Bahamas politicians not serious about Turks & Caicos union, says WikiLeaks cable
A secret cable released by Wikileaks has disclosed that the United States Embassy in The Bahamas had expressed the view in 2009 that The Bahamas was not seriously interested in forming a federation with the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The cable was reportedly dated September 3, 2009 and classified by Charge d'Affaires at the US Embassy in Nassau Timothy Zuniga-Brown. It was
published by the British newspaper the Guardian on Tuesday.
In late August 2009, during a visit to The Bahamas, former TCI Premier Michael Misick suggested that a federation be formed, following his
resignation as premier in the light of allegations of corruption.
The United Kingdom assumed direct rule of the TCI in August 2009 as a result of widespread allegations of corruption by Misick and members of
his administration.
In response to the federation idea, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said on September 1 that he would be happy to discuss a federation. However, he
added, that could only be done, once the constitutional crisis in TCI was over.
Such talks, Ingraham said, would need to be driven by the peoples of the respective countries.
Former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell was cited in The Tribune on September 2, 2009, as stating that
The Bahamas and TCI joining was a "fascinating idea worth exploring." But he too said the constitutional crisis would need to be resolved before the
idea could be pursued further.
The US Embassy in Nassau regarded the statements by representatives of both political parties as not serious.
The GCOB (Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas) and opposition statements on federation are rhetoric, designed to placate a historical
neighbor during uncertain times, said the wiki-leaks cable.
Mitchell was careful to note that the times in which the two countries were united, most recently from 1965 to 1973, were not entirely happy.
If the UK is able to quickly stabilize conditions in the country and restore government confidence, little is likely to materialize from the
federation suggestion. However, if economic conditions worsen, there could be increased calls for The Bahamas to take action; calls The Bahamas is
unlikely to heed, he said.
Mitchell was referenced in a second wiki-leaks cable dated June 3, 2009. Zuniga-Brown's name is attached at the end of the cable, which describes a
fractured TCI political class in response to the intervention by the UK.
The point on the fractured nature of TCI's political leadership was reinforced by former Bahamian Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell. Mitchell,
shadow foreign affairs leader for the Bahamian opposition party, recently led a delegation to TCI that wanted to explore ways to rally CARICOM
against London resuming direct rule, said the cable.
According to the wiki-leaks cable, Mitchell told the Charge d'Affaires at the US Embassy in Nassau that they found surprising ambivalence among TCI
government officials and that the opposition PDM refused even to meet with the Bahamian delegation. This explained the lack of serious
Caribbean-wide efforts, at least for now, against the resumption of direct UK rule, Mitchell said.
Japan agrees record 92.4 trillion yen draft budget
The Japanese government has approved a record level of spending of 92.4 trillion yen ($1.1tn; £711bn) for the next financial year.
The cabinet agreed the draft budget, which must still be approved by parliament before 31 March.
Japan's economy has suffered from deflation, a high yen that hurts exports, weak domestic demand and poor consumer confidence.
The budget is aimed at boosting the economy, but adds to public debt.
And some analysts have said the programme was unlikely to offer a big economic boost.
Reined in
Debt-servicing costs and social security spending making up about 55% of the budget.
Aid for local authorities accounts for another 18.2% of the budget. The remainder of the spending is split among defence, public works projects, education and technology.
The Democratic Party-led administration has promised to keep new borrowing at 44.3tn, in line with this year's level.
But Japan was forced to raise spending due to higher debt servicing costs.
Japan's public debt is expected to reach 891tn yen, or 184% GDP, by the end of March 2012, the highest among developed nations.
The government said tax revenues would be about 40.9tn yen in the next fiscal year, with another 7.2tn raised by raiding special reserves.
The government has already reined in spending programmes including handouts to fund childcare.
Toyota pays $10m to fatal Lexus crash family
Toyota has paid $10m (£6.5m) to the family of four people killed in a runaway Lexus car in the US in 2009.
The amount, agreed in September but kept confidential, was released by a lawyer for the dealership that lent the Lexus to the family.
Toyota, which did not admit or deny liability in the settlement, said in a statement it was disappointed the amount had been made public.
The crash triggered a series of recalls involving millions of Toyota models.
The car maker said in its statement: "As is common in these cases, these parties agreed to keep the amount confidential, in part to protect the families from unwanted solicitations and to allow them to move on from this difficult period."
The accident which killed off-duty California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor, 45, his wife, their daughter and Mr Saylor's brother-in-law happened in August 2009.
