riverScrap

Netanyahu piles on rhetoric in address to Arab world

Major policy speech peppered with overtures - but no change in tune over historic stumbling blocks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delivered an impassioned speech to the Arab world, calling for negotiations to resume but insisting that several key issues of contention are not open for debate.

Setting aside the pugnacious language for which he is better known, the Likud leader told heads of state from across the region: "I am willing to meet with you any time, any place - in Damascus, in Riyadh, in Beirut."

Mr Netanyahu also tentatively suggested, for the first time, that Israel would accept Palestinian statehood. But he angered officials in Ramallah by attaching a raft of audacious prerequisites to the new pledge.

BNP mission statement praises immigration

With news of Nick Griffin's not-so-shocking election to the European parliament, it befalls the British public to take a long and hard look at precisely what the British National Party stands for.

Of course the media and the rest of the political spectrum have made their views clear – 'thugs' and 'racists' are two of the words most commonly bandied about – but to truly understand the BNP we must look at its own statements. Listening, after all, is a greater skill than talking.

And with that in mind your humble reporter shimmied his way down to bnp.org.uk, where he made a discovery that is nothing short of astonishing: the BNP supports immigration to the British Isles.

British media too quick to write Brown's obituary

While the past 48 hours have undeniably been a low-point in Gordon Brown's career, they've also served as a timely reminder of just how shallow, dim-witted and self-serving our beloved media can be.

It is no exaggeration to say that James Purnell's dramatic resignation on Thursday night left Mr Brown in a precarious situation. Having the fastest-rising star in your Cabinet jump ship and openly call for your resignation would be sure to unnerve even the sturdiest of PMs.

But while many believed that the vultures circling above included other senior figures, it now appears the flock was largely restricted to the usual band of suspects: opportunistic Tories, hackneyed Labour backbenchers, and – of course – our shamelessly trigger-happy press.

Israel: Settlement expansion 'no obstacle to peace'

Middle East peace hopes were dealt a blow on Saturday when Israel's strategic affairs minister, Moshe Ya'alon, openly rebuffed calls by US president Barack Obama to stop expanding settlements.

Mr Ya'alon, who is a former chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces, told Channel 2 News that "settlement construction will not be halted," insisting: "They were never an obstacle [to peace], not at any stage."

His comments come just days after President Obama held high-profile talks with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, where he sought to revivie the faltering 2003 road-map.

NUJ abandons objectivity over BNP row

While the media was busy today ranting about an inconsequential decision to invite Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party (BNP), to Buckingham Palace, a far more pressing debate over the advertising rights of extremist groups has gripped the blogosphere.

It emerged yesterday that several websites run by regional newspaper publisher Newsquest have carried banner advertisements for the BNP, which is attempting to raise its profile ahead of the European elections on June 4.

What is troubling is that the ads, which appeared on the online editions of otherwise innocuous papers such as The Bromsgrove Advertiser, have provoked an outcry from the reputedly objective National Union of Journalists (NUJ).

Can America tweet its way to victory in Iraq?

In a country still wracked by daily terror attacks, you might think that technological wizardry would be the least of Iraq's concerns.

Not so, however, according to a growing number of influential policymakers including none other than Iraqi president Jalal Talabani. Today, he sat down to discuss how social media could help end his country’s conflict.

Under the auspices of the US State Department, the ambitious meeting saw senior executives from Twitter, Google and YouTube flown into Baghdad for a tête-à-tête with Iraq’s most senior politicians.

US ‘didn’t torture’ Al Qaeda leader, 183 times

Suspected 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was “not tortured” on 183 separate occasions in March 2003, according to a newly released memo from the Bush-era Justice Department.

The declassified document confirms that interrogators used waterboarding – a controversial technique that simulates drowning – about six times a day for one month following the terror leader’s arrest.

President Obama authorised the release of the top secret memo on Thursday, citing its “exceptional circumstances”. Unlike Mr Bush, he views waterboarding as torture and has signed an executive order banning it.

Somali pirates vow to kill US, French sailors

The Somali piracy saga took a dramatic new turn on Monday when hostage-takers angrily vowed to execute any future captives of American or French origin.

Attacks off the Horn of Africa have become increasingly audacious in recent months, as heavily armed gangs of criminals with loose ties to Al Qaeda set their sights on ransom money for hijacked ships.

Casualties among hostages have until now been rare, but with US and French forces staging two bloody rescue attempts over the weekend, pirate leaders in Somali have issued a chilling new threat.

Limbaugh stoops to new low with 'Barack Ogabe' slur

Conservative political commentator Rush Limbaugh, no stranger to controversy, has come under fire for appearing to compare Barack Obama with brutal African dictator Robert Mugabe.

Aside from their similar skin tone, little unites the US president and his Zimbabwean counterpart. One is a democratically elected leader with a 64 per cent approval rating, while the other is a murderous thug.

But that didn't stop Mr Limbaugh "confusing" the two men during a radio diatribe about free market economics, in which he sarcastically referred to the Zimbabwean leader as "Barack Ogabe".

UN details Israeli human rights abuses in Gaza

The United Nations has ramped up pressure on Israel by issuing a raft of reports in which it formally accuses the Jewish State of committing war crimes during its 23-day war in the Gaza Strip.

Among the most damning allegations, compiled by nine UN human rights experts, is a report that IDF soldiers used an 11-year-old Palestinian boy as a human shield after coming under sniper fire in Tel al-Hawa.

The investigators also accused Israel of targeting civilians in an effort to minimise troop casualties, echoing recent accounts from several soldiers which suggested that civilian lives were taken wantonly.