Free Sample - Caabu news digest Thursday 17th March 2011
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Summary: Thursday 17th March 2011
Today's papers continue to follow the turmoil in Libya and Bahrain.
Cameron is urging the UN to 'show some leadership' with regards to Libya as Said Gaddafi declares the battle for Benghazi will be over in 48 hours. Protesters in Bahrain were driven out of Pearl Square by police, soldiers, tanks and tear gas following another day of violent clashes.
In other news, Saif Gaddafi has claimed that President Sarkozy of France accepted Libyan money to help finance his election campaign in 2007, and President Mahmoud Abbas is to visit Gaza for the first time in four years.
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The Daily Telegraph
International
We will crush the regime in 48 hours, warns Saif Gaddafi
Richard Spencer, Nabila Ramdani & Andrew Porter
"The Gaddafi regime yesterday taunted the West over its failure to impose a no-fly zone over Libya and said it would 'finish the job' of defeating the insurrection against its rule tomorrow."
Britain to send rescue planes after 'day of annihilation' in Bahrain
Praveen Swami
"The government has advised all Britons to leave Bahrain immediately and will send charter planes to evacuate them from the country after tanks rolled into the capital."
Editorial
America's silence is hurting the West
"The imperious silence emanating from the White House as the turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East intensifies is exacting a high price."
Comment
Why Libya will be Obama's Iraq in reverse
David Frum
"Would President Obama prefer a Gaddafi victory?"
Letters
Britain's duty to protect Libyan civilians serves its own interests, too
"Sir - Simon Heffer displays an outdated and insular mentality."
Dennis Lanner
"Sir - Regardless of their opinion on the wisdom of interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, surely people will judge severely the refusal of international leaders to intervene to stop the psychotic attacks on ordinary human beings by a lunatic out to destroy them for wanting freedom."
Rev John Abrami
"Sir - I am the headmaster of a comprehensive school."
Richard Robinson
"Sir - Am I alone in seeing the irony of the despotic ruler of Saudi Arabia agreeing action to depose the despotic ruler of Libya yet lending support to the despotic ruler of Bahrain?"
Malcolm Cohen
Business
Energy crunch looms as both nuclear and oil near meltdown
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
"The existential crisis for the world's nuclear industry could hardly have come at a worse moment."
Sport
Hopes of World Championships fade as Qatar enters race
Simon Hart
"UK Athletics is facing a tough battle to hose the 2017 World Championships at London's Olympic Stadium following the announcement yesterday of a rival bid from Qatar."
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The Financial Times
International
Arab spring threatened by winter
Roula Khalaf
"After seeing two of their kind swept aside by popular revolutions, Arab leaders are fighting back with a vengeance, with both the Libyan and Bahraini regimes moving forcefully against opposition."
Robin Wigglesworth & Simeon Kerr
"Security forces in Bahrain launched a fresh crackdown on the Shia opposition movement on Wednesday, clearing the roundabout that had become its main home, imposing a curfew, and drawing international condemnation."
Rebels despair of the west as Gaddafi's troops close in
Tobias Buck
"Colonel Muammer Gaddafi moved closer to crushing the rebellion against his 42-year rule in Libya on Wednesday as his troops advanced towards the rebel stronghold of Benghazi."
Lessons of Iraq lie in 1991 loss of courage, not 2003 invasion
Roula Khalaf
"The shadow of Iraq still looms large, we have been told time and time again, as officials seek to explain US dithering over military intervention in Libya."
Confident ruler takes charge of airwaves to taunt his enemies
Charles Clover
"When eastern Libya was swept by revolt three weeks ago, the regime of Muammer Gaddafi seemed paralysed."
Eni urges Europe to curb sanctions
Guy Dinmore & Joshua Chaffin
"Eni, Italy's state-controlled energy company, has urged Europe not to extend sanctions against Libya to include its oil and gas assets, warning that such steps would be 'shooting ourselves in the foot'."
Regional round-up
"Men in civilian clothes broke up the second protest in two days in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Wednesday."
