Sixteen Russian and five Chinese naval ships sailed through an international strait north of Hokkaido from midday Saturday to the Sea of Okhotsk, the Defense Ministry said Sunday.
Russia and China conducted a joint naval drill off the coast of Vladivostok from July 5 to 12, but the purpose of their passage through the Soya Strait is not known, a ministry official said.
The Russian fleet, including missile cruisers, missile destroyers, a supply ship and a hospital ship, traveled through the strait Saturday afternoon, while the Chinese fleet, comprising two missile destroyers, two frigates and a supply ship, passed through the strait early Sunday, the ministry said.

Former U.S. National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden met with Russian human rights activists, lawyers and government officials Friday to seek their support in securing asylum in Russia in order to later travel safely to South America, leaving Russia with little wriggle room to remain neutral.
“I do intend to ask for political asylum in Russia. I believe that the legal means to stay in Russia safely, to attempt to move to Latin America, is to request asylum in the Russian Federation. I can only at this time formally accept asylum in Russia because of the limitations on my ability to travel,” Snowden told his handpicked audience.
The meeting took place in an unidentified room of Sheremetyevo Airport's transit zone, where Snowden has been apparently stuck for three weeks after the United States revoked his passport. Snowden's guests were followed by dozens of frenzied journalists as they made their way to a special door meant for staff only. The drama reached its peak when the overcrowding on the escalator made it malfunction and journalists had to rush up the frozen stairs.
Snowden's plea for Russian protection marks his second attempt to obtain legal status in Russia.  On July 2, he withdrew a request after President Vladimir Putin said he could only stay in Russia if he stopped inflicting damage against “our American partners.”
This time, Snowden reasoned that his request was not at odds with Putin's condition, as he was not actually inflicting damage against the U.S.
“He called on the organizations present to intervene in support of his asylum claim. He also said that he did not find Putin's remark problematic because, as he says, he did not do any harm to the United States and he did not plan to do any,” Tanya Lokshina, senior researcher at Moscow's Human Rights Watch office, said after the meeting, noting that Snowden “looked like a schoolboy.”
Snowden also asked for assistance in convincing international organizations to petition the U.S. and European Union to allow him to travel, since such organizations require applicants to come to them, and he is stuck in the airport, Lokshina said.
The Russian government is clearly watching the situation closely, as representatives of Russia's secret services were evidently present at the meeting, said Sergei Nikitin, head of Moscow's office of Amnesty International.

“If you see men in suits with military bearing and a heavy look on their faces, then who do you think these people are, school teachers?” he said.

Nikitin also said that whoever was taking care of Snowden seemed to be doing it quite well, as Snowden himself clearly stated that the conditions he enjoyed in Moscow were good. At the same time, according to Nikitin, Snowden said he had not yet been able to improve his Russian despite listening to hundreds of airport announcements each day.
The head of Russia's Federal Migration Service, Konstantin Romodanovsky, told Interfax on Saturday that the agency had not yet received Snowden's asylum application. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's foreign ministers in Kyrgyzstan on the same day that the government was not in contact with Snowden.
Putin discussed the Snowden situation with U.S. President Barack Obama over the phone Friday, though no details of that conversation have been made public.
All participants of the meeting, including both pro-Kremlin State Duma Deputy Vyacheslav Nikonov and human rights organizations — the offices of which have been raided by government authorities in recent months — agreed that Snowden had a strong case to seek asylum in Russia.
The asylum request leaves Russia with fewer options to remain neutral in the matter. The Kremlin has publicly indicated a desire to be rid of Snowden, whose presence in Russia has hurt already strained U.S.-Russia ties, but signals Friday pointed to a possible change in attitude.
State Duma speaker and strong Putin ally Sergei Naryshkin told Rossia 24 television that he thought Russia should grant Snowden asylum, assuming he fulfilled the condition set by Putin. And lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, a member of the Public Chamber who has represented outspokenly pro-Putin film director Nikita Mikhalkov and United Russia lawmaker Iosif Kobzon, said he had agreed with Snowden to help him in preparing his asylum request, according to Interfax. The application process would take between two and three weeks, he said.
Obama's spokesman, Jay Carney, said Friday that “providing a propaganda platform for Mr. Snowden runs counter to the Russian government's previous declarations of Russia's neutrality and [claims] that they have no control over his presence in the airport.”
It was unclear from Snowden's statements regarding his attitude toward the U.S. whether he intended to stop leaking secret U.S. documents, for which the United States wants to charge him with espionage, or whether he believes that he is actually helping the U.S. by leaking the information.
United Russia parliamentarian Alexei Pushkov, who heads the State Duma's International Affairs Committee, said on Twitter that Russia had acted correctly in not extraditing Snowden.
“Russia did the right thing in not giving up Snowden. There are things more important than a momentary gain. Pragmatism in foreign policy is not the same as cynicism,” Pushkov wrote.

