoever was taking care of Snowden seemed to be doing it quite well, as Snowden himself clearly stated that the conditions he enjoyed in Moscow were good. At the same time, according to Nikitin, Snowden said he had not yet been able to improve his Russian despite listening to hundreds of airport announcements each day.
The head of Russia's Federal Migration Service, Konstantin Romodanovsky, told Interfax on Saturday that the agency had not yet received Snowden's asylum application. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's foreign ministers in Kyrgyzstan on the same day that the government was not in contact with Snowden.
Putin discussed the Snowden situation with U.S. President Barack Obama over the phone Friday, though no details of that conversation have been made public.
All participants of the meeting, including both pro-Kremlin State Duma Deputy Vyacheslav Nikonov and human rights organizations — the offices of which have been raided by government authorities in recent months — agreed that Snowden had a strong case to seek asylum in Russia.
The asylum request leaves Russia with fewer options to remain neutral in the matter. The Kremlin has publicly indicated a desire to be rid of Snowden, whose presence in Russia has hurt already strained U.S.-Russia ties, but signals Friday pointed to a possible change in attitude.
State Duma speaker and strong Putin ally Sergei Naryshkin told Rossia 24 television that he thought Russia should grant Snowden asylum, assuming he fulfilled the condition set by Putin. And lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, a member of the Public Chamber who has represented outspokenly pro-Putin film director Nikita Mikhalkov and United Russia lawmaker Iosif Kobzon, said he had agreed with Snowden to help him in preparing his asylum request, according to Interfax. The application process would take between two and three weeks, he said.
Obama's spokesman, Jay Carney, said Friday that “providing a propaganda platform for Mr. Snowden runs counter to the Russian government's previous declarations of Russia's neutrality and [claims] that they have no control over his presence in the airport.”
It was unclear from Snowden's statements regarding his attitude toward the U.S. whether he intended to stop leaking secret U.S. documents, for which the United States wants to charge him with espionage, or whether he believes that he is actually helping the U.S. by leaking the information.
United Russia parliamentarian Alexei Pushkov, who heads the State Duma's International Affairs Committee, said on Twitter that Russia had acted correctly in not extraditing Snowden.
“Russia did the right thing in not giving up Snowden. There are things more important than a momentary gain. Pragmatism in foreign policy is not the same as cynicism,” Pushkov wrote.

Source: The Moscow Times

CAIRO (AP) — Facing unrelenting pressure from Muslim Brotherhood protesters, Egypt's military chief sought to justify his decision to remove Mohmmed Morsi from office, saying Sunday in a televised speech that the Islamist leader had violated his popular mandate and antagonized state institutions.
The comments by Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi — his first since the president's ouster nearly two weeks ago — came as the designated interim prime minister pushed ahead with talks to form a new Cabinet this week.
Reform advocate Mohamed ElBaradei was sworn in as Egypt's interim vice president for international relations on Sunday. The move reinforces the role of liberals in the new leadership who are strongly opposed to the Brotherhood.
Several secular-minded candidates also have been approached to lead the foreign, finance, culture, information and other key ministries. Nabil Fahmy, who served as Egypt's former ambassador to the United States for over a decade under Hosni Mubarak, was tapped to be foreign minister, according to state media.
The United States sent its No. 2 diplomat in the State Department, William Burns, to Cairo to meet with interim government officials as well as civil society and business leaders during his two-day visit. Burns is the first high-level American official to visit since Morsi's ouster.

Many in the international community fear the ouster of Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, would undermine Egypt's transition to democracy.

The State Department said Burns would underscore U.S. support for the Egyptian people and a transition leading to an inclusive, democratically elected civilian government. The United States has called for Morsi's release. Since his ouster, Morsi has been held incommunicado at an undisclosed location.
El-Sissi said the armed forces acted to remove Morsi on July 3 according to the will of the people as the country was sliding toward deeper polarization and more violence. The Islamist leader was the first democratically chosen leader after a narrow victory in elections last year.
"The armed forces sincerely accepted the choice of the people, but then political decision-making began stumbling," el-Sissi said. "The armed forces remained committed to what it considered the legitimacy of the ballot box, even though that very legitimacy began to do as it pleased and in a way that contradicted the basis and the origin of this legitimacy."
Morsi's election came after months of turmoil following the 2011 revolution that removed autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak from office, in a rocky transition that was marred by persistent protests, political disagreements and an economy teetering on bankruptcy.

