Anticipazioni Uomini e Donne: Tara chiede a Cristian di sposarla

Anticipazioni Uomini e Donne- Cristian Galella e Tara Gabrieletto  presto sposi? O almeno questa  sarebbe  la speranza di Tara: che dopo aver conquistato a Uomini e Donne,  Cristian Galella lo vuole portare all’altare. I due, dopo l’esperienza televisiva, hanno cominciato la  convivenza, a Vigevano, città di Cristian.

La convivenza passo fondamentale- In un’intervista rilasciata al Tgcom, Tara Gabrieletto, ha confessato di essere innamorata di Cristian e di desiderare il matrimonio. Iniziando a convivere… Proprio la convivenza è un passo necessario per le coppie nate a UeD,  in quanto il programma unisce persone che quasi sempre abitano in posti diversi. Come Cristian e Tara, convivono  anche Francesco Monte e Teresanna Pugliese e Giorgia Lucini e Manfredi Ferlicchia.

Tara si confessa-  La stessa Tara Gabrieletto ha confermato che si è trasferita da Vicenza a Vigevano. Hanno preso un bel loft in affitto nella città di Cristian e l’hanno arredato insieme. In realtà, anche prima era come se vivessero insieme perché si vedevano tre-quattro giorni a settimana. L’ex corteggiatrice di UeD ha aggiunto che ha una ditta di trasporti  e quindi va, a Vicenza, tre giorni a settimana. La gelosia? È un tasto dolente,  spiega Tara Gabrieletto, perché all’inizio quando le ammiratrici lo toccavano e lo baciavo le dava fastidio, poi si è ‘rassegnata’ ! Infine i figli? Ne hanno parlato  ma forse questo non è il momento più giusto.  Tara Gabrieletto sogna spesso l’abito bianco ma su questo bisogna ancora soprassedere…!

Activists Fear Diamonds Will Fund Mugabe Power Grab

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe speaks at the start of a conference of parties and civic society groups reviewing a draft constitution that, if adopted, will lead to Zimbabwe's next election, at a hotel in Harare, October 22, 2012.

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LONDON — A lack of transparency in the sale of diamonds remains a major problem in Zimbabwe and activists fear diamond revenues may be used to fund the campaign of President Robert Mugabe's party in an election due to take place early next year.

In 2009 an international ban was imposed on the sale of Zimbabwe’s diamonds. That came as a result of allegations that some mines were controlled by the military and that funds were diverted to Mugabe's ZANU-PF.

Last year that decision was reversed and a diamond watchdog body, the Kimberley Process, gave Zimbabwe the green light to sell its diamonds on the international market.

Troubling issues linger

Farai Maguwu, director of the Centre for Natural Resource Governance in eastern Zimbabwe, said major problems remain unsolved.

Most importantly, he said, it’s unclear where revenue from the sale of diamonds is ending up.

“On the issue of revenue transparency nothing has changed. I think the conditions are getting even worse and worse," said Maguwu. "We have the minister of finance on record saying he is not getting much of the diamond revenues in the treasury, which means individuals and other groups of people are profiting from the diamonds at the expense of the nation.”

In July, Finance Minister Tendai Biti slashed Zimbabwe’s 2012 budget, saying funds from diamond mines had failed to bolster the treasury.

National security questions

The Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation said it expects to earn $150 million from the sale of diamonds this year, rather than the $600 million predicted. That's a 75 percent shortfall.

The low profits, it said, are a result of international sanctions, especially from the United States.

Maguwu said the military continues to play a leading role in Zimbabwe’s mining industry and that, he said, raises serious questions about national security.

“There are quite a number of security officials who are involved in diamond mining," he said. "Some of them are on the boards of the diamond mining companies and when you have got individuals becoming richer than the state and you have the military abdicating from their role of providing national security to get involved in commercial activities - that is a recipe for political instability in the country.”

A major diamond conference is due to take place in Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls later this month.

Upcoming elections

Maguwu said the decision to bring Zimbabwe back into the Kimberley Process should be assessed, looking at whether the situation in Zimbabwe has improved since the ban was lifted.

Meanwhile, Mugabe has called for elections to take place in March.