Source: The Moscow Times

US sprinter Tyson Gay and Jamaica's former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell have failed drug tests.

Gay, 30, the joint-second fastest man over 100m, was notified by the US Anti-Doping Agency on Friday that his A sample from an out-of-competition test in May had returned a positive. 

Powell tested positive for a banned stimulant while competing in June's Jamaican championships.

Fellow Jamaican athlete Sherone Simpson also failed a drug test at the event.

The sprinter, a 4x100m relay silver medallist at last year's London Olympics, tested positive for oxilofrine - the same stimulant Powell tested positive for.

Powell and Simpson's doping positives come a month after Jamaican Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown tested positive for a banned diuretic.

The 30-year-old Powell was the last man to hold the individual 100m record before compatriot Usain Bolt broke it in 2008. He is still the fourth fastest man of all time.

Powell later helped Jamaica to win 400m relay gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. 

He has run 9.88 seconds this year, but failed to make the Jamaican team for next month's World Championships.

"I want to be clear in saying to my family, friends and, most of all, my fans worldwide that I have never knowingly or wilfully taken any supplements or substances that break any rules," Powell said in a statement.
"I am not now - nor have I ever been - a cheat."

Gay, who is the fastest man in 2013, is waiting for the results of his 'B' sample.

He has already withdrawn from next month's World Championships in Moscow.

"I don't have a sabotage story... I basically put my trust in someone and was let down," he said.

"I know exactly what went on, but I can't discuss it right now.

"I hope I am able to run again, but I will take whatever punishment I get like a man."

USADA responded to Gay's disclosure by releasing a statement that read: "In response to Mr Gay's statements, USADA appreciates his approach to handling this situation and his choice to voluntarily remove himself from competition while the full facts surrounding his test are evaluated.

"The B sample will be processed shortly, and as in all cases all athletes are innocent unless or until proven otherwise through the established legal process, and any attempt to sensationalise or speculate is a disservice to due process, fair play, and to those who love clean sport."

Gay, who missed almost a year of running after he had hip surgery in 2011, had been in impressive form so far this year, clocking the three fastest times of 2013.

He won the 100m at the Jamaica Invitational athletics meeting in May with a time of 9.86 seconds, before clocking 9.75 seconds - the fastest time of 2013 - to win the US World Championships trials the following month.

He continued his good form with victory in the men's 100m at the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, running 9.79 seconds.

Source: BBC

The leader of Spain's opposition socialist party has called on the prime minister to resign. The move comes as more allegations are published about corruption, a slush fund for government ministers and complicity.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has come under growing pressure since the newspaper El Mundo published alleged secret accounting documents that indicated he had received illegal cash payments from the treasurer of his People's Party (PP), Luis Barcenas while serving in a previous government.

"It is untenable for the prime minister to remain in office a moment longer," Socialist leader Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said on Sunday.

The PP denies reports alleging the existence of a slush fund, in which bribes from construction companies were reportedly channelled to Rajoy and other party leaders for nearly two decades.

Barcenas is due to testify in court on Monday. He is charged with tax fraud, bribery and other crimes and was jailed last month as a flight risk. He gave an interview to El Mundo last week and handed over what he said was the original ledger detailing payments to party officials, including Rajoy.

On Sunday, El Mundo published an alleged transcript of text messages between Rajoy and Barcenas, in which the prime minister offered his support after prosecutors filed charges against Barcenas. Rajoy's text messages place him uncomfortably close to Barcenas: "Luis, nothing is easy but we'll do what we can. Cheer up," said one message from 2012.

In January, when the slush fund allegations broke, Rajoy sent Barcenas a message saying, "Luis, I understand. Stay strong. I'll call you tomorrow. A hug."

"There have been lies, resounding silence in terms of explanations and collusion, as shown by these text messages," Socialist leader Rubalcaba told a news conference.

A spokeswoman for Rajoy declined to comment on the report.

jm/jr (dpa, Reuters, AP)

The Serbian parliament declared its respect for the Srebrenica massacre victims, but lawmakers continued to squabble over whether the 1995 killings should be labelled genocide.

Marija Ristic

BIRN Belgrade

Serbia’s national assembly said in a statement to mark the 18th year since the 1995 massacres that it “extends its deepest respect to the innocent Bosniak victims and condolences to their families on the anniversary of their ordeal in Srebrenica”.