They were killed when their car accelerated to over 120 mph (190km/h), leading it to collide with another vehicle and crash off an embankment, eventually bursting into flames.
Investigators discovered that a faulty floormat trapped the accelerator and caused the crash.
Toyota recalled millions of cars after the accident to replace their floor mats.
That was followed by a second recall involving replacing pedals that it said could stick.
On Monday, Toyota agreed to pay a record fine in the US of $32.4m (£20.8m) over its handling of millions of car recalls.
This is the second big fine the world's largest carmaker will pay to US authorities, after agreeing a $16.4m penalty in April.
Heightened awareness of Toyota vehicles meant subsequent recalls - a common occurence with motor vehicles - took on a high profile.
The publicity has not appeared to dampen the carmaker's popularity. It remains the world's biggest-selling producer, and its most recent profits, for the second quarter, had doubled compared with last year's.
US consumer spending up again, Commerce Department says
US consumer spending rose modestly in November for the fifth consecutive month, reinforcing the view of a solid if pedestrian economic recovery.
Spending rose 0.4% against the previous month, the Commerce Department said, roughly in line with analysts' forecasts. Consumer incomes rose 0.3%.
Consumer spending is watched closely as it accounts for about 70% of the US economy's total economic output.
Separate data showed new home sales rising by 5.5% in November.
Sales during the month were at an annualised rate of 290,000 homes, slightly below analysts' expectations, the Commerce Department said.
Sales were down by a fifth compared with a year earlier.
The department also said that orders for so-called durable manufactured goods fell 1.3% in November.
However, orders excluding transportation rose by 2.4%.
The Commerce Department also revised the consumer spending figure for October, from 0.4% to 0.7%, which bodes well for the end-of-year GDP figures, it said.
"Consumer spending in November and October is consistent with stronger economic growth during the fourth quarter," said the department's acting deputy secretary, Rebecca Blank.
Analysts were also cheered by the figures.
"The spending numbers are good for the economy, no question about it," said Joel Naroff at Naroff Economic Advisers.
"Consumers are shopping until they are tired, they are not shopping until they drop."
Figures released on Wednesday showed that the US economy grew by an annualised rate of 2.6% between July and September, slightly up on the previous estimate of 2.5%.
However, doubts remain about the strength of the recovery.
Earlier this month, the US Federal Reserve said the recovery was still too slow to bring down the country's high level of unemployment.
Figures released earlier this month showed the unemployment rate rising to 9.8%, its highest rate since April.
This is why the Fed has announced that it will pump $600bn (£390bn) into the economy, and why the government has extended tax cuts enacted by President George W Bush that were set to expire this year.
Greece approves austerity budget amid new strike
The Greek parliament has approved next year's budget, bringing in sweeping austerity measures.
The budget imposes more spending cuts and tax rises, as required by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in exchange for a bailout to tackle the country's debts.
Ahead of the vote, public transport unions protesting over cuts to wages staged another 24-hour strike.
The governing Socialists won the vote by 156-142.
The budget aims to effect a deficit of 7.4% of GDP next year, down from about 9.4% this year.
Growth pledge
Greece needed to approve the budget to continue to receive a $144bn bailout fund created by European countries and the IMF.
Prime Minister George Papandreou insisted his austerity measures were working.
"We will not go bankrupt. In 2012 we will return to a path of growth. We will not give speculators or ratings agencies the pleasure.
"We will do whatever it takes to succeed. We will change this country."
The 24-hour strike caused traffic chaos in Athens as commuters struggled to get to work by car or taxi.
The strike included public transport such as buses and metro, although flights and ferries were not affected.
"The struggle by the workers, the pensioners and the unemployed against these anti-worker and anti-social measures continues," private sector union GSEE said in a statement.
"The workers and unions of the country will continue and intensify their action and struggles as long as these unjust and harsh neo-liberal policies continue," it added.
The BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens says the budget was expected to pass, but that dissent among MPs of the governing socialist party is growing.
The country has seen several general strikes this year.
Snow paralyses transport in parts of Western Europe
Two thousand travellers have been left stranded at the main Paris airport, Roissy-Charles de Gaulle, as further snow is hitting France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
Half the flights at Charles de Gaulle have been cancelled, largely because of a shortage of de-icing fluid.
In Belgium, police advised drivers to stay at home. Hundreds of accidents were reported across Germany.
