Monday 31 October 2011

Somali Diaspora support Kenyan troops mission in Somalia



Updated 9 hr(s) 20 min(s) ago
By Chris Wamalwa in USA
Hundreds of Somali nationals living in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the US held a demonstration over the weekend in support of Kenyan troops that are currently deep inside Somalia hunting down Al Shabaab militia.
Kenya went to war against the militia two weeks ago with the intention of rooting out the group that has been associated with kidnappings within Kenyan boundaries, piracy and harsh Islamic laws.
Waving placards, some that bore the message "Shariff is double faced and Kenya is our good neighbor", the Somali nationals expressed their anger over the recent remarks by Somali President Sheikh Shariff that he was opposed to the presence of Kenyan troops inside his country.
"Kenya has welcomed us with open arms, sheltering us when we were refugees, we therefore cannot pay back that friendly gesture by refusing them to go after enemies who are constantly attacking their country, targeting tourists and setting off bombs to kill and inflict harm on their people", said Mohamed Omar Gange, a community leader while addressing the crowd on a chilly fall evening.
Somali Diaspora living in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the US held a demonstration on Saturday in support of Kenyan troops’ incursion in Somalia. Photo: Chris Wamalwa/Standard
Gange said Shariff does not represent the interests of all Somalis. He said the President knows very well that the safety of peace loving Somalis and even his own is at stake with the marauding Al Shabaab controlling big swaths of the country.
"He is being driven around in an armored Amisom tanks from the airport to the presidential palace for fear of being attacked by Al Shabaab but he is not ready to get help from a friendly neighbor who is ready to assist us crush this group" he added.
Speaking at the same event, Ugaas Mohamud Unshur said he had not expected President Shariif to say those words adding that the President should apologize to the Kenyan government for that diplomatic embarrassment. He urged President Sharrif to change tact and work with Kenyans to root out the Al Shabaab.
He appealed to Kenyan troops to remain in Somalia until they liberate the volatile southern part of the country and restore peace for innocent civilians who have never known peace under Al Shabaab occupation.
"Let us be honest with each other, Kenya has no intention of occupying our land. Kenya is only there to defend itself against foreign aggressors that have constantly attacked and taken hostages and aid workers thus threatening peace and the its tourism industry. Whoever does not support Kenyan troops that are on a mission to flush out these terrorists is an enemy of our people" Unshur added.
The apparent support of Kenyan incursion into Somalia by the Somali Diaspora especially those living in Minnesota is a game changer in because the Minnesota Somalis have been accused of being the source of Al Shabaab funding.
It is believed that some of the Minnesota Somali youth have been recruited and are fighting alongside Al Shabaab. In fact only last week, two Somali women were charged in Minneapolis court with fundraising money for the Al Shabaab and are waiting to be sentenced. The US government announced last year that it had charged 14 people as participants in "a deadly pipeline" to Somalia that routed money and fighters from the United States to the terrorist group Al-Shabaab.
At least seven of the 14 people charged were US citizens and 10, all from Minnesota, allegedly left the United States to join Al-Shabaab. Seven of the 10 had been charged previously in the probe.
Minnesota is home to about 70,000 Somalis who were resettled there after the collapse of President Siad Barre’s government in 1991. A group of young Somali men are believed to have left Minnesota to go and fight alongside the Union of Somali Courts in 2007 when Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia to help the transitional government of Abdullahi Yusuf.

Somalia government supports Kenyan forces' mission .

Somalia government supports Kenyan forces' mission


Updated 9 hr(s) 28 min(s) ago
By David Ochami
Kenyan and Somali officials were Monday united behind Kenya’s military operations in Somalia as they sought international assistance to storm Kismayo.
Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga (right) and the Prime minister of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia Abdiweli Mohamed Ali at a joint press briefing in Nairobi on the fight against Al Shabaab militia. Photo Maxwell Agwanda/Standard
Delegates from the two governments said in Nairobi that Al Shabaab must be destroyed militarily in Kismayo to bring peace to the Horn of Africa.Kenya vowed not to negotiate with Al Shabaab but said Somalia’s weak government may do so if the extremist militia renounces violence. Kenya now wants international donors to provide relief aid and support reconstruction and security in areas it expelled Al Shabaab from in the last two weeks.
Military and political leaders from the two countries led by Prime minister Raila Odinga and Somalia Transitional Federal Government (TFG) premier Abdiweli Muhamed Ali met in Nairobi to discuss growing rifts over Operation Linda Nchi as the joint forces prepare to storm the port city, believed to be Al Shabaab’s most important bastion on the Indian Ocean.
After hours of negotiations the two delegations released a joint communiquÈ pledging joint military, diplomatic and political support for Operation Linda Nchi, requesting African Union (AU) peacekeepers to police "liberated areas" and the International Criminal Court (ICC) to start investigations against key officials within the Al Qaida linked extremist militia.
The communiquÈ signed by the two premiers describes Al Shabaab as "a threat to both Somalia and Kenya" and "a common enemy" and says that "the Somalia government supports the activities of the Kenyan forces, which are being fully coordinated with the TFG of Somalia…."
Last week, Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said he was opposed to Kenya's raid launched a fortnight ago, insisting that his government would accept only military training and logistical support.
In October Internal Security minister Prof George Saitoti and Defence minister Mohammed Yusuf Haji said military operations against Al-Shabaab would be sustained until "desired effects" are achieved, blaming the group for a spate of kidnappings, sea piracy and killings of Kenyans and foreigners.
Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula said troops went across the border on the request of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which controls very little territory, but is backed by the international community.
Raila was accompanied by Defence minister Muhamed Yusuf Haji, Defence PS Nancy Kirui and Onyonka. Others were Chief of Defense Forces Julius Karangi, Commissioner of Police Mathew Iteere and Director of the National Security Intelligence Services Michael Gichangi.
Abdiweli’s entourage included his Defence minister Hussein Arab Isse, Interior minister Abdisamad Moalin Mohamud General Abdulkarim Dini who is a Commander of TFG forces.

Pete Townshend calls Apple 'a vampire'


Pete Townshend Pete Townshend said "a creative person would prefer their music to be stolen and enjoyed than ignored"
The Who guitarist Pete Townshend has urged Apple's iTunes to use its power to help new bands instead of "bleeding" artists like a "digital vampire".
Townshend made the comments in BBC 6 Music's inaugural John Peel Lecture, named in honour of the legendary DJ.
He also argued against unauthorised file-sharing, saying the internet was "destroying copyright as we know it".
"The word 'sharing' surely means giving away something you have earned, or made, or paid for?" he said.
The rock legend listed eight services that record labels and music publishers have traditionally provided to artists, such as editorial guidance and "creative nurture".

