The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Netanyahu at U.N. - Don't trust Rouhani, Iran's overtures a ruse
- In first day of U.S. shutdown, no sign how it will end
- Ecuador arrests retired officers for suspected crimes against humanity
| Netanyahu at U.N. - Don't trust Rouhani, Iran's overtures a ruse Posted: UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed a charm offensive by Iran's new president as a ruse concocted by a "wolf in sheep's clothing," and declared that Israel was ready to stand alone to deny Tehran an atomic weapon. In a combative address to the U.N. General Assembly, Netanyahu assailed the trustworthiness of Hassan Rouhani, Iran's centrist president who has made diplomatic overtures to the United States and spoke by telephone last week with President Barack Obama. "Rouhani doesn't sound like Ahmadinejad," Netanyahu said, referring to Rouhani's hardline predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose annual U.N. addresses were stridently anti-Western and anti-Israel. "But when it comes to Iran's nuclear weapons program, the only difference between them is this: Ahmadinejad was a wolf in wolf's clothing, Rouhani is a wolf in sheep's clothing, a wolf who thinks he can pull the wool over the eyes of the international community," Netanyahu said. "This is a ruse," Netanyahu added. "It's a ploy." Netanyahu's address, the last at this year's gathering of world leaders in New York, reflected Israeli worries that the emerging signs of what could become a U.S.-Iranian rapprochement might lead to a premature easing of international sanctions and military threats designed to deny Iran the means to make a bomb. "Don't let up the pressure," Netanyahu said, adding that the only deal that could be made with Rouhani was one that "fully dismantles Iran's nuclear weapons program." Asked about Netanyahu's speech, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Israel's "skepticism is understandable." "After all, this is a country whose leadership until recently was pledging to annihilate Israel," he said, referring to Ahmadinejad's suggestions that Israel had no right to exist. The United States, Israel and other countries accuse Iran of using its nuclear program to try to develop the capability to produce weapons. Iran says the program is for peaceful energy purposes only. During his General Assembly speech last week, Rouhani said nuclear weapons "have no place in Iran's security and defence doctrine, and contradict our fundamental religious and ethical convictions. The Israeli leader referred to Rouhani's 1989-2003 tenure as the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, a time when he said Iranian "henchmen" killed opposition leaders in Berlin, 85 people at a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires and 19 U.S. soldiers in a bomb attack on the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. "Are we to believe that Rouhani, the national security adviser of Iran at the time, knew nothing about these attacks?" Netanyahu said. "Of course he did, just as 30 years ago Iran's security chiefs knew about the bombings in Beirut that killed 241 American Marines and 58 French paratroopers." Netanyahu made clear that Israel, believed to possess the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, was prepared to resort to unilateral military action against Iran if it deems diplomacy a dead end. "I want there to be no confusion on this point. Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone. Yet in standing alone, Israel will know that we will be defending many, many others," Netanyahu said. The bulk of his speech was about Iran, but he also touched on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, saying the Jewish state was prepared to make a "historic compromise." He faulted Palestinian leaders for not reciprocating enough. Rouhani, who took office last month after being elected in June, projected a more moderate tone from Iran at the world forum last week, with long-term adversaries Iran and the United States now preparing for renewed nuclear talks. Later this month, Iran will meet with the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany in Geneva to pick up from last week's discussions in New York that included Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. IRAN WARNS ISRAEL Iran has made clear it wants a swift deal that would lift the crippling international sanctions against it and put an end to the decade-long standoff over its nuclear ambitions. In a response to Netanyahu's speech, Khodadad Seifi, a representative of the Iranian U.N. delegation, rejected Israel's allegations and told the 193-nation General Assembly that Iran was "fully committed" to its nuclear non-proliferation obligations. He warned Israel that Iran was able to respond to any Israeli attack, saying, "The Israeli prime minister had better not even think about attacking Iran, let alone planning for that." Netanyahu said Iran's nuclear program had continued at a "vast and feverish" pace since the election of Rouhani. "Like everyone else, I wish we could believe Rouhani's words, but we must focus on Iran's action," Netanyahu said, adding that sanctions should be tightened if the Iranians pursue nuclear projects while negotiating with world powers. At last year's U.N. General Assembly, Netanyahu made headlines when he used a marker to draw Israel's "red line" across a cartoonish bomb he displayed as a visual aid during his speech to illustrate advances in Iranian uranium enrichment. "Iran has been very careful not to cross that line, but Iran is positioning itself to race across that line in the future at a time of its