Tag: InternationalNews

A candidate looking to lead France’s opposition UMP party has called for demonstrations against the Socialist government’s policies, including plans to legalise gay marriage.

But far-right leader Marine Le Pen has threatened to steal the show.

Marine Le Pen, the head of France’s far-right National Front (FN), has said her party would join anti-Socialist demonstrations proposed by the head of the centre-right opposition UMP party, dealing a significant blow to his credibility ahead of a leadership contest.

Jean-François Copé has said that if he wins the battle for the party’s presidency against former Prime Minister François Fillon on November 18 – which polls say looks unlikely – he would launch street protests against Socialist policies that threaten the “pillars of society”.

Chief among these supposed threats is a proposed law to legalise gay marriage and give greater parenting rights to same-sex couples, including adoption, which has drawn the anger of French conservative groups.

In late October, pro-life group Alliance Vita, which says it has no religious or political affiliation, organised demonstrations in 75 towns and cities across France against the proposed law, under the banner “Un Maman et Un Papa” (one mummy, one daddy).

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has been forced to cancel several public appearances recently, prompting speculation over the state of his health.

The Kremlin insists the all-action leader had simply pulled a muscle.

Russian strongman Vladimir Putin is continuing to maintain an unusually low profile and speculation is mounting over the state of the president’s health.

Despite denials from the Kremlin, the rumours are growing that the all-action president has been laid low by injury, with some suggesting his notorious backbone had become his Achilles heel.

The Russian leader, whose image of physical vigour has been key to his success, has cancelled several foreign trips in recent weeks and has rarely left his suburban residence outside Moscow.

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In a foreign ministry statement, Cuba said the US was “promoting… financing and supplying” opponents of the government using “diverse media”.

It blamed staff at the US Interests Section at the Swiss embassy in Havana.

The US has said it simply allows Cubans access to computers and free courses on how to use the internet.

Access to the internet in Cuba is severely restricted, but some activists have used it to challenge the government.

Havana said that diplomats from the US Interests Section were “permanently inciting these people… to undertake provocative actions… and act against the Cuban constitutional order”.

The statement was published in the official newspaper, Granma.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the section did offer free internet courses for Cubans as well as access to computers – like all other US missions – but denied that diplomats were working to subvert the Cuban government.

She said the US promoted “freedom of access to information around the world”.

“Obviously, this wouldn’t be necessary if the Cuban government didn’t restrict access to the internet and prevent its own citizens from getting technology training,” she said.

The timing of the latest statement, just ahead of the US presidential elections, is curious, the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford reports from Havana.

Republican candidate Mitt Romney recently launched a campaign advert in the key swing-state of Florida – home to many anti-communist exiles – saying that Cuba supports Barack Obama for the presidency.

The government in Havana appears to be denying that, albeit in a roundabout way, while also reminding Cubans that hostility to Cuba has remained constant in the US for five decades, regardless of who is in the White House, our correspondent adds.

The US and Cuba broke off diplomatic relations in 1961, but have maintained interest sections in each other’s capitals for the past three decades to provide consular services and deal with bilateral issues.

Three years ago, a US contractor was imprisoned for 15 years for distributing laptops and electronic material to the island’s Jewish community.

Alan Gross said he had just been trying to help the small community get access to the internet.

Israel’s military censor has cleared for publication an interview with a commando who killed the deputy of the then Palestinian chief Yasser Arafat.

It has been widely believed that Abu Jihad was killed by Israeli agents in Tunis in 1988 but Israel has never officially acknowledged it.

However, the censor has allowed Yediot Ahronot newspaper to publish the interview with Nahum Lev.

Mr Lev died in 2000 and his account has not been made public until now.

Abu Jihad – whose real name was Khalil al-Wazir – founded the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) with Yasser Arafat and was blamed for a string of deadly attacks on Israelis.

He was shot dead on 16 April 1988 in a raid on the PLO headquarters in the Tunisian capital.

The censors have now given way rather than fight the newspaper in the supreme court.

“Israel killed the number two man in the PLO, Abu Jihad, in Tunis in 1988, it can now be reported,” the newspaper said.

“The intelligence part of the assassination was overseen by the Mossad [Israeli intelligence], and the operational side was carried out by Sayeret Matkal [elite commando unit].”

How The Assassination was Conducted

In his account of the operation, Nahum Lev said: “I had read every page of the file on him. Abu Jihad was connected to horrific acts against civilians. He was marked for death. I shot him with no hesitation.”

He said the Israeli squad arrived by sea and then he and another commando – disguised as a woman – approached the house as if they were a couple enjoying an evening stroll.

Mr Lev said he first shot a bodyguard in the head with a gun concealed in a box of chocolates.

Yediot Ahronot said masked commandos then rushed inside the villa and one of the agents ran upstairs with Mr Lev behind him.

“He shot Abu Jihad first,” Mr Lev said in his account.

“It looked like he was holding a gun. Then I shot him, a long burst, careful not to hurt his wife who showed up. He died. Other combatants confirmed the kill.”

The newspaper said a second bodyguard and a gardener who was sleeping in the basement were also killed.

Mr Lev said: “It was too bad about the gardener. But in operations like this, you have to ensure that all potential resistance is neutralised.”

Israel’s military has so far not commented on the article.

The manner of Yasser Arafat’s own death has been the subject of controversy.

He died a military hospital in Paris in 2004 reportedly following a stroke resulting from a blood disorder.

However, French prosecutors have launched a murder inquiry after his family claimed he was poisoned with polonium-210, a radioactive element.