His supporters say the military staged a coup in a bid to undermine the rising influence of Islamists, and thousands have camped out for days near a mosque in eastern Cairo to demand he be reinstated. The Muslim Brotherhood, which propelled Morsi to power, has called for massive protests Monday to escalate pressure on the military. Some Muslim Brotherhood leaders have called for el-Sissi to be removed, and put on trial accusing him of treason.

Brotherhood spokesman Gehad el-Haddad responded to el-Sissi's remarks, saying that the military had no right to act on behalf of the people of Egypt except through "orders of their elected commander in chief," meaning Morsi. In comments posted on Twitter, he said the military also has no right to decide which protest is worthy enough to represent the people.
Morsi was ousted by the military after four days of protests by millions of his opponents.
El-Sissi said Morsi "entered into a conflict with the judiciary, the media, the police and the public opinion. Then (he) also entered into a conflict with the armed forces." He didn't elaborate on the nature of the conflict with the military, but said that comments about the military offended "and were considered a stab to the national pride."

El-Sissi, speaking to an auditorium filled with military officers, said the armed forces could no longer stand on the sidelines as millions of Egyptians took to the streets to call for the Islamist leader to step down over allegations he was abusing his power.

The military chief said he frequently advised Morsi and finally reached out to him before giving him a 48-hour ultimatum to reconcile with opponents and address public demands. He said he sent two envoys, including then Prime Minister Hesham Kandil and a trusted legal expert, urging the president to hold a referendum on whether voters still supported his presidency, but the suggestion was rejected out of hand.

El-Sissi appealed to all parties, in an apparent nod to Morsi's supporters, to participate in the new transition, saying it is overseen by an unbiased leader and will restore the right of people to choose.

But continuing its crackdown on the Brotherhood leadership, Egypt's new chief prosecutor ordered frozen the assets of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie and at least 13 other senior members of the group pending investigations into deadly violence outside the organization's headquarters in Cairo and the Republic Guard forces club.
Meanwhile, the military-backed government pressed forward with its transition plan. ElBaradei, a 71-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, was sworn in as vice president for international relations, although his exact mandate was not clear. The former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog based in Vienna, returned home to assume a role in the anti-Mubarak uprising and became one of the most visible leaders in the badly fractured Egyptian liberal and secular opposition to Morsi's government.
Khaled Dawoud, a spokesman for the National Salvation Front, a coalition of largely secular groups, said ElBaradei was no longer the head of the umbrella organization.

Designated prime minister Hazem el-Beblawi also met with a number of candidates for his new Cabinet, which is expected to be announced on Wednesday.

Others expected on the roster are Mohammed Mukhtar Gomaa — who works in the office of the head of the top learning institute in the Muslim Sunni world Al-Azhar — as head of the religious endowment ministry. Gomaa, who also heads the faculty of Islamic and Arabic studies in Al-Azhar university, was seen as nod to moderate Islam.
The fast-track transitional timetable included also appointing two panels to amend the constitution passed under Morsi. Those changes would be put to a referendum within about 4 1/2 months, followed by parliamentary elections and the presidential elections.
Violence in the aftermath of Morsi's ouster peaked a week ago Monday when the military opened fire on Brotherhood supporters who were holding a sit-in outside the Republican Guard forces club, leading to hours of clashes. More than 50 protesters were killed and hundreds wounded. The Brotherhood claimed the military opened fire on protesters, while the army says it was responding to Morsi supporters trying to storm the Republican Guard building.

Human Rights Watch said it appeared that "the military and police used unnecessary force" and that prosecutors have investigated only Brotherhood supporters and leaders for their alleged roles in the clashes, but not security forces.