Human Rights Watch Africa Advocacy Director Tiseke Kasambala said she is concerned that diamond revenue is likely to fund violence ahead of the polls.

“The conditions on the ground are not conducive to the holding of free and fair elections in Zimbabwe," said Kasambala. "The military retains control of Marange diamond revenue and this is the same military that was involved in widespread abuses in 2008 and was not held accountable for those abuses.”

The 2008 elections were marred by violence, most of it by ZANU-PF supporters against the opposition MDC party.

Months of political turmoil followed the elections - the end result was that Mugabe agreed to form a power-sharing deal with the MDC party, led by Morgan Tsvangirai. Mugabe has said he wants elections in order to end that arrangement. The MDC has said elections hinge on passage of a new constitution.

ICC Prosecutor Urges Libya Not to Grant Amnesty

FILE - Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

 

UNITED NATIONS — The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has urged Libya’s new government not to grant an amnesty for serious crimes committed during last year’s revolution that toppled former dictator Moammar Gadhafi, no matter which side perpetrated them.

Fatou Bensouda, who took over as ICC chief prosecutor in June, made her first official briefing before the 15-nation U.N. Security Council on Wednesday. She said the court is in the process of deciding on an admissibility challenge made by the Libyan authorities requesting to try the former dictator’s son, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, in Libya instead of handing him over to the court at The Hague.

Under the ICC’s charter, states have the first responsibility for investigating and prosecuting individuals, with the international court intervening only if a state is unable or unwilling to properly do so.

The prosecutor also expressed concern about a recent Libyan law that opens the door to a possible amnesty for “acts made necessary by the 17 February revolution,” saying there must not be impunity for anyone.

“I encourage the new Libyan government, scheduled to be sworn in in the coming days to ensure that there is no amnesty for international crimes and no impunity for crimes, regardless of who the perpetrator is and who is the victim,” Bensouda said.

Libya’s U.N. envoy, Ibrahim Dabbashi, told the council that Libya would not neglect any case “irrespective of the identity of the victim or the accused,” but would focus initial trials on leaders of the former regime.

“As we already underscored, the Libyan judicial authorities will concentrate initially -- they will concentrate their inquiries and trials on the perpetrators and leaders of the Gadhafi regime," he said. "They are the main perpetrators of serious crimes committed because they were the ones who commanded, orchestrated these crimes.”

Abdullah al-Senussi, head of the Libyan Intelligence Service speaks to the media in Tripoli, August 21, 2011.

​​​​The envoy said Libya is also planning to petition the international court to let them try former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, who was extradited from Mauritania in September and is wanted by the ICC.

Dabbashi said there are many leaders from the Gadhafi regime outside the country and the government is trying to persuade states that are harboring them to send them back to Libya to be tried.

Richard Dicker, head of the International Justice program at Human Rights Watch, told reporters that the U.N. Security Council must make good on its commitment to see serious crimes prosecuted by the ICC. He also noted that the court’s prosecutor has a mandate that allows her to investigate crimes committed by both sides in the Libyan uprising.

US Confirms Iran Fired on Drone

 

PENTAGON — U.S. defense officials have confirmed reports that Iranian fighter jets fired on a U.S. drone over the Persian Gulf one week ago.

Pentagon officials are stopping short of calling it an act of war, but they said Thursday the United States has protested to Iran about the incident, which happened November 1 over international waters.

Defense Department spokesman George Little says the MQ-1 unmanned aerial vehicle, commonly known as a Predator drone, was on a routine classified mission.

“An unarmed, unmanned MQ 1 US military aircraft conducting routine surveillance over the Arabian Gulf was intercepted by Iranian SU-25 Frogfoot aircraft and was fired upon with guns.  The incident occurred over international waters approximately 16 nautical miles [30 kilometers] off the Iranian coastline.  The MQ 1 was not hit and returned to its base safely,” Little said.

The United States routinely conducts surveillance missions over to Iran to check on nuclear facilities and other sites.

The Pentagon says this is the first time Iran has fired on one of its drones.  Iran says it shot down an American unmanned aerial vehicle last year over Iranian territory.  U.S. officials say that aircraft landed unintentionally.

Officials say President Barack Obama was notified soon after the latest incident.