“Serbia and its parliament are forever committed to keeping alive the memory of the victims of the brutal armed conflicts in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s,” said the statement issued on Thursday.

“The national assembly also extends its sympathy and condolences to the families of the innocent civilian victims of Serbian nationality in the conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” it said.

But the Serbian Liberal Party immediately criticised the statement, saying that it downplayed the significance of the massacres and “demonstrated Serbia’s unwillingness to tell the truth about what happened 18 years ago”.

The party said that the government should schedule a special session to prove “not just by words, but by deeds” that its members no longer supported war crimes suspects like Ratko Mladic.

The conservative Democratic Party of Serbia also criticised the statement, saying that other alleged war crimes also merited parliamentary declarations.

“We are wondering why parliament expressed respect only for the innocent victims of Srebrenica, and why not on another anniversary, for example when Bosnia and Herzegovina was recognised by the United States and the West on April 7, 1992, which was the source of crimes against peace from which originated all subsequent crimes [during the war],” MP Slobodan Samarzdic said a letter to the speaker of parliament.

In 2010, the Serbian parliament adopted a resolution in which it condemned the Srebrenica massacres and extended an apology to the families of the victims for not doing everything possible to prevent the massacre, but it did not define the killings as genocide.

The League of Vojvodina Social Democrats on Thursday asked for the declaration to be included in school textbooks.

It also called on MPs and politicians not to show a lack of respect to the victims on anniversary of the killings.

“At least today, out of respect to the victims, don’t argue if genocide or war crimes took place in Srebrenica and, at least today, accept that International Court of Justice defined it as genocide,” its statement said.

By Steve Scherer

ROME (Reuters) – A senior parliamentarian in the anti-immigration Northern League party has likened Italy’s first black minister to an orangutan.

1. Cecile Kyenge, an Italian citizen born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been the target of repeated racial slurs since her appointment as integration minister in April.

Roberto Calderoli, vice president of Italy’s Senate, said on Saturday at a political rally in the northern town of Treviglio, “I love animals – bears and wolves, as everyone knows – but when I see the pictures of Kyenge I cannot but think of, even if I’m not saying she is one, the features of an orangutan.”

He said the success of Kyenge encouraged “illegal immigrants” want to come to Italy, and she should be a minister “in her own country”, according to media reports.

Most of the racist taunts – “Congolese monkey”, “Zulu” and “the black anti-Italian” – have come from far-right groups.

Last month, a Northern League member in the European parliament was expelled from the eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group for making racist remarks about her.

Mario Borghezio had attacked Kyenge for wanting to impose “tribal traditions” in Italy as member of a “bonga bonga” government, an apparent play on the so-called “bunga bunga” parties of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Opposition politician Calderoli, twice a cabinet minister under Berlusconi, is often offensive.

In 2006, he was forced to resign as reform minister after displaying a T-shirt mocking the prophet Muhammad during a state news broadcast. Later the same year, after Italy won the Football World Cup, he made racist comments about the French team.

While Italy had won the cup with ethnic Italians, France had lost because its players were “niggers, Muslims and communists”.

On Sunday, politicians, including some from his own party, lambasted Calderoli, with some calling for him to resign as Senate vice president. In an official statement and on Twitter, Prime Minister Enrico Letta said the comments were unacceptable.

“They go beyond all limits. Full solidarity and support to Cecile. Forward with your and our work,” Letta said.

Kyenge is campaigning to make it easier for immigrants to gain citizenship, and she backs a law that would automatically make anyone born on Italian soil a citizen.

Calderoli said he had no intention of resigning and offered only a qualified apology, saying it was “immediately clear to everyone present” that his comment was made in the context of a political rally, Ansa news agency reported.

“I did not mean to offend and if minister Kyenge was offended I am sorry, but my comment was made within a much broader political speech that criticised the minister and her policies,” he said.

Kyenge has not made an official statement, but she told AGI news agency that Calderoli should reflect on how he wanted to represent Italy as a senior Senate member.

“I don’t want to address Calderoli the person, but as a representative of an institution: Reflect on what you want to represent through your language,” she said.

(Editing by Louise Ireland)

Literally translated Mordida means "bite." In Mexico, it means bribe - the backhander, normally involving the greasing of palms via a small exchange of cash to avoid a traffic infraction or to untie red tape.

It's the thin edge of the wedge in bribery and corruption, which certainly isn't confined to Mexico, but has, by all accounts, held this country back for far too long.

Independent experts outside official circles say that the bane of corruption is being tackled and isn't anywhere near as rampant as it was in years past. Yet it still lingers in small form and also as grand larceny.

