Marrakech—U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on
Monday moderated her praise for Israel’s offer
to restrain, but not stop, building settlements
in Palestinian areas, but said it still falls
short of U.S. expectations. The offer, she said,
would have a “significant and meaningful effect”
on limiting the growth of Jewish settlements on
land the Palestinians want for their own state.
On Saturday her praise of Israel’s offer to
restrict its settlement activity drew widespread
criticism from Arab nations who interpreted it
as a softening of the U.S. position on
settlements, which stand in the way of a
resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Barcelona—Developing countries don’t trust
wealthy nations’ promises that they will help
them meet the challenges of climate change, the
U.N.’s top climate official said Monday, adding
that means any new global warming deal must have
legal force. The legal status of an agreement
and whether nations will be sanctioned for
failing to meet their commitments are
contentious issues in talks on controlling the
world’s emissions of carbon and other
heat-raising greenhouse gases.
Zagreb—Croatia is stepping up its fight
against high-level corruption under the watchful
eyes of the European Union which has insisted on
a clean-up for Zagreb to join the bloc. Last
week the national Bureau for the Fight Against
Corruption and Organised Crime charged lawmaker
Berislav Roncevic, a former defence minister,
with embezzling at least 1.4 million euros (two
million dollars) in a deal for the purchase of
military trucks. Roncevic is the highest
official to face corruption charges and if found
guilty could be sentenced to up to 10 years in
jail.
Mogadishu—Rival
pirates and militia groups have fought for
control over a British couple held hostage for
more than a week, an Islamic militia commander
and a local elder said Monday. The couple were
not injured in the fighting. Meanwhile, a
U.S.-flagged cargo vessel with 21 Americans
aboard came under gunfire from suspected Somali
pirates but managed to escape, a U.S. Navy
spokesman said. Elders sent local fighters to
thwart an attempt by some of the pirates holding
the couple to take them to an extremist Islamic
group, said a commander of a rival moderate
Islamic militia who gave his name only as
Ilka’ase.
TONY BLAIR has done immeasurably more harm than
Nick Griffin ever has. He has started at least
five wars, at the last count. But Griffin is
hooted in the streets, or, at any rate, on
Question Time; whereas Blair is acclaimed as the
potential savior of Europe. In the past few
days, to be sure, the possibility of Blair’s
becoming the first president of Europe is more
remote. That will not deter the political
speculators. It is (to adopt Alastair Campbell’s
test for political news stories) a good 11-day
story.