Confirmation of the incident comes more than week after it occurred, prompting reporters to ask whether the White House ordered disclosure of it withheld until after last Tuesday’s presidential elections had passed.

Little said the Defense Department does not typically comment on classified missions. He said the reports were leaked.

“Someone apparently disclosed this in an unauthorized manner, and that’s unfortunate,” Little said.

Pentagon officials on Thursday said they have made it clear to Iran that they are prepared to respond to Iranian aggression, but did not say if they had any plans to retaliate for the incident.

Obama Win Stirs Israeli Worries Over PM's Romney Support

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech during a cornerstone laying ceremony for a new hospital in the port city of Ashdod, November 8, 2012.

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JERUSALEM — The re-election of U.S. President Barack Obama has focused attention on his sometimes tense personal relations with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who made no secret of his leanings toward the president's challenger.

The two leaders have on occasion disagreed over major Middle East issues and some Israelis are wondering about the future of their historically close ties with the United States.

A few hours after Obama was declared the winner of Tuesday's presidential election, Netanyahu moved quickly to control any diplomatic damage.

He summoned the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, and publicly congratulated Obama on his victory.

"The security relationship between the United States and Israel is rock-solid and I look forward to working with President Obama to further strengthen this relationship," Netanyahu said. "And I look forward to working with him to advance our goals of peace and security."

In what was clearly a choreographed media event, Shapiro responded to Netanyahu in kind.

"The president has enjoyed the close security cooperation and the close coordination with you and your government in his first term and I know he looks forward to continuing it in his second term," he said.

Israeli fears

The statements came amid fears of a deterioration in relations due to reported tensions and personal disaffection between Netanyahu and Obama.

Obama's opponent in the presidential election, former Republican candidate Mitt Romney, is a personal friend of Netanyahu, and Netanyahu is known to believe that a Romney presidency would have boosted U.S. government support for Israel.

A professor at the Israeli Democratic Institute and Hebrew University, Gideon Rehat, said some of Netanyahu's critics accused him of meddling in U.S. affairs and putting at risk the future security of the Jewish state.

"Because Netanyahu interfered in the elections, or that's what the argument is, the personal relationship between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama will be problematic," Rehat said. "I'm not sure if it will influence the whole relations, but this is not a good start."

Some analysts said that Obama in his final term would no longer fear powerful Israel supporters among Jews in America. That could boost U.S. pressure to re-start the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, they say.

The negotiations have been stalemated over Palestinian demands that the Israeli government stop building new settlements in the occupied West Bank and release political prisoners.

The Netanyahu government said it is willing to resume the talks, but without pre-conditions.

Analysts say U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush were able to push the peace process forward during their second terms by extracting difficult concessions from both sides.

Political columnist and Bar-Ilan University Professor Danny Rubinstein notes that Netanyahu's conservative Likud party recently joined forces with the far-right Yisrael Beiteinyu party. He said that may stymie future Palestinian talks.

"That's my wishful thinking, that [a second term] will help renew the peace process," Rubinstein said. "But I'm not sure that Netanyahu can do it. If you go to negotiations you have to be ready to make concessions. Netanyahu is not ready to make any concessions. And his constituency is not ready to make concessions."

Tensions over Iran

Iran is another source of irritation between Obama and Netanyahu.

There is great debate among Israeli officials over whether - and when - to attack Iran's nuclear installations if Iran does not stop its alleged effort to make nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Netanyahu has repeatedly warned that time is growing short. The U.S. has asked Israel to be patient, though, to allow time for Western sanctions to force Iran to change course. Most analysts said this disagreement has largely eased in recent months.

Rehat said, however, that Obama's re-election could become an issue as the campaign heats up for Israel's national elections in January.

"The fact that Obama won will probably be used by people who challenge the Likud and Netanyahu," Rehat said. "They will say the relationship with the United States is important to Israel. And that Netanyahu would not be fit for the job because he clearly supported Romney and Romney lost."

Lawyer: US Army Analyst Offers Lesser Plea in WikiLeaks Case

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, right, is escorted out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Maryland, June 25, 2012.

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The lawyer for the U.S. Army analyst accused of leaking classified military documents says his client is offering to plead guilty to various lesser offenses.

