Copenhagen climate talks break down, head for failure

Climate talks seemed close to a deal but at the eleventh hour have taken two steps back and are headed for failure, says Catherine Brahic.

United States Central Intelligence Agency Linked to Palestinian Torture

Friday, December 18, 2009
14:44 Mecca time, 11:44 GMT

CIA linked to Palestinian ‘torture’

Between 400 and 500 Hamas supporters are being held in the West Bank by the PSF and GI

Palestinian security agents who have allegedly tortured Hamas supporters in the West Bank have been working closely with the CIA, the UK’s Guardian newspaper has reported.

The US Central Intelligence Agency has co-operated with the Preventive Security Force (PSF) and General Intelligence Service (GI) in the Palestinian territory, the report on Friday said.

“The [Central Intelligence] Agency consider them as their property, those two Palestinian services,” a western official told the Guardian.

Most of the detained Hamas supporters are held without trial and allegedly tortured by the Palestinian agencies in the West Bank.

Hamas backed the Guardian’s findings on Friday during a press conference, and blamed Keith Dayton, the US General commanding the Palestinian National Security Force in the West Bank, for the arrest and torture of its supporters.

Hamas called on Barack Obama, the US president, to remove Dayton from his position and said Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and Fatah leader in the West Bank, was responsible for the “crimes” against Hamas in the West Bank.

Human rights organisations say it is common for detainees to be badly beaten and subjected to “shabeh”, where they are shackled and held in painful positions for long periods.

Hamas, which has de facto control of the Gaza Strip, has faced allegations that its own forces have detained and tortured people allied with Fatah, a rival Palestinian group that is a member of the Palestinian Authority.

Hundreds held

Between 400 and 500 Hamas supporters are currently being held by the PSF and GI, officials from the PA have said.

But Adnan Aldenari, a Palestinian police spokesman, denied that the security forces in the West Bank were abusing detainees.

“We have nothing to hide; or nothing to be ashamed of. When we had mistakes [they] were individual as committed by some officers and not expressive of our policy.

“Our prisons and detention facilities are open and not secret as they are in some other countries. They are open to the media and human rights organisations.”

The Guardian reported that at least three detainees have died in custody this year due to being mistreated.

The most recent was Haitham Amr, a 33-year-old nurse from Hebron, who died four days after he was detained by GI officials last June, the newspaper said.

Shawan Jabarin, the general director of al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights organisation, told the Guardian: “The Americans could stop it any time. All they would have to do is go to [prime minister] Salam Fayyad and tell him they were making it an issue.

“Then they could deal with the specifics: they could tell him that detainees needed to be brought promptly before the courts.”

A regional diplomat told the newspaper that “at the very least” US intelligence officers were aware of the torture and were not doing enough to stop it.

The CIA does not deny working with the PSF and GI in the West Bank, but Paul Gimigliano, a CIA spokesman, said that the US agency does not hold a supervisory role.

“The notion that this agency somehow runs other intelligence services … is simply wrong,” he told the Guardian.

“The CIA … only supports, and is interested in, lawful methods that produce sound intelligence.”

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Eritrea Warns United Nations Security Council Not to Pass “Ludicrous”Sanctions

Eritrea warns U.N. not to pass “ludicrous” sanctions

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Eritrea has warned the U.N. Security Council that a draft sanctions resolution would impose “ludicrous punitive measures” on Asmara for aiding Somali rebels and might further destabilize the Horn of Africa.

“Eritrea urges all members of the U.N. Security Council to use their influence to ensure the rejection of this draft resolution in its entirety,” Eritrea’s U.N. ambassador, Araya Desta, said in a letter to the 15-nation Security Council.

“This measure risks engulfing the region into another cycle of conflict as it may encourage Ethiopia to contemplate reckless military adventures,” he said in the letter, dated Dec. 15 and obtained by Reuters on Friday.

The United States and other council members accuse Asmara of supplying Islamist al Shabaab rebels with funds and arms as they fight to topple a fragile U.N.-backed transitional government in Somalia, a virtually lawless Horn of Africa nation.