choosing," he said. "Iran wants to be in a position to rush forward to build nuclear bombs before the international community can detect it and much less prevent it." Although Iran did not cross that "red line", Israel worries that it has improved its technologies and is now capable of dashing toward a first bomb within weeks. On Tuesday, Netanyahu noted the Iranian heavy water plant Arak that, he said, could produce plutonium - another potential fuel for nuclear weapons. If there are any changes taking place in Iran, Netanyahu said, it was the result of pressure on the Islamic Republic. "I have argued for many years, including on this podium, that the only way to peacefully prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons is to combine tough sanctions with a credible military threat. And that policy today is bearing fruit." Referring to the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, Netanyahu said: "Since that time, presidents of Iran have come and gone. Some presidents were considered moderates, others hardliners." "But they have all served that same unforgiving creed, that same unforgiving regime, that creed that is espoused and enforced by the real power in Iran, the dictator known as the supreme leader, first Ayatollah (Ruholla) Khomeini and now Ayatollah (Ali) Khamenei," he said. "President Rouhani, like the presidents who came before him, is a loyal servant of the regime," Netanyahu added. Netanyahu also noted the thousands of years of Persian-Jewish amity that ended with the fierce anti-Israel hostility ushered in by the 1979 revolution in Iran. After meeting with Netanyahu on Monday, Obama reiterated his determination to prevent Iran from getting nuclear arms. Both leaders said their countries were cooperating on the issue. (Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham and Peter Cooney) |
| In first day of U.S. shutdown, no sign how it will end Posted: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans came no closer to ending a standoff on Tuesday that has forced the first government shutdown in 17 years and thrown hundreds of thousands of federal employees out of work. As police cordoned off landmarks like the Lincoln Memorial and government agencies stopped cancer treatments and trade negotiations, Republicans in the House of Representatives moved to restore funding to national parks, veterans care and the District of Columbia. An effort to pass the three bills fell short on Tuesday evening, but Republicans plan to try again on Wednesday. They are likely to be defeated by the Democratic-controlled Senate. The standoff has raised new concerns about Congress's ability to perform its most basic duties. An even bigger battle looms as Congress must raise the debt limit in coming weeks or risk a U.S. default that could roil global markets. "This is a mess. A royal screwup," said Democratic Representative Louise Slaughter of New York. Obama accused Republicans of taking the government hostage in order to sabotage his signature health care law, the most ambitious U.S. social program in five decades. Republicans in the House view the Affordable Care Act as a dangerous extension of government power and have coupled their efforts to undermine it with continued government funding. The Democratic-controlled Senate has repeatedly rejected those efforts. "They've shut down the government over an ideological crusade to deny affordable health insurance to millions of Americans," Obama said in the White House Rose Garden. Spending authority for much of the government expired at midnight on Monday (0400 GMT), but that did not prevent the Obama administration from opening the health-insurance exchanges that form the centrepiece of the law. Republicans said Obama could not complain about the impact of the shutdown while refusing to negotiate. "The White House position is unsustainably hypocritical," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner. VETERANS PASS BARRICADES Republicans said their latest proposal would help elderly veterans who earlier in the day pushed past barricades at the National World War II Memorial to get into the shuttered site. "They're coming here because they want to visit their memorial, the World War II memorial. But no, the Obama administration has put barricades around it," said Republican Representative Mike Simpson of Idaho. All three bills won support from a majority of the House, but fell short of the two-thirds vote needed to pass under special rules that allow quick action. Republican leaders plan to bring up the bills for a regular vote on Wednesday. Obama said he would veto the bills if they reached his desk. Democrats said Republicans were avoiding a vote to restore funding to the entire government because they were afraid it would pass. "That's important - a park? How about the kids who need daycare?" said Democratic Representative Sander Levin of Michigan. "You have to let all the hostages go. Every single one of them." The veterans in question had gotten in to the memorial with help from several Republican lawmakers. But they didn't seem particularly interested in taking sides. "It's just like a bunch of little kids fighting over candy," said George, Atkinson, an 82-year-old Coast Guard veteran of the Korean War. "The whole group ought to be replaced, top man down." The selective spending plan appeared to temporarily unite Republicans, heading off a split between Tea Party conservatives who pushed for the government funding confrontation and moderates who appear to be losing stomach for the fight. Representative Peter King, a New York moderate, estimated that more than 100 of the chamber's 232 Republicans