While in northern Italy, heavy rain has caused flooding in parts of Venice.
Unusually high water levels were reported in the Venice lagoon and in the town of Vicenza, west of Venice, people were moved from their homes because of high river levels.
Traffic paralysed
In western Germany, traffic was described as paralysed in parts of North Rhine Westphalia. Further east, the railway line between Berlin and Hanover was blocked because of frozen overhead power-lines.
The French authorities, struggling to cope with the country's third major snowfall of the winter, said fresh supplies of de-icing fluid were on their way to Charles de Gaulle airport but would not arrive before Monday.
Passengers were also stranded overnight at Charleroi airport in Belgium although some flights were operating on Friday morning.
Cancellations were also reported at Brussels airport and buses were not running in the capital and other areas.
Heavy snow was forecast for parts of Scotland and north-east England on Friday and passengers hoping to return home for Christmas by train were warned of reduced services on several lines.
Taliban launch attacks along north Pakistan border
At least 11 soldiers and 24 militants have been killed in clashes near the Afghan border in north-west Pakistan, officials have said.
About 150 Taliban launched co-ordinated attacks against five Frontier Corps checkpoints in Mohmand tribal region, they said.
The Taliban said only two of their fighters had died.
The military has launched offensives in the region in recent months, but insurgent attacks have continued.
Amjad Ali Khan, administrator of Mohmand, confirmed that 11 soldiers had been killed following initial reports that three had died. He said 12 other soldiers had been injured.
Mr Khan said the Frontier Corps paramilitary troops had "repulsed" the militant attacks in the Baizai area which began at 0200 local time.
"The troops responded with artillery fire and raids by helicopter gunships, killing 24 militants," he said.
"Seven of their bodies are in our possession."
He said that the fighting ended later Friday morning.
However, Sajjad Mohmand, spokesman for the Taliban in Mohmand, told the BBC that only two insurgents had been killed in the clashes.
He said they had captured two soldiers alive and held the bodies of six others.
Security officials have rejected the claim, saying no soldiers are unaccounted for.
Mohmand is a transit point for insurgents crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan and a stronghold of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad says militants are proving that they can still carry out attacks, despite the military campaign against them.
Earlier this month, a twin suicide bomb attack at a government compound in Mohmand's main town of Ghalanai left 43 people dead. Local officials had been meeting tribal elders to discuss forming an anti-Taliban militia at the time of the blasts.
In July, another twin suicide bombing attack, also targeting tribal elders, killed more than 100 people in the village of Yakaghund in Mohmand.
Mohmand is one of seven Pakistani tribal areas.
Pakistan has faced growing pressure from Washington to launch a major ground offensive in the tribal region of North Waziristan, considered a fortress for militants fighting US-led troops in Afghanistan.
Islamabad has denied accusations that it is not doing enough to fight the Taliban in the restive north-west of the country.
It says more than 2,40 Pakistani soldiers have been killed fighting Islamist insurgents since 2002.
Pakistan supported the Taliban regime in Afghanistan from 1996-2001, but later became an ally of the US when it led an invasion in 2001.
Medvedev and Obama hail 'historic' nuclear arms treaty
US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have hailed the New Start nuclear arms treaty as a "historic event", the White House says.
In a telephone call on Thursday, Mr Medvedev congratulated Mr Obama on achieving Senate approval of the pact.
Mr Obama in turn said that the two had a "very productive year".
The US Senate approved the pact, which would reduce nuclear arsenals and allow their inspection, on Wednesday after some Republicans agreed to back it.
'Extra Russian checks'
In Russia, meanwhile, the Speaker of the State Duma (lower house), Boris Gryzlov, said MPs might approve the pact on Friday, with the upper house, the Federation Council, approving it in next year.
Mr Gryzlov said the Russian parliament would first check that the US Senate's ratification motion had not changed the text of the agreement.
The US Senate on Wednesday approved the treaty by 71 votes to 26, after months of wrangling and over the objections of some of the top Republicans in the chamber. Thirteen Republican Senators broke with party leadership and voted with the Democrats.
He has argued that ratification of New Start is vital to US national security and made the agreement a key plank of the president's much-heralded "re-set" of relations with Russia.
After the vote, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement: "A responsible partnership between the world's two largest nuclear powers that limits our nuclear arsenals while maintaining strategic stability is imperative to promoting global security."
The New Start treaty, which will replace its lapsed predecessor, Start (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), was signed by the two presidents in April 2010.