"It is not clear from the footage which side used live ammunition first," according to HRW's statement Sunday, which added that "what is clear... is that the army responded with lethal force that far exceeded any apparent threat to the lives of military personnel."
Meanwhile, violence was on the rise in the restive Sinai peninsula. Soon after midnight, militants fired a missile at a moving armored police vehicle south of North Sinai's capital el-Arish, hitting instead a nearby bus carrying workers going to a local cement factory, security officials said. Three factory workers were killed and 16 were injured, including three in serious condition, medical officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Security officials said militants also blew up a police station under construction in central Sinai by detonating explosive devices, leaving a resident seriously injured.
The secretary general of the Brotherhood's political arm, Hussein Ibrahim, condemned the violence on his Facebook page. Ibrahim called the attacks "staged" with the intention of dragging the country toward violence, and in turn justifying "the coup against legitimacy."
Militant groups have lashed out following the military ouster of Morsi, targeting police stations and security checkpoints and vowing to drive the military out of the area.
In the past 10 days, at least eight security officers have been killed. Christians in the area have also been targeted. Two Christians were killed, one a priest. A gas pipeline to Jordan was bombed, ending a lull in such strikes.

US sprinter Tyson Gay and Jamaica's former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell have failed drug tests.

Gay, 30, the joint-second fastest man over 100m, was notified by the US Anti-Doping Agency on Friday that his A sample from an out-of-competition test in May had returned a positive. 

Powell tested positive for a banned stimulant while competing in June's Jamaican championships.

Fellow Jamaican athlete Sherone Simpson also failed a drug test at the event.

The sprinter, a 4x100m relay silver medallist at last year's London Olympics, tested positive for oxilofrine - the same stimulant Powell tested positive for.

Powell and Simpson's doping positives come a month after Jamaican Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown tested positive for a banned diuretic.

The 30-year-old Powell was the last man to hold the individual 100m record before compatriot Usain Bolt broke it in 2008. He is still the fourth fastest man of all time.

Powell later helped Jamaica to win 400m relay gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. 

He has run 9.88 seconds this year, but failed to make the Jamaican team for next month's World Championships.

"I want to be clear in saying to my family, friends and, most of all, my fans worldwide that I have never knowingly or wilfully taken any supplements or substances that break any rules," Powell said in a statement.
"I am not now - nor have I ever been - a cheat."

Gay, who is the fastest man in 2013, is waiting for the results of his 'B' sample.

He has already withdrawn from next month's World Championships in Moscow.

"I don't have a sabotage story... I basically put my trust in someone and was let down," he said.

"I know exactly what went on, but I can't discuss it right now.

"I hope I am able to run again, but I will take whatever punishment I get like a man."

USADA responded to Gay's disclosure by releasing a statement that read: "In response to Mr Gay's statements, USADA appreciates his approach to handling this situation and his choice to voluntarily remove himself from competition while the full facts surrounding his test are evaluated.

"The B sample will be processed shortly, and as in all cases all athletes are innocent unless or until proven otherwise through the established legal process, and any attempt to sensationalise or speculate is a disservice to due process, fair play, and to those who love clean sport."

Gay, who missed almost a year of running after he had hip surgery in 2011, had been in impressive form so far this year, clocking the three fastest times of 2013.

He won the 100m at the Jamaica Invitational athletics meeting in May with a time of 9.86 seconds, before clocking 9.75 seconds - the fastest time of 2013 - to win the US World Championships trials the following month.

He continued his good form with victory in the men's 100m at the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, running 9.79 seconds.

Source: BBC

The leader of Spain's opposition socialist party has called on the prime minister to resign. The move comes as more allegations are published about corruption, a slush fund for government ministers and complicity.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has come under growing pressure since the newspaper El Mundo published alleged secret accounting documents that indicated he had received illegal cash payments from the treasurer of his People's Party (PP), Luis Barcenas while serving in a previous government.

"It is untenable for the prime minister to remain in office a moment longer," Socialist leader Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said on Sunday.

The PP denies reports alleging the existence of a slush fund, in which bribes from construction companies were reportedly channelled to Rajoy and other party leaders for nearly two decades.

Barcenas is due to testify in court on Monday. He is charged with tax fraud, bribery and other crimes and was jailed last month as a flight risk. He gave an interview to El Mundo last week and handed over what he said was the original ledger detailing payments to party officials, including Rajoy.

On Sunday, El Mundo published an alleged transcript of text messages between Rajoy and Barcenas, in which the prime minister offered his support after prosecutors filed charges against Barcenas. Rajoy's text messages place him uncomfortably close to Barcenas: "Luis, nothing is easy but we'll do what we can. Cheer up," said one message from 2012.