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Sometimes he played some records that no-one else would ever have played”
Pete Townshend on John Peel
"Is there really any good reason why, just because iTunes exists in the wild west internet land of Facebook and Twitter, it can't provide some aspect of these services to the artists whose work it bleeds like a digital vampire, like a digital Northern Rock, for its enormous commission?" he asked.
Apple should employ 20 talent scouts "from the dying record business" to give guidance to new acts and provide financial and marketing support to the best ones, he added.
ITunes accounts for more than 75% of all legal downloads. An Apple spokesman declined to comment on Townshend's remarks.
The guitarist also said that people who downloaded his music without paying for it "may as well come and steal my son's bike while they're at it".
If someone "pretends that something I have created should be available to them free... I wonder what has gone wrong with human morality and social justice", he said.
But he also told listeners: "It's tricky to argue for the innate value of copyright from a position of good fortune, as I do. I've done all right."
Creative dilemma And he added: "A creative person would prefer their music to be stolen and enjoyed than ignored. This is the dilemma for every creative soul: he or she would prefer to starve and be heard than to eat well and be ignored."
The guitarist praised John Peel, who died in 2004, for his dedication to listening to the music he was sent by up-and-coming acts.
"Sometimes he played some records that no-one else would ever have played, and that would never be played on radio again," he said.
"But he listened, and he played a selection of records in the course of each week that his listeners knew - partly because the selection was sometimes so insane - proved he was genuinely engaged in his work as an almost unconditional conduit between creative musicians like me to the radio audience."
The talk, held as part of the Radio Festival, will become an annual event given by a different music figure every year.
Held at The Lowry theatre in Salford, it is intended to be the music industry's equivalent of the annual MacTaggart Lecture, which is given by a leading media executive at the Edinburgh International Television Festival every August.

Libya: Abdurrahim al-Keib named new interim PM


Abdurrahim al-Keib Mr al-Keib, who is from Tripoli, is seen as a consensus candidate
Libya's interim authorities have named Tripoli academic Abdurrahim al-Keib as the new prime minister.
The National Transitional Council (NTC) made the announcement days after declaring the country "liberated" following the death of Colonel Gaddafi.
It also coincides with the official end of the Nato air campaign that helped overthrow the long-time leader.
The NTC wants a national congress to be elected within eight months, and multi-party elections in Libya in 2013.
Mr Keib, an academic specialising in electrical engineering and based in Tripoli, beat eight other candidates to receive 26 of the 51 votes from members of the NTC.
The BBC's Katya Adler in Tripoli says he is seen as a consensus candidate who could smooth over rivalries within the NTC.
Mr Keib is expected to appoint a cabinet in the coming days. The new interim government will run Libya until elections are held.

Analysis

Although not a familiar public figure, Abdurrahim al-Keib is said to be well-liked within the National Transitional Council and is seen as a consensus candidate.
Libyans will be hoping he can help smooth out regional and other rivalries within the Council - evident, for example in the bickering over how, when and where to bury Col Gaddafi's body - so that Libya can move forward with its ambitious step-by-step programme to democratic elections.
It also helps that Abdurrahim al-Keib is from Tripoli. People in the capital have been irritated that the business of government has so far been run out of Benghazi in the east.
He replaces Mahmoud Jibril, who said he would stand down once Libya was declared officially "liberated" - which happened on 23 October, after the death of Col Gaddafi and the fall of his hometown of Sirte.
Spokesman Jalal el-Gallal said the NTC wanted to form an interim government after the fall of Col Gaddafi because its initial members started out as an impromptu group, the Associated Press news agency reports.
"This vote proves that Libyans are able to build their future," NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil was quoted as saying after he voted.
A National Transitional Council was formed in February to act as "the political face of the revolution".
In March, it declared itself to be the "sole representative of all Libya" and chose Mr Jalil as its chairman.
France was the first country to recognise the council as Libya's legitimate government.
By the time rebel forces entered Tripoli on 21 August, 35 countries had recognised the NTC government. More than 100 nations now do so.

• Abdurrahim al-Keib's career

  • Graduated from the University of Tripoli
  • 1975: went to the US to continue his studies.
  • 1985: became professor at the University of Alabama.
  • Has also worked at the American University in Sharjah and the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi.
Mission ends
The announcement of the new prime minister came just a few hours before Nato's mission in Libya was formally due to end, at one minute to midnight Libyan time (21:59 GMT) on Monday.
Nato forces, acting under a UN Security Council mandate to protect civilians, began operations on 19 March as Gaddafi forces moved towards the eastern city of Benghazi to crush the uprising.
Earlier, Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen paid a visit to Tripoli and said the organisation was proud to have played its part during the uprising.
"At midnight tonight, a successful chapter in Nato's history is coming to an end," he said at a news conference. "But you have also started writing a new chapter in Libya's history."
He said Nato could continue to help with "defence and security reform", but that it was time for the United Nations to take the lead in international assistance for Libya.

South Kordofan unrest: Sudan 'kills hundreds' of rebels


Recruits for the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) train in a secret camp in the Nuba mountains of South Kordofan 11 July 2011. The opposition party fighting the Sudanese government is calling for a no-fly zone over two states.
Hundreds of rebels have been killed in Sudan's South Kordofan state following clashes with the army, governor Ahmed Haroun has said.
He said the SPLM-North rebels were killed when the army repelled an assault on the city of Teludi.
The rebels have not commented on the claims but previously accused the army of "ethnic cleansing" in the oil-rich area.
The state borders South Sudan, which became independent in July.
"Hundreds of soldiers from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-North) were killed during an attack on the city of Teludi this morning," Mr Haroun said.
Mr Haroun is indicted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur, where he was once the governor.
'Three fronts' Sudanese army spokesman, Sawarmi Khaled Saad, said more than 700 rebels attacked Teludi, east of the state capital Kadugli, the AFP news agency reports.
"The armed forces waited for the invaders to arrive on three fronts with equipment and on several vehicles, but in an hour the armed forces and popular defence forces beat back the attack, causing heavy losses," he is quoted by AFP as saying.
South Kordofan is one of three border areas - along with Abyei and Blue Nile - to have been affected by conflict since South Sudan became independent.
map
Sudan lodged a complaint with the UN Security Council in August, accusing South Sudan of backing the rebels.
The SPLM, in power in South Sudan, denies Khartoum's claims, even though it fought alongside the northern rebels during Sudan's decades-long civil war.
Sudan agreed to give the south independence in July, but held on to South Kordofan, Abyei and Blue Nile states.
Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes because of fighting in the three states.

Viewpoint: Mid-East peace needs fresh US approach


A girl waves a Palestinian flag during a rally in support of the Palestinian bid for statehood recognition at the UN, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Wednesday 21 September
Yezid Sayigh of the Carnegie Middle East Center argues that the hollowness of US-led diplomacy and the more and more deeply entrenched Israeli occupation have forced Palestinian leaders to resort to trying to gain full UN membership.
Whatever the outcome of the Palestinian bid for recognition at the United Nations, the Obama administration must confront the fact that its handling of the whole affair has been a mess.
A hard look at what went wrong in US diplomacy is essential if proposals by President Barack Obama and other leaders to launch new peace talks in the aftermath of the UN decision are to avoid the same fate.
The dispatch of veteran US negotiator Dennis Ross and Quartet Special Envoy Tony Blair to dissuade the Palestinians was virtually guaranteed to arouse distrust of the administration's motives and provoke an adverse reaction.
Mr Ross is universally regarded among the Palestinian political leadership and negotiating team as biased toward Israel, and as excessively inclined to browbeat his interlocutors.
As Mr Ross's former colleague Aaron David Miller admitted: "For far too long, many American officials involved in Arab-Israeli peacemaking, myself included, have acted as Israel's attorney, catering for and co-ordinating with the Israelis at the expense of successful peace negotiations."

