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Thursday, July 11, 2013

Egypt's Brotherhood vows to keep defying coup

The military coup, which followed mass protests by millions of Egyptians demanding the president's removal, has opened deep fissures in the country.

Supporters of ousted Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi shout slogans during a demonstration in Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday. (Photo: Hussein Malla, AP)

CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood vowed Thursday not to back down in its push to restore ousted Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi to power but insisted its resistance is peaceful in an effort to distance itself from more than a week of clashes with security forces.

The group has refused to work with the interim leaders, who are trying to restore calm and pave the way for new elections early next year after the toppling of Morsi and the subsequent crackdown on other leaders of the fundamentalist Islamic group.

The military coup, which followed mass protests by millions of Egyptians demanding the president's removal, has opened deep fissures in the country and prevented it from achieving stability more than two years after the revolution against autocratic ruler Hosni Mubarak.

The Brotherhood statement came a day after arrest warrants were issued for the group's spiritual leader, Mohammed Badie, and nine other Islamists accused of inciting violence after deadly clashes - the latest moves by the new military-backed government as it tries to choke off the group's campaign to reinstate Morsi.

'We will continue our peaceful resistance to the bloody military coup against constitutional legitimacy,' the Brotherhood said. 'We trust that the peaceful and popular will of the people shall triumph over force and oppression.'

A senior Brotherhood leader, Essam el-Erian, echoed the sentiment in comments published on the website of the Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice party.

'The people will restore their freedom and dignity through peaceful sit-ins in square, demonstrations and protests,' he was quoted as saying. 'All Egyptians must stop dragging the country to violence and avoid falling into the vicious circle of violent and counter-violence.'

It was not clear if the comments constitute a genuine shift of tactics by the Brotherhood to abandon violence by its members amid military allegations it has been behind the street violence that has claimed dozens of lives in the past week and the dramatic surge in attacks against security forces, especially in the Sinai Peninsula, since Morsi's ouster.

The Brotherhood also denounced Wednesday's assassination attempt against a senior army commander in the Sinai, which has seen a wave of increased violence by Islamic militants angry over Morsi's ouster.

Gen. Ahmed Wasfi escaped unharmed but a 5-year-old girl was killed after gunmen in a pickup truck opened fire on his convoy in the Sinai town of Rafah, near the border with the Gaza Strip, prompting a gunbattle with the accompanying troops, security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The Brotherhood statement insisted Thursday that the group adheres to peaceful measures in line with the teachings of Islam.

The arrest warrants against Badie and the others for inciting violence that left dozens dead in Cairo on Monday drew an angry response from the Brotherhood, which said 'dictatorship is back' and insisted it will never work with the interim rulers.

Badie's whereabouts are not known, but many of the others are believed to be taking refuge somewhere near a continuing sit-in by the group's supporters outside the Rabaah al-Adawiya Mosque in an eastern Cairo district that is traditionally a Brotherhood stronghold.

Security agencies have already jailed five leaders of the Brotherhood, including Badie's powerful deputy, Khairat el-Shaiter, and shut down its media outlets.

The prosecutor general's office said Badie, another deputy, Mahmoud Ezzat, el-Beltagy and popular preacher Safwat Hegazy are suspected of instigating Monday's clashes with security forces outside a Republican Guard building that killed 54 people - most Morsi supporters - in the worst bloodshed since he was ousted.

The Islamists have accused the troops of gunning down the protesters, while the military blamed armed backers of Morsi for attempting to storm a military building.

The arrest warrants highlight the armed forces' zero-tolerance policy toward the Brotherhood, which was banned under authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.

'This just signals that dictatorship is back,' said Brotherhood spokesman Ahmed Aref. 'We are returning to what is worse than Mubarak's regime, which wouldn't dare to issue an arrest warrant of the general leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.'

Egypt's Brotherhood vows to keep defying coup

The military coup, which followed mass protests by millions of Egyptians demanding the president's removal, has opened deep fissures in the country.

Supporters of ousted Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi shout slogans during a demonstration in Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday. (Photo: Hussein Malla, AP)

A senior Brotherhood leader, Essam el-Erian, echoed the sentiment in comments published on the website of the Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice party.

The Brotherhood statement insisted Thursday that the group adheres to peaceful measures in line with the teachings of Islam.

Security agencies have already jailed five leaders of the Brotherhood, including Badie's powerful deputy, Khairat el-Shaiter, and shut down its media outlets.

The Islamists have accused the troops of gunning down the protesters, while the military blamed armed backers of Morsi for attempting to storm a military building.

The arrest warrants highlight the armed forces' zero-tolerance policy toward the Brotherhood, which was banned under authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.

Spooked by NSA, Russia reverts to paper documents

One reason for using typewriters is that each creates its own unique 'signature' that can be traced.

A Russian state service in charge of safeguarding Kremlin communications is looking to purchase an array of old-fashioned typewriters, such as this one in a Berlin Museum, to prevent leaks from computer hardware, security sources tell Izvestia. (Photo: John MacDougall AFP/Getty Images)

In the wake of recent NSA spy scandals, Russia's Federal Guard Service has decided to revert to using more typewriters and paper documents, Izvestia reports.

Toward that end, the FSO, which protects Russia's top officials and Kremlin communications, recently ordered 20 Triumph Adler typewriters, the newspaper reports.

'After the scandal with the spread of secret documents by WikiLeaks, the revelations of Edward Snowden, reports of listening to Dmitry Medvedev during his visit to the G20 summit in London, the practice of creating paper documents will increase,' an unidentified FSO source tells Izvestia.