One story that recently made the headlines was the so-called Lady Profeco case. The Head of Mexico's Federal Consumer Protection Office (Profeco) Humberto Benitez Treviño was fired because his daughter Andrea threw a tantrum about not being allocated a table in a swanky restaurant.

Denied what she insisted was her rightful place, she threatened to call Daddy and get the establishment closed. Soon inspectors from Profeco arrived and alleged that rules had been violated.

A firestorm of criticism and outrage ensued. Mexico's Minister of the Interior Miguel Angel Osorio Chong waded in and announced that Benitez was fired. He stressed that although the hapless parent had no direct involvement in this sorry chapter, the whole inedible incident had tarnished the image of the agency. So Dad carried the can and was obliged to swallow the consequences.

Corruption culture

Antonio Luigi Mazzitelli, who's based in the Mexico branch of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, focuses on corruption and ways to combat it.

"On the one side, there's increased institutionalization. On the other, society scrutiny of VIP behavior goes in the same direction - namely, corruption is not acceptable any more. And the political cost related to impunity is becoming so costly that no one wants to bear it. The culture of citizenship, democratic participation in the handling of public affairs is increasing. This is one of the most important features of contemporary Mexico."

Another considerably more significant case on a much larger scale of corruption concerns boxes stuffed with more than 90 million pesos ($7 million) found in an office of Jose Sainz who was finance secretary during the 2007-2012 Administration of Tabasco State Governor Andres Granier. This is part of an ongoing investigation into alleged vast embezzlement.

Current Governor Arturo Nuñez has announced that an audit of his predecessor's Administration identified that 1.9 billion pesos are missing.

After returning from the United States, the former governor complained of chest pains and checked himself into a plush hospital for almost two weeks. A judge ordered his detention for 30 days while further investigations are launched. He’s now been charged with money laundering and embezzlement and transferred to the prison Reclusorio Oriente in Mexico City. This is the man who once boasted he went shopping in Beverly Hills, buying hundreds of suits and pairs of shoes. He later tried to retract this statement, claiming he was drunk when he made it.

Eduardo Bohorquez, Executive Director of Transparencia Mexicana, points out that corruption and impunity are illicit twins with the one expanding the perception of the other. He says that access to information regarding accountability is considerably better nowadays, but in many ways this is a tool and not an end in itself.

"In the past 10 years some 25,000 public servants have been sanctioned because of corruption in administrative procedures. But you still have the perception of the big ones operating freely in the system and that only certain levels of public servants are being punished."

Public perception

The Mexican public would like to believe that the overall situation is improving but is still often faced with the unpalatable everyday realities. Laura Patricia Venegas Medina says that corruption permeates all social levels. "Corruption is a crime, irrespective of the amount involved. The robbing of a single peso is the same action as that of a thousand pesos. It's the actual process which is involved."

Mario Camacho says he does believe that the government is trying to improve institutions but he also says that people who offer bribes have to share a significant portion of the blame because it's not easy for those in positions of power being offered that cash to say no. "We have to be hopeful there will be a solution, if not in the immediate future, then maybe in the medium term."

Measuring any form of corruption anywhere isn't easy. Those who perpetrate it tend not to leave a contract or a receipt behind. But Bohorquez explains that studies in Mexico show petty corruption is an ever-present problem. It gobbles up around 14 percent of the average family's income - the equivalent of $32 billion annually.

However, he has identified a silver lining. "In Mexico we now have a Congress that is independent and exercising pressure over the Executive branch. This is not working at the speed Mexicans would love to see, but it is working. This is not anymore a society that is waiting quietly for things to happen."

Mazzitelli agrees. "I would say that rather than looking at a half-empty glass, I prefer to look at a half-full glass. Probably 10 years ago none of these cases would have been under public scrutiny, which means that the situation has changed. The important thing is that they are starting to be addressed by Mexican institutions at federal but also increasingly at state level. And civil society is taking a stand with respect to corruption and corrupt behavior, making it more and more unacceptable."

Source: DW 

The journalist who broke the story about an intelligence leaker says he has even more damaging information about US spying activities. He said this would be released if something were to happen to Edward Snowden.

Glenn Greenwald, a journalist with Britain's Guardian newspaper, which first published Snowden's revelations, told Argentina's La Nacion that the former National Security Agency contractor and Central Intelligence Agency employee had so far elected to withhold much of the information he has.

"Snowden has enough information to cause harm to the US government in a single minute than any other person has ever had," Greenwald said in an interview in Rio de Janeiro published in the Saturday edition of the paper.  