Israeli viewpoint

Yossi Klein Halevi, an Israeli author and political commentator, argues that all the Palestinians need to do to get a state is to convince Israelis that this state does not represent a threat.
This week, according to Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, Mr Ross used "undiplomatic language" in addressing the Palestinian leadership. One has to wonder what the Obama administration was thinking.
Tony Blair was, if anything, an even worse choice. The Palestinian leadership not only distrust him, they disrespect him. His accounts of supposed achievements on behalf of the Palestinian economy are deeply resented as overblown and self-promoting.
In my extensive encounters over the years with international officials in the Palestinian territories, this is a widely-held view of Mr Blair's work in the region.
According to a close aide, during his brief visits to Jerusalem, Mr Blair typically arrives late for meetings he has called with senior donor representatives, speaks without an agenda or action points, and then rushes away to catch a flight back to his other activities.
Quartet irrelevant The US attempt in July to circumvent the Palestinian UN bid by recruiting the Quartet, a group that also includes the European Union, Russia and the UN, to issue "quasi terms of reference" for new peace talks was deeply inadequate in terms of substance - the other three members rejected it outright.

Palestinian UN Statehood Bid

  • Palestinians currently have permanent observer entity status at the UN
  • They are represented by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO)
  • Officials now want an upgrade so a state of Palestine has full member status at the UN
  • They seek recognition on 1967 borders - in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza
  • Enhanced observer member status could be an interim option
More importantly, however, it confirmed just how marginal the Quartet is.
For years, the Quartet has been used by the United States to safely sideline its supposed partners while America sets the agenda and timetable for action.
One glaring example of this occurred in spring 2003. The Quartet had agreed to establish a "monitoring mechanism" to verify Israeli, as well as Palestinian, implementation of the "Roadmap to Peace", but the United States came under Israeli pressure and unilaterally discarded the mechanism when it published the official version of the Roadmap, without consulting the other Quartet members.
The time to dismantle the Quartet has long passed, since it has failed to balance and constrain US bias.
All process, no peace US diplomacy has been characterised by a multiplicity of conflicting channels, leading to confused signals and a weakened impact.
Over the past four years, the US effort has been distributed among Special Envoy George Mitchell (representing the Department of State), US Security Coordinator Gen Keith Dayton (until 2010), the White House and National Security Council and the CIA, most of whom have strained and competitive relations with one another that end up being counterproductive.

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After 20 years of an ultimately futile peace process... the Palestinian leadership has lost credibility with its own people over its dealings with Israel”
Of course, dysfunctional turf battles reflect the more fundamental problem of a policy vacuum towards the Israeli-Palestinian peace process that extends back to the start of George W Bush's administration in 2001.
After 20 years of an ultimately futile peace process, the facts on the ground of the Israeli occupation and settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have become more entrenched and the Palestinian leadership has lost credibility with its own people over its dealings with Israel.
A principal factor in this outcome is that US diplomacy in the Israeli-Palestinian context has been inept and badly misjudged.
If public statements about launching new peace talks are to be credible, then the Obama administration must engage in a thorough overhaul of how it conducts its diplomacy. This is no guarantee of success, but is nonetheless the minimum bar it must pass.
Replacing the present cast of envoys and mechanisms is necessary to reach the "legitimate and balanced framework" for negotiations called for by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
To retain the old is to maintain the US monopoly on the peace process - all process and no peace - and makes it difficult for the US to present itself as an honest, credible broker.
Ironically, now that the Obama administration appears finally to have woken up, focused and sharpened its skills - even if only to thwart the Palestinian bid - perhaps it can be persuaded to direct this new-found energy into a diplomatic framework that is international rather than unipolar, and not only in name.
Yezid Sayigh is a senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.

Viewpoint: How not to create a Palestinian state


Israelis hold their national flag during a one-minute silence on May 8, 2011 to mark Remembrance Day For many Israelis a Palestinian state is seen as an existential threat
Yossi Klein Halevi, an Israeli author and political commentator, argues that all the Palestinians need to do to get a state is to convince Israelis that this state does not represent a threat.
Palestinian leaders are presenting their bid for upgraded UN status as a desperate move prompted by Israeli intransigence. In asserting this they are counting on the amnesia of the international community.
Twice in the last decade Israeli leaders - Ehud Barak in 2000 and Ehud Olmert in 2008 - have accepted Palestinian statehood.
Dozens of settlements would have been uprooted and others concentrated in blocs along the border, in exchange for which Palestine would have receive compensatory territory from within Israel proper.
The result would have been a contiguous Palestinian state in the equivalent of the territory taken by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War, with Jerusalem as a shared capital.
Palestinian leaders effectively said no.
That's because the deal would have required one significant reciprocal concession: confining the return of the descendants of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war to a Palestinian state.
Internal collapse The main obstacle to an agreement, then, is not territory or settlements but the Palestinian insistence on the "right" to demographically destroy the Jewish state. Absurdly, the Palestinian leadership is demanding that Palestinians immigrate not only to a Palestinian state but also to a neighbouring state, Israel.

Palestinian viewpoint

Yezid Sayigh of the Carnegie Middle East Center argues that the hollowness of US-led diplomacy and the deeply entrenched Israeli occupation have forced Palestinian leaders to resort to trying to gain full UN membership
That demand, of course, would lead to the internal collapse of the Jewish state - which is precisely the goal. This is why Palestinian leaders have rejected President Barack Obama's call that they recognise Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.
In a final agreement, Palestinians living in the diaspora will have the option of coming home to Palestine - just as Jews in their diaspora have the option of coming home to Israel. That is the essence of a two-state solution.
Also, compensation should be offered to descendants of Palestinian refugees and to descendants of the nearly one million Jews who fled or were expelled from Arab countries and came, destitute, to Israel.
Those are the kinds of details that need to be worked out in negotiations. The UN vote is an attempt by Palestinian leaders to evade their side's concessions in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal.
Existential threat A majority of Israelis recognise that ongoing occupation is devastating and that a peaceful Palestinian state is an existential need for Israel.