One key reason for using typewriters is that each creates its own unique 'signature' that can be traced, the newspaper says.

The source notes that many critical groups, including the defense ministry, emergency situations ministry and the security services, have never switched over to electronic documents.

'From the point of view of ensuring security, any form of electronic communication is vulnerable,' Nikolai Kovalev, an MP and former head of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the KGB, tells Izvestia.

'Any information can be taken from computers,' he says. 'Of course there are means of protection, but there is no 100% guarantee they will work. So from the point of view of keeping secrets, the most primitive method is preferred: a human hand with a pen or a typewriter.'

Egypt: Morsi loyalists vow to keep up 'peaceful' protest

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has pledged to continue its 'peaceful' resistance to the army's removal of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last week.

Supporters demanding Mr Morsi's reinstatement have been staging mass protests in Cairo near a barracks where he is believed to be held.

The Muslim Brotherhood statement comes a day after warrants were issued for the arrest of other senior figures.

On Monday, more than 50 Morsi loyalists were killed in clashes with the army.

Mr Morsi's removal - a year after he was elected - followed protests by millions of people across Egypt.

In other developments, US officials said Washington would press on with plans to deliver four F-16 fighter jets to Egypt in the next few weeks despite the political unrest in the country.

The Obama administration is continuing to evaluate the events which happened in Egypt last week.

Massive US military aid to Cairo would legally have to be cut if the removal of the Islamist leader is determined by Washington to have been a coup.

'Oppression'

'We will continue our peaceful resistance to the bloody military coup against constitutional legitimacy,'' said a statement issued on the Muslim Brotherhood's official website on Thursday.

'We trust that the peaceful and popular will of the people shall triumph over force and oppression.''

The new authorities have not specified where Mr Morsi is, but a foreign ministry spokesman said he was in a 'safe place' and being treated in a 'very dignified manner'.

On Wednesday, arrest warrants were issued for the Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual leader, Mohammed Badie, and nine other senior figures.

They are charged with inciting Monday's deadly violence in the capital, in which more than 50 Brotherhood supporters, a soldier and two policemen died.

The Brotherhood says the army fired on peaceful demonstrators and it is accusing the interim authorities of a cover up.

The military, however, says soldiers acted in self-defence after being attacked by armed assailants.

Adly Mansour's transition timeline Panel formed within 15 days to review constitution Constitutional amendments to be finalised and put to referendum in four months Parliamentary elections to be held by early 2014 Presidential elections to be called once new parliament convenes

Many Brotherhood members are already in detention and warrants are said to have been issued for hundreds more.

Correspondents say the new warrants could scupper any attempts to persuade the Brotherhood - banned for decades under former President Hosni Mubarak - to participate in the transitional political process.

The timetable for new elections was announced in a constitutional declaration by interim President Adly Mansour on Monday evening. It laid out plans to set up a panel to amend the suspended constitution within 15 days.

The changes would then be put to a referendum - to be organised within four months - which would pave the way for parliamentary elections, possibly in early 2014.

Once the new parliament convenes, elections will be called to appoint a new president.

The Brotherhood has rejected the transition plan, and its political wing - the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) - has said it will turn down a post in the cabinet being formed by the interim Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi.

Mr Beblawi said on Thursday that he had still not ruled out offering posts to the FJP.

'I don't look at political association,' he told the AFP news agency.

'I'm taking two criteria for the next government. Efficiency and credibility.'

The main liberal opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front (NSF), and the grassroots Tamarod protest movement, which co-ordinated the anti-Morsi protests, said they were not consulted on the constitutional decree and have concerns about it.

On the run, Snowden turns to lawyers for help

Edward Snowden is getting advice and support from an eclectic bunch, ranging from a constitutional lawyer to a former Russian spy.

After leaking information about surveillance operations, Snowden has been on the lam. And since arriving in Moscow on 23 June, he has been in legal limbo.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would grant Snowden asylum in Russia - so long as he agreed to stop leaking US secrets. Snowden has meanwhile requested asylum in at least 19 countries.

Snowden is now considering his options, with Venezuela as a possibility. Here are the legal experts and activists who are helping him make a decision about his next move.

Julian Assange

Title: Founder, Wikileaks

Relationship to Snowden: Provides advice and support

Where he can be found: Ecuador's embassy in London, where he has sought refuge after Swedish authorities asked to speak with him about allegations of sexual abuse

Childhood home: Townsville, Australia

'Start Quote

He [Snowden] is a hero'

End Quote Julian Assange Wikileaks

Education: University of Melbourne, where he read maths and physics

Career highlights: A self-described cryptographic engineer, he told a reporter for Time magazine that he 'set up one of the first free-speech [Internet service providers] in Australia'. He founded Wikileaks in 2006.

What he reads: Slammed Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen's The New Digital Age in a New York Times review, saying the book 'mirrors State Department institutional taboos and obsessions'.

Social network: Fans include Lady Gaga, Oliver Stone and Vivienne Westwood. He once dated - and may still - a member of the Wikileaks legal team, Sarah Harrison.

In his own words: 'He [Snowden] is a hero. He has told the people of the world and the US that there is mass unlawful interception of their communications, far beyond anything that happened under Nixon.''

Title: Constitutional lawyer

Relationship to Snowden: Lawyer for his father, Lonnie Snowden

Education: Harvard Law School

Career highlights: Associate deputy attorney general under President Ronald Reagan

Likes: Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

Social network: Senior policy adviser to Ron Paul's 2012 presidential campaign

In his own words: 'The purpose of engaging me wasn't simply to have his son come back. It was also, 'What can we do to walk away from the precipice of a leviathan state where nothing is private anymore and which operates in the kind of secrecy we associated with China or Russia?''

