August 16, 2004

World Media Watch

by Gloria R. Lalumia

BUZZFLASH NOTE: WMW provides BuzzFlash readers foreign views and perspectives that are not usually available from the media here in the U.S. The presentation of these articles from these international publications is not an endorsement of their viewpoints.

* * *

WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR AUGUST 16, 2004

1//The Independent, UK--BLAIR PLAN TO HOST ALLAWI ANGERS PARTY OPPONENTS (Tony Blair was facing a backlash over his "autocratic" leadership last night after senior party figures confirmed that he plans to bring Iyad Allawi, Iraq's interim prime minister, to next month's Labour Party annual conference. Mr Blair was expected to try to side-step a row over Iraq at the conference, which will be the launch-pad for Labour's general election campaign. However, Mr Blair has decided to face the critics in his party head on by putting Mr Allawi centre stage..."It is such a calculated insult to the party that I wonder whether he wants to quit before the election," said Alice Mahon, Labour MP for Halifax and a leading critic of the war on Iraq. "It is autocratic and shows that Mr Blair is increasingly isolated from his own party. Allawi has ordered a foreign occupying force to attack his own people in one of the holiest cities in the Middle East. There will be big protests about this," she said.)

2//Inter Press News Agency, Italy--"TERRIFYING" JUDGMENT OVER SUPSPECTED TERRORISTS (After years of condemning torture in other countries, Britain could now be approving it as official policy. New questions have arisen for the government following a two to one ruling by a court of appeal that said the British government had the right to accept evidence obtained under torture -- so long as the torture took place in some other country...''The Prime Minister and his Home Secretary need to come clean on their attitude to torture,'' Barry Hugill of the civil liberties group Liberty told IPS. ''Do they think it is acceptable or unacceptable?'')

3//TurkishPress.com, U.S.--ITALY ON ALERT AFTER PURPORTED AL-QAEDA ULTIMATUM EXPIRES (Italy was on alert on Sunday after a group claiming to be linked to Al-Qaeda threatened to launch attacks throughout the country and target Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi following the expiry of an ultimatum for Rome to pull its troops out of Iraq...Officials have said some 13,000 potential targets are now permanently guarded by 23,000 police and soldiers, between 5,000 and 6,000 of them in Rome. The latter include Fiumicino airport, the Vatican Radio buildings, the US embassy, the Coliseum and the port of Civitavecchia.)

4//The Guardian, UK--PLAN TO END WHITEHALL SLEAZE RULE (Tony Blair wants to open the way for former ministers and senior civil servants to accept lucrative jobs in private industry without having to wait months to take up the posts because of their inside knowledge of government decisions. The prime minister's order for a rapid review of the rules has caused consternation across Whitehall and anger among two of the government's anti-sleaze watchdogs. They fear it could lead to impropriety in dealings between the government and business... One watchdog has voiced concern about the growing "traffic" from the Ministry of Defence to British and foreign contractors who benefit from billions of pounds of defence orders every year. There have been 344 defence appointments in recent years.)

5//The Daily Star, Lebanon--OPEC HAS CAPACITY FOR 2 MILLION BARRELS (OPEC still has spare capacity of about 2 million barrels a day that it may use to help to ease world oil prices, its president Purnomo Yusgiantoro said Sunday...However, Yusgiantoro said a decision would only be taken at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' meeting in Vienna on Sept. 14, at which major non-OPEC producers would also take part.)

* * *

1//The Independent, UK 16 August 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=551888

BLAIR PLAN TO HOST ALLAWI ANGERS PARTY OPPONENTS
By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor

Tony Blair was facing a backlash over his "autocratic" leadership last night after senior party figures confirmed that he plans to bring Iyad Allawi, Iraq's interim prime minister, to next month's Labour Party annual conference.

Mr Blair was expected to try to side-step a row over Iraq at the conference, which will be the launch-pad for Labour's general election campaign. However, Mr Blair has decided to face the critics in his party head on by putting Mr Allawi centre stage.

That prospect provoked a furious outburst from party activists, who accused him of refusing to learn the lessons from the war on Iraq. It also raised fresh questions about his intention to fight the election.

"It is such a calculated insult to the party that I wonder whether he wants to quit before the election," said Alice Mahon, Labour MP for Halifax and a leading critic of the war on Iraq.

"It is autocratic and shows that Mr Blair is increasingly isolated from his own party. Allawi has ordered a foreign occupying force to attack his own people in one of the holiest cities in the Middle East. There will be big protests about this," she said.

A senior Labour figure confirmed to The Independent that Mr Blair would like to bring Mr Allawi to the conference as a VIP guest to show support for the interim government. However, the protests may make it impossible for it to go ahead.

Robin Cook, the former foreign secretary, yesterday urged Mr Blair to show contrition at the conference by disowning President George Bush's principle of pre-emptive strikes.

(MORE)

2//Inter Press News Agency, Italy August 13, 2004
http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=25077

"TERRIFYING" JUDGMENT OVER SUPSPECTED TERRORISTS
Sanjay Suri

LONDON (IPS) - After years of condemning torture in other countries, Britain could now be approving it as official policy.

New questions have arisen for the government following a two to one ruling by a court of appeal that said the British government had the right to accept evidence obtained under torture -- so long as the torture took place in some other country.

