Weekly Round Up: "IRA, ETA, Tamil Tigers: Good Guys" but "North Korea & Iran: Bad Guys"

It’s been another crazy week in the world of politics. The media has been dominated by the murder of 5 innocent Amish school children in the United States and also North Korea wanting to test its nuclear arsenal against the wishes of almost every country in the world.

All the other news from around the world…

North America
U.S. ratifies extradition treaty for UK
The United States senate last Saturday ratified a new extradition treaty with Britain originally negotiated in 2003

The treaty, already ratified by Britain, was put under the spotlight this summer after three former British bankers were extradited to the United States under its terms even though Washington had yet to approve it.

Britain has been pressing the United States to agree the treaty and a Foreign Office spokesman said the senate's ratification was "positive".

US Nuke meltdown may have caused cancers
A 1959 nuclear reactor meltdown at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory may have caused hundreds of cases of cancer in the community, and chemicals threaten to contaminate ground and water, according to a report released Thursday.

The report by an independent advisory panel estimated it was likely that radiation released during the meltdown caused about 260 cases of cancer within a 60-square-mile area around the reactor.

The lab's former owner, Rocketdyne, has said for years that no significant radiation was released. But the independent advisory panel said the incident released nearly 459 times more radiation than a similar one at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island in 1979.

"People have been asking for 20 years what was the impact of the meltdown, and now they will at least have an approximation of how many people may have been hurt," said Dan Hirsch, co-chairman of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory Advisory Panel.

U.S. population to top 300 million this month
Some time this month, the number of Americans will surpass 300 million, a milestone that raises environmental impact questions for the only major industrial nation whose population is increasing substantially.

The U.S. Census Bureau predicts the 300 million mark will be reached in mid-October, 39 years after U.S. population topped 200 million and 91 years after it exceeded 100 million.
Here are some interesting facts:
-- Each American occupies 20 percent more developed land -- housing, schools, shopping and roads -- than 20 years ago.
-- Each American uses three times as much water as the world average; over half the original wetlands in the United States have been lost, mainly due to urban and suburban development and agriculture.
-- Half the continental United States can no longer support its original vegetation; nearly 1,000 plant and animal species are listed by the U.S. government as endangered or threatened, with 85 percent of those due to habitat loss or alteration.
-- The United States consumes nearly 25 percent of the world's energy, though it has only 5 percent of the world's population, and has the highest per capita oil consumption worldwide.
-- Each American produces about 5 pounds (2.3 kilogram) of trash a day, up from about 3 pounds (1.4 kilogram) in 1960; the current rate is about five times that in developing countries.

US Interior Dept. reports computer abuse
Interior Department employees aren't just using their computers to oversee parks and wildlife, an investigation found. They're spending thousands of hours a week visiting shopping, sex and gambling Web sites.

A report made public Wednesday on an internal investigation examining a week of computer use found more than more than 1 million log entries in which 7,700 employees visited game and auction sites. More than 4,700 log entries were to sexually explicit and gambling Web sites.

The findings are "egregious" and "alarming," the department's inspector general, Earl Devaney, wrote in the report.

Despite the findings, Devaney noted that since 1999, the department has taken just 177 disciplinary actions, 112 of which were for accessing pornographic or sexually explicit Web sites.

Five killed Montreal-area overpass collapse
Canadian rescue workers found five people crushed to death early on Sunday after working through the night to reach two cars buried under the rubble of an overpass that collapsed onto an expressway near Montreal.

The overpass came crashing down on Saturday afternoon, trapping several vehicles and injuring another six people, three of them seriously.

The collapse came just an hour after a Quebec transport ministry worker inspected the site following reports of falling debris and determined there was no need to close the road, government officials said.

South America
Jet crashes in Amazon
Two American executive jet pilots were ordered by a judge to stay in Brazil while authorities investigate whether they caused a midair collision with an airliner that crashed into the Amazon, killing all 155 people aboard.

A Brazilian newspaper reported that the pilots' Legacy jet, which was carrying seven Americans, disobeyed an order by the control tower to descend to a lower altitude just before coming into contact with Gol airlines Flight 1907.

Gol airlines Flight 1907 vanished last Friday afternoon after leaving the jungle city of Manaus en route for Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil murder rate similar to war zone, data shows
More than 150 Brazilians were murdered each day last year on average, putting Brazil on a par with some war zones in terms of its homicide rate, the Justice Ministry said on Monday.