Title: Legal director, Wikileaks

Relationship to Snowden: Declining to serve officially as his lawyer, Garzon has nevertheless helped to shape his plans for the future

Childhood home: Andalusia

Education: Seminary, and later law school

Career highlights: As a judge in his native Spain, Garzon issued a warrant for the arrest of Chile's former dictator Gen Augusto Pinochet. In 2012, Garzon was suspended from the judiciary for more than a decade after he was found guilty of abuse of power for ordering illegal wiretapping of lawyers.

Likes: Jean-Paul Sartre

In his own words: 'The Wikileaks legal team and I are interested in preserving Mr Snowden's rights and protecting him as a person.'

Sarah Harrison

Title: Member, Wikileaks legal team

Relationship to Snowden: Provides advice on where to seek asylum

Where she can be found: The transit zone of Sheremetyevo Airport

Education: Queen Mary, University of London

Career highlights: Former journalism intern and researcher. Started working for Wikileaks in 2010.

Likes: Wikileaks' Syria Files, according to a presentation she gave at the Frontline Club in London in July 2012

Social network: Hangs out with Assange - and paid £3,500 (about $5,200) for his bail before he hid in the Ecuadoran embassy

Michael Ratner

Title: Lawyer for Julian Assange and Wikileaks

Where he can be found: New York

Education: Columbia Law School

Career highlights: President emeritus for Center for Constitutional Rights, which has assisted in the cases of Guantanamo detainees and sued Bush administration officials over interrogation policies

Likes: Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, which is about 'a man who was jailed for no reason and went out and got revenge', Ratner told a New York Times reporter

Social network: Daniel Ellsberg, who disclosed the Pentagon Papers, and the late William Kunstler, a lawyer who represented 1960s radicals such as Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden and Abbie Hoffman

In his own words (about the prosecution of Pfc Bradley Manning): 'It's ironic in a trial that is about the government keeping secrets that they aren't providing documents that are not classified and should be public.'

These legal experts and activists are not the only ones who are trying to help Snowden. He has also received an outpouring of support from people around the world.

One supporter, Anna Chapman, the spy who was caught in the US and sent back to Russia, expressed her admiration on Twitter.

'Snowden, will you marry me?' she wrote.

US arms showing up in hands of pro

M-16 rifles have been spotted with Shiite militias fighting in Syria. (Photo: Garrett Hubbard for USA TODAY)

U.S. and Western weapons have been reaching Iranian-backed Shiite militias fighting to keep Bashar Assad's forces in power in Syria.

Analysts say it's unclear if the weapons were captured, stolen or bought on the black market in Syria, Turkey, Iraq or Libya. Propaganda photographs from Shiite militias posted on dozens of websites and Facebook pages show the weapons were acquired in new condition, said Phillip Smyth, an analyst for Jihadology.net, a site affiliated with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Many of the weapons are things the militias 'shouldn't really have their hands on,' Smyth said. Iranians love to show 'they have weapons and systems that are very close to the Americans.'

The ability of Assad's allies to obtain U.S. weapons is one of many reasons the United States should not supply Syrian rebels with weapons, which President Obama said he would start to do last month, said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., former chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Syria is 'already overflowing' with weapons being supplied to the Assad regime and to the rebels 'that could one day be turned against the U.S.,' Ros-Lehtinen said.

It's 'extremely difficult' to distinguish between friend and foe in Syria, she said, and 'no amount of safeguards can guarantee that weapons will not fall into the wrong hands.'

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the administration has taken steps 'to do everything possible to ensure that any aid is making its way into the right hands' in Syria. That is why the United States and its partners have agreed to direct military aid through the secular-leaning, anti-Assad Free Syrian Army's Supreme Military Council and its chief, Gen. Salim Idris.

Many of the U.S. weapons in the hands of pro-Assad militia could have reached the black market after a major U.S. sales to Iraq in 2009, said Christopher Harmer, a senior analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. Almost 10 years of fighting there left thousands of loose weapons floating around Iraq and available for sale on the black market.

The U.S. sale included 80,000 M-16s, 25,000 M-4s and 2,550 M-203 grenade launchers, according to an announcement Dec. 9, 2009, by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

U.S. arms are transferred to foreign militaries only under strict controls that prohibit transfers to third parties without State Department approval, said Neil Hedlund, a spokesman for the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which administers U.S. assistance to foreign militaries.

Nevertheless, U.S. weapons have often been diverted to militant groups across the Middle East, said Nic Jenzen-Jones, an independent arms specialist based in Perth, Australia. He noticed U.S. weapons in images from the Syrian battlefield since last year, primarily in the hands of Syrian rebel forces.

'The most likely source is Lebanon,' where the United States has supplied the Lebanese military and Israeli soldiers armed with American rifles fought as recently as 2006, he said. 'Weapons are not fragile, they last for quite some time and will keep on killing as long as there's ammunition and people to fire them.'

Smyth points to photos on social media sites linked to the Iranian military showing 'martyred' Shiite fighters toting U.S.-made M-16s and M-4s fitted with laser and holographic sights and M-203 grenade launchers.

Based on more than 30 online forums and 100 Facebook pages, Smyth has found images of U.S. and Belgian weapons in the hands of members of various Iran-backed militias. Liwa'a abu Fadl al-Abbas uses Iraqi, Lebanese and Afghan fighters. Liwa'a Zulfiqar uses Iraqi fighters who prefer working with Iraqi and Shiite commanders, under the leadership of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps rather than Syrian leadership, Smyth said.