In January, when the slush fund allegations broke, Rajoy sent Barcenas a message saying, "Luis, I understand. Stay strong. I'll call you tomorrow. A hug."

"There have been lies, resounding silence in terms of explanations and collusion, as shown by these text messages," Socialist leader Rubalcaba told a news conference.

A spokeswoman for Rajoy declined to comment on the report.

jm/jr (dpa, Reuters, AP)

The Serbian parliament declared its respect for the Srebrenica massacre victims, but lawmakers continued to squabble over whether the 1995 killings should be labelled genocide.

Marija Ristic

BIRN Belgrade

Serbia’s national assembly said in a statement to mark the 18th year since the 1995 massacres that it “extends its deepest respect to the innocent Bosniak victims and condolences to their families on the anniversary of their ordeal in Srebrenica”.

“Serbia and its parliament are forever committed to keeping alive the memory of the victims of the brutal armed conflicts in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s,” said the statement issued on Thursday.

“The national assembly also extends its sympathy and condolences to the families of the innocent civilian victims of Serbian nationality in the conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” it said.

But the Serbian Liberal Party immediately criticised the statement, saying that it downplayed the significance of the massacres and “demonstrated Serbia’s unwillingness to tell the truth about what happened 18 years ago”.

The party said that the government should schedule a special session to prove “not just by words, but by deeds” that its members no longer supported war crimes suspects like Ratko Mladic.

The conservative Democratic Party of Serbia also criticised the statement, saying that other alleged war crimes also merited parliamentary declarations.

“We are wondering why parliament expressed respect only for the innocent victims of Srebrenica, and why not on another anniversary, for example when Bosnia and Herzegovina was recognised by the United States and the West on April 7, 1992, which was the source of crimes against peace from which originated all subsequent crimes [during the war],” MP Slobodan Samarzdic said a letter to the speaker of parliament.

In 2010, the Serbian parliament adopted a resolution in which it condemned the Srebrenica massacres and extended an apology to the families of the victims for not doing everything possible to prevent the massacre, but it did not define the killings as genocide.

The League of Vojvodina Social Democrats on Thursday asked for the declaration to be included in school textbooks.

It also called on MPs and politicians not to show a lack of respect to the victims on anniversary of the killings.

“At least today, out of respect to the victims, don’t argue if genocide or war crimes took place in Srebrenica and, at least today, accept that International Court of Justice defined it as genocide,” its statement said.

By Steve Scherer

ROME (Reuters) – A senior parliamentarian in the anti-immigration Northern League party has likened Italy’s first black minister to an orangutan.

1. Cecile Kyenge, an Italian citizen born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been the target of repeated racial slurs since her appointment as integration minister in April.

Roberto Calderoli, vice president of Italy’s Senate, said on Saturday at a political rally in the northern town of Treviglio, “I love animals – bears and wolves, as everyone knows – but when I see the pictures of Kyenge I cannot but think of, even if I’m not saying she is one, the features of an orangutan.”

He said the success of Kyenge encouraged “illegal immigrants” want to come to Italy, and she should be a minister “in her own country”, according to media reports.

Most of the racist taunts – “Congolese monkey”, “Zulu” and “the black anti-Italian” – have come from far-right groups.

Last month, a Northern League member in the European parliament was expelled from the eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group for making racist remarks about her.

Mario Borghezio had attacked Kyenge for wanting to impose “tribal traditions” in Italy as member of a “bonga bonga” government, an apparent play on the so-called “bunga bunga” parties of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Opposition politician Calderoli, twice a cabinet minister under Berlusconi, is often offensive.

In 2006, he was forced to resign as reform minister after displaying a T-shirt mocking the prophet Muhammad during a state news broadcast. Later the same year, after Italy won the Football World Cup, he made racist comments about the French team.

While Italy had won the cup with ethnic Italians, France had lost because its players were “niggers, Muslims and communists”.

On Sunday, politicians, including some from his own party, lambasted Calderoli, with some calling for him to resign as Senate vice president. In an official statement and on Twitter, Prime Minister Enrico Letta said the comments were unacceptable.

