Free Sample - Caabu news digest Monday 14th March 2011
Our Daily Digest is now members only. If you are already a member, please look in the members section of our site to view the latest digests. The following are provided as a free sample of the service for non-members.
Summary: Monday 14th March 2011
Today's papers cover a range of stories from the Middle East.
Coverage continues on the conflict in Libya between Col. Gaddafi's security forces and the Libyan rebels, which, have intensified recently resulting in some rebels fleeing the cities they once held, as the West continue to discuss intervention.
Demonstrations have also turned violent in Bahrain with the papers reporting that it is on the brink of sectarian violence. The anti-government protests in Yemen have also intensified resulting in the deaths of eight demonstrators with up to 20 more wounded by government security forces.
In other news, Israel has accelerated the construction of 500 new settler homes in the West Bank as a response to the murder of a settler family, and the Iraqi parliament are investigating 20,000 government employees who apparently used forged education certificates to get their jobs.
___________________________________________________________
The Daily Telegraph
International
Sheikh's aide 'sacked for refusing to spy at palace'
Murray Wardrop
"An aide to Dubai's royal family was sacked after refusing to spy on a dignitary suspected of conducting an affair at one of their British palaces, a tribunal has heard."
Libyan rebels fear slaughter as Gaddafi closes in on Benghazi
Rob Crilly
"Forces loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi continued their march towards the opposition stronghold of Benghazi in eastern Libya yesterday, seizing another key oil town along the Mediterranean coast."
SAS laptop and password left in hands of dissenters
Duncan Graham (unavailable online)
"An aborted mission from Britain to Libya which led to the capture of personnel along with laptops and passwords may have compromised SAS computer files."
Force triumphs over a conscientious uprising
Richard Spencer
"The shelves of a chemist shop in the recaptured town of Ras Lanuf told the story of the fighting between rebels and Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces."
Palestinians condemn West Bank homes plan
(unavailable online)
"Palestinian officials have condemned Israel for authorising the construction of hundreds of homes for West Bank settlers in response to the killing of a settler couple and three of their children as they slept."
"Thousands of anti-government demonstrators cut off Bahrain's financial centre and drove back police trying to push them from Pearl Square as violence returned to the streets last night."
Letters
The Arab League, not Britain, should intervene militarily in Libya
"Sir - If the Arab League is so keen on a no-fly zone over Libya why doesn't it take on the job?"
Brian Fish
"Sir - The problems attendant on military intervention in Libya are undeniable, but the least weighty must be that 'having propped him for so long, Britain does not speak with special moral authority on this matter.'"
Ann Farmer
"Sir - The Iraq conflict should have taught us the danger of being embroiled in the affairs of a sovereign nation."
Stephen Reid
"Sir - The British Prime Minister and the French President wrote to the EU President to suggest Gaddafi 'should leave'."
John Vesty
"Sir - On Friday, David Cameron stated that the Gaddafi regime was 'illegitimate'."
Ralph Eschwege
Comment
'America will not move unilaterally. We are clear that Gaddafi has to go.'
Con Coughlin
"As the quest to resolve the Libyan crisis intensifies, the deepening friendship between David Cameron and Barack Obama could now hold the key to unlocking the West's response to the conflict."
_
__________________________________________________________
The Financial Times
International
Libyan rebels' chief in plea for support as Gaddafi gains ground
Tobias Buck
"The leader of Libya's rebellion has warned countries that have failed to support the uprising against Muammer Gaddafi that they would be denied access to Libya's vast oil riches if the regime is deposed."
Soft-spoken rebel heard across Libya
Tobias Buck
"The man leading the Libyan revolution in Benghazi could not be any more different from the flamboyant dictator back in the capital of Tripoli."
Gaddafi pounds cities and drives back opposition
Charles Clover, Daniel Dombey & Roula Khalaf
"Forces loyal to Muammer Gaddafi pounded two coastal cities held by rebels on Sunday, and appear to have taken Brega, the site of a large oil terminal near the rebel capital of Benghazi, in the latest setback for Libya's revolution."
Tripoli starts to feel the bite of sanctions
Michael Peel & Charles Clover
"Libya's dinar has lost a third of its value during the past three weeks since the international sanctions were introduced, a stark measure of the shortage of hard currency that has hit Muammer Gaddafi's regime in the wake of the revolt."
Prince pleads for help after riot police are routed
Robin Wigglesworth & Simeon Kerr
"Bahrain has called on neighbouring Gulf states for policing help after anti-government protesters routed riot police in a pitched battle that covered parts of the capital in teargas."
Simeon Kerr
"Oman is to grant legislative powers to its partly elected council in another reform brought on by weeks of protest in the northern port of Sohar."
Regional round-up
Abigail Fielding-Smith & Noah Browning
"Scores of people were injured in a second day of violence at a protest camp outside Sana'a University on Sunday."
Dina Kraft
"Israeli troops were searching on Sunday for the killers of five members of a Jewish family in a stabbing attack in a West Bank settlement."
Iraq
AP (unavailable online)
"Iraq's parliament is investigating 20,000 government employees who appear to have used forged education certificates to get their jobs, an MP said on Sunday."
Sudan
Reuters (unavailable online)
"A south Sudanese official accused the north of planning a Darfur-style genocide, just months before the secession of his oil-producing region."
Editorial
"As Muammer Gaddafi's regime gains the upper hand in its struggle against the uprising in Libya, pressure is mounting in the US and in other western countries for governments to intervene with force."