Similar weapons appear in the hands of rebel fighters, including fighters with al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate the State Department has designated a terrorist group, in videos and photos from the civil war. This year, Eliot Higgins, a British military analyst, discovered video footage and photos posted to jihadi social media sites showing that al-Nusra had weapons purchased with Saudi money in Croatia and transferred to Syrian rebels through Jordan.

'This operation was run with full U.S. knowledge, and the arms were only meant to go to the FSA,' Higgins said, referring to the secular-leaning Free Syrian Army that U.S. officials prefer to deal with. 'After a couple of months, they began to appear in the hands of groups like Ahrar al-Sham and Jabhat al-Nusra, showing they had spread beyond the FSA.'

Harmer said there's a propaganda aspect to everything Iran does, and the images probably have a dual purpose, for both domestic and Western consumption.

'They're heavily involved through state-owned media and attempting to influence Shiite groups throughout the Middle East,' Harmer said. 'It's absolutely plausible Iran is purposely highlighting U.S. weapons in their hands.'

Their goal is to show the world that Iranian-backed Shiite militiamen have a much higher degree of training and professionalism, and they're using Western tools to keep Assad in power, Smyth said.

Many of the most recent martyrdom photos resulted from fighting in Qusair, a strategic town on the border with Lebanon that regime forces retook after a three-week battle joined by fighters from Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite militia.

One of the photos shows Jusoor Muhammed Isma'il, a Lebanese Hezbollah fighter, whose death was announced May 24. In the photo, Isma'il stands in a clearing in the woods by a rudimentary camp stove. Slung from his shoulders is an M-4 fitted with what looks like an EOTech targeting sight and an M-203 grenade launcher.

EOTech is an American company that sells holographic accessories to the military and civilians that help shooters aim in a hurry. Pentagon contract documents show the company sold $25 million worth of its sites to the U.S. Special Operations Command in May 2010.

In other images, Shiite militia fighters wear camouflage fatigues and tactical gear, including body armor, kneepads, gloves and elbow pads, much like U.S. troops wore to battle in Iraq. In one post, Hezbollah fighters gloated about using netting on their helmets to aid in camouflage, like Israeli forces do. 'We're fighting the Zionists with their own tools,' the author wrote.

Nelson Mandela's Friends Lament His Decline

Ahmed Kathrada, a warhorse of the anti-apartheid struggle, was allowed just a few minutes at the hospital bedside of his critically ill comrade, Nelson Mandela. It was, he said, a traumatic experience to see the former president, physically robust during their prison years together, in such a fragile state.

Mandela could not speak but his face 'changed' and he recognized his visitor 'through his eyes,' Kathrada said of the July 1 encounter, which was overseen protectively by Mandela's wife, Graca Machel.

This is the image of Mandela that South Africans, and many people around the world, find hard to accept. The man who withstood 27 years in jail and led his country from conflict toward reconciliation, is as vulnerable as anyone his age, and monitored around the clock by doctors.

The 94-year-old was admitted to a Pretoria hospital on June 8 for a lung infection. The government said Thursday he is in critical but stable condition, and responding to treatment. Legal filings by Mandela's family have said he is on life support.

'All the years that we knew him, we knew him, somebody who was very conscious of his health, somebody who exercised in and outside of jail, regularly, and here you see a person who's different. A shell of himself,' Kathrada, 83, said in an interview Wednesday with newsunews.blogspot.com.

'It was an overwhelming feeling of sadness, and of course the unrealistic wish and prayer that he can be with us for longer and longer,' said Kathrada, who joined Mandela in pivotal events of the early campaign against minority white rule. The two first met in 1946, before apartheid was even implemented.

Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of the 1963 raid on the Liliesleaf farm in Johannesburg that netted most leaders of the African National Congress, then a liberation movement and now South Africa's ruling party. Kathrada was among those arrested there, while Mandela was already in prison at that time.

Then followed the 'Rivonia' trial at which Mandela, accused of sabotage and plotting to overthrow the government, declared that he was prepared to die, if necessary, for his belief in racial equality. He, Kathrada and others were sentenced to life in prison and sent to Robben Island, near Cape Town.

'He was a boxer, he was a gymnast, he was a very strong person,' Kathrada, a member of parliament after apartheid, said of Mandela. 'In prison too, when we were working at the quarry with pick and shovels, we found difficulty... but he was strong enough to adjust to that quickly.'

He described Machel as a gatekeeper who makes sure visitors, including relatives, old friends and President Jacob Zuma, don't stay too long during trips to see her frail spouse. Her first husband, Mozambican President Samora Machel, died in a plane crash in 1986.

Human rights lawyer George Bizos, a member of the legal team that defended Mandela and others at the Rivonia trial, said Machel invited him to see Mandela in the hospital last month. The visit was canceled when the health of his friend deteriorated.

'None of us are immortal, but I can't really come to terms that he may pass away in the near future,' Bizos said in a telephone interview.

He recalled a visit to Mandela in Johannesburg a week before the hospitalization at which the two men, along with Machel, chatted about 'many things' for more than half an hour, including talk of their days together as law students in Johannesburg.

Tagging firm's 'overcharging' probed

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has asked the Serious Fraud Office to investigate G4S for overcharging for tagging criminals in England and Wales.

MPs heard that the overcharging by G4S and rival Serco ran to tens of millions of pounds.

Mr Grayling said the firms charged the government for tagging people who were not actually being monitored.