Eritrea’s regional rival Ethiopia invaded Somalia in 2006 with tacit U.S. backing to rout an Islamic courts movement from Mogadishu. It withdrew its troops earlier this year and denies accusations by Somalia’s rebels that they have returned. Addis Ababa backs Somalia’s transitional government.

Uganda is credited with drafting the sanctions resolution, which would impose an arms embargo and asset freezes and travel bans on designated Eritrean individuals and firms. But Desta said in his letter that Washington was its true author.

“In reality, the main architect of this resolution and the single country which has been campaigning frantically in the corridors of the U.N. premises in New York … for its adoption is the United States,” he said.

ERITREA WANTS NEW AU MEETING

Desta also reiterated Asmara’s denials that his country is supporting al Shabaab in any way.

In May, the African Union called on the Security Council to sanction Eritrea.

In a telephone interview with Reuters, Desta insisted that “many African nations do not support the idea of sanctions.” He said Eritrea was urging the AU to hold another summit meeting next year to discuss the sanctions issue.

“When we speak with African leaders, many of them say they had no idea that sanctions are being considered against Eritrea,” he said. “They don’t like the idea.”

The AU officially supports sanctions against Asmara, but the organization’s current chair, Libya, has said it would vote against the Ugandan draft resolution. The Libyans have a temporary seat on the U.N. Security Council until the end of December.

Council diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity that they expected the council to vote on the resolution before the end of the year and predicted it would get 14 votes in favor. Libya is likely to cast the sole vote against it.

Security Council members from the West had originally expected negotiations on the resolution to run into next year. But diplomats said an agreement had emerged after Russia and China took an “unusually cooperative” stance on the resolution.

A U.N. arms monitoring body, which was set up to record violations of a 1992 arms embargo on Somalia, has said Asmara was sending munitions to Somali rebels, as well as providing them with logistical support.

Somalia has been mired in chaos for nearly two decades and there is little sign the latest attempt to establish a central government is proving any more successful than the 14 previous efforts since a dictator was ousted in 1991.

(Editing by Eric Beech)

France Launches New Spy Satellite in the Caribbean

France launches new spy satellite

By Franck Leconte

CAYENNE, French Guiana (Reuters) - France launched a military spy satellite on Friday, space officials said, part of a boost in spending on independent surveillance.

It was the first such launch under President Nicolas Sarkozy, who brought France back into NATO’s military command earlier this year after a four-decade hiatus.

While cooperating more closely with the United States on military planning, France sees independent access to space intelligence as a strategic priority.

The satellite, Helios 2B, blasted off on a European Ariane rocket at 1626 GMT from the European Space Agency launch site in Kourou, French Guiana, on the northeast coast of South America.

It was separated from the Ariane rocket 59 minutes later.

Initially scheduled for launch on Dec. 9, countdown was halted several hours before the lift-off when a technical problem in the rocket’s helium subsystem was detected.

A second attempt to launch the satellite was halted on Thursday five minutes before blast-off.

“The first mission of these tools is to assure France’s independent analysis by having the independent means of acquiring intelligence worldwide,” Lieutenant Colonel Christophe Morand, head of the Helios programme of the French military command, told a briefing in Kourou before last week’s aborted launch.

“We must be able to furnish the (French) president with proof during a conflict that a country has violated another country’s national sovereignty,” Morand said.

BETTER INTELLIGENCE

Helios 2B is the second of France’s new generation “spy in the sky” series manufactured by the space division of Airbus parent EADS. Its predecessor was launched in 2004.

Earlier generation Helios 1 satellites launched aboard Ariane rockets in 1995 and 1999 were less sophisticated.

Defence officials said Helios 2’s infra-red system permits detection of human activity. They said it can tell whether a truck convoy is moving or halted and whether a nuclear reactor is operational or not.

It will be capable of operating at night but will not be able to capture images through clouds.