Palestinian UN Statehood Bid

  • Palestinians currently have permanent observer entity status at the UN
  • They are represented by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO)
  • Officials now want an upgrade so a state of Palestine has full member status at the UN
  • They seek recognition on 1967 borders - in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza
  • Enhanced observer member status could be an interim option
But that same majority also fears that a Palestinian state could be an existential threat.
The Israeli nightmare is that missiles - even primitive ones - launched from the West Bank highlands onto greater Tel Aviv would end normal life in this country. Should Israel then attempt to defend itself, the international community would brand it a war criminal.
Those fears are well-founded. In 2005, Israel uprooted all its settlements in Gaza and withdrew to the international border. For many Israeli centrists, that was a test case for a possible withdrawal from the West Bank.
The results were disastrous. Thousands of missiles fell on Israeli towns and villages along the Gaza border. Finally, four years after withdrawing, the Israeli army was sent back into Gaza to stop the attacks.
The international community reacted with disproportionate outrage - including the creation of a biased UN commission of inquiry headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, who recently retracted some of his conclusions.
Deepening Israeli fears Israel's dilemma is unique. It is, on the one hand, the only democracy that is also an occupier - a situation forced on the Jewish state by the Arab world's attempts to destroy it in 1967, but which has taken on an increasingly permanent nature.

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Instead of encouraging Palestinian rejectionism and fantasies of a 'right of return' to the Jewish state, the international community should be asking Palestinian leaders some hard questions”
On the other hand, Israel is the only country living under a death threat issued by some of its most powerful neighbours, like Iran. Israel is the only country expected to trade strategic assets for mere recognition of its right to exist.
Potentially, Palestinians have no greater ally in their political empowerment than the centrist majority of Israelis, who want to end the occupation. The key, then, to Palestinian empowerment is to convince Israelis that it would be safe to do so.
Palestinian leaders need to prove that Palestine won't be a stage in a long-term attempt to undermine the viability of the Jewish state - either through the demographic subversion of refugee return or through terror attacks on the Israeli heartland.
Instead of encouraging Palestinian rejectionism and fantasies of a "right of return" to the Jewish state, the international community should be asking Palestinian leaders some hard questions: Why have you rejected every offer for statehood - going back decades? And do you really expect Israeli Jews to accept an agreement that would threaten the only state in the world in which the Jewish people is sovereign?
The UN vote will only reinforce Israeli fears about a Palestinian state. The inevitable result will be to deepen the Palestinian-Israeli tragedy and distance us even further from a peaceful and mutually just solution.

US cuts Unesco funds over vote for Palestinian seat


US State department's Victoria Nuland: "To admit Palestine as a member is regrettable and premature"
The United States is cancelling funding for the UN cultural body Unesco after it voted to grant full membership to the Palestinians.
The motion was passed by a substantial majority, despite strong opposition from the United States and Israel.
A US state department spokeswoman said a payment of some $60m (£37m) due next month would not be made.
Membership dues paid by the US account for about a fifth of the organisation's annual budget.
This is the first UN agency the Palestinians have sought to join since submitting their bid for recognition to the Security Council in September.
The UN Security Council will vote next month on whether to grant the Palestinians full UN membership.
Widespread applause greeted the result of Monday's vote in the chamber - of 173 countries taking part, 107 were in favour, 14 voted against and 52 abstained.

Analysis

This is a historic day, said Palestinian deputy Minister of Antiquities Hamdan Taha, beaming from ear to ear in Ramallah.
Unesco membership may seem a strange and short step to Palestinian statehood. But leaders here see it as part of a broader push to get international recognition and pressure Israel. They see it as a warm-up for a more important vote next month when the UN Security Council will decide whether to admit Palestine as a full member state.
The US has veto power at the security council and has threatened to use it. It had no such power at Unesco so instead lobbied hard to try and force the Palestinians to back down. It will likely cut all US funding for Unesco - $70m a year, or 22% of its annual budget.
But Unesco members seemed to put politics before money, clearly voting in favour of the Palestinian bid. This was a failure of US power, one Palestinian official told me.
The victory will give a boost to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He lost ground to his rival Hamas when the Islamist movement secured the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit two weeks ago.
Arab states were instrumental in getting the vote passed despite intense opposition from the US.
In an emotional session, China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa voted in favour of Palestinian membership, while the US, Canada and Germany voted against and the UK abstained.
Membership of Unesco - perhaps best known for its World Heritage Sites - is seen by Palestinian leaders as part of a broader push to get international recognition and put pressure on Israel.
"This vote will erase a tiny part of the injustice done to the Palestinian people," Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki told the meeting of the UN educational, scientific and cultural organisation in Paris, after the result was announced.
One of the first moves Palestinians are set to make is to apply for world heritage status for sites on occupied Palestinian land such as the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the Associated Press news agency reports.
'In a bind' A US law passed in the 1990s bars giving funding to any UN body that admits the Palestinians as full members before an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is reached.
"We were to have made a $60m payment to Unesco in November and we will not be making that payment," state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told journalists in Washington.
Ms Nuland called the Unesco move "regrettable" and "premature", but said that while continued US funding was impossible, the administration wanted to remain an active member of Unesco.

Unesco Key Facts

  • Created on 16 November 1945
  • Composed of 194 member states and eight associate members
  • Aims to encourage international peace and eradicate poverty by collaboration among nations via education, the sciences, culture, communication and information
  • More than 2,000 staff from 170 states
  • Budget for 2010 and 2011 was $643m (£401m), contributed by member states
  • General conference - Unesco's primary decision-making body, comprising all member-states - meets every two years
  • Executive board of 58 member-states meets twice a year
She also expressed concern over the loss of US influence and the possibility that the same scenario might unfold with other UN agencies. The administration would now consult with Congress to see how to protect US interests, she said.
The BBC's Paul Adams in Washington says the US is in a bind - it regards Unesco as a valuable UN agency, but it is also bound by the strict laws passed in the 1990s by an overwhelmingly pro-Israel Congress.
For its part, Israel called the vote a "unilateral Palestinian manoeuvre which will bring no change on the ground but further removes the possibility for a peace agreement".
"The Palestinian move at Unesco, as with similar such steps with other UN bodies, is tantamount to a rejection of the international community's efforts to advance the peace process," a foreign ministry statement said.
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been stalled since last year over the issue of Israeli settlement building.
The Israeli statement also said Israel would be considering further steps regarding its co-operation with Unesco.
'Symbolic breakthrough' Correspondents say Monday's vote is a symbolic breakthrough but that on its own it will not create a Palestinian state.
Unesco general conference president Katalin Bogyay announced the result
A vote is expected in November at the UN Security Council on granting full membership of the UN to the Palestinians. The US has threatened to use its veto.
No member has a right of veto in Unesco, where each representative has one vote irrespective of a country's size or budget contribution.

Palestinian UN Statehood Bid

  • Palestinians currently have permanent observer entity status at the UN
  • They are represented by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO)
  • Officials now want an upgrade so a state of Palestine has full member status at the UN
  • They seek recognition on 1967 borders - in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza
  • Enhanced observer member status could be an interim option
Unesco - like other UN agencies - is a part of the world body but has separate membership procedures and can make its own decisions about which countries belong. Full UN membership is not required for membership in many UN agencies, AP reports.
The US boycotted Unesco for almost two decades from 1984 for what the state department said was a "growing disparity between US foreign policy and Unesco goals".
A Unesco official told the BBC that if any member fails to make payments before the next general conference in two years' time they will lose voting rights, but they will still be members unless they withdraw. If they want to vote at the next general conference they have to pay a minimum amount to regain that privilege.
The official added that no decisions had been made on the budget, which has to be discussed at conference.