The bills included tags for people in prison or out of the country, and a small number who had died.

Serco has separately voluntarily agreed to take part in a 'forensic audit' of what happened. G4S was given the same opportunity to co-operate with the government investigation, but refused.

In a statement to MPs, Mr Grayling said he had further launched a disciplinary investigation into the way the contracts had been managed inside the Ministry of Justice after uncovering evidence that officials knew in 2008 that there were problems with how both companies were billing for tagging.

'Start Quote

The House will share my astonishment that two of the Government's biggest suppliers would seek to charge in this way'

End Quote Chris Grayling

There will also be a wider review of all contracts held by G4S and Serco across Government.

'The House will share my astonishment that two of the Government's biggest suppliers would seek to charge in this way,' said Mr Grayling.

'The House will also be surprised and disappointed to learn that staff in the Ministry of Justice were aware of a potential problem and yet did not take adequate steps to address it.'

Electronic tagging of criminals is a key part of the government's strategy to monitor offenders in the community. The contracts are awarded to private companies who then place the electronic ankle bracelet on the offender or suspect and ensure that their movements comply with their bail or licence conditions.

Mr Grayling said that current contracts had been awarded in November 2004 and were due to expire shortly.

He said that an audit had revealed a 'significant anomaly in the billing practices' of both companies. Further investigations revealed that the billing related to people who were not actually tagged at all.

G4S in 2012 £7.3bn turnover Pre-tax profit: £516m Quarter of turnover relates to government contracts Half of business in Europe

Mr Grayling said: 'It included charges for people who were back in prison and had had their tags removed, people who had left the country, and those who had never been tagged in the first place but who had instead been returned to Court.

'There are a small number of cases where charging continued for a period when the subject was known to have died.

'In some instances, charging continued for a period of many months and indeed years after active monitoring had ceased. The House will share my view that this is a wholly indefensible and unacceptable state of affairs.'

Dead Russian lawyer Magnitsky found guilty

This Nov. 30, 2009, file photo shows a portrait of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. (Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko, AP)

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian news agencies say a court in Moscow has found dead lawyer Sergei Magnitsky guilty of tax evasion, concluding an unusual posthumous trial.

The court on Thursday also found Magnitsky's onetime client, the US-born British investor William Browder, guilty of evading some $17 million in taxes.

Magnitsky died in prison of untreated pancreatitis in 2009, months after alleging that organized criminals colluded with corrupt Interior Ministry officials to claim a $230 million tax rebate through illegally obtained subsidiaries of Browder's Hermitage Capital investment company.

His death prompted widespread criticism from human rights activists and the presidential human rights council found in 2011 that he had been beaten and deliberately denied medical treatment.

A U.S. law named for Magnitsky calls for sanctions on Russians identified as human rights violators.

Delhi gang rape: Verdict deferred in juvenile case

An Indian juvenile court has deferred its verdict in the case of an 18-year-old accused of taking part in the fatal gang rape of a woman on a Delhi bus.

He is charged with rape, murder, destroying evidence, and other crimes including kidnapping carried out while aged 17. He faces up to three years in a reform facility if convicted.

The verdict is now expected on 25 July.

He has denied the charges - as have four adults on trial at a specially convened fast-track court.

They face the death penalty.

A sixth suspect was found dead in jail. Prison officials have said they believe he hanged himself but defence lawyers and his family allege he was murdered.

The attack sparked mass protests throughout India and a national debate about the treatment of women.

Beaten and raped

Case Timeline 16 December 2012: Student gang raped on Delhi bus 17 December: Bus driver Ram Singh and three others arrested 18 December: Uproar in parliament, street protests in Delhi and elsewhere 21-22 December: Two more arrests, including a minor 29 December: Victim dies in Singapore hospital 7 January 2013: Suspects charged in court with abduction, gang rape, murder 21 January: Trial of five accused begins in special fast-track court 2 February: Five accused plead not guilty 28 February: Sixth accused charged in juvenile court 11 March: Ram Singh found dead in Tihar jail 5 July: Trial of the sixth accused concludes

If found guilty, the 18-year-old can be sent to a reform facility for up to three years. This would include the time he has spent while waiting for the verdict.

'The idea behind the provision is that three years is sufficient time to reform a child', Anant Kumar Asthana, a Delhi-based lawyer told the AFP news agency.

However, many, including the family of the victim, had demanded that the teenager - who was six months short of becoming an adult at the time of the crime - should be treated as an adult and face the death penalty for his alleged crime.

A spokesperson for the ruling Congress party, Renuka Chowhary, said in January that 'given the nature of the crime, the most gruesome and heinous way a crime is committed, it has to be revisited to see how we define the word juvenile'.

Under Indian laws the juvenile accused can not be named for legal reasons.

Having left his village at the age of 11, he lived his formative years alone, doing menial jobs in Delhi.

In March, India passed a new bill containing harsher punishments, including the death penalty, for rapists.

The victim, a physiotherapy student who cannot be named in India for legal reasons, and a male friend were attacked on a bus on 16 December.

Police said the assailants beat both of them, and then raped the woman. She suffered massive internal injuries and died nearly two weeks later.

The Egyptian, Ahmed Assem, who 'filmed his own death' by a sniper

The 26-year-old was one of at least 51 people killed when security forces opened fire on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

The video shows Assem filming a sniper, who then turns to point his rifle at the camera which in turn goes black.

Assem's friends and relatives told The Telegraph that he managed to capture his own death on film with a bloodied camera and mobile phone all that was left behind.