would back Obama's demand to restore all government funding without conditions. That would be enough to easily pass the House with the support of the chamber's 200 Democrats. The shutdown closed landmarks like the Grand Canyon and pared the government's spy agencies by 70 percent. In Washington, the National Zoo shut off a popular "panda cam" that allowed visitors to view its newborn panda cub online. In Pennsylvania, white supremacists had to cancel a planned rally at Gettysburg National Military Park. MARKET REACTION Whether the shutdown represents another bump in the road for a Congress increasingly plagued by dysfunction or is a sign of a more alarming breakdown in the political process could be determined by the reaction among voters and on Wall Street. Stock investors appeared to be taking the news in stride on Tuesday with investors confident a deal could be reached quickly. The S&P 500 closed up 0.8 percent and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.2 percent. But the U.S. Treasury was forced to pay the highest interest rate in about 10 months on its short-term debt as many investors avoided bonds that would be due later this month, when the government is due to exhaust its borrowing capacity. If Congress can agree to a new funding bill soon, the shutdown would have little impact on the world's largest economy. A week-long shutdown would slow U.S. economic growth by about 0.3 percentage points, according to Goldman Sachs, but a longer disruption could weigh on the economy more heavily as furloughed workers scale back personal spending. The last shutdown in 1995 and 1996 cost taxpayers $1.4 billion, according to congressional researchers. The political crisis raised fresh concern about whether Congress can meet a crucial mid-October deadline to raise the government's $16.7 trillion debt ceiling. Some Republicans see that vote as another opportunity to undercut Obama's healthcare law. Failure to raise the debt limit would force the country to default on its obligations, dealing a blow to the economy and sending shockwaves around global markets. A 2011 standoff over the debt ceiling hammered consumer confidence and prompted a first-ever downgrade of the United States' credit rating. Analysts say this time it could be worse. Lawmakers back then were fighting over how best to reduce trillion-dollar budget deficits, but this time they are at loggerheads over an issue that does not lend itself to compromise as easily: an expansion of government-supported health benefits to millions of uninsured Americans. Republicans have voted more than 40 times to repeal or delay "Obamacare," but they failed to block the launch of its online insurance marketplaces on Tuesday. The program had a rocky start as government websites struggled to cope with heavy online traffic. "What I'm hearing from my constituents at home is if this is the only way to stop the runaway train called the federal government, then we're willing to try it," said Texas Senator John Cornyn, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate. A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed 24 percent of Americans would blame Republicans, while 19 percent would blame Obama or Democrats. Another 46 percent said everyone would be to blame. The shutdown battles of the 1990s didn't substantially affect public's opinion of then-Democratic President Bill Clinton or his Republican adversaries, the Gallup polling organization said. Republicans and Democrats traded blame for the shutdown, but many seemed deeply embarrassed for the institution as a whole. Several said they planned to donate their salaries to charity or forego pay altogether. "This is a black eye on our government at all levels," said Republican Representative Michael Grimm of New York. "I think it's a low point for us." (Additional reporting by Ian Simpson, Richard Cowan, Caren Bohan, David Lawder, Roberta Rampton and Steve Holland; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Karey Van Hall, David Storey and Tim Dobbyn) |
| Ecuador arrests retired officers for suspected crimes against humanity Posted: QUITO (Reuters) - A judge in Ecuador ordered the arrest of three retired senior military officers on Tuesday and the house arrest of seven more on charges of committing crimes against humanity almost 30 years ago. The retired officers, who are in their 60s, 70s and 80s, are accused in connection with crimes including torture, kidnappings and sexual violence that were allegedly committed in 1985 against three members of an armed leftist revolutionary group. A spokesman for the National Court of Justice said more evidence will be gathered in the next three months, then authorities will convene a judicial panel to prosecute the case. It could take years to reach a verdict. Local media reported that two of the seven retired officers ordered to be placed under house arrest are living outside Ecuador. A statement by the attorney general said the crimes were committed at a military prison on the outskirts of Quito, where the three members of the self-proclaimed Marixst-Leninist group, Alfaro Vive Carajo, were taken after being arrested by troops. The judicial order follows a report by a commission set up by President Rafael Correa to investigate crimes that were allegedly committed by the security forces in the 1980s during the rule of former President Leon Cordero. Correa, a U.S.-trained economist and avowed leftist, has given Cabinet positions to ex-members of the Alfaro Vive Carajo group, which was dissolved years ago. (Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Stacey Joyce) |
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