"The US government should be on its knees every day begging that nothing happen to Snowden, because if something does happen to him, all the information will be revealed and it could be its worst nightmare," Greenwald added.

He also said among the documents Snowden had hid away in several different locations were some that detail how US spy programs conduct surveillance in Latin America.

"One way of intercepting communications is through a telephone company in the United States that has contracts with telecommunications companies in most Latin American countries," Greenwald said, without naming the company.

Stranded in Sheremetyvo

Snowden, 30, has been stranded in the transit area of one of Moscow's international airports since he left Hong Kong three weeks ago. It was while he was in Hong Kong that the Guardian first published his revelations.

Since then, US authorities have been seeking to get Snowden extradited so that he can be put on trial on espionage charges.

On Friday, Snowden told activists who visited him at Sheremetyvo Airport that he planned to apply for temporary asylum in Russia until it was safe for him to travel on to a permanent destination in Latin America.

On Saturday, Russian authorities said that they had not yet received such an application from Snowden. Meanwhile, Bolivian President Evo Morales reiterated his offer of asylum to Snowden while at the same time pledging that La Paz would adhere to all "diplomatic norms and international accords."

pfd/mkg (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Egypt's interim prime minister has filled several key ministerial positions as efforts continue to assemble a new cabinet. Meanwhile opposition leader Mohammed ElBaradei has been sworn in as interim vice president.

Former ambassador to the United States, Nabil Fahmy, accepted the post of foreign minister on Sunday. His appointment is widely considered a symbol of the emphasis the new government places on relations with the United States, which offers $1.3 billion (995.3 million euros) a year in military aid.

Meanwhile, news agency Reuters reported that liberal economist Ahmed Galal agreed to take on the role of finance minister and senior Judge Mohamed Amin el-Mahdy was appointed as justice minister.

The appointments came as caretaker Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi (pictured above left) held a second day of meetings with candidates for his new army-backed cabinet. It is expected to have around 30 ministries and is likely to be unveiled within the next few days.

It will replace Egypt's first democratically elected government under President Mohammed Morsi who was ousted by the military almost two weeks ago. The military has pledged to hold parliamentary elections in around six months.

Earlier, Egyptian reform advocate Mohammed ElBaradei, who led the country's main opposition group, the National Salvation Front (NSF), took the oath of office before interim president Adli Mansour.

Under the 71-year-old Nobel laureate, the secular NSF led opposition to former President Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

According to NSF spokesman Khaled Dawoud, ElBaradei no longer heads the coalition.

"He is now a vice president for all Egyptians," Dawoud said.

ccp/jm (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)

Francois Hollande has said France needs to ensure upkeep of train lines after a derailment left six people dead. Earlier on Sunday, African troops marched alongside France’s military in the Bastille Day parade.

A main point in the French president's interview with top television journalists on Bastille Day was the train wreck that killed six outside of Paris on Friday.

"We must do much more to maintain traditional lines, existing lines," Hollande said during the interview. "The first conclusion we will draw is to ensure that, in the significant investments being made in the coming years, the priority is on traditional intercity lines," he added.

On Saturday afternoon, Pierre Izard, the SNCF railway's general manager responsible for infrastructure, had told reporters that investigators found that a joint had moved from its normal position, which may have caused the train wreck. However, officials also found that another train had traveled through the station without incident just before the wreck, and a further investigation would be carried out to determine why the joint may have malfunctioned when it did.

With his popularity at rock-bottom, Hollande, a socialist, used the interview to defend his 14 months in office since taking over from the conservative Nicolas Sarkozy.

'Recovery is here'

"The economic recovery is here," Hollande said during the television interview. "I will increase taxes only if necessary, ideally as little as possible," he added.

Hollande also used the interview to address economic issues such as how France would handle EU-mandated budget cuts planned for this year. These include proposed changes to France's pension schemes, which have already sparked calls from unions for general strikes.

No fracking

"As long as I am president, there were will be no exploration for shale gas," Hollande said. "We can see some consequences in the United States" from the technique, he added.

Hollande said that France would maintain its ban on the exploration for shale gas throughout his five-year term. He said the fracking technique used to extract shale gas presented too many "risks to groundwater."

Since 2011, France has banned energy companies from exploiting shale gas over fears of environmental risks from the potential air and water pollution involved in fracking.

And a parade

As France mourned the six killed near Paris, Hollande also commented on what he called the success of the country's first military intervention since he took office a year ago. "Their presence is a tribute to those who actively helped to banish terrorism of the Malian territory," Hollande said of the African troops marching in Paris.