'At around 6am, a man came into the media centre with a camera covered in blood and told us that one of our colleagues had been injured,' said Ahmed Abu Zeid, the culture editor of Mr Assem's newspaper.

'Around an hour later, I received news that Ahmed had been shot by a sniper in the forehead while filming or taking pictures on top of the buildings around the incident.

'Ahmed's camera was the only one which filmed the entire incident from the first moment,' he said.

'He had started filming from the beginning of the prayers so he captured the very beginnings and in the video, you can see tens of victims. Ahmed's camera will remain a piece of evidence in the violations that have been committed.'

Critics of the army say Assem has left a testimony of how events actually unfolded.

Mr Morsi's supporters say they were fired on from behind without provocation while they were praying.

The army rejects that, saying protesters attempted to storm the Republican Guard facility.

Irish lawmakers agonize over abortion vote

Anti-abortion protesters walk through Dublin in an anti-abortion protest on July 6. (Photo: Shawn Pogatchnik, AP)

Story Highlights Ireland's lawmakers are agonizing over government plans to pass an abortion bill for the first time Ireland outlaws abortion Bill would support legalizing abortion only in cases where woman's life is at risk from continued pregnancy

DUBLIN (AP) - After decades of delay and months of argument, Ireland's lawmakers are agonizing over government plans to pass an abortion bill for the first time.

Prime Minister Enda Kenny acceded to lawmakers' demands for more time to debate the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill. His concession means the vote, scheduled for Wednesday night, won't happen until early Thursday.

Ireland outlaws abortion. The bill would support a 1992 Supreme Court judgment legalizing abortion in cases where doctors deem a woman's life at risk from continued pregnancy.

Six previous governments refused to back the judgment. Kenny's government drafted the bill after a miscarrying woman was refused an abortion and died from blood poisoning.

Kenny enjoys the largest parliamentary majority in Irish history, so the bill's passage is certain.

Deja vu for Clinton, Palin? | USA NOW video

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

China media: US talks

Media criticise the US over export controls, market barriers and cyber-spying amid an annual two-day strategic and economic dialogue in Washington.

The official Xinhua news agency says the recent controversy over Edward Snowden, a whistleblower who exposed US global surveillance operations, 'offers an opportunity for the two countries to start serious discussions on co-operating to create rules in the cyberspace'.

However, Xinhua also rebukes America's 'relentless efforts to make groundless claims against China' on state-backed cyber espionage and stresses that the dispute 'shouldn't be hyped into something that would overshadow and obstruct talks on much more important issues between the two nations'.

A bilingual editorial in the Global Times says although Beijing should not hype the Snowden case at the dialogue, the Chinese delegation should use it as a tool against Washington's cyber-spying and human rights accusations.

Many state media including the China Daily and Jiefang Daily are citing articles in The Wall Street Journal by Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Yang and in the Washington Post by State Councillor Yang Jiechi listing barriers to market access and high-tech export controls as key irritants in Sino-US relations.

On China Central Television's Financial Review on Wednesday, commentators complained that US mistrust and paranoia about China's economic rise is blocking market access to Chinese firms.

Hong Kong's Ming Pao and South China Morning Post instead highlight US Vice-President Joe Biden's calls to Beijing on stopping 'outright theft' of US intellectual property through hacking.

There was no information from either side on whether Mr Snowden's revelations were discussed, the South China Morning Post adds.

Rain disaster

Turning to domestic news, The Beijing News and many other media are reporting an unprecedented number of disasters as the worst rain in almost 90 years wreaks havoc in southwest Sichuan province.

Xinhua and the Guangzhou Daily accuse local authorities of putting public safety at risk after a bridge in Jiangyou, Sichuan, collapsed on Monday after being reinforced only a month ago. Six vehicles plunged into the Panjiang River and at least 12 people are reported missing.

Sohu news portal says the Jiangyou authorities are using flooding as a scapegoat for shoddy safety standards.

The China Youth Daily also notes that no rainstorm warning was issued to step up safety monitoring at the bridge.

The Beijing News exposes how many impoverished and helpless families are forced to cage or chain up mentally ill relatives or send them to asylums to be caged, despite a new law in May banning the restriction of freedom of mental health patients.

The newspaper recounts the plight of Liu Yuegui, an 85-year-old schizophrenic man in Xingtai, Hebei province, who was rescued in 2009 after living in an asylum cage for 10 years. However, his family had to resort to locking him in a cage again after he was sent home for fear that he would become violent.

The Beijing News also reveals oppressive conditions and overcrowding at a mental hospital in Guangxi. An escape by 42 men last Friday triggered public suspicion over whether patients at the facility were petitioners who were not mentally ill.

Bruce Lee controversy

Mainland media, including the Sohu news portal, are abuzz over an unconfirmed tip-off to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post that China may end a 13-year ban on the sale of foreign game consoles as long as foreign firms like Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft make their products in a new free trade zone planned for Shanghai.

The government banned foreign video games to protect youths from unhealthy and violent content, however, many gaming fans already have access to them through black market retail channels and pirate disk shops, the newspaper adds.

The Guangzhou Daily, however, says Sony and other foreign video game producers have yet to confirm long-running rumours that the 'games embargo' will be lifted.

The South China Morning Post also reports a controversy over a computer-generated likeness of late Hong Kong martial arts film star Bruce Lee for a mainland advertisement promoting Johnnie Walker Blue Label whisky.

Some fans are offended because Bruce Lee avoided alcohol during his career and the digitally recreated version of him is speaking Mandarin instead of his native Cantonese.

BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. For more reports from BBC Monitoring, click here. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.