“They go beyond all limits. Full solidarity and support to Cecile. Forward with your and our work,” Letta said.

Kyenge is campaigning to make it easier for immigrants to gain citizenship, and she backs a law that would automatically make anyone born on Italian soil a citizen.

Calderoli said he had no intention of resigning and offered only a qualified apology, saying it was “immediately clear to everyone present” that his comment was made in the context of a political rally, Ansa news agency reported.

“I did not mean to offend and if minister Kyenge was offended I am sorry, but my comment was made within a much broader political speech that criticised the minister and her policies,” he said.

Kyenge has not made an official statement, but she told AGI news agency that Calderoli should reflect on how he wanted to represent Italy as a senior Senate member.

“I don’t want to address Calderoli the person, but as a representative of an institution: Reflect on what you want to represent through your language,” she said.

(Editing by Louise Ireland)

Literally translated Mordida means "bite." In Mexico, it means bribe - the backhander, normally involving the greasing of palms via a small exchange of cash to avoid a traffic infraction or to untie red tape.

It's the thin edge of the wedge in bribery and corruption, which certainly isn't confined to Mexico, but has, by all accounts, held this country back for far too long.

Independent experts outside official circles say that the bane of corruption is being tackled and isn't anywhere near as rampant as it was in years past. Yet it still lingers in small form and also as grand larceny.

One story that recently made the headlines was the so-called Lady Profeco case. The Head of Mexico's Federal Consumer Protection Office (Profeco) Humberto Benitez Treviño was fired because his daughter Andrea threw a tantrum about not being allocated a table in a swanky restaurant.

Denied what she insisted was her rightful place, she threatened to call Daddy and get the establishment closed. Soon inspectors from Profeco arrived and alleged that rules had been violated.

A firestorm of criticism and outrage ensued. Mexico's Minister of the Interior Miguel Angel Osorio Chong waded in and announced that Benitez was fired. He stressed that although the hapless parent had no direct involvement in this sorry chapter, the whole inedible incident had tarnished the image of the agency. So Dad carried the can and was obliged to swallow the consequences.

Corruption culture

Antonio Luigi Mazzitelli, who's based in the Mexico branch of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, focuses on corruption and ways to combat it.

"On the one side, there's increased institutionalization. On the other, society scrutiny of VIP behavior goes in the same direction - namely, corruption is not acceptable any more. And the political cost related to impunity is becoming so costly that no one wants to bear it. The culture of citizenship, democratic participation in the handling of public affairs is increasing. This is one of the most important features of contemporary Mexico."

Another considerably more significant case on a much larger scale of corruption concerns boxes stuffed with more than 90 million pesos ($7 million) found in an office of Jose Sainz who was finance secretary during the 2007-2012 Administration of Tabasco State Governor Andres Granier. This is part of an ongoing investigation into alleged vast embezzlement.

Current Governor Arturo Nuñez has announced that an audit of his predecessor's Administration identified that 1.9 billion pesos are missing.

After returning from the United States, the former governor complained of chest pains and checked himself into a plush hospital for almost two weeks. A judge ordered his detention for 30 days while further investigations are launched. He’s now been charged with money laundering and embezzlement and transferred to the prison Reclusorio Oriente in Mexico City. This is the man who once boasted he went shopping in Beverly Hills, buying hundreds of suits and pairs of shoes. He later tried to retract this statement, claiming he was drunk when he made it.

Eduardo Bohorquez, Executive Director of Transparencia Mexicana, points out that corruption and impunity are illicit twins with the one expanding the perception of the other. He says that access to information regarding accountability is considerably better nowadays, but in many ways this is a tool and not an end in itself.

"In the past 10 years some 25,000 public servants have been sanctioned because of corruption in administrative procedures. But you still have the perception of the big ones operating freely in the system and that only certain levels of public servants are being punished."

Public perception

The Mexican public would like to believe that the overall situation is improving but is still often faced with the unpalatable everyday realities. Laura Patricia Venegas Medina says that corruption permeates all social levels. "Corruption is a crime, irrespective of the amount involved. The robbing of a single peso is the same action as that of a thousand pesos. It's the actual process which is involved."