The satellite would help in preparing missions and assessing threats, as well as drawing up maps of uncharted zones in Afghanistan, Iraq, Chad and the Sudanese region of Darfur.

Defence officials said full disclosure of the satellite’s capacity could not be made public.

Helios was initially planned as a pan-European satellite series to counter U.S. space intelligence domination during the Cold War. However, France’s European partners have been less willing to participate financially in the Helios 2 programme.

The 1990s first generation Helios 1 programme attracted contributions totalling 21 percent from Spain and Italy. But France has financed 90 percent of the 2 billion euro ($3 billion) Helios 2 series with Italy, Belgium, Spain and Greece contributing 10 percent.

(Additional reporting and writing by Alexander Miles)

Today on New Scientist: 18 December 2009

Today’s stories on newscientist.com, at a glance, including: why you’re bound to say the wrong thing, the clearest sign yet of dark matter and the latest from Copenhagen

Copenhagen diaries: … and then there were four

The Copenhagen talks are now in extra time. Gloom and a strange silence has descended on the meeting rooms and corridors, says Fred Pearce

Madagascar Coup Leader Sacks Prime Minister

Friday, December 18, 2009
23:00 Mecca time, 20:00 GMT

Madagascar president sacks PM

Rajoelina took power in a military backed coup in March 2009

Andry Rajoelina, the country’s president, has dismissed Eugene Mangalaza, a man he appointed as prime minister in October.

The move is likely to anger international mediators and further jeopardise hopes for a solution to the island’s political crisis.

Haja Resampa, secretary general of the presidency, said on Friday: “The measures in the decree dated October 10 … relating to the nomination of the leader of the government of national union are hereby annulled.”

Rajoelina offered the job to Mangalaza under heavy international pressure as part of a power-sharing deal signed with his political rivals.

But that deal and a succession of others have fallen through as Rajoelina and three former presidents squabble over the division of key jobs in a consensus government.

Cecile Manorohanta, Madagascar’s vice prime minister and a close ally of Rajoelina, will take over the premiership indefinitely.

Analysts said Rajoelina’s move would dent hopes for the unblocking of aid worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Unity government

Hours earlier, members of Madagascar’s opposition said they would form a unity government within days and called on the military to stay in their barracks.

Albert Zafy, the country’s former vice-president, said: “We are going to put in place our ministers and we ask the armed forces to remain neutral and stay in their barracks.”

Rajoelina this week called elections and said power-sharing talks were dead.

Zafy was among opposition leaders who returned to the island after Rajoelina’s administration lifted a ban on their re-entry following talks in Mozambique.

“Rajoelina has reneged on his signature. We can no longer trust him to run the country,” Zafy said.

Rajoelina, who toppled former leader Marc Ravalomanana with military support in March, said on Thursday it would be impossible to share power with political enemies.

He said the international community no longer needed to involve itself in Madagascar’s affairs.

In a statement seen by Reuters on Friday, France has called for speedy, transparent elections that are monitored by an independent electoral commission and foreign observers.

While France, Madagascar’s former colonial power, did not condemn Rajoelina outright, it urged all parties to resume dialogue in search of a consensus solution.

Foreign countries have said they will re-engage with Madagascar only after a consensus government is established and a road map to free and credible elections is in place.

Rajoelina has not set a timetable for a presidential election which, under the terms of the original power-sharing deal, must be held by late 2010.

Source: Agencies

Record number of people make perilous journey to Yemen, UN reports

Fleeing conflict, poverty and drought, more than 74,000 people - a record number - from the Horn of Africa risked their lives this year to make the treacherous journey across the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea to begin their lives anew in Yemen, the United Nations refugee agency said today.

Anthrax in heroin leads to deaths in Scotland

Two heroin injectors have died of anthrax, says Debora MacKenzie, who reported similar cases in Scotland in 2000

Where is Happyville, USA?

The first ever league table of happiness in US states combines surveys of Americans and objective indicators of quality of life