Chinese Shenzhou craft launches on key space mission


The Shenzhou 8 spacecraft is lifted into orbit by a Long March 2F rocket

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China has taken the next step in its quest to become a major space power with the launch of the unmanned Shenzhou 8 vehicle.
The spacecraft rode a Long March 2F rocket into orbit where it will attempt to rendezvous and dock with the Tiangong-1 lab, launched in September.
It would be the first time China has joined two space vehicles together.
The capability is required if the country is to carry through its plan to build a space station by about 2020.
The Long March carrier rocket lifted away from the Jiuquan spaceport in the Gobi Desert at 05:58, Tuesday (21:58 GMT Monday). TV cameras relayed the ascent to orbit.
Artist's impression of docking It will be a couple of days before Shenzhou 8 is in a position to attempt the docking
Shenzhou separated from the rocket's upper-stage about nine minutes into the flight. Confirmation that its solar panels had been deployed was received a short while after.
It will be a couple of days before Shenzhou is in a position to attempt the docking, which will occur some 340km above the Earth.
The vehicles will be using radar and optical sensors to compute their proximity to each other and guide their final approach and contact.
The pair will then spend 12 days circling the globe together before moving apart and attempting a re-docking. Finally, Shenzhou 8 will detach and its return capsule will head back to Earth.
This will allow experiments carried into orbit to be recovered for analysis. The German space agency has supplied an experimental box containing fish, plants, worms, bacteria and even human cancer cells for a series of biological studies.
Tiangong graphic
  • Tiangong-1 was launched in September on a Long March 2F rocket
  • The unmanned laboratory unit was put in a 350km-high orbit
  • Shenzhou 8 will will try to rendezvous and dock with Tiangong-1
  • The project will test key technologies such as life-support systems
  • China aims to start building a 60-tonne space station by about 2020
Assuming the venture goes well, two manned missions (Shenzhou 9 and 10) are likely to try to make similar dockings in 2012.
SIMBOX Shenzhou 8 carries experiments developed with the German space agency
Chinese astronauts - yuhangyuans - are expected to live aboard the conjoined vehicles for up to two weeks. There is speculation in the Chinese media that one of these missions could also include the country's first female yuhangyuan.
The 10.5m-long Tiangong-1 module was launched on 29 September and has been operating well, according to Chinese officials.
Its orbit has been lowered slightly and the vehicle turned 180 degrees in preparation for its upcoming union with Shenzhou 8.
Beijing sees the Tiangong and Shenzhou dockings as the next phase in its step-by-step approach to acquiring the skills of human spaceflight operations.
It is a learning curve China hopes will eventually lead to the construction of a space station, starting at the end of the decade.
At about 60 tonnes in mass, this future station would be considerably smaller than the 400-tonne international platform operated by the US, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan, but its mere presence in the sky would nonetheless represent a remarkable achievement.
Tiangong-1 (AP) Tiangong-1 was launched in September
Concept drawings describe a core module weighing some 20-22 tonnes, flanked by two slightly smaller laboratory vessels.
Officials say it would be supplied by freighters in exactly the same way that robotic cargo ships keep the International Space Station (ISS) today stocked with fuel, food, water, air, and spare parts.
China is investing billions of dollars in its space programme. It has a strong space science effort under way, with two orbiting satellites having already been launched to the Moon and a third mission expected to put a rover on the lunar surface.
Next week should see its first Mars orbiter - Yinghuo-1 - begin its journey to the Red Planet.
The Asian country is also deploying its own satellite-navigation system known as BeiDou-Compass.
Bigger rockets are coming, too. The Long March 5 will be capable of putting more than 20 tonnes in a low-Earth orbit. This lifting muscle, again, will be necessary for the

Man jailed for posting sex images of ex-partner online


Shane Webber arrives at court Webber was also given a five-year restraining order
A Nottingham man who posted sexual images of his former girlfriend online as he stalked her via social networking sites has been jailed for four months.
Shane Webber, 23, of Hodgkin Close in Clifton, sent photographs and personal details about Ruth Jeffery, 22, to her family and strangers.
Webber admitted one count of harassment at an earlier hearing at Southampton Magistrates' Court.
Miss Jeffery said she was devastated by Webber's actions.
Outside court she said even if Webber had received the maximum jail sentence magistrates could impose - six months - it would not have made up for the hurt she had been caused.
She said: "I am extremely pleased with the outcome. The maximum sentence in a magistrates' court will never make up for the hurt he had put me through but I am pleased I can now put it behind me.
'Cruel and calculated' "I was absolutely devastated when I found out it was him. I could not believe it was Shane. I did not want to believe it."
Webber was given a five-year restraining order
Miss Jeffery said she had been "intentionally controlled, belittled and harmed" by Webber, and that his behaviour was "cruel and calculated".
The court heard Webber also tried to implicate one of his friends, Lee Evans, by putting the posts in an email address bearing Mr Evans's name, leading to his arrest.
Webber was only found out when Miss Jeffery's family made their own inquiries and the emails were traced back to him.
Miss Jeffery, a computing science student at Loughborough University, said her family suspected it was Webber but she could not comprehend how he could do such a thing.
In mitigation, solicitor Janet Grey said: "He realises, for the first time, the devastating impact this has had on Ruth and her family."
District Judge Anthony Callaway said the offence was a "gross violation of Miss Jeffery's privacy".
He also imposed a five-year restraining order on Webber prohibiting him from contacting Miss Jeffery or posting images of her online.

Q&A: What is GDP?