Yemen
"As protests and violence continued to spread across Yemen on Wednesday, the government postponed a meeting with international donors. scheduled for 22 March."
"An air strike on security compound in the Gaza Strip killed three Palestinian militants on Wednesday, according to medical officials."
Lebanon
"About 2,000 mostly Shia demonstrators rallied in central Beirut on Wednesday in support of an uprising by Bahrain's Shia majority."
Cameron seeks 'leadership' on Libya
James Blitz, Alex Barker & Daniel Dombey
"David Cameron has urged the UN to 'show some leadership' on Libya, calling on the Security Council to back a no-fly zone to try to contain Muammer Gaddafi's assault on rebels seeking to overthrow him."
Editorial
"The Arab Spring is flagging."
Comment
The West will rue not helping Libya's rebels
Zaki Laidi
"After his botched handling of the Tunisian and Egyptian crises, Nicholas Sarkozy has made a spectacular recovery over Libya."
Letters
Shaky grounds to intervene against Gaddafi's regime
"Sir, Your editorial 'Libya's rebels need more than words' and other similar calls to help the rebel forces in Libya against Muammer Gaddafi, bring to mind John Stuart Mill's essay 'A Few Words on Non-Intervention' (1959)."
Katerina Dalacoura,
Lecturer in International Relations, LSE
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The Guardian
International
As the endgame approaches, Benghazi braces for battle
Chris Mcgreal
"The thud of anti-aircraft guns and the crack of tracer bullets parading across the night sky like giant fireflies finally died down some time before dawn."
Detained Guardian correspondent is released
Sam Jones
"Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, the Guardian correspondent detained by the Libyan authorities a fortnight ago, has been released."
Leaders's son predicts uprising will be over in 48 hours as rebels defend their last stronghold
Ian Black
"The Libyan government claimed yesterday that it would defeat opposition forces in Benghazi within 48 hours and put an end to the most serious challenge to Muammar Gaddafi's rule in more than 40 years."
Libya helped finance Sarkozy's election, regime claims
Ian Black & Kim Willsher
"Muammar Gaddafi's son has claimed that Libya helped finance Nicholas Sarkozy's successful election campaign in 2007, and demanded that the French president return the money to 'the Libyan people'."
America rebukes Manama after violent crackdown
Martin Chulov
"The US issued a sharp rebuke to Bahrain yesterday after a day of crackdowns on demonstrators, in which hospitals were blockaded by riot police, scores of people were wounded and the Shia diaspora condemned the kingdom's rulers."
Comment
Germany can show reborn nations the art of overcoming a difficult past
Timothy Garton Ash
"Like it or not, Germany still provides the global benchmark for political evil."
The fate of Arabs will be settled in Egypt, not Libya
Seumas Milne
"Barely two months since the triumphant overthrow of the Tunisian dictator that detonated the Arab revolution, a western view is taking hold that it's already gone horribly wrong."
Editorial
Of rocks and hard places
"It has been three months since Mohamed Bouazizi burned himself to death after the street seller felt humiliated by a woman municipal official who confiscated his wheelbarrow."
Letters
Intervention, inertia and the consequences for Libya
"Washington is facing accusations of delay over Libya, you report."
Dominic Rayner
"If what now seems inevitable does occur, and Gaddafi's forces recapture Benghazi and with it the whole of Libya, then it will be down to the international community's procrastination and indecision."
Liam Hoare
"The equivocation of Obama and the American administration on Bahrain is deplorable."
Roland White
"The Turkish foreign minister, referring to the peoples of the Middle East writes 'This region is ours, and we will be the rebuilders of it'."
Dr Michael Laird
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The Independent
International
'This will all be over in 48 hours': Gaddafi's son vows to crush revolution
Kim Sengupta
"The shackles were being torn off after four decades of dictatorship, beckoning a bright and new beginning."
Cameron frustrated with Obama's refusal to act
Nigel Morris & David Usborne
"Tensions were building between London and Washington last night over President Barack Obama's apparent equivocation about whether to back plans to impose a no-fly zone on Libya."
'He will kill everyone. Do something. Please...'