Army Private First Class Bradley Manning is facing a number of charges, the most serious of which is "aiding the enemy."

His lawyer, David Coombs, said Manning is not offering to plead guilty to the charges brought by the government, but rather "accept responsibility for offenses" that make up the more serious charges against him.

The lawyer, in a blog posting Wednesday night, said Manning has elected to be tried by a military judge, nojury.

Manning is being held at Fort Meade, near Baltimore, in the U.S. state of Maryland.

He appeared at a preliminary hearing in December.  Experts for the prosecution testified they found evidence Manning downloaded diplomatic cables onto compact discs that were sent to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.

Manning's lawyers have described their client as a troubled man who should not have been allowed access to classified material while serving in Iraq between November 2009 and May 2010.  His attorneys also said the military's oversight of its computers was lax.

Manning could spend the rest of his life in prison if found guilty.

The leaked diplomatic cables and military reports, published by WikiLeaks starting in July 2010, infuriated the international community, often providing blunt and unflattering U.S. views of world leaders' private and public lives.

U.S. officials say WikiLeaks publication of the stolen documents put lives in danger, threatened national security and undermined American efforts to work with other countries.

Political, Military Insecurity Deepen Mali Humanitarian Crisis

In this Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012 photo, members of Islamist group Ansar Dine stand guard around the area where they are preparing to amputate the hand of a young man found guilty of stealing rice, in Timbuktu, Mali. In a report launched Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012, Amnesty International says it has documented 'horrific abuses' against civilians in Islamist-controlled northern Mali, including the recruitment of child soldiers, sexual violence, extra-judicial executions, and seven amputations just since August. (AP Photo)

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GENEVA — Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), says the political and military insecurity in Mali is deepening the country's humanitarian crisis.  He says he is concerned that little thought is being given to the humanitarian situation in Mali by international political and military decision-makers.

Mali is no stranger to humanitarian crises.  At the moment it is facing a long-term structural food crisis, which Maurer says is compounded by the breakdown of the political system.

The situation is particularly bleak in the north, where radical Islamist groups have ousted both the country's military and Tuareg rebels who have long waged war for an independent state.  The radicals' harsh brand of Islam is alienating and terrorizing the local population.  It also is creating huge problems for aid organizations trying to operate in the region.

Maurer says the ICRC has been working for months to improve its access to needy people in the north.  He says the agency is now distributing food to 420,000 people.  In addition, he says the ICRC is supplying medicines and other supplies to the hospital in the city of Gao and to communal health-care facilities.

But, he says, he is concerned that international political and military decision-makers may not be giving enough thought to Mali's humanitarian situation in their talks.  He says this was an issue he explored with senior government officials he met during a visit to Niger and Mali at the end of October.

"I tried to impress on them, that more consideration is given in whatever political and military planning they are doing to humanitarian concerns.  It is no secret, this is an extremely delicate situation where we have half-a-million people who cannot sustain their lives in the north.  Roughly half of the population remaining is dependent at the present moment on aid from outside," said Maurer.

The United Nations reports more than 200,000 people are displaced inside Mali and another 250,000 have fled as refugees to Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.

Ansar Dine, one of the Islamist groups occupying northern Mali, said this week it is ready to commit to a process of political dialogue with the country's transitional authorities and is ready to stop hostilities.

Despite this, the drumbeat for war is growing stronger.  Regional plans to invade northern Mali and oust the Muslim extremists are being discussed by the United Nations, the African Union and Economic Commission of West Africa States.

Maurer is carefully monitoring these maneuvers.  But, he notes that he, as president of a humanitarian organization, can not express an opinion on military and political strategies.  He says it is up to political leaders to decide on the actions they wish to take.

"My visit to Addis Ababa, then to Niger and to Mali was to get a sense of those discussions.  And, when listening to the leaders in the region and beyond, my conclusion is that there is a lot of talk on how to liberate the north, how to re-conquer the north," he said.  "But, there is little consideration of what the humanitarian impact of whatever scenario would be."

Maurer says it is his task to remind all the leaders engaged in this process, that the military decisions they make carry with them a humanitarian price tag, which have consequences and cannot be ignored.