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Ian Black
Guardian.co.uk
Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:49 EST

© Unknown
Former Tory leader William Hague (left) and current Tory leader and probable future British PM David Cameron flank Ron Prosser, the Israeli ambasador

50% of MPs in the shadow cabinet are Conservative Friends of Israel members, according to Channel 4's Dispatches

Pro-Israeli organisations in Britain look set to see their influence increase if the Conservatives win the next election, a film scrutinising the activities of a powerful but little-known lobby warns today.

At least half of the shadow cabinet are members of the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), according to a Dispatches programme being screened on Channel 4. The programme-makers describe the CFI as "beyond doubt the most well- connected and probably the best funded of all Westminster lobbying groups".

Inside Britain's Israel Lobby claims that donations to the Conservative party "from all CFI members and their businesses add up to well over £10m over the last eight years". CFI has disputed the figure and called the film "deeply flawed".

The programme also describes how David Cameron allegedly accepted a £15,000 donation from Poju Zabludowicz, a Finnish billionaire who chairs Bicom (the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre). Zabludowizc, the film reveals, has business interests in an illegal West Bank settlement. He also gave £50,000 to Conservative Central Office. Zabludowicz says his contributions "are a matter of public record".

Chris Burns and Patrick Donahue
Bloomberg
Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:07 EST

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, drawing on his experience of military failure in Afghanistan in the 1980s, said the U.S. can't win the conflict there and should begin pulling out its soldiers.

Afghanistan, where U.S. and NATO forces are battling a Taliban-led insurgency, is too fragmented between clans to be controlled militarily, Gorbachev, 78, said in an interview today in Berlin. While he said President Barack Obama would be unlikely to take his advice, Gorbachev said he saw no chance of success even with more U.S. troops.

"I believe that there is no prospect of a military solution," Gorbachev said in Russian through a translator. "What we need is the reconciliation of Afghan society -- and they should be preparing the ground for withdrawal rather than additional troops."

Sonja Pace
VOA News
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:43 EST

Britain's prime minister says the UK will send more troops to Afghanistan if other allies do the same. Speaking on British radio, BBC's Radio Four, Gordon Brown said he's confident of that support.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said British envoys are being sent out to talk with coalition partners and NATO allies to make the case for sending more troops to Afghanistan.

"We are prepared to put more troops into Afghanistan, there must be burden-sharing among the alliance," he said.

Britain currently has 9,000 troops in Afghanistan and is proposing sending 500 more, but it wants other allies - not including the United States - to send another 5,000 troops as well.

Sabine Siebold
Reuters
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:38 EST

Germany will send 120 more soldiers to northern Afghanistan to reinforce its base in the Kundus province, Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said on Friday.

Guttenberg announced the modest increase during a surprise visit to Afghanistan, where Germany has the third largest contingent in the NATO-led mission with 4,200 troops.

"I've made the decision to reinforce Kundus with an additional infantry company from mid-January," the new defence minister said at the dust-covered field post in Kundus, where he visited a wounded soldier and ate at the mess hall.

The United States, with 67,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, has long urged Germany and other countries to send more troops. There are about 42,000 from other allied nations.

Defence Ministry spokesman Steffen Moritz told reporters in Berlin the extra infantry company would contain 120 troops.

Matthew Weaver
The Guardian
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:14 EST

Members of explorer troop shouted 'kill the Jews' at veterans during remembrance parade

A scout troop is being investigated by the police after its members shouted death threats and racist abuse at Jewish war veterans during a remembrance parade.

Dressed in full uniform, the explorer scouts, who were taking part in Remembrance Sunday service in Romford, Essex were heard to repeatedly shout "Let's kill the Jews" at Jewish second world war veterans.

The head of the scouts in the area has issued a full apology for the incident, which was witnessed by a senior policeman standing a few feet away.

A Metropolitan police spokesman said the Met was investigating two allegations of "racially aggravated harassment" involving more than one member of the Romford explorer scout unit. He would not say how many scouts were involved.

Channel 4 defends Israel lobby probe

Simon Rocker
The Jewish Community Online
Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:09 EST

Channel 4's flagship investigations programme, Dispatches, is to probe what it calls "one of the most powerful and influential political lobbies in Britain" - the pro-Israel lobby.

The political columnist Peter Oborne is to front an hour-long broadcast, Inside Britain's Israel Lobby, due to be broadcast on Monday week.

The hard-hitting documentary strand has been responsible for such programmes as Undercover Mosque two years ago, which included covert filming of Islamist extremists preaching in British mosques.

Christopher Hope
The Telegraph
Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:00 EST

Increasing numbers of elderly and infirm people will be pressured into killing themselves under changes to assisted suicide rules, it has been claimed.

A group of leading lawyers, peers and former judges including Baroness Butler-Sloss, the former head of the family division of the High Court, are warning that the plans pose "serious dangers for public safety".

In a significant intervention, they are warning the proposed changes go against the will of Parliament and risk reducing the Director of Public Prosecutions from an enforcer of the law, to an arbitrator.

Baroness Butler-Sloss, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, a former Lord Chancellor, and Lord Carlile of Berriew, the Government's terrorism legislation adviser, are among those have come together in an unprecedented coalition to express concern about the impact of the changes proposed by Keir Starmer, the DPP.

Julian Ryall
The Telegraph
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:50 EST

China has admitted secretly salvaging a British submarine sunk in an accident in 1931, but claimed there was no sign of the remains or personal effects of the 18 men who were entombed in HMS Poseidon when it went down off the former naval base of Weihai.

Beijing has only confirmed that it raised and scrapped the Poseidon in 1972 after its fate was reported by The Daily Telegraph shortly after the anniversary of the sinking on June 9.

But China's claim that the hull of the vessel contained no human remains, identity tags, watches, rings or other personal items has provoked anger among relatives of the men who died.

"It was a shock to discover the Chinese authorities' claims and I'm deeply upset and disappointed," said Penny Lewis, whose grandfather, Able Seaman Frederick Tolliday, died in the accident.

"And that is not only for myself, but especially on behalf of my father and grandmother who were both still alive in 1972 when the Poseidon was recovered," she said.

Angela Charlton
The Associated Press
Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:05 EST

The European Union has battled long and hard for this moment: the imminent choice of its first president.

To get there, the EU strong-armed Irish voters, brushed aside hostile French and Dutch ballots, and pressured the Czech president into agreeing to a single leader to give Europe a strong voice on the world stage.

Yet after all that, EU leaders meeting Thursday may end up picking someone from a small country with little international power instead of a charismatic heavyweight to head this continental bloc of 27 nations, half a billion people and huge economic heft.

To pick a boss they can all live with, they must strike the right balance between big countries and small, east and west, socialists and conservatives, perhaps male and female. They must maneuver between proponents of a strong Europe and those who fear it - eurocentrics and euroskeptics, in the local parlance.

It's a diplomatic minefield.

Associated Press
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:14 EST

Beijing - Two people in China who received swine flu vaccinations died in the past week but at least one death appears unrelated to the vaccine and the other was being investigated.

The country's health ministry reported the deaths late Friday on its Web site - the first time China has announced deaths with potential links to the Chinese-made swine flu vaccine.

An autopsy showed one victim suffered a heart attack and, "experts have basically ruled out the possibility that the patient's sudden death was the result of immediate allergic reactions to the flu vaccines," the ministry statement said.

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