NEWS Distillation – Weekend of 30 June- 1 July 2012 – (TCP)CHICAGO

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30 June 2012

Egypt – Bloomberg Businessweek reported: Egypt’s new Islamist president was formally sworn into office, vowing to protect the freedom that hundreds died to achieve as he at once praised the military and indirectly challenged them over their limiting of his authority. In a day steeped in ceremony and symbolism, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi said a new nation of justice and equality had been born from the uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak last year. The 60-year-old U.S.-trained engineer, who had been the Brotherhood’s back-up candidate for the office, became the nation’s first democratically-elected, civilian leader after a 16-month transition process that divided the country and set in motion a power struggle between him and the military leadership that is poised to continue.

China – CNN reported: Hong Kong protesters took to the streets Sunday as Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the former British colony to mark the 15th anniversary of its return to Beijing rule. Hu also attended the inauguration of the Hong Kong chief executive amid growing discontent toward Beijing over its human rights records, among others. Crowds shouted various chants during the ceremony, including demands for an end to corruption and freedom for political prisoners. Small planes flew overhead with flags of China and Hong Kong as defiant protesters rallied on streets with police and giant barricades.

Israel – The Jerusalem Post reported: Former prime minister Yitzhak Shamir died at the age of 96 on Saturday, at the nursing home in which he lived in Tel Aviv, after a long illness. He will be buried in Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl Cemetery in a state funeral on Monday after his son Yair returns from abroad. The procession will begin at the Knesset, where the public will be invited to pay its respects. Shamir lived in a nursing home since 2004 because of his poor health and Alzheimer’s disease. He left behind two children and five grandchildren. Shamir’s wife, Shulamit, died last year at the age of 88. Shamir was the state’s seventh prime minister from 1983 to 1984 and again from 1986 to 1992, the longest-serving premier after David Ben-Gurion. He was known for resisting international pressure to make concessions, yet initiated a peace process in Madrid that led to many diplomatic overtures by his successors.

Mexico – Reuters reported: Mexico’s old rulers were on track for a comeback as voters chose a new president on Sunday, after a grisly war with drug cartels and a sluggish economy wore down the ruling conservatives. Twelve years after the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) lost power, opinion polls showed its candidate, Enrique Pena Nieto, heading into the vote with a double-digit lead over his opponents. Voters ousted the PRI in 2000 after 71 years of virtual single-party rule that was tainted by corruption, electoral fraud and authoritarianism. But Pena Nieto has established himself as the new face of the party, which has bounced back, in part because of economic malaise and lawlessness under the conservative National Action Party (PAN).

Syria – Haaretz reported: Diplomatic sources talking to the Sunday Times say Syria shot down the Turkish plane to warn NATO not to intervene in the Syrian conflict. Russian technicians were involved in the taking down of the Turkish fighter jet by the Syrian military last week the Sunday Times reported on Sunday. Sourcing Middle Eastern diplomatic sources the Times reported that the decision to down the Turkish jet was intended to signal a warning to NATO to stay out of the conflict raging in Syria for over a year. Russia supplied Syria with advanced anti-aircraft missile systems three years ago. It is believed that Russian specialists trained the Syrian forces to use them. According to diplomats that spoke with the Sunday Times some Russian specialists are still stationed at the missile battery control centers. “We would not be surprised if these Russian experts, if they didn’t push the button, at least were beside the Syrian officers who did it,” an Israeli air force source told the British paper.

Australia – Australia Network NEWS reported: A group of almost 300 Australian businesses says a price on carbon will drive innovation and keep the country internationally competitive. The new tax allows allows the government to charge Australia’s biggest polluters for their carbon emissions. The group called ‘Businesses for a Clean Economy’ was created to support carbon pricing and counter opposing voices. Close to 300 companies including Westpac, AGL and Fujitsu have signed a statement backing the introduction of a price on carbon. The group also includes renewable energy companies such Infigen and Hydro Pacific.

Yemen – Terra NEWS reported: More than 50 Yemenis were killed by mines planted by al Qaeda-linked fighters as they fled two of their main strongholds in Yemen’s restive south this month, the defense ministry said on Saturday. Ansar al-Sharia, a group which swears allegiance to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, seized control of several cities in Abyan province last year during a wave of protests that forced former President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. Yemen’s army drove the militants out of the provincial capital Zinjibar and strategic city Jaar this month, a major breakthrough in a U.S.-backed offensive aimed at securing stability in the wider oil-rich Gulf region. The militants planted thousands of mines before they left the strongholds, the defense ministry said on its website, citing Ahmed Ghaleb al-Rahwi, the deputy governor of Abyan. “More than 50 citizens have been killed by mines planted by the terrorists before they fled Zinjibar, Jaar,” said al-Rahwi. The dead included Yemeni civilians and soldiers, said government sources.

United Kingdom – The Herald Sun of Australia reported: Ecuador is still considering whether to grant political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who faces extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations, President Rafael Correa said. “We are analyzing the case with full responsibility and, as we have said a thousand times, we have no deadline to make a decision,” Correa said. “That decision will be absolutely sovereign and … (show) respect for human rights,” he added. Assange remained holed up at Ecuador’s embassy in London on Saturday, defying a British police order to turn himself in for extradition to Sweden where he is sought on sex crime allegations.