The BBC's Declan Curry explains just what GDP stands for, and why we should care
GDP, or Gross Domestic Product, is arguably the most important of all economic statistics as it attempts to capture the state of the economy in one number.
Quite simply, if the GDP measure is up on the previous three months, the economy is growing. If it is negative it is contracting.
And two consecutive three-month periods of contraction mean an economy is in recession.
What is GDP? GDP can be measured in three ways:
  • Output measure: This is the value of the goods and services produced by all sectors of the economy; agriculture, manufacturing, energy, construction, the service sector and government
  • Expenditure measure: This is the value of the goods and services purchased by households and by government, investment in machinery and buildings. It also includes the value of exports minus imports
  • Income measure: The value of the income generated mostly in terms of profits and wages.
In theory all three approaches should produce the same number.
In the UK the Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes one single measure of GDP which, apart from the first estimate, is calculated using all three ways of measuring.
Usually the main interest in the UK figures is in the quarterly change in GDP in real terms, that is after taking into account changes in prices (inflation).
How is GDP calculated? Calculating a GDP estimate for all three measures is a huge undertaking every three months.
The output measure alone - which is considered the most accurate in the short term - involves surveying tens of thousands of UK firms.
The main sources used for this are ONS surveys of manufacturing and service industries.
Information on sales is collected from 6,000 companies in manufacturing, 25,000 service sector firms, 5,000 retailers and 10,000 companies in the construction sector.
Data is also collected from government departments covering activities such as agriculture, energy, health and education.
New GDP figures are released every three months, but they get revised in the interim. Why?
hairdressers Researchers gather information from thousands of businesses from hairdressers to farmers
The UK produces the earliest estimate of GDP of the major economies, around 25 days after the quarter in question.
This provides policymakers with an early, or "flash", estimate of the real growth in economic activity. It is quick, but only based on the output measure.
At that stage only about 40% of the data is available, so this figure is revised as more information comes in.
They are two subsequent revisions at monthly intervals. But this isn't the end.
Revisions can be made as much as 18 months to two years after the first "flash" estimate. The ONS publishes more information on how this is done on its website.
What is GDP used for? GDP is the principal means of determining the health of the UK economy and is used by the Bank of England and its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) as one of the key indicators in setting interest rates.
So, for example, if prices are rising too fast, the Bank would be expected to increase interest rates to try to control them. But it may hold off if GDP growth is sluggish, as higher rates could damage the recovery. That is the situation at the moment.
The Treasury also uses GDP when planning economic policy. When an economy is contracting, tax receipts tend to fall, and the government adjusts its tax and spending plans accordingly.
UK GDP is used internationally by the various financial bodies such as OECD, IMF, and the World Bank to compare the performance of different economies.
The European Union also uses GDP estimates as a basis for determining different countries' contributions to the EU budget.
The information in this article was provided by the Office for National Statistics.

Financial glossary

Traders at the Chicago Board Options Exchange What's the difference between a bull and a bear?
The current financial crisis has thrown terminology from the business pages onto the front pages of newspapers, with jargon now abounding everywhere from the coffee bar to the back of a taxi.
Here is a guide to many of the business terms currently cropping up regularly, as well as some of the more exotic words coined to describe some of the social effects of the financial crisis.

A

AAA-rating The best credit rating that can be given to a borrower's debts, indicating that the risk of a borrower defaulting is minuscule.
Administration A rescue mechanism for UK companies in severe trouble. It allows them to continue as a going concern, under supervision, giving them the opportunity to try to work their way out of difficulty. A firm in administration cannot be wound up without permission from a court.
AGM An annual general meeting, which companies hold each year for shareholders to vote on important issues such as dividend payments and appointments to the company's board of directors. If an emergency decision is needed - for example in the case of a takeover - a company may also call an exceptional general meeting of shareholders or EGM.
Assets Things that provide income or some other value to their owner.
  • Fixed assets (also known as long-term assets) are things that have a useful life of more than one year, for example buildings and machinery; there are also intangible fixed assets, like the good reputation of a company or brand.
  • Current assets are the things that can easily be turned into cash and are expected to be sold or used up in the near future.
Austerity Economic policy aimed at reducing a government's deficit (or borrowing). Austerity can be achieved through increases in government revenues - primarily via tax rises - and/or a reduction in government spending or future spending commitments.

B

Bailout The financial rescue of a struggling borrower. A bailout can be achieved in various ways:
  • providing loans to a borrower that markets will no longer lend to
  • guaranteeing a borrower's debts
  • guaranteeing the value of a borrower's risky assets
  • providing help to absorb potential losses, such as in a bank recapitalisation
Bankruptcy A legal process in which the assets of a borrower who cannot repay its debts - which can be an individual, a company or a bank - are valued, and possibly sold off (liquidated), in order to repay debts.
Where the borrower's assets are insufficient to repay its debts, the debts have to be written off. This means the lenders must accept that some of their loans will never be repaid, and the borrower is freed of its debts. Bankruptcy varies greatly from one country to another, some countries have laws that are very friendly to borrowers, while others are much more friendly to lenders.
Base rate The key interest rate set by the Bank of England. It is the overnight interest rate that it charges to banks for lending to them. The base rate - and expectations about how the base rate will change in the future - directly affect the interest rates at which banks are willing to lend money in sterling.
Basel accords The Basel Accords refer to a set of agreements by the Basel Committee on Bank Supervision (BCBS), which provide recommendations on banking regulations. The purpose of the accords is to ensure that financial institutions have enough capital to meet obligations and absorb unexpected losses.
Basis point One hundred basis points make up a percentage point, so an interest rate cut of 25 basis points might take the rate, for example, from 3% to 2.75%.
BBA The British Bankers' Association is an organisation representing the major banks in the UK - including foreign banks with a major presence in London. It is responsible for the daily Liborinterest rate which determines the rate at which banks lend to each other.
Bear market In a bear market, prices are falling and investors, fearing losses, tend to sell. This can create a self-sustaining downward spiral.
Bill A debt security- or more simply an IOU. It is very similar to a bond, but has a maturity of less than one year when first issued.
BIS The Bank for International Settlements is an international association of central banks based in Basel, Switzerland. Crucially, it agrees international standards for the capital adequacyof banks - that is, the minimum buffer banks must have to withstand any losses. In response to the financial crisis, the BIS has agreed a much stricter set of rules. As these are the third such set of regulations, they are known as "Basel III".
Bond A debt security, or more simply, an IOU. The bond states when a loan must be repaid and what interest the borrower (issuer) must pay to the holder. They can be issued by companies, banks or governments to raise money. Banks and investors buy and trade bonds.
BRIC An acronym used to describe the fast-growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Bull market A bull market is one in which prices are generally rising and investor confidence is high.