"It's a victory that was won," Hollande said in the interview with the France 2 and TF-1 television stations in the garden of the presidential Elysee Palace. "Look at what happened. It was a victory for Africa, a victory against terrorism, and pride that
we must have."

 "I was saluted in Africa, not for what I said but for what I did," Hollande said of his visits to the continent this year.

In all, 4,800 troops marched past the presidential stage in central Paris, where Hollande stood next to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Bastille Day marks the July 14, 1789, storming of a prison that helped spark the French Revolution. This year, 241 horses, 265 vehicles, 58 planes and 35 helicopters participated. Among the assembled soldiers were German troops from Donaueschingen's 292nd Battalion and the German-French Brigade.

mkg/jm (Reuters, AFP)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Iran was getting closer to the "red line" he set for its nuclear program and warned the international community not to be distracted by the crises in Syria and Egypt.

Tehran was continuing enrichment activities and building inter-continental ballistic missiles, which could give it a military nuclear capability, he said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

At the United Nations in September, Netanyahu drew a red line across a cartoon bomb to illustrate the point at which Iran will have amassed enough uranium to fuel one nuclear bomb. He said Iran could reach that threshold by mid-2013.

"They haven't yet reached it but they're getting closer to it and they have to be stopped," Netanyahu told CBS. He said the West's sanctions against Tehran needed to be intensified and backed up with the threat of a credible military option.

Netanyahu also said Iran was building faster centrifuges that could allow it to speed up its enrichment activities.

Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed power, has issued veiled warnings for years that it might attack Iran if international sanctions and diplomacy fail to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Israel has long insisted on the need for a convincing military threat and setting clear lines beyond which Iran's nuclear activity should not advance.

"I think it's important to note that we (Israel) can't allow it to happen. Our clocks are ticking at a different pace. We're closer than the United States, we're more vulnerable, and therefore we'll have to address this question of whether to stop Iran before the United States does," Netanyahu said.

The Israeli prime minister said he was concerned that the military conflict in Syria and the political crisis in Egypt had pushed the Iran nuclear issue lower on the international agenda.

"There are many important issues that we have to deal with and I have a sense that there is no sense of urgency on Iran and yet Iran is the most important and the most urgent matter of all," he said.

(Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Writing by Paul Simao; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

More than 30,000 people have fled DR Congo after a group of Ugandan rebels attacked a border town, says the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR.

The Allied Democratic Forces raided the town of Kamango on Thursday, according to the Ugandan army spokesman.

The Congolese national army has now retaken Kamango.

The ADF is based in mineral-rich eastern DR Congo, where numerous armed groups have caused havoc over the past two decades.

The huge number of refugees came in so quickly that the government and aid workers are still working out what to do, says the BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga in Bundibudgyo, on the Ugandan border with the DRC.

Long wait

No food or adequate shelter has been distributed to the refugees. Many had to sleep out in the open in school compounds, or on the verandas of shops, she says.

The ADF was formed in 1996 by a puritanical Muslim sect in the Ruwenzori mountains of western Uganda.

In 1998 it increased its activities and a number of bomb blasts in markets and restaurants in Kampala were blamed on the group.

After years of sporadic raids, the Ugandan army almost destroyed the ADF's capacity in 2004 and it moved into DR Congo.

However, a United Nations report last year said the rebels had expanded their military capacity and established links with Somalia's al-Shabab militants.

(Reuters) - Mexico's biggest brewers, Corona maker Grupo Modelo and Sol producer Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma, have agreed to face more competition to end a dispute over their long domination of the domestic beer market, the world's sixth-biggest.

Mexico's Federal Competition Commission (Cofeco) said on Thursday that Modelo, a unit of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA (ABI.BR), and Cuauhtemoc, which belongs to Heineken NV (HEIN.AS), would in the next five years have to reduce exclusivity deals they have with clients in Mexico or face heavy fines.

The directive follows a longstanding complaint from rival SABMiller (SAB.L), whose brands include Miller, Grolsch and Peroni, and which has struggled to make headway in Mexico.

In terms of the amount of beer consumed, Modelo accounted for some 56 percent of the Mexican market in 2012, with Heineken Mexico at 43 percent, data from market research firm Euromonitor shows. SABMiller was a distant third with 0.3 percent.

The two brewing giants agreed to conditions that include limiting exclusivity deals in convenience stores and restaurants to a maximum of 25 percent of points of sale, reducing this to 20 percent over the next five years.

In addition, no such agreements may exclude sales of artisanal beer brewed by small-scale beer makers, Cofeco said.

The watchdog also set a penalty for breaking the terms of the agreement at up to 8 percent of Cuauhtemoc's or Modelo's annual Mexican revenue.