Some 55,000 Brazilians died of homicide in 2005 - a few thousand more civilians than in three years of war in Iraq, according to leading estimates.

Brazil, a continent-sized nation of 185 million people starkly divided into rich and poor, has had notoriously high crime rates for years. Millions of poor live in urban slums and unpoliced rural areas where guns are easy to come by.

A referendum in 2005 to ban gun sales failed, in part because some voters had lost faith in police.

Paraguay hardens U.S. military stance
Paraguay's decision to refuse diplomatic immunity for U.S. troops and not to renew a military cooperation pact sparked debate, with analysts calling the developments a blow to U.S. attempts to improve regional ties.

Foreign Minster Ruben Ramirez said that Paraguay and Washington would not renew a defense-cooperation agreement for 2007 over the South American country's refusal to grant U.S. troops inside Paraguay immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

The Bush administration has stood tough against the ICC since its creation in 2002 out of concern that Americans overseas, including military personnel, diplomats and ordinary citizens, could be subject to politically motivated prosecutions.

Ramirez said the government determined that under international treaty law, exceptions to immunity can only be made in cases of foreign diplomats and administrative personnel. Washington had no immediate response to Paraguay's announcement.

Chavez: Assassination attempt foiled
President Hugo Chavez, said a sniper with a long-range gun and a motorcycle to escape on had planned to shoot him as he exited a helicopter on a recent trip to western Venezuela.

The incident allegedly occurred when Chavez visited the western oil-producing region of Zulia in June to inaugurate a refurbished fertilizer plant. Chavez appeared to link the plot to his main rival in upcoming presidential elections, Gov. Manuel Rosales of Zulia state, claiming that he is in constant danger from opponents seeking to get rid of him.

"The plan didn't work out for them God is always present over there. But those responsible left for Colombia, and by the way, they were from the Zulia police," he said. He did not elaborate further on the alleged plot.

Middle East
Israel sacks war critic general
A top Israeli general has been sacked by the army chief for criticising the way the military conducted the recent war in Lebanon in media interviews.

Maj Gen Yiftah Ron-Tal was fired by Lt Gen Dan Halutz for breaching the ban on Israeli troops making public comments on political and diplomatic issues.

Gen Ron-Tal said Gen Halutz must "accept responsibility" for what he said was the "failure" of the war. He also criticised Israel's unilateral pull-out from Gaza last year. Gen Ron-Tal gave the unauthorised interviews to local media on Wednesday. He was the commander of Israeli ground forces and had been due to retire from the army in December.

More than 1,100 people - mostly civilians - were killed in Lebanon during the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah militants that ended in August. More than 150 Israelis - mainly soldiers - were killed.

Iran asks France to oversee enrichment
A top Iranian nuclear official proposed that France create a consortium to enrich uranium in Iran, saying that could satisfy international demands for outside oversight of Tehran's nuclear program.

French officials distanced themselves from the idea, which an analyst called an Iranian attempt to stall or divert attention from mounting tensions over its nuclear activities. But the European Union official leading negotiations with Iran over its atomic program said the proposal was worth a closer look.

Iran opens nuke plant to foreign tourists
Iran's hard-line president has ordered nuclear facilities opened to foreign tourists to prove that the nation's disputed atomic program is peaceful, state-run television reported on Wednesday.

The report did not clarify the definition of a foreign tourist. The announcement came a day after Iran's parliament voted to debate a bill that would require the government to fingerprint all U.S. citizens visiting Iran.

The draft law would require all American citizens to be fingerprinted when they enter Iran. The measure was in retaliation for the fingerprinting of Iranian travelers visiting the United States — a procedure implemented in 2002 for Iranians and citizens of several other countries.

12,000 Iraqi police dead or injured
More than 12,000 Iraqi police have been either injured or killed since September 2004, the US commander in charge of Iraq police training said. Army Maj Gen Joseph Peterson also said that it is hard to tell how many militia members have infiltrated the police forces, but said Iraqi officials are trying to weed them out. "I have no idea what the number is," said Peterson, commander of the Civilian Police Assistance Training Team in Iraq.

Europe
Blair to face 'cash for peerages' police
Scotland Yard detectives are expected to interview Tony Blair within a few weeks in an attempt to conclude their highly sensitive investigation into the cash for peerages allegations.

The six-month investigation moved significantly closer to Downing Street with the confirmation yesterday that detectives had questioned one of Mr Blair's senior aides under caution.