Mario Camacho says he does believe that the government is trying to improve institutions but he also says that people who offer bribes have to share a significant portion of the blame because it's not easy for those in positions of power being offered that cash to say no. "We have to be hopeful there will be a solution, if not in the immediate future, then maybe in the medium term."

Measuring any form of corruption anywhere isn't easy. Those who perpetrate it tend not to leave a contract or a receipt behind. But Bohorquez explains that studies in Mexico show petty corruption is an ever-present problem. It gobbles up around 14 percent of the average family's income - the equivalent of $32 billion annually.

However, he has identified a silver lining. "In Mexico we now have a Congress that is independent and exercising pressure over the Executive branch. This is not working at the speed Mexicans would love to see, but it is working. This is not anymore a society that is waiting quietly for things to happen."

Mazzitelli agrees. "I would say that rather than looking at a half-empty glass, I prefer to look at a half-full glass. Probably 10 years ago none of these cases would have been under public scrutiny, which means that the situation has changed. The important thing is that they are starting to be addressed by Mexican institutions at federal but also increasingly at state level. And civil society is taking a stand with respect to corruption and corrupt behavior, making it more and more unacceptable."

Source: DW 

The journalist who broke the story about an intelligence leaker says he has even more damaging information about US spying activities. He said this would be released if something were to happen to Edward Snowden.

Glenn Greenwald, a journalist with Britain's Guardian newspaper, which first published Snowden's revelations, told Argentina's La Nacion that the former National Security Agency contractor and Central Intelligence Agency employee had so far elected to withhold much of the information he has.

"Snowden has enough information to cause harm to the US government in a single minute than any other person has ever had," Greenwald said in an interview in Rio de Janeiro published in the Saturday edition of the paper.  

"The US government should be on its knees every day begging that nothing happen to Snowden, because if something does happen to him, all the information will be revealed and it could be its worst nightmare," Greenwald added.

He also said among the documents Snowden had hid away in several different locations were some that detail how US spy programs conduct surveillance in Latin America.

"One way of intercepting communications is through a telephone company in the United States that has contracts with telecommunications companies in most Latin American countries," Greenwald said, without naming the company.

Stranded in Sheremetyvo

Snowden, 30, has been stranded in the transit area of one of Moscow's international airports since he left Hong Kong three weeks ago. It was while he was in Hong Kong that the Guardian first published his revelations.

Since then, US authorities have been seeking to get Snowden extradited so that he can be put on trial on espionage charges.

On Friday, Snowden told activists who visited him at Sheremetyvo Airport that he planned to apply for temporary asylum in Russia until it was safe for him to travel on to a permanent destination in Latin America.

On Saturday, Russian authorities said that they had not yet received such an application from Snowden. Meanwhile, Bolivian President Evo Morales reiterated his offer of asylum to Snowden while at the same time pledging that La Paz would adhere to all "diplomatic norms and international accords."

pfd/mkg (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Egypt's interim prime minister has filled several key ministerial positions as efforts continue to assemble a new cabinet. Meanwhile opposition leader Mohammed ElBaradei has been sworn in as interim vice president.

Former ambassador to the United States, Nabil Fahmy, accepted the post of foreign minister on Sunday. His appointment is widely considered a symbol of the emphasis the new government places on relations with the United States, which offers $1.3 billion (995.3 million euros) a year in military aid.

Meanwhile, news agency Reuters reported that liberal economist Ahmed Galal agreed to take on the role of finance minister and senior Judge Mohamed Amin el-Mahdy was appointed as justice minister.

The appointments came as caretaker Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi (pictured above left) held a second day of meetings with candidates for his new army-backed cabinet. It is expected to have around 30 ministries and is likely to be unveiled within the next few days.

It will replace Egypt's first democratically elected government under President Mohammed Morsi who was ousted by the military almost two weeks ago. The military has pledged to hold parliamentary elections in around six months.

Earlier, Egyptian reform advocate Mohammed ElBaradei, who led the country's main opposition group, the National Salvation Front (NSF), took the oath of office before interim president Adli Mansour.

Under the 71-year-old Nobel laureate, the secular NSF led opposition to former President Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

According to NSF spokesman Khaled Dawoud, ElBaradei no longer heads the coalition.