Modelo had domestic sales of 51.6 billion pesos ($4.01 billion) last year, implying a penalty of up to $321 million - or about a third of the company's net profit in 2012.

The settlement gives microbrewers, as well as SABMiller, a better chance to compete, but not everyone was persuaded.

SAB Miller's Mexico unit said a complete opening of the market would have been better for all involved. "Miller is analyzing the settlement to determine its response in due course," Armando Valenzuela, chief executive of Miller Trading Company in Mexico, said in a statement.

One of Cofeco's five commissioners voted against the settlement because he wanted a stronger ruling. "In principle, I think these exclusive agreements are wrong, because they reduce choice for consumers," said Miguel Flores.

Exclusive agreements between restaurants and bars and the dominant pair of brewers already account for 25 percent to 30 percent of the market, the commissioner said. "This is just formalizing the status quo. There is no change in the market," said Flores.

The ruling, which allows existing agreements to expire, was "not that harsh" Credit Suisse said in a research note.

SABMiller would have improved access to the market, but it still faces some barriers to Mexico, including its brand portfolio, Credit Suisse analyst Antonio Gonzalez wrote.

Shares of Heineken and AB InBev, the world's biggest brewer, closed up nearly 1 percent after the decision. Shares of SABMiller, the second-largest brewer worldwide, were up nearly 2 percent on the London Stock Exchange.

DOMINATION

Restaurants and bars in Mexico have received a range of incentives for entering into exclusivity deals with the brewers, including awnings, games, refrigerators and discounts on inventory purchases, if sales are high enough.

Many Mexicans have looked forward to change in the market, which is a duopoly for the two big brewers.

"The monopoly that Grupo Modelo and Cuauhtemoc have is really screwed up," said Paco Bernal, the dreadlocked manager at El Palenguito, a small, dimly lit mezcal bar in Mexico City's Roma Norte neighborhood, earlier this week.

AB InBev and Heineken have carved up much of Brazil's market in addition to that of Mexico, while SABMiller has leading positions in smaller Latin American nations such as Colombia andPeru.

Following the Cofeco settlement, SABMiller will probably start offering big discounts and lots of incentives to Mexican retailers, said James Mosher, an expert on the brewing industry at the CDM Group consultancy.

"I would expect, depending on how effective the agreement is ... in 10 years they'd be able to grab 10 percent of the market," Mosher said.

AB InBev this year completed the purchase of the half of Modelo it did not already own, after settling a dispute with the U.S. Justice Department.

Dutch brewer Heineken acquired Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma, whose other brands include Dos Equis and Indio, from Coca-Cola bottler Femsa (FMSAUBD.MX) in 2010.

Femsa, which has a 20 percent stake in Heineken, operates convenience store chain Oxxo and has exclusivity deals to sell the Dutch company's beers. Modelo has similar agreements with bars and restaurants. ($1 = 12.8570 Mexican pesos)

(Additional reporting by Tomas Sarmiento, Gabriel Stargardter and Alexandra Alper; Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Dan Grebler, Bernard Orr, Gary Hill, Steve Orlofsky and Miral Fahmy)

It started as a craze for T-shirts printed with cartoon images of Hitler’s face. This dubious trend among teenagers in Thailand soon moved on to include SS style bike helmets, temporary swastika tattoos, and pictures of cute teddy bears doing the Nazi salute.

Soon, kids were seen on the streets of Bangkok posing for photos, grinning next to cartoon effigies of the man responsible for the deaths of 12 million people during the Holocaust. Then it emerged other incidents had taken place including a Nazi themed school fashion show and a sports day parade in the northern city of Chang Mai in which a group of students dressed up as SS soldiers as a surprise for their teachers.

“Hitler Chic,” as it was dubbed in the media last year, has quickly snowballed in Thailand, revealing a lack of historical education and awareness in a country that was left largely untouched by World War II.

Unsurprisingly, the new craze has prompted confusion among foreign tourists and outrage among several international organisations, including Itzhak Shoham, the Israeli ambassador to Thailand, who said the trend “hurts the feelings of every Jew and every civilized person.”

The complaints elicited bemused responses from Thailand’s cultural elite, who brushed it off as misplaced humor, stemming from kids who aren’t taught about the history of the Holocaust in school. One blogger said they thought the world had lost its sense of humor. “Why is this different from the West’s obsession with Che Guevara?” he wrote.