Buddhist

YANGON (MYANMAR): The conflict between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar's Rakhine province may have been touted as the reason behind the attack on Bodh Gaya's Mahabodhi temple, but the issue of the Rohingyas is seen less as a clash between religions and more of an ethnic and economic problem within the rapidly developing country whose military government started the process of democratic reforms two years ago. The reforms initiated by former military generalturned president Thein Sein which have led to the release of National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the lifting of sanctions imposed by the US are now translating into huge foreign investments in the country which is a largely untapped reservoir of natural gas and other resources. 'For a vast majority of people, there was frustration at seeing economic opportunities slip by during the military regime,' says U Thura Ko Ko, chief representative of the Texas Pacific Group Fund which advises foreign investors coming to Myanmar . 'With the country opening up, there is competition for scarce land and resources . I would therefore say the fundamental cause of tension in areas like the Rakhine region is economic.' For many others in Yangon , Myanmar's former capital , dotted with colonial-era buildings, the reluctance to view the clashes in Rakhine through the prism of religion is evident. 24-year-old doctor Thurein Hlaing Win voices what many young people feel about the problem. 'The issue is not Buddhists versus Muslims at all. The attacks on Rohingyas are simply intended to drive them away as the local people in the region, even the government, views them as intruders.'

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Venezuela logical destination for Snowden: reporter Glenn Greenwald

FUGITIVE US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden is not afraid and has no regrets about his revelations of US espionage activities, the reporter who first published the secret documents says.

Glenn Greenwald, an American journalist for Britain's Guardian newspaper, also said in an interview with AFP that Venezuela seems like a 'logical' asylum destination for Mr Snowden.

'He's anxious about the next step... but feels really good about the debate he provoked,' said Greenwald.

'I hadn't spoken to him in two weeks since he got out of Hong Kong until Saturday, when I spoke to him and then again yesterday,' he added.

'He's very calm, without any fear and definitely happy about the choices that he made,' said the journalist, who lives in Rio de Janeiro.

Currently stranded in Moscow, Mr Snowden has applied for asylum in more than two dozen countries in a bid to evade US espionage charges over his disclosure of US initiatives to gather Internet and phone data.

The 30-year-old former National Security Agency contractor has gained a sympathetic ear from some leftist Latin American countries. Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have all offered him asylum.

Greenwald said he did not know which country would eventually accept the US fugitive, but suggested Venezuela was the most likely.

'I didn't spend any time talking about his asylum plans. I don't really know what he's planning on doing in terms of that,' the 46-year-old US blogger said.

'To me, Venezuela seems like the most logical choice because it's bigger and stronger than the other two countries that offered asylum and will be able to protect him,' he added.

On Tuesday, the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website said that Mr Snowden had not yet formally accepted asylum in Venezuela as was claimed by a top Russian politician in a Twitter posting that was later deleted.

Pro-Kremlin MP Alexei Pushkov sparked confusion when he tweeted on Tuesday that Mr Snowden had agreed to an offer from Caracas. He deleted the posting after about 30 minutes.

Greenwald spends much of his time in Brazil, where he lives with a Brazilian partner who was unable to join him permanently in America due to legal restrictions.

New York-born and Florida-raised, he specialised in litigating constitutional and civil rights cases before shifting in 2005 towards blogging, book-writing and what he calls 'adversarial journalism'.

In four best-selling books, most recently With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful, he has sought to expose threats to freedom of information.

He entered journalism through his own blog, Unclaimed Territory. He later wrote for Salon.com before contributing to The Guardian in August 2012.

Greenwald said he had many more stories to write based on Mr Snowden's documents.

'I just wrote with O Globo three stories about massive (US) spying first in Brazil and then Latin America,' he noted.

'There's a lot more stories like that, big stories about what the NSA is doing inside the United States. These stories take time, but there's a lot more coming.'

He said he is fully aware that the US government is keeping him under close surveillance.

'I always assume that I'm being monitored and when I use computers or anything like that, I make sure I use encryption and I'm very careful,' he said.

Even though some US politicians have called for Greenwald's arrest on grounds his reporting amounted to a 'crime', he insisted: 'I have never been directly threatened'.

Asked whether he viewed Mr Snowden as more than a source, Greenwald replied: 'He is a source, but I have been very clear about the fact that I have a lot of admiration for what he did, a lot of respect.

'I think what he did was heroic. I care about him as a person and hope for the best for him.'

Chantal barrels toward Dominican Republic, Haiti

This image provided by NASA shows Tropical Storm Chantal at 1 p.m. on Monday. (Photo: NASA/AP)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Tropical Storm Chantal roared south of Puerto Rico early Wednesday on a path that will see it pass over the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where authorities warned of possible landslides and heavy flooding.

Chantal was becoming disorganized and a hurricane watch was discontinued for the Dominican Republic's southern coast, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. However, a tropical storm warning was in effect for the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos, and the southeastern Bahamas.

Officials in the Dominican Republic, where Chantal was expected to make landfall Wednesday afternoon, urged those living in low-lying areas to evacuate, but few paid heed.

'We're sure nothing is going to happen,' said Geovanny Batista, leader of an impoverished community in the capital of Santo Domingo built largely of wood, cardboard and zinc.

'We can't just go and leave behind our belongings,' he said. 'Thieves will come and take them.'

Officials in Haiti, which is forecast to feel the brunt of Chantal Wednesday evening, encountered similar resistance despite repeated radio warnings.

Street vendor Marc St. Juste said he was unaware a storm was coming, but upon learning the news, he decided to remain outside a bit, if only to sell a few more snow cones in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti's congested capital.

