Asia
North Korea ‘testing at rocket site’
Recent satellite images show that North Korea has been conducting tests at a rocket launch site, says the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University in the USA. The Institute said its analysis of the images “indicates that North Korea continues to develop long-range missiles”. There have been at least two tests of rocket motors since a failed launch in April, it said, when a 30m rocket crashed into the sea shortly after ignition. Pyongyang said the launch was aimed at putting a satellite into orbit, but the US, South Korea and Japan all condemned it as a banned test of long-range missile technology.
Middle East
Arab League welcomes Syrian opposition bloc
The Arab League has welcomed the formation of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, a new coalition of Syrian anti-government organisations, and has called on other opposition parties to join it. The Arab League stopped short of giving the group full recognition as the sole representative of the Syrian people, but Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim said the league’s ministerial council called for “political and material support” for the organisation. The National Coalition was unveiled in Doha on Sunday, and aims to unite the various factions seeking to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Western nations and Turkey have welcomed the group’s foundation, while six Gulf states have recognised the new coalition as the country’s “legitimate representative”.
Palestinian UN observer state bid scheduled for 29 November
The Palestinian Authority will present its bid for Palestine to become a UN “non-member observer state” on 29 November, says President Mahmoud Abbas. The bid is proceeding despite US and Israeli opposition. Mr Abbas said that if the bid succeeds, he will begin negotiations with Israel “the next day”. A Palestinian bid to join the international body as a full member state in 2011 failed because of a lack of support among the UN Security Council. Currently, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), the umbrella group which represents most Palestinian factions and conducts negotiations with Israel, only has “permanent observer” status at the UN. Becoming a non-member state – a status already held by the Vatican – would improve the Palestinians’ chances of joining UN agencies and the International Criminal Court, though the process would be neither automatic nor guaranteed. Mr Abbas wants the recognised borders of Palestine’s admission as a non-member state to be based on those that existed before Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip during the 1967 war. “We don’t want any confrontations with the United States or Israel,” said Mr Abbas. “If we could start a dialogue or negotiations the day after the vote, we will.”
Europe
Greece secures short-term funding via financial markets as bailout decision delayed
The Greek government has managed to sell €4.06bn ($5.15bn) of treasury bills – very short-term bonds. It sold the one-month bills at an interest rate of 3.95% and the three-month bonds at 4.2%. The money is needed to cover €5bn of old treasury bills, which are due for payment on Friday. Greece needs to raise the money this way because it has not yet received the next tranche of its bailout loans. The remaining €940m euros needed will be raised over the next few days, but not through auctions. Eurozone ministers agreed earlier in the week to give Greece two more years, until 2016, to meet its deficit-reduction targets, but delayed a decision on releasing the latest €31.5bn tranche of bailout funds until 20 November, when they will meet again for further discussions.
Abu Qatada released from prison
Muslim cleric Abu Qatada has been freed on bail after a UK court ruled he may not get a fair trial if deported to his native Jordan to face terrorism charges. He was released from Long Lartin prison after seven years in British custody. The court decided yesterday that evidence obtained by the torture of others could be used at his trial in Jordan over alleged bomb plots, despite repeated assurances to the contrary by the Jordanian government. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has said the British government remains “absolutely determined” to deport him. Speaking on ITV’s Daybreak, a breakfast news and talk show, he said: “we strongly disagree with the court ruling. We are going to challenge it… he should not be in this country, he is a dangerous person”.
North America
David Petraeus CIA scandal engulfs Gen John Allen
The USA’s theatre commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, is being investigated for allegedly sending “inappropriate emails” to a woman at the centre of a scandal that ended the career of CIA chief Gen David Petraeus, who resigned on Friday. The emails were supposedly sent to Jill Kelley, a married woman who complained to an FBI friend that she had been receiving anonymous harassing emails. The FBI then started an investigation, which led to the discovery of Gen Petraeus’s extra-marital affair with a woman named Paula Broadwell. Gen Allen denies any wrongdoing. He was due to be confirmed as Nato’s top commander in Europe, but Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has asked for his nomination to be delayed. President Barack Obama has agreed to this, according to Mr Panetta’s statement. A senior Pentagon official said up to 30,000 pages of emails and other documents from Gen Allen’s communications with Mrs Kelley between 2010 and 2012 were under review. He would not say whether they involved sexual matters or if they are thought to include unauthorised disclosures of classified information.
Latin America
Argentina to seek international help over ship seizure
The Argentinean government has said it will ask the International Sea Tribunal, based in Germany, to intervene in the dispute over its ship the Libertad, currently impounded in Ghana by a US hedge fund as collateral against unpaid loans. Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said Ghana must release the Libertad by Tuesday if it wants to avoid such action. The hedge fund, NML Capital, obtained a local court order last month to prevent the ship from leaving Ghana. NML Capital claims it is owed $370m as a result of Argentina’s debt default a decade ago, and is seeking $20m in return for the release of the ship. Argentina has vowed not to bow to what it calls “blackmail by vulture funds”.
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