The ruling was given in the case of a challenge by ten foreign nationals who have been detained without charge for more than two years on suspicion of involvement with terrorist organizations. Under Britain's Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, the men can be detained without charge indefinitely.

The Act was passed soon after the Sep. 11 attacks, and the Labour government is sticking to it in the face of continued protests by civil liberty groups.

Lord Justice Laws said in his ruling earlier this week that the British Home Secretary has the right to rely on evidence ''coming into his hands which has or may have been obtained through torture by agencies of other states over which he has no power of direction.''

The ruling raises fundamental issues for the government's declared policies.

''The Prime Minister and his Home Secretary need to come clean on their attitude to torture,'' Barry Hugill of the civil liberties group Liberty told IPS. ''Do they think it is acceptable or unacceptable?''

Hugill described the detention of the men as Britain's Guantanamo Bay. ''These men are being held on the say so of unknown intelligence operatives. If they have committed a crime they should be put on trial, otherwise they should be released.''

(MORE)

3//TurkishPress.com, U.S. 8/15/2004
http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=24586

ITALY ON ALERT AFTER PURPORTED AL-QAEDA ULTIMATUM EXPIRES

ROME, Aug 15 (AFP) - Italy was on alert on Sunday after a group claiming to be linked to Al-Qaeda threatened to launch attacks throughout the country and target Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi following the expiry of an ultimatum for Rome to pull its troops out of Iraq.

"This message follows the same logic as the previous ones," Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu told a news conference in Rome. "We are not underestimating it but we are not going to be intimidated and we have confidence in the substantial protection measures that have been introduced."

The threat, signed by a group calling itself the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades-Al-Qaeda and posted on an Islamist website, did not deter British Prime Minister Tony Blair from arriving in Italy with his family at the weekend to visit Berlusconi.

(SNIP)

The statement was the latest in a series purportedly issued by the group since mid-July, threatening to attack Italian targets both in Italy and elsewhere unless Rome withdraws its 3,000-strong force from Iraq by Sunday.

The Italian authorities quietly boosted security in cities, ports, train stations, subways and airports ahead of the deadline on Sunday, which is a major religious and public holiday in Italy.

Hordes of Italians were expected to be on the move during the last big summer holiday weekend, which coincides with Assumption Day, a holy day in the predominantly Roman Catholic country.

Officials have said some 13,000 potential targets are now permanently guarded by 23,000 police and soldiers, between 5,000 and 6,000 of them in Rome. The latter include Fiumicino airport, the Vatican Radio buildings, the US embassy, the Coliseum and the port of Civitavecchia.

Berlusconi's himself has been at his tightly guarded residence on the island of Sardinia for a week.

(SNIP)

The group threatened Italy on July 16 with a bloodbath on the scale of the September 11, 2001, if Berlusconi remained in power.

The organisation has claimed responsibility for the March 11 train bombings in Madrid, which killed 191 people, and for the November 2003 bombings in Istanbul, which killed 25.

4//The Guardian, UK Monday August 16, 2004
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/whitehall/story/0,9061,1284021,00.html

PLAN TO END WHITEHALL SLEAZE RULE
Path eased to private sector jobs

David Hencke, Westminster correspondent

Tony Blair wants to open the way for former ministers and senior civil servants to accept lucrative jobs in private industry without having to wait months to take up the posts because of their inside knowledge of government decisions.

The prime minister's order for a rapid review of the rules has caused consternation across Whitehall and anger among two of the government's anti-sleaze watchdogs. They fear it could lead to impropriety in dealings between the government and business.

It comes at a time when Whitehall is being flooded with controversial applications from senior civil servants and the military, who have been offered private-sector jobs. One watchdog has voiced concern about the growing "traffic" from the Ministry of Defence to British and foreign contractors who benefit from billions of pounds of defence orders every year. There have been 344 defence appointments in recent years.

The rules were strengthened eight years ago by John Major to fend off accusations of government sleaze. Mr Blair has added to the controversy by choosing to appoint a former senior civil servant who pushed through some of Lady Thatcher's most controversial privatisation programmes to conduct the review.

Sir Patrick Brown organised the privatisation of the National Freight Corporation, the ports, the National Bus Company, the water industry, the Property Services Agency, Railtrack and the rail operating companies. He is now the £69,000-a-year non-executive chairman of Go Ahead, a bus and rail company with subsidies including Thameslink, Go North East and London Central buses.

The inquiry's terms are "to review the business appointment rules to ensure they are compatible with a public service that is keen to encourage greater interchange with the private and other sectors, which is essential for effective delivery in today's public service".

(MORE)

5//The Daily Star, Lebanon Monday, August 16, 2004
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=7356

OPEC HAS CAPACITY FOR 2 MILLION BARRELS
By Agence France Presse (AFP)

JAKARTA: OPEC still has spare capacity of about 2 million barrels a day that it may use to help to ease world oil prices, its president Purnomo Yusgiantoro said Sunday.

Yusgiantoro said so far only Saudi Arabia had reported its spare capacity but an inventory of the other member countries would be held to see the total extra production the cartel could throw into the market.

"Saudi Arabia has already given their report," Yusgiantoro told journalists at his office.

"About the others, we still want to (conduct an inventory) to see the spare capacity we have, but the feeling is that there are still about 2 million (barrels per day)."

However, Yusgiantoro said a decision would only be taken at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' meeting in Vienna on Sept. 14, at which major non-OPEC producers would also take part.

(MORE)