Comment
It is time for Europe to back a no-fly zone
Paddy Ashdown
"Commenting on Libya the other day, former British prime minister John Major said 'Events alter opinions'."
______________________________________________________________
The Guardian
International
Road to Benghazi beckons for Gaddafi as Libyan rebels retreat under rain of rockets
Chris McGreal & Simon Tisdall
"Time was running out for Libya's revolution last night as Muammar Gaddafi's forces routed rebels in the east of the country, driving them into retreat from the town of Brega under a rain of rockets and shells, and opening up the road to the principal opposition stronghold, Benghazi."
Calls to release Guardian writer
Ian Black
"Intensive efforts are contuning to persuade the Libyan government to release Guardian correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, who was detained 11 days ago."
Al-Jazeera cameraman chased and shot dead by regime supporters
Matt Wells
"An al-Jazeera cameraman who died in eastern Libya was hunted down and ambushed by forced loyal to the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, according to sources at the broadcaster."
Israel plans to expand settlements after family killing
Harriet Sherwood
"Israel is to build hundreds of homes in West Bank settlements in response to the murder of five members of a Jewish settler family, including two children and a baby, believed to be the work of Palestinian militants."
Europeans favour neutral Jerusalem
Tom Clark
"Europeans believe Jerusalem should be a neutral, international city, as opposed to being a national capital for either the Israelis or the Palestinians, according to a poll undertaken by ICM in six of the continent's big nations."
Saudi Arabia is ready to send troops into Bahrain to help quell protests
Ben Quinn
"Saudi forces are preparing to intervene in neighbouring Bahrain, after a day of clashes between police and protesters who mounted the mose serious challenge to the island's royal family since demonstrations began a month ago."
Comment
A romance on the wane
Daud Abdullah (unavailable online)
"In Europe, Israel has historically enjoyed a high level of support, not least because it was perceived as a progressive democracy in a sea of Arab backwardness."
_______________________________________
The Independent
International
Fighters and residents flee eastwards as Gaddafi forces advance
Donald Macintyre
"The oil town of Brega fell to advancing forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi yesterday as Western governments absorbed an unexpectedly strong call by the Arab League for a no-fly zone to help rebels prevent the regime over-running the rest of Libya."
Arab League call for a no-fly zone may be too little, too late
Patrick Cockburn
"A call for action from the Arab League sounds like a contradiction in terms, given the 22-member organisation's reputation for ineffectiveness."
Bravado fades away as rebels prepare for last stand in Benghazi
Kim Sengupta
"The sandstorm added to the terror and panic; one could hear the shrill sound of the shells and rockets coming in but had no idea where they would land until the shattering noise of the explosion and orange flames lit up the swirling dust."
Killings spur on homes plan for West Bank
Catrina Stewart
"Israel has accelerated plans to build hundreds of new settler homes in response to the killing of a Jewish family in a West Bank settlement at the weekend."
Leading Article
"The vast scale of the destruction in Japan and the ruthless drama of the tsunami have dominated the news, especially television news, in recent days."
__________________________________
The Times
International
Gaddafi's big guns have rebels on run
Anthony Loyd, Deborah Haynes & Giles Whittell
"Panic-stricken rebels fled the eastern town of Brega under heavy artillery fire yesterday as units loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi reversed momentum of Libya's revolution, with no foreign intervention in sight."
Arm the opposition at once, Rifkind urges
Michael Savage
"The West should immediately arm the Libyan rebels fighting Colonel Muammar Gaddafi or risk writing off freedom in the country for a generation or more, a former Foreign Secretary warns today."
British aid worker's killer 'escaped with help of Iraqi jail boss'
David Brown
"The only man convicted of the murder of the British aid worker Margaret Hassan escaped from a notorious Iraqi jail with the help of the governor, an official report has concluded."
Civil war fears as tribal protesters seek arms and threaten troops with revenge
Iona Craig
"Yemen was spiralling towards civil war last night after anti-government protests inspired by the Arab Spring left up to eight people dead and more than 20 suffering from gunshot wounds."
Failed state in strategic position
Hugh Tomlinson
"Yemen is the poorest country in the Middle East but its strategic importance to the West remains incalculable."
Day of violence on streets ends uneasy truce
Hugh Tomlinson
"Bahrain was on the brink of all-out sectarian conflict yesterday after renewed clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters in a day of sustained violence across the capital, Manama."
AP
"A curfew was ordered in a central mining town by the authorities after two people died and 20 were injured in clashes between police and protesters."
Reuters
"Dozens of people were hurt in Casablanca yesterday when riot police used truncheons to break up a rally of several hundred demonstrators demanding reforms, witnesses said."
AFP
"More than 300 relatives of Jordanian Salafists, including the brother of a double agent who killed seven CIA offiicers in Afghanistan in 2009, demonstrated outside the Prime Minister's office in Amman yesterday to demand the release of Islamist prisoners."
Reuters
"Dozens of Saudis gathered outside the Interior Ministry yesterday to demand the release of jailed relatives, activists said."
Outpouring of anger at knife attack family burial
Sheera Frenkel
"They mourned in silence until the Arab gravediggers lowered the five bodies into the ground, then their fury exploded."
Editorial
"While the world's horrified attention is drawn to one humanitarian disaster, another is intensifying."
Opinion
Arm the rebels. Gaddafi must not prevail
Malcolm Rifkind
"The Libyan people could face total defeat in the next few weeks."
_____________________________________________________