Ruth Turner, 36, the director of government relations at Downing Street, was interviewed last week about e-mails and documents relating to allegations that peerages and other honours were used to reward businessmen who gave Labour money or loans on advantageous terms.

Three people have been arrested during the inquiry, including Lord Levy, Mr Blair's chief fund-raiser.

Blair could earn £15m in two years after he leaves No 10
Tony Blair has been told he could earn £15million within two years of quitting Downing Street.

The extraordinary windfall - from book deals, lecture fees and company directorships - will dwarf the earnings of Tory ex-Prime Ministers including John Major and even Margaret Thatcher.

Mr Blair's likely earnings will be enough to pay off the mortgage on his £3.6million London townhouse four times over.

A close friend of the Prime Minister, who also advises on his personal finances, told The Mail on Sunday: "Tony is still getting used to the idea that he has the potential to earn serious money."

The source revealed how Mr Blair reacted with incredulity when informed how much he could make. "I told him that even now John Major was probably still earning £3million a year from various consultancies, and he just said, "Get away". '

Mr Blair will be offered a minimum of £5million for the global rights to his memoirs. Unlike most retired British politicians, there will be huge appetite for his diaries in America - by far the world's biggest publishing market. The books will be accompanied by a worldwide lecture tour.

IRA no longer a threat, says Hain
The IRA is no longer a terrorist threat, Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland secretary, declared, ahead of the publication of a report by the commission monitoring the ceasefire in the province.

The Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) report is expected to say that the IRA has radically changed from the organisation it was three years ago.

But it is also believed to say that the loyalist organisations have some way to go before they emulate the IRA's transformation.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Hain, who has seen the report, said he believed the IRA was now "absolutely locked in" to a move away from violence to democracy.

Eta terrorist jailed for 41 years over plan to kill the King of Spain
An Eta terrorist who plotted to kill the King of Spain in a "Day of the Jackal-style" assassination has been jailed for 41 years.

Javier Perez Aldunate had planned to shoot the Spanish monarch during Easter in 2004 after the king travelled to Majorca to watch a Davis Cup tennis match.

The court heard Perez Aldunate was told to travel from France, where he was in hiding, via Barcelona to Majorca in April 2004. He was told by the Eta leadership that he would get a call on a mobile phone he had bought in Barcelona telling him where to find the rifle he would use to shoot the king.

But the prosecutor told the court that despite being in Majorca for more than a month, Perez Aldunate "could not get the firearm with which to kill the king" and was told by his superiors to return to France.

The truth was that Eta had failed to deliver the gun to the waiting marksman in time before the king left. Ieltxu Lopez de Aberasturi was sentenced to six years' jail for belonging to a terrorist organisation at the same trial. He had been arrested alongside Perez Aldunate in 2005.

Russia slaps Georgia with sanctions After Georgia Release 4 Officers
Georgia released four Russian officers whose arrest on spying charges has angered its giant northern neighbor, but a vengeful Russia pushed ahead with punitive sanctions aimed at dealing a painful blow to the economically struggling Caucasus nation.

The tension reflected Moscow's difficult relations with Georgia, which has defied President Vladimir Putin with a pro-Western stance, hosts unwanted Russian troops on its soil and is facing two Russian-backed separatist movements that could flare up in new violence.

Russia has also started deported a planeload of Georgians from its country. This week an aircraft carrying about 130 Georgians touched down in the Geordia’s capital, Tbilisi, Moscow police have also asked schools to draw up lists of pupils with Georgian surnames as part of their search for illegal immigrants, Russian media reported.

Estimates vary but it is believed that at least one million Georgians live in Russia. Many Georgian families depend on the remittances they send home.

“Admit genocide before joining EU”, Chirac tells Turkey
French President Jacques Chirac urged Turkey to recognize World War I-era massacres of Armenians as genocide if it wants to join the European Union.

Chirac was speaking during a visit to the Armenian capital Yerevan, and his comments were likely to irritate Turkey and put a further strain on its relations with France.

Asked if he thought Turkey should recognize the 1915-1917 massacres as genocide before it joins the EU, the French president replied: "Honestly, I believe so."

But Turkey argues that 300,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in an internal conflict sparked by attempts by Armenians to win independence in eastern Anatolia.

Hungarian PM wins confidence vote
Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, who has come under intense pressure to quit after admitting he lied to voters, won a confidence motion convincingly in parliament on Friday.