Hana El-Gallal
"The global community must act to stop Gaddafi and his forces reaching Benghazi."
Sarkozy is accused of accepting Libyan funds
John Lichfield
"The Elysee Palace yesterday dismissed a claim by Muammar Gaddafi's son that Libya helped finance President Nicolas Sarkozy's election campaign in 2007."
Bahrain protesters driven out of Pearl Square by tanks and tear gas
Patrick Cockburn
"Thousands of soldiers and police, backed by tanks and helicopters, advanced behind clouds of tear gas to crush pro-democracy protesters in Bahrain yesterday."
Saudi response reveals fear that Sunni power is fading
Patrick Cockburn
"There is a growing anger in the Shia community, estimated to number at least 250 million world-wide, at the intervention of troops from Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates in Bahrain to help repress the Shia majority which has been demanding political and civil rights."
Yemen
"Government supporters armed with sticks, knives and guns yesterday attacked thousands of pro-democracy protesters camped out in a main square, injuring hundreds of people, according to witnesses."
Syria
"Plain-clothed security officiers armed with batons disperesd about 100 protesters in the Syrian capital yesterday, beating some and detaining at least 30 people, according to witnesses and rights groups."
Tunisia
"Dozens of Tunisian youths have protested against the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, shouting 'No to foreign intervention' and 'Clinton get out'."
Abbas ready to visit Gaza Strip
AP
"The Palestinian president has offered to visit the Hamas ruled Gaza Strip for the first time in four years to try to help reunite the rival Palestinian governments."
Sport
Qatari bid to rival London's for 2017
"UK Athletics will have to see off a formidable challenge from Qatar if they are to succeed in their bid to host the 2017 world championships."
Leading Article
The international community has been found wanting
"Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif told a foreign news channel yesterday that the uprising in Libya would be over within 48 hours."
Comment
Bahrain's uprising is about power not religion
Adrian Hamilton
"Sunni. Shia."
Letters
Still just time to rescue Libya
"The revolution towards a progressive government in Libya is being lost while the international community procrastinates."
Peter Offord
"Why is it that an autocratic government (Bahrain) can invite foreing soldiers across its borders to put down peaceful 'rebel' protest and receive no criticism from the UN on the grounds of the act being illegal."
Edmond Wright
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The Times
International
Cameron rift with Obama over Libya
Roland Watson, Giles Whittell & Will Pavia
"David Cameron called for the United Nations to 'show some leadership' yesterday as his quest for a no-fly zone over Libya exposed deep divisions with President Obama."
Democracy protest is destroyed after hardline royal rulers unleash military
Hugh Tomlinson
"Britain was chartering aircraft to evacuate its citiznes from Bahrain today as the Gulf kingdom sank deeper into sectarian violence after security forces smashed the pro-democracy camp in the capital, Manama."
Hugh Tomlinson
"When protests broke out in Bahrain a month ago, the regime's response was to deal with them as it always has, with rubber bullets and tear gas."
'I have seen horrors. They will stay with me all my life.'
Mike Wade
"A British surgeon who spent two weeks working in battlefield hospitals in support of Libyan rebels has returned home with horrifying evidence of the mass killings carried out by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime."
Western foot-dragging turns revolution into a hotbed for extremism
Anthony Loyd
"The small of group of men were quiet and courteous as they explained the circuitous route that they had taken with the corpse of their relative, a 22-year old man killed in Ajdabiya, as they skirted fighting to reach the morgue in distant Benghazi."
Unpredictable battle for Benghazi
Tom Coghlan
"The battle for Benghazi is expected to begin in five to ten days as Libyan government forces press farther east against poorly organised rebel resistance."
Editorial
"On being told that President Coolidge was dead, Dorothy Parker replied: 'How do they know?'"
Letters
Libya: the weakness of civilised nations
"Sir, What message does it send about the international community's support for those Libyans fighting for an end to tyrannical misrule, when as their tormentor masses his troops before what will surely be an onslaught to snuff out revolution, world leaders are still debating the legalities at the United Nations?
John Slinger
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