Egypt’s cabinet offers to resign as elections thrown into doubt Cairo Nov 22,2011-Egypt’s entire cabinet offered to resign on Monday night following three days of clashes in Cairo between the security forces and protesters seeking the reforms promised when Hosni Mubarak was removed from power. As violence abated later in the day, the news brought fireworks and celebrations in Tahrir Square as crowds swelled into the tens of thousands. The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) appeared to have ceded control of the square amid growing criticism at home and abroad of a bloody crackdown that killed at least 33 people. “The government of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has handed its resignation to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces,” said Mohammed Hegazy, the cabinet spokesman. Expressing “deep regret over the painful events”, it however offered to continue working until the resignation was accepted. As hopes of a successful transition to democracy faded, there were conflicting reports about whether the resignation had been accepted by the military. Analysts said the resignation offer could have been an attempt by the cabinet to save its own reputation, or could have been contrived by the SCAF to appease protesters and buy time while it considers its next move. The military – all diehards of the three-decade Mubarak era – appointed the civilian cabinet when it assumed power after the president was ousted amid tumultuous scenes in February. Scores of Egyptian diplomats condemned the violence and urged the ruling military to hold elections scheduled for Nov 28 on time. Read More..
Murder probe into baby thrown from fifth floor  Berlin 21 Nov 2011- Share10 Berlin police have launched a murder investigation after a newborn baby was found dead near a block of flats – investigators say it was thrown from the fifth floor. A 67-year-old resident of the block in the Charlottenburg district found the baby which was in a plastic bag, on Sunday morning as he was on his way to buy bread. A special armed commando team was summoned to arrest a 40-year-old woman, a 15-year-old girl and a 45-year-old man from one of the flats in the block. They were called because the man reportedly has a criminal record for violence.It is thought the 40-year-old woman had given birth to the baby on Saturday night in the flat where she lived with her teenage daughter. There is no information about whether the arrested man was the father of the baby. People living nearby have said the woman had tried to hide her pregnancy, although police would not comment on the rumours. Read More..
International Criminal Court demands Libya hand over captured Saif al-Islam Tripoli-The International Criminal Court today demanded that Libya hand over Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s captured son Saif al-Islam, amid fears that he could face the summary justice as his father. Hours after news broke on Saturday morning that the late Libyan dictator’s fugitive son had been caught near the border of Niger, the ICC said the Libyan government had an “obligation” to cooperate with the court. Prosecutors at the Hague-based tribunal are anxious to prevent a repeat of the events following the arrest of Colonel Gaddafi himself, who was killed by a mob after being caught near the Libyan town of Sirte just over a month ago. “An arrest warrant has been issued by the ICC,” said the court’s spokesman, Fadi El-Abdallah. “The Libyan authorities have an obligation to cooperate with the court.” Saif, 39, who was Gaddafi’s eldest son and heir apparent to his father’s rule, was caught on Friday near the town of Obari in southern Libya by rebels loyal to the new government. Bashir al-Tlayeb, a commander of one of the Zintan brigades from Libya’s Western mountains, said his fighters had captured him with two aides as he tried to escape to Niger. He reportedly had only a few thousand dollars on him, despite claims that he had escaped from Tripoli with a vast fortune to help him stay on the run. The prisoner, who refused to confirm his identity, was flown by Libyan militiamen to Zintan, where hundreds thronged the runway to get a look at him. A Reuters correspondent who also travelled on the plane said he wore traditional robes with a scarf pulled over his face, and had a bandaged hand. On the plane he spoke only a few brief words when the correspondent tried to interview him. Asked if he was feeling all right, Gaddafi said simply: “Yes.” Asked about the bandages on the thumb and two fingers of his right hand, he replied: “Air force, air force,” he said. Asked if that meant a NATO air strike, Read More..
Network of helpers for neo-Nazi terror probed  Munich Nov 16,2011-As the German authorities feverishly investigated whether a neo-Nazi terror group responsible for several murders had a nationwide network of accomplices, criticism of the country’s domestic intelligence services continued to grow on Tuesday.The self-styled National Socialist Underground (NSU), a trio of far-right extremists thought to be responsible for at least 10 murders over the past decade, appears to have relied on help from other neo-Nazis over the years.After the arrest of a 37-year-old man identified only as Holger G. on Monday, public broadcaster ARD reported that the group also received support from a well-known neo-Nazi in Saxony called Matthias D.“There are indications there were other helpers,” said Thomas Oppermann, chairman of the parliamentary intelligence committee, on Tuesday. “Those aiding terrorists have to be found and severely punished.”Concerns about the role played by the domestic intelligence agents monitoring neo-Nazis in Germany grew on Tuesday after it was revealed that one official was possibly present when a man was shot dead by members of the terrorist group.The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that a new investigation had been launched into the 2006 killing of Halit Yozgat who was shot dead in his internet cafe in Kassel. His murder is one of several xenophobic killings claimed by the NSU terror group. Read More..
Euro recovery will take a ‘decade’, Merkel says  Hamburg Nov 05,2011-Europe will need 10 years to clean up its finances and emerge from the current debt crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared on Saturday.Resolving the debt crisis “is a path which calls for much effort, and along which we will have to advance step by step,” Merkel said, the day after the end of a G20 summit in Cannes, France, which was dominated by the issue.”The debt crisis will not be solved all in one go, (and) it is certain that it will take us a decade to get back to a better position,” she added in comments posted on her website.For that to happen, all eurozone nations would have to legally limit their debt levels, she stressed in the weekly web posting.”Everyone in Europe must make an effort to achieve all that is required,” Merkel said.The G20 summit, bringing together the leaders of the world’s most powerful economies, stumbled to a messy end in Cannes on Saturday with a list of promised measures to boost growth and reinforce the International Monetary Fund which was short on detail.Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was forced to accept IMF oversight of his budget-cutting programme, and Greek leader George Papandreou scraped through a confidence vote after swallowing EU bailout terms.
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