"He is now a vice president for all Egyptians," Dawoud said.

ccp/jm (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)

Francois Hollande has said France needs to ensure upkeep of train lines after a derailment left six people dead. Earlier on Sunday, African troops marched alongside France’s military in the Bastille Day parade.

A main point in the French president's interview with top television journalists on Bastille Day was the train wreck that killed six outside of Paris on Friday.

"We must do much more to maintain traditional lines, existing lines," Hollande said during the interview. "The first conclusion we will draw is to ensure that, in the significant investments being made in the coming years, the priority is on traditional intercity lines," he added.

On Saturday afternoon, Pierre Izard, the SNCF railway's general manager responsible for infrastructure, had told reporters that investigators found that a joint had moved from its normal position, which may have caused the train wreck. However, officials also found that another train had traveled through the station without incident just before the wreck, and a further investigation would be carried out to determine why the joint may have malfunctioned when it did.

With his popularity at rock-bottom, Hollande, a socialist, used the interview to defend his 14 months in office since taking over from the conservative Nicolas Sarkozy.

'Recovery is here'

"The economic recovery is here," Hollande said during the television interview. "I will increase taxes only if necessary, ideally as little as possible," he added.

Hollande also used the interview to address economic issues such as how France would handle EU-mandated budget cuts planned for this year. These include proposed changes to France's pension schemes, which have already sparked calls from unions for general strikes.

No fracking

"As long as I am president, there were will be no exploration for shale gas," Hollande said. "We can see some consequences in the United States" from the technique, he added.

Hollande said that France would maintain its ban on the exploration for shale gas throughout his five-year term. He said the fracking technique used to extract shale gas presented too many "risks to groundwater."

Since 2011, France has banned energy companies from exploiting shale gas over fears of environmental risks from the potential air and water pollution involved in fracking.

And a parade

As France mourned the six killed near Paris, Hollande also commented on what he called the success of the country's first military intervention since he took office a year ago. "Their presence is a tribute to those who actively helped to banish terrorism of the Malian territory," Hollande said of the African troops marching in Paris.

"It's a victory that was won," Hollande said in the interview with the France 2 and TF-1 television stations in the garden of the presidential Elysee Palace. "Look at what happened. It was a victory for Africa, a victory against terrorism, and pride that
we must have."

 "I was saluted in Africa, not for what I said but for what I did," Hollande said of his visits to the continent this year.

In all, 4,800 troops marched past the presidential stage in central Paris, where Hollande stood next to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Bastille Day marks the July 14, 1789, storming of a prison that helped spark the French Revolution. This year, 241 horses, 265 vehicles, 58 planes and 35 helicopters participated. Among the assembled soldiers were German troops from Donaueschingen's 292nd Battalion and the German-French Brigade.

mkg/jm (Reuters, AFP)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Iran was getting closer to the "red line" he set for its nuclear program and warned the international community not to be distracted by the crises in Syria and Egypt.

Tehran was continuing enrichment activities and building inter-continental ballistic missiles, which could give it a military nuclear capability, he said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

At the United Nations in September, Netanyahu drew a red line across a cartoon bomb to illustrate the point at which Iran will have amassed enough uranium to fuel one nuclear bomb. He said Iran could reach that threshold by mid-2013.

"They haven't yet reached it but they're getting closer to it and they have to be stopped," Netanyahu told CBS. He said the West's sanctions against Tehran needed to be intensified and backed up with the threat of a credible military option.

Netanyahu also said Iran was building faster centrifuges that could allow it to speed up its enrichment activities.

Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed power, has issued veiled warnings for years that it might attack Iran if international sanctions and diplomacy fail to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Israel has long insisted on the need for a convincing military threat and setting clear lines beyond which Iran's nuclear activity should not advance.

"I think it's important to note that we (Israel) can't allow it to happen. Our clocks are ticking at a different pace. We're closer than the United States, we're more vulnerable, and therefore we'll have to address this question of whether to stop Iran before the United States does," Netanyahu said.

The Israeli prime minister said he was concerned that the military conflict in Syria and the political crisis in Egypt had pushed the Iran nuclear issue lower on the international agenda.

"There are many important issues that we have to deal with and I have a sense that there is no sense of urgency on Iran and yet Iran is the most important and the most urgent matter of all," he said.

(Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Writing by Paul Simao; Editing by Doina Chiacu)