Europe
Mark Duggan “give loaded gun” before police shooting
A loaded handgun was given to Mark Duggan 15 minutes before he was shot dead by police in Tottenham last year – the incident over which a protest was held that then erupted into London’s vicious August riots. Snaresbrook Crown Court heard details from the prosecution as it opened its case against Kevin Hutchinson-Foster, 30, who denies a charge of supplying the gun. Edward Brown QC told the court that Mr Duggan had taken a taxi to Leyton, east London, to collect it, but no gun was found on Mr Duggan after he had been killed.
North America
Secret Romney video exposes views on Obama voters
Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been secretly filmed disparaging Democratic voters at a private donor dinner. Mr Romney can be heard saying that the 47% of Americans who back President Barack Obama do not pay income tax and will never vote for him: “I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives”. Questioned in a late night TV appearance, Mr Romney said his remarks were not “elegantly stated”, but did not retract them: “this is the same message I give to people in public”, he said. The Obama campaign has commented, with campaign manager Jim Messina saying: “it’s hard to serve as the president for all Americans when you’ve disdainfully written off half the nation.” The film was released by liberal investigative magazine Mother Jones.
More than 100 arrests on Occupy’s first anniversary
Over 100 people have been arrested as protesters marched in New York on the first anniversary of the Occupy movement. Several hundred demonstrators met in locations around lower Manhattan early yesterday and began marching and holding sit-ins around Wall Street. Events were planned in 30 cities. Organisers hoped the anniversary would revitalise the movement, with police saying they had made at least 125 arrests, mostly for disorderly conduct, by 12:15. Retired Episcopalian bishop George Packard said: “I am here today because of the greed of Wall Street… all roads lead to Wall Street, they control our lives.” The Occupy movement began on 17 September 2011 and sparked a wave of demonstrations across North America against the influence of money in politics. In October, about 700 protesters were arrested in a single day as they spilled on to the Brooklyn Bridge. Imitation movements emerged across the world, including in London, where protesters “occupied” St Paul’s Cathedral, near the London Stock Exchange, for months.
Africa and Middle East
Hezbollah leader rallies against anti-Islam film
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanon’s militant group of Shia Muslims Hezbollah, has appeared in public for the first time since December 2011 to denounce the anti-Islam film made by amateur Americans. Sheikh Nasrallah spoke at a rally in Beirut to say that the USA faces “very dangerous” repercussions if it allows the full video to be released. His call over the weekend for a week of protests against the film helped to trigger new protests in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Philippines yesterday, in which thousands of outraged Muslims participated and in which at least one person has died. Sheikh Nasrallah said the world did not understand the “breadth of the humiliation” caused by the “worst attack ever on Islam”.
EU to hold talks with Iran over nuclear programme
EU foreign affairs representative Catherine Ashton is to hold talks with Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, in a bid to end the stand-off over the Iranian nuclear programme. Tehran said Mr Jalili would emphasise the country’s right to peaceful nuclear energy. Previous talks have been unsuccessful, with the most recent round, between Iran and the P5+1 (the USA, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany) ending without a breakthrough in June. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said afterwards that the proposals they had seen from Iran had been “non-starters”.
Suicide bomber kills 12 on Kabul bus over anti-Islam video
Up to 12 people are reported to have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on a minibus carrying foreign passengers near the Afghan capital, Kabul. Eight South Africans were killed in the attack, for which Afghan insurgent group Hezb-e-Islami has claimed responsibility. The group says the bombing was a response to the anti-Islam video that has caused outrage across the Muslim world. The attack comes as Nato says it will restrict operations with Afghan forces from now on, due to the hostile response to the video and a recent rise in “green-on-blue” attacks by Afghan security forces on their Nato allies. Fifty-one Nato troops have been killed by Afghan soldiers so far this year, with 15 in August alone.
Asia and Russia
Chinese anti-Japan protests begin anew in islands row
The anniversary of Japan’s 1931 invasion of north-east China has seen a new wave of anti-Japan protests have erupt in the latest development of an ongoing row over a group of disputed islands. Thousands of protesters chanted slogans outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing as riot police lined the streets. Japanese media are reporting that the country’s coast guard says several Chinese ships are in the waters near the islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. The islands, also claimed by Taiwan, have long been a point of contention and the current diplomatic rumblings have been ongoing for months. They escalated earlier this month when the Japanese government bought some of the islands from a private owner. A naval conflict is being mooted as the worst-case outcome of the dispute.
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