Palestine – The Boston Globe reported: A scheduled high-profile meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz has been postponed indefinitely, a senior Palestinian official said Saturday. The rare high-level talks would have been a step toward resuming formal peace negotiations, although expectations were low that they would produce any breakthrough. The official, who spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the issue, did not give a reason for the delay. But Abbas has been under intense pressure in recent days from other Palestinians not to meet with Mofaz on Sunday.

Germany – Reuters reported: Germany’s parliament resoundingly approved the euro zone’s permanent bailout scheme and new budget rules on Friday, but legal hurdles remain and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s concessions to euro zone partners Italy and Spain may make those harder to overcome. The outcome of the vote was never seriously in doubt after opposition parties agreed to back the budget rules, or “fiscal compact”, in return for growth and job creation measures. Merkel needed their support to get a required two-thirds majority. “Today Germany, with the approval of the fiscal pact and the ESM by all parties in both houses of parliament, will send an important signal … that we are overcoming the European debt crisis in a sustainable way,” Merkel told the lower house, the Bundestag, before the votes.

1 July 2012

Kenya – Reuters reported: Masked assailants launched simultaneous gun and grenade raids on two churches in a Kenyan town on Sunday, killing at least 17 people in the worst attack in the country since Kenya sent troops into Somalia to crush al Shabaab militants. More than 60 people were wounded in the attacks in Garissa, the north Kenya town which has been used as a base for operations against al Qaeda-linked insurgents in Somalia. “This is the worst single attack since October, when our troops went into Somalia,” national police spokesman Eric Kiraithe told Reuters. “It is the worst in terms of the numbers killed, the manner of execution, the anger behind it and the anguish it has aroused as well as the national impact it has had.” There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks in Garissa, a largely Muslim town of 150,000 with a significant ethnic Somali population.

Israel – The Jerusalem Post reported: Netanyahu: Shamir “belonged to the generation of giants that established the State of Israel.” Former prime minister Yitzhak Shamir died at the age of 96 on Saturday, at the nursing home in which he lived in Tel Aviv, after a long illness. He will be buried in Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl Cemetery in a state funeral on Monday after his son Yair returns from abroad. The procession will begin at the Knesset, where the public will be invited to pay its respects. Shamir lived in a nursing home since 2004 because of his poor health and Alzheimer’s disease. He left behind two children and five grandchildren. Shamir’s wife, Shulamit, died last year at the age of 88. Shamir was the state’s seventh prime minister from 1983 to 1984 and again from 1986 to 1992, the longest-serving premier after David Ben-Gurion. He was known for resisting international pressure to make concessions, yet initiated a peace process in Madrid that led to many diplomatic overtures by his successors.

Turkey – Haaretz reported: Diplomatic sources talking to the Sunday Times say Syria shot down the Turkish plane to warn NATO not to intervene in the Syrian conflict. Russian technicians were involved in the taking down of the Turkish fighter jet by the Syrian military last week, the Sunday Times reported on Sunday. Sourcing Middle Eastern diplomatic sources the Times reported that the decision to down the Turkish jet was intended to signal a warning to NATO to stay out of the conflict raging in Syria for over a year. Russia supplied Syria with advanced anti-aircraft missile systems three years ago. It is believed that Russian specialists trained the Syrian forces to use them. According to diplomats that spoke with the Sunday Times some Russian specialists are still stationed at the missile battery control centers. “We would not be surprised if these Russian experts, if they didn’t push the button, at least were beside the Syrian officers who did it,” an Israeli air force source told the British paper.

Pakistan – USA Today reported: Pakistani intelligence officials say a U.S. drone strike has killed eight suspected militants in the North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border. They say missiles fired from an unmanned drone struck a house in Dre Nishter village early Sunday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The officials said the house was being used by militants loyal to commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, and some foreigners were also among the dead. The U.S. has criticized Pakistan for failing to crack down on fighters who stage attacks in Afghanistan and has stepped up drone attacks in the tribal region to combat them.

Yemen – Terra NEWS reported: More than 50 Yemenis were killed by mines planted by al Qaeda-linked fighters as they fled two of their main strongholds in Yemen’s restive south this month, the defense ministry said on Saturday. Ansar al-Sharia, a group which swears allegiance to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, seized control of several cities in Abyan province last year during a wave of protests that forced former President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. Yemen’s army drove the militants out of the provincial capital Zinjibar and strategic city Jaar this month, a major breakthrough in a U.S.-backed offensive aimed at securing stability in the wider oil-rich Gulf region. The militants planted thousands of mines before they left the strongholds, the defense ministry said on its website, citing Ahmed Ghaleb al-Rahwi, the deputy governor of Abyan. “More than 50 citizens have been killed by mines planted by the terrorists before they fled Zinjibar, Jaar,” said al-Rahwi. The dead included Yemeni civilians and soldiers, said government sources.

German – Reuters reported: Germany’s parliament resoundingly approved the euro zone’s permanent bailout scheme and new budget rules on Friday, but legal hurdles remain and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s concessions to euro zone partners Italy and Spain may make those harder to overcome. The outcome of the vote was never seriously in doubt after opposition parties agreed to back the budget rules, or “fiscal compact”, in return for growth and job creation measures. Merkel needed their support to get a required two-thirds majority. “Today Germany, with the approval of the fiscal pact and the ESM by all parties in both houses of parliament, will send an important signal … that we are overcoming the European debt crisis in a sustainable way,” Merkel told the lower house, the Bundestag, before the votes. Merkel had returned for the debates and the vote from a European Union summit in Brussels that agreed to give the euro zone’s bailout funds more flexibility to stabilise bond markets and to directly recapitalise banks in the future.

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