C

Capital For investors, it refers to their stock of wealth, which can be put to work in order to earn income. For companies, it typically refers to sources of financing such as newly issued shares.
For banks, it refers to their ability to absorb losses in their accounts. Banks normally obtain capital either by issuing new shares, or by keeping hold of profits instead of paying them out as dividends. If a bank writes off a loss on one of its assets - for example, if it makes a loan that is not repaid - then the bank must also write off a corresponding amount of its capital. If a bank runs out of capital, then it is insolvent, meaning it does not have enough assets to repay its debts.
Capital adequacy ratio A measure of a bank's ability to absorb losses. It is defined as the value of its capital divided by the value of risk-weighted assets (ie taking into account how risky they are). A low capital adequacy ratio suggests that a bank has a limited ability to absorb losses, given the amount and the riskiness of the loans it has made.
A banking regulator - typically the central bank - sets a minimum capital adequacy ratio for the banks in each country, and an international minimum standard is set by the BIS. A bank that fails to meet this minimum standard must be recapitalised, for example by issuing new shares.
Capitulation (market). The point when a flurry of panic selling induces a final collapse - and ultimately a bottoming out - of prices.
Carry trade Typically, the borrowing of currency with a low interest rate, converting it into currency with a high interest rate and then lending it. The most common carry trade currency used to be the yen, with traders seeking to benefit from Japan's low interest rates. Now the dollar, euro and pound can also serve the same purpose. The element of risk is in the fluctuations in the currency market.
Chapter 11 The term for bankruptcy protection in the US. It postpones a company's obligations to its creditors, giving it time to reorganise its debts or sell parts of the business, for example.
Collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) A financial structure that groups individual loans, bonds or other assets in a portfolio, which can then be traded. In theory, CDOs attract a stronger credit rating than individual assets due to the risk being more diversified. But as the performance of many assets fell during the financial crisis, the value of many CDOs was also reduced.
Commercial paper Unsecured, short-term loans taken out by companies. The funds are typically used for working capital, rather than fixed assets such as a new building. The loans take the form of IOUs that can be bought and traded by banks and investors, similar to bonds.
Commodities Commodities are products that, in their basic form, are all the same so it makes little difference from whom you buy them. That means that they can have a common market price. You would be unlikely to pay more for iron ore just because it came from a particular mine, for example.
Contracts to buy and sell commodities usually specify minimum common standards, such as the form and purity of the product, and where and when it must be delivered.
The commodities markets range from soft commodities such as sugar, cotton and pork bellies to industrial metals such as iron and zinc.
Core inflation A measure of CPI inflation that strips out more volatile items (typically food and energy prices). The core inflation rate is watched closely by central bankers, as it tends to give a clearer indication of long-term inflation trends.
Correction (market) A short-term drop in stock market prices. The term comes from the notion that, when this happens, overpriced or underpriced stocks are returning to their "correct" values.
CPI The Consumer Prices Index is a measure of the price of a bundle of goods and services from across the economy. It is the most common measure used to identify inflation in a country. CPI is used as the target measure of inflation by the Bank of England and the ECB.
Credit crunch A situation where banks and other lenders all cut back their lending at the same time, because of widespread fears about the ability of borrowers to repay.
If heavily-indebted borrowers are cut off from new lending, they may find it impossible to repay existing debts. Reduced lending also slows down economic growth, which also makes it harder for all businesses to repay their debts.
Credit default swap (CDS) A financial contract that provides insurance-like protection against the risk of a third-party borrower defaulting on its debts. For example, a bank that has made a loan to Greece may choose to hedge the loan by buying CDS protection on Greece. The bank makes periodic payments to the CDS seller. If Greece defaultson its debts, the CDS seller must buy the loans from the bank at their full face value. CDSs are not just used for hedging - they are used by investors to speculate on whether a borrower such as Greece will default.
Credit rating The assessment given to debts and borrowers by a ratings agency according to their safety from an investment standpoint - based on their creditworthiness, or the ability of the company or government that is borrowing to repay. Ratings range from AAA, the safest, down to D, a company that has already defaulted. Ratings of BBB- or higher are considered "investment grade". Below that level, they are considered "speculative grade" or more colloquially as junk.
Currency peg A commitment by a government to maintain its currency at a fixed value in relation to another currency. Sometimes pegs are used to keep a currency strong, in order to help reduce inflation. In this case, a central bank may have to sell its reserves of foreign currency and buy up domestic currency in order to defend the peg. If the central bank runs out of foreign currency reserves, then the peg will collapse.
Pegs can also be used to help keep a currency weak in order to gain a competitive advantage in trade and boost exports. China has been accused of doing this. The People's Bank of China has accumulated trillions of dollars in US government bonds, because of its policy of selling yuan and buying dollars - a policy that has the effect of keeping the yuan weak.
What have we missed? If there is a financial term or phrase that you're unsure of let us know. We'll try our best to explain.

Stock markets fall as eurozone debt fears persist


Market Data

Last Updated at 22:50
FTSE 100 5544.22 Down -158.02 -2.77%
Dax 6141.34 Down -204.85 -3.23%
Cac 40 3242.84 Down -105.79 -3.16%
Dow Jones 11955.01 Down -276.10 -2.26%
Nasdaq 2684.41 Down -52.74 -1.93%
BBC Global 30 5512.05 Down -122.07 -2.25%
Bank shares and the euro fell on Monday as fears over the eurozone persisted.
European stock markets slumped about 3%, as the value of the big banks retraced much of the gains they had made since a new rescue deal was agreed by eurozone leaders last Wednesday.
The euro fell 1.5% against both the dollar and the pound.
Worry over the Italian government's ability to finance itself remains at the heart of the crisis, as Rome's cost of borrowing rose to new highs.
Sentiment towards financial stocks was further hurt by the failure of US brokerage firm MF Global, due to its exposure to eurozone government debts.
Banks drop back Continental banks remain heavily exposed to the debts of troubled European governments, as well as a general flight of cash from the European banking system that emerged over the summer.
France was worst hit, with Societe Generale down 9.8% and BNP Paribas 9.6%, while in Germany Deutsche Bank dropped 8.6% and Commerzbank 8.5%.
The UK did not escape, with Royal Bank of Scotland down 7.8% and Lloyds 7.6%.
However, Europe's banks still remain well above the lowest levels seen in the last two months.
As part of the new rescue deal, European Union leaders agreed that their banks must increase their capital - their buffer against future losses - by 106.5bn euros ($150bn: £92bn).

Societe Generale

Last Updated at 31 Oct 2011, 16:35 Societe Generale three month chart
price change %
21.10 -
-2.29
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-9.79
This will likely be done by issuing new shares, either to private buyers or to the governments themselves, something that is likely to dilute the value of existing shares.
Banks were also asked by European leaders to accept a 50% write-off of the debts owed to them by Greece.
However, the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, announced after share trading had closed in Europe that he would put this agreement to a referendum, raising a question mark over whether it will go ahead.
Share prices on Wall Street - including shares in European banks that are traded there, such as Deutsche Bank - did not noticeably react to the news.
However, US shares did broadly continue to slide after the close in Europe, with the Dow Jones finishing 2.3% lower. US banks Morgan Stanley and Bank of America were among the worst performers.
Self-fulfilling fear Meanwhile, Italy's 10-year cost of borrowing in bond markets has risen to 6.1%.
That is still slightly short of the highest level since Italy joined the euro, which was seen in early August, and prompted the European Central Bank (ECB) to start buying up Italian debt.
How is the European Central Bank helping the banks?
However, markets are rattled by the fact that Italy's borrowing costs have crept up again despite the ECB's intervention, and despite a revamp of the eurozone's bailout fund, intended to assist Italy.
Moreover, Italy's shorter-term borrowing costs have risen even more sharply, to their highest euro-era levels.
Rome now has to pay 4.5% interest to borrow money for just one year, even though the German government must pay only 0.4% over the same period.
The difference reflects the potentially self-fulfilling fear of lenders that Italy may not be able to repay its large existing debtload unless it is able to reborrow the money from markets as the debts come due for repayment.
There are also fears that Europe may be sliding back into recession, which would make Italy's debts even harder to repay.
On Monday, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development became the latest international body to warn of a possible global economic downturn.