Interest in the trend seemed to be dropping off until last week when pictures on Twitter started circulating of a fried chicken joint in Bangkok allegedly named Hitler. Modeled after Kentucky Fried Chicken, the restaurant's logo features the face of the Fuhrer plastered onto the body of bow-tie wearing Colonel Sanders, the founder of KFC. The images prompted a renewed outburst of anger, followed by a heavily worded statement from Kentucky Fried Chicken saying they were considering suing the restaurant.

"We find it extremely distasteful and are considering legal action since it is an infringement of our brand trademark and has nothing to do with us," a spokesperson for Yum!, KFC’s parent company said.

It was later pointed out that the pictures of the restaurant may be old and that the chicken joint in question has since changed its name.

True or not, the revival of the debate around Hitler Chic has prompted some to call for history to be re-instated as one of the key subjects in the Thai syllabus to avoid further misunderstanding and embarrassment.

Varakorn Samakoses is the president of Dhurakij Pundit University in Bangkok and former deputy minister for education. He says a lack of emphasis on history teaching in Thailand means students are graduating without a proper grasp of events that shaped the world around them.

“Kids are much more interested in the present and the future, they are not taught to appreciate or take seriously what happened in the past,” he said, adding that because Thailand avoided much of the hardships suffered by other countries during World War II and under colonial rule, people find it harder to relate to stories of genocide and chaos.

“Even teachers are ignorant of these issues,” he said. “This is something that should change. History should be one of the most important parts of the syllabus. [Children] should know what goes on because history always repeats itself.”

Lack of education and empathy may be a big problem here, but its not restricted to Thailand. Other countries have also picked up on the Hitler Chic craze, including the sale of Hitler key rings in 7/11 stores in Taiwan, Nazi T-shirts in Japan and Korea and a clothing store in Hong Kong caught decorating the counter with Nazi flags.

But the message that foreigners don't approve of Hitler Chic seems to be catching on.

Last Saturday, a young Chinese man was perusing a set of Hitler T-shirts at Chatuchak weekend market in Bangkok. The man and his friend joked as they held up different T-shirts, including one of the German dictator dressed as Ronald McDonald.

“I want this. I will wear it at home in China,” he said. “I work at McDonalds so I like it very much.”

When asked if he knew who Hitler was, the man – who declined to give his name – smiled sheepishly. He nodded to indicate he did and then seemed to get embarrassed. As this reporter walked away, his friend muttered something under his breath and the pair left abruptly. Later this reporter saw the T-shirt he was going to buy, still hanging up.

Four South American countries say they will recall some of their ambassadors after the Bolivian president's plane was banned from European airspace.

Evo Morales' plane, returning from Russia, was rerouted to Austria, amid rumours that American fugitive Edward Snowden was on board.

Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Uruguay say the incident violated international law.

Envoys will be recalled from France, Spain, Portugal and Italy, they say.

Mr Snowden, a former CIA contractor, is wanted by Washington on charges of leaking secrets about US surveillance schemes.

'Hostile act'

Speaking at a summit in Montevideo, the Uruguayan foreign minister, Luis Almagro, said the actions of the European governments were "groundless, discriminatory and arbitrary".

He went on: "The gravity of the situation - which is a typical neo-colonial practice - is an unusual, unfriendly and hostile act which violates human rights and affects the freedom of transit, displacement and immunity that is enjoyed by every head of state."

The European countries have called the incident a "misunderstanding". France has apologised, blaming "conflicting information" while Spain said it had been told Mr Snowden had been on the plane.

On Friday, Mr Snowden said he sought asylum in Russia as he was unable to travel to Latin America.

Continue reading the main story

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We repudiate any action aimed at undermining the authority of countries to grant and fully implement the right of asylum”

Mercosur statement

He spoke at a Moscow airport, in his first appearance in three weeks, after meeting human rights groups and lawyers.

He has been in the transit area at Sheremetyevo airport since arriving from Hong Kong on 23 June.

The American has sent requests for political asylum to at least 21 countries, most of which have been turned him down.

However, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela have indicated they could take him in.

South American anger

The decision by South American nations to recall four of their Europe envoys was taken in the framework of the presidential summit of the regional trade bloc, Mercosur, which comprises Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Uruguay.

Some European countries are likely to close their airspace again to any plane suspected of carrying the fugitive.

In a statement, Mercosur said: "We repudiate any action aimed at undermining the authority of countries to grant and fully implement the right of asylum."

It called for "solidarity with the governments of Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela, which have offered to grant asylum to Mr Edward Snowden".

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Mercosur would also demand "explanations and public apologies" from France, Italy, Spain and Portugal over the plane forced landing.

Bolivia, which is an associate member of Mercosur, summoned the ambassadors of the four European countries last week over the diversion of the plane, which it called an act of aggression.

Source: BBC