'I'm going to go home as soon as possible,' St. Juste said as he pushed his rickety wooden cart topped with frozen ice and colorful syrups. 'But I'm still going to stay out to make as many sales as possible.'

Both Haiti and the Dominican Republic are vulnerable to flooding and landslides from storms, but widespread deforestation and ramshackle housing in Haiti mean even moderate rains pose a significant threat.

Haiti is already in the middle of its rainy season, with 279,000 people still living in grim settlements that popped up in the capital and elsewhere after the devastating 2010 earthquake.

Up to 10 inches of rain could fall in parts of the island of Hispaniola, which the Dominican Republic and Haiti share, the hurricane center said.

The storm was located about 235 miles south of San Juan, Puerto Rico around 2 a.m. ET Wednesday, according to the hurricane center. The storm maximum sustained winds had decreased to 50 mph, and it was moving west at 30 mph.

Meteorologists with AccuWeather warned that the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico could be hard hit, given that some 13 inches of rain already have fallen in the capital of San Juan since June, nearly twice the normal rainfall for that period.

'Much of the landscape is primed for excessive runoff and flooding,' AccuWeather said.

At least 17 roads will be closed as a preventive measure in the southern mountainous town of Yauco, where some 30% of the population lives under zinc roofs, Mayor Abel Nazario told the AP.

'When it rains a lot, a portion of the mountain comes down,' he said. 'That's always a concern.'

Meanwhile, in the popular southwest tourist town of Cabo Rojo, crews cleared branches and debris to prepare for heavy rainfall, said Milton Llitera, the town's emergency management director.

'When this floods, it doesn't forgive,' he told the AP.

A tropical storm watch was in effect for the U.S. Virgin Islands, Vieques and Culebra and central Bahamas.

Chantal had raced through the eastern Caribbean early Tuesday, with officials in Dominica reporting that heavy winds ripped off the roofs of several homes. No injuries were reported there or anywhere else in the region.

Chantal also forced Carnival Cruise Lines to change the itineraries of two of its ships, the Carnival Liberty and Carnival Victory, spokesman Vance Gulliksen said.

Ex

Israel | RON DERMER

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday appointed Ron Dermer, a close advisor with ties to Miami Beach, to be Israel's next ambassador to the United States. The long-anticipated pick had raised some concern in Washington because of Dermer's connections to Republicans.

Dermer, 42, has been Netanyahu's top diplomatic advisor for the past four years. He will replace Michael Oren, the outspoken and telegenic New Jersey-born historian who has served in Washington for four years. In an announcement Tuesday, Netanyahu said Dermer has 'all the necessarily characteristics to successfully fill this important role.'

Dermer, a neoconservative who once worked for Frank Luntz, a Republican consultant, was seen by some as questioning President Barack Obama's commitment to Israel during his first term, and of supporting Obama's GOP opponent, Mitt Romney, in last fall's presidential election. But since November, he has worked to repair his reputation in Washington and has won over many in the White House with the critical roles he played in negotiating a cease-fire after Israel's eight-day operation in the Gaza Strip, reconciling relations between Turkey and Israel and planning Obama's much-heralded March visit to Israel.

Now, several people close to the Obama administration said, any suspicions about Dermer's political leanings are outweighed by the benefit of having an ambassador in Netanyahu's inner circle. He is expected to start the job in the fall.

'If you have someone you know is well-connected to the prime minister, it means you can always use that channel, no matter how sensitive the message is, and understand it's going to be communicated the way you want it,' noted Dennis B. Ross, a former Middle East envoy who is now counselor to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 'It reduces the prospect of surprise, it reduces the prospect of misunderstanding - that's something that's highly desired.'

Dermer was raised in Miami Beach, where his father and brother both served as mayor. He likes to point out that they were Democrats, although the family also supported former President George W. Bush and his brother, former Gov. Jeb Bush. He has a bachelor's degree from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a master's degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University.

His mother, Yaffa Dermer, who still lives in Miami Beach, said she is 'all for it' when asked about her son's new position. 'I'm excited. I think he'll do a wonderful job because he's a red-blooded American,' she said Tuesday. /'He told me he's going to visit me a lot.'

His mother, who was born and raised in Israel before moving to the U.S., said that Ron was constantly involved with Israel while growing up in their Miami Beach home, adding that he 'loves' the country.

Former U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, applauded the choice on Tuesday and described Dermer as a smart man who knows how essential the job is.

'It's great to have someone from Florida to take on this very central role of Israel's ambassador to the United States,' said Klein. 'It's exciting for someone from the United States and from our community to be represented with this opportunity.'

Israel | RON DERMER

Former Miami Beach resident Ron Dermer will become Israel's top diplomat in the United States.

EGYPT

At least 51 killed in clashes as military targets Morsi supporters.

S.Korea, DPRK starts follow

Head of the South Korean delegation Suh Ho (C) speaks to the press at the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) office in Paju in Gyeonggi province of South Korea, July 10, 2013. South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) started follow-up working-level talks at the joint industrial park in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong, South Korea's Unification Ministry said Wednesday. The DPRK also allowed South Korean businessmen to visit Kaesong Wednesday to bring back finished products and materials out of the complex and maintain facilities vulnerable to the humidity during the rainy season. (Xinhua/Park Jin-hee)

SEOUL, July 10 (Xinhua) -- South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) started follow-up working-level talks at the joint industrial park in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong, South Korea's Unification Ministry said Wednesday.

Three-member delegations from