FBI releases Russian spy videos


Video of Anna Chapman, released by the FBI

Related Stories

The FBI has released video showing Anna Chapman and other members of a Russian spy ring apparently secretly exchanging information and money.
The recordings are among documents released from an FBI surveillance operation called Ghost Stories.
Russian agents spent 10 years in the US, but there is no evidence they obtained any sensitive information.
They were freed in a spy swap at an airport in Vienna, Austria, in July 2010.
One recording shows former real estate agent Chapman shopping at Macy's department store in New York, while transmitting coded messages to a nearby Russian government official over a wireless network, according to the FBI.
The material, released as part of a Freedom of Information request, purports to show another spy, Mikhail Semenko, hiding material at a drop site - underneath a footbridge in a park outside Washington DC.
Another video appears to show Christopher Metsos, believed to be a ringleader in the case, receiving a shopping bag filled with money from a Russian mission official at a train station in Queens, New York.
'Talent spotters' The FBI believes the agents were "talent spotters" - directed to identify people in high-level positions that would be interested in sharing information.
Ms Chapman is coy about the accusations she spied on the United States
An FBI spokesman told the Associated Press news agency the decision to release the material from the surveillance operation, named Ghost Stories, on Halloween was coincidental.
One video shows Chapman setting up her laptop computer at a branch of the bookstore Barnes and Noble.
Another shows her meeting an FBI agent posing as a Russian consulate employee at a downtown New York coffee shop in late June 2010.
FBI records show that an hour after the meeting, Chapman bought a new mobile phone under a fake name, then failed to show up to a second meeting.
The US authorities then moved in to break up the spy ring.
Four Russians imprisoned for spying for the West were exchanged for the deep cover agents.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev awarded all 10 with the country's highest honours.
While many of the spies have kept low profiles back in Russia, Chapman has since become a media personality, hosting her own television show, and taking a role with the governing party's youth wing.

Arday reer Puntland oo Deeq Waxbarasho laga Musuqmaasuqay oo ku Xayiran Muqdisho


 
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Muqdisho (RBC) Arday tiradoodu gaareyso 50 arday kana soo jeeda deegaanada Puntland ayaa ku xayiran magaalada Muqdisho ka dib markii laga musuqmaasuqa deeq waxbarasho heer jaamacadeed ah oo ay ka heleen dalka Turkiga.
Ardaydan oo isugu jira wiilal iyo gabdho soo dhameystay dugsiyada sare ee Puntland ayaa soo gaaray Muqdisho bishan Oktoobar horaanteedii si ay qeyb uga noqdaan arday boqollaal ahayd oo dhamaan gobolada Soomaaliya ka timid kuwaasoo deeqo waxbarasho ay u fidisay dawlada Turkiga.
Qaar ka mid ah ardaydan oo hadda ku sugan Muqdisho ayaa maanta la soo xiriiray xafiiska Raxanreeb ee Muqdisho iyagoo ka cawday in si caddaalad darro ah loogu bedelay boosaskooda dad kale oo shaqo doon ah iyo qaar doonayey inay tahriib ahaan ku tagaan wadanka Turkiga ka dibna ay u baxsadaan wadamada kale ee Europe, sidaasi darteedna iyaga loo sheegay in aan waxba loo heyn.
“Waxaan ahayn illaa 50 arday oo ka kala yimid Gaalkacyo, Garowe, iyo Boosaaso markii aanu Xamar nimid ee aanu u diyaargarownay safarkii ayaa waxaa dhacay qaraxii 4-tii Oktoobar ee ardayda faraha badan ku dhinteen, markaasi ayaa waxaa dhacay isku dhexyaac ka dibna halkaas baa laga faa’ieystay oo waxaa boosaskeenii la geliyey dad tahriib u socday oo lacago laga qaatay iyagaas baana la siiyey fiisihii” sidaasi waxaa Raxanreeb u sheegay gabar ka mid ah ardayda oo codsatay inaan magaceeda la sheegin.
“Markii aanu u tagnay wasaaradda waxbarashada DKMG waxay noo sheegeen in wasaaradda waxbarashada Puntland ay arinta gali doonto, illaa haddana wax naloo sheegay ma ay jirto. Halkaani baanu ku dacdareysanahay oo reerahayagii uga maqanahay…” ayey hadalkeeda ku dartay ardayadaasi oo sheegtay in iyadu dugsiga sare uga baxday magaalada Gaalkacyo.
Wasaaradda waxbarashada Puntland maxay ka tiri?
Maxamuud Maxamed Idiris (Wasiir ku xigeenka Waxbarashada Puntland)
Haddaba markii cabashada ardayda na soo gaartay ka dib ayaan la xiriirnay wasiir ku xigeenka waxbarashada Puntland Maxamuud Maxamed Idris oo hadda isaga iyo wafdi uu hogaaminayo ay ku sugan yihiin Muqdisho. Waxaana wasiirka weydiinay waxa uu kala socdo arinta ardaydan.
“Waanu og nahay in ardsay reer Puntland ahi ku sugan yihiin Muqdisho oo deeqdii ay lahaayeen waayeen, anagu ma garan karno siuday wax u dheceen laakiin hadda arintaasi ayaanba u nimid oo waxaan kulamo la leenahay wasaaradda waxbarashada ee DKMG ah, waxaana noo socda wada hadal” ayuu yiri wasiir ku xigeenka oo intaa ku daray in wadahadaladu meel wanaagsan u marayaan.
Wasiir ku xigeenka waxbarashada Puntland ayaa ka cudurdaatyay khladaadkii ku dhacay qaabkii loo soo xulay ardaydii reer Puntland ee laga soo qaaday gobolada Puntland, kuwaasoo uu sheegay in wax badani ay si khalad ah u dheceen.
“Anagu horta imtixaanka maanu qaadin oo waxaa hawshaasi gacanta ku hayey Turkiga, laakiin way jirtay in khaladaad badani jiray” ayuu yiri wasiir ku xigeenka.
Dhanka kale dawlada Turiga ayaa dib u soo celisay 70 arday oo ka mid ahaa dadkii waxbarashada loogu qaaday Turkiga ka dib markii ay soo baxday fadeexad ah in dadkii arday ahaanta loo qaaday ay noqdeen dad aan wax qorin waxna akhrin kuwaasoo markii horaba  si eex ah lagu qaaday. Waxayna diyaarad sida 70-kaasi ruux toddobaadkan dib ugu soo laabatay magaalada Muqdisho oo ay ka soo dejisay.
Wasaaradda waxbarashada Dawlada Turkigu waxay walaac weyn ka muujisay qaabka caddaalad darrada ah ee loo maareeyey deeqihii waxbarashada ee ay sanadkan siisay ardayda Soomaaliyeed, arintaasi oo soo ifbaxday ka dib markii jaamacadihii iyo dugsiyadii sare ee Turkiga lagu arkay dad aan waxba qorin oo sheeganaya heer dugsi sare.
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Xafiiska wararka Raxanreeb, Muqdisho

Why cows may be hiding something but AI can spot it

  By Chris Baraniuk Technology of Business reporter Published 22 hours ago Share IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Herd animals like...