Gyurcsany, who secured the votes of 207 MPs with 165 against, earlier told parliament he would not bow to opposition "blackmail" and vowed to stick to his tough economic program. He still faces what is expected to be a large protest rally over his refusal to quit since he admitted having lied about the economy to win an election in April.

Tobacco firms 'sweetening cigarettes to hook the young'
Tobacco manufacturers are adding sugar and sweeteners in an effort to make cigarettes smoother - in what is being branded a cynical attempt to lure young smokers and turn them into addicts.

New research, published in the UK journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, reveals that some cigarette firms are using additives such as plum juice, maple syrup and honey to make their products taste better.

But, according to scientists, the sweeteners increase the smokers' risk of cancer.

The study looked at sweet additives put into cigarettes by five big tobacco firms - British American Tobacco, Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, Gallaher, and Japan Tobacco International. The details come from the firms' websites.

It summarised by saying “The sweet taste and the agreeable smell of caramelised sugar flavours are appreciated in particular by starting adolescent smokers."

Africa
Envoy: Abuse may have occurred in Sudan
Sudan's U.N. ambassador accused the United Nations on Friday of relying on fabricated data from non-governmental groups in reporting widespread rights abuses in Darfur, though he acknowledged that violations have occurred in the region.

The ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem, was largely dismissive of a report that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday saying that Sudan's armed forces, as well as rebel factions and militias, continue to violate international human rights laws with impunity.

The report said violence was on the rise and humanitarian access in Darfur was at its worst since 2004.

"These reports are not new. Many of these reports are fabricated by some (non-governmental organizations) whose intentions are very clear to us," Abdalhaleem said.

"I can assure you that of course in any conflict situation ... you have violations of human rights," he said. "It is very bad, this is why we would like to have it over."

The United Nations denied the ambassador's claims. Oliver Ulich, the Sudan team leader in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the United Nations has about 1,500 staffers in Darfur as well as dozens of human rights officers whom it relies upon for information.

ANC 'power grab' after poll defeat
South Africa's ruling party has been accused of "failing the key test of a democracy" by trying to reverse its first major election defeat.

Helen Zille, from the opposition Democratic Alliance, became mayor of Cape Town after her party won 91 seats in council elections in March, compared with 81 for the African National Congress (ANC).

For the first time since apartheid's demise 12 years ago, an ANC mayor was ousted. Mrs Zille now governs the city in coalition with six small parties but the ANC has responded to defeat by trying to strip her of all her powers.

Since the election, Mrs Zille, 55, has governed Cape Town as an executive mayor, with overall responsibility for 22,000 employees and a budget exceeding £1 billion.

But the ANC-controlled government of Western Cape province has proposed reducing her to a powerless symbol with ceremonial duties only.

Asia
Dictator hires doubles to do the boring jobs
The eccentric North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il has hired doubles to carry out his more mundane tasks, according to South Korean intelligence officials.

While Kim himself attends major state occasions, two men stand in for him for more routine visits to tractor factories or farms.

"They are the spitting image of Kim — the same age, same height and with the same bouffant hairstyle and pot belly," a South Korean news agency quoted an intelligence official as saying.

"They are trained to behave like him and even had plastic surgery to enhance the resemblance."

The official also said that assassination was a fear for Kim, an indication of the troubles that lie beneath the surface of North Korea's totalitarian politics. Kim is also believed to have been ill with diabetes and kidney disease.

Musharraf refuses to pardon British murderer
President Pervez Musharraf has refused to intervene to save the life of a Briton condemned to death in Pakistan for a crime he almost certainly did not commit. The last stay of execution on Mirza Tahir Hussain expired at dawn yesterday, and although the 36-year-old from Leeds was believed to be alive last night, he is now in imminent peril.

Hussain was framed by the Pakistani police, who "fabricated evidence in a shameless manner" against him, according to one of the country's most senior judges. His family has been petitioning General Musharraf for a pardon. But in an interview with ITV at the end of his visit to Britain, he said he could not overturn the death sentence.

The Briton, accused of the murder of a taxi driver, was acquitted by Pakistan's secular courts, only for the Islamic sharia courts to intervene and condemn him to death. He has spent the last 18 years in a tiny cell waiting to die.

There is now little keeping Hussain from the hangman. It is believed he may have a few weeks' respite because it is the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when executions are traditionally not carried out. But this is tradition, not law.

Indian police blame Pakistan for blasts
An Indian investigator on last Saturday blamed Pakistan's spy agency of orchestrating the July train bombings that killed at least 207 people in Mumbai, an accusation that could threaten the already shaky peace process between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

Pakistan's minister of state for information, Tariq Azim, immediately denied the allegation, calling it "irresponsible" and demanding that India provide evidence of the link.