It trims US and Russian nuclear arsenals to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads - a cut of about 30% from a limit set eight years ago.
The treaty would also allow each side visually to inspect the other's nuclear capability, with the aim of verifying how many warheads each missile carries.
A previous inspection regime - part of the old Start treaty - expired a year ago.
In addition, there will be legally binding limits on the number of warheads and missiles that can be deployed on land, on submarines, and on bombers, at any one time.
Laurent Gbagbo denied access to Ivory Coast state funds
The Central Bank of West African States has blocked Laurent Gbagbo's access to Ivory Coast's funds and has recognised Alassane Ouattara as president.
The bank says only appointed members of Ivory Coast's "legitimate government" will have access to the deposits there.
The BCEAO had been urged to restrict access as it will make it difficult for Mr Gbagbo to pay the military, and increase pressure on him to step down.
Violence since last month's disputed election has left 173 people dead.
A senior UN official said its investigators had also found evidence of extrajudicial executions, more than 90 cases of torture and 500 arrests, as well as abductions, kidnappings, acts of sexual violence, and destruction of property.
The UN Human Rights Council expressed deep concern about the unrest, and unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the "atrocities".
Mr Gbagbo says the 28 November poll, meant to unify a country split by civil war in 2002, was rigged in rebel areas that backed Mr Ouattara.
The Independent Electoral Commission ruled that Mr Ouattara had won, a decision later certified by the UN. But the Constitutional Council said Mr Gbagbo had been elected, citing vote rigging in some areas.
The UN General Assembly gave Mr Ouattara a further boost late on Thursday, by unanimously deciding to recognise his choice of diplomats as the sole official representatives of Ivory Coast to the UN.
At the same time as the UN Human Rights Council met in Geneva, finance ministers in West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) agreed to tell the BCEAO to hand over control of Ivory Coast's state accounts to Mr Ouattara.
"The Council of Ministers has noted the decisions of the UN, African Union and Ecowas [Economic Community of West African States] to recognise Alassane Ouattara as the legitimately elected president of Ivory Coast," a statement said, according to the Agence France-Presse news agency.
The council had decided that only "officials regularly designated by the legitimate government of Ivory Coast" could access the country's deposits and represent it within the UEMOA, the statement added.
The ministers instructed the central bank and all regional banks "to take all security measures to ensure the rigorous application of these measures".
The BBC's John James in Abidjan says the decision cuts off a major source of funds for Mr Gbagbo, who has shown no sign of stepping down.
Mr Gbagbo still has control of state television and the public support of the army, but without access to Ivory Coast's state accounts it is going to be extremely difficult to pay the salaries of soldiers and civil servants next month, even if he almost certainly has other financial reserves, our correspondent says.
But, analysts say the move by the finance ministers is risky, because Ivory Coast is by far the most important economy in the West African CFA monetary zone, whose eight members all use the franc CFA.
Although Mr Gbagbo has tried to paint the international condemnation of his decision to stay on in power as a plot by former colonial power France, West Africa's leaders have been some of the most vocal critics, our correspondent says.
On Friday, they will gather in Nigeria for an emergency meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) and are likely to consider a range of measures against Mr Gbagbo, including the possibility of military action, he adds.
It sent troops to bring peace to Liberia and Sierra Leone in the 1990s.
Assange dismisses threat of extradition to US
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said it would be "politically impossible" for Britain to extradite him to the United States for espionage.
Mr Assange told the Guardian newspaper there was a "high chance" he would be killed if he was jailed in America.
US authorities are thought to be considering whether they could extradite him on espionage charges.
He is currently on bail facing extradition proceedings to Sweden on sexual assault allegations.
Mr Assange denies the claims and says the case is politically motivated.
His Wikileaks website has published tens of thousands of leaked US diplomatic cables.
Mr Assange said strong public support for him in the UK would make it difficult for the British to hand him over to the Americans.
"It's all a matter of politics. We can presume there will be an attempt to influence UK political opinion, and to influence the perception of our standing as a moral actor," he said.
"Legally the UK has the right to not extradite for political crimes. Espionage is the classic case of political crimes. It is at the discretion of the UK government as to whether to apply to that exception."
He also said that if was extradited to the US, there was a "high chance" of him being killed "Jack Ruby-style".
This is a reference to the man who killed Lee Harvey Oswald before he was brought to trial for the murder of President John F Kennedy.