India called a halt to the often-stumbling, two-year-old peace talks with Pakistan in the wake of the bombings, which ripped through a series of suburban commuter trains during evening rush hour on July 11, killing at least 207 people and wounding 700.

Negotiations resumed earlier this month when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of a conference in Cuba.

Mumbai Police Commissioner A.N. Roy, the lead investigator in the bombings, said Pakistan's Directorate of Inter Services Intelligence, or ISI, began planning the attacks in March and later provided funding and training for the bombers in the Pakistani town of Bahawalpur, a center of militant Islamic activity.

Roy offered no evidence to support the link, but said it was revealed during the questioning of suspects who had been drugged with a "truth serum" to force them to divulge information. He didn't describe what the drug was or how it worked. Top Indian government officials did not comment on Roy's accusation.

Tamil Tigers OK talks with Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels agree don Tuesday to unconditional talks with the government but warned they will pull out of a 2002 cease-fire if the government persists with its military campaign, a spokesman for the insurgents said.

"We have said that we are ready for talks. We have not placed any conditions and neither has the government," rebel spokesman, Daya Master, told The Associated Press.

He was speaking after Norway's peace envoy, Jon Hanssen-Bauer, met with Suppiah Thamilselvan, the head of the rebels' political wing, to press for an end to months of recent bloodshed and a return to talks, suspended since February.

The Norway-brokered cease-fire temporarily ended Sri Lanka's 19-year civil war between the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who want to carve out a separate homeland for the country's ethnic Tamils. About 65,000 people were killed in the conflict before the truce.

Australasia
'Rainbow Warrior' returns to haunt French candidate Royal
New Zealand police are to "re-examine" the Rainbow Warrior affair after an allegation that the bomb which destroyed the Greenpeace ship in 1985 was planted by the brother of the French presidential front-runner, Ségolène Royal.

The New Zealand government said, however, that it was "unlikely" that the investigation of the attack on the ship by French government agents would be formally reopened.

The fact that Lieutenant Gérard Royal, of the French intelligence service, was part of the large team of French agents which attacked the ship has been public knowledge for 11 years. Another member of the Royal family, his and Ségolène's brother, Antoine, has now alleged that Gérard actually planted the bomb which damaged the ship and killed a Greenpeace photographer in Auckland harbour in July 1985.

Australians don't think Iraq war has reduced terror threat
The vast majority of Australians do not believe the war in Iraq has reduced the threat of terrorism, a survey from a foreign policy think tank has shown.

The Lowy Institute survey found 84 percent of respondents thought the US-led war in Iraq had done nothing to lower the threat of terrorism and 91 percent believed it had damaged the United States' standing in the Muslim world.

About two-thirds did not think the war, which the Australian government has strongly supported from its inception, would lead to the spread of democracy in the Middle East.

Some 85 percent of respondents said the Iraq experience should make nations more cautious about using military force to deal with rogue states.

The institute's executive director Alan Gyngell said the survey showed there was "pretty strong agreement" in the Australian community that the Iraq war had not worked.

Gunman shoots into Australian mosque, narrowly missing worshippers
An unidentified gunman fired into a mosque in western Australia packed with hundreds of Muslims observing the holy month of Ramadan, but no one was hurt, police said Saturday.

Around 400 worshippers were praying at the mosque in suburban Mirrabooka in the west coast city of Perth when the shooting occurred Friday evening, Western Australia state police Inspector Neville Patterson said.

"A single shot was fired from a high-powered rifle from outside the mosque through a window on the second level, narrowly missing a couple of worshippers," Patterson said.

The gunman, who fled the scene in a green sports utility vehicle, has yet to be identified, he said. The bullet was lodged in the mosque wall and ballistics experts were searching for more clues.

Thousands of Australian police lead double life with second job
Thousands of Australian police moonlight in a second job, leading double lives as couriers, firefighters and teachers.

Police commanders in New South Wales, the country's most populous state, had approved at least 2,800 applications from the state's 13,000 officers to work extra jobs, ranging from parking attendants to pest controllers, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Many of the 1,962 officers who applied over the past two years were given permission to work more than one extra job, figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws showed.

The police force's block rostering system left officers with extended periods of free time to take up a range of jobs.

The state government said it would begin an audit of the rostering system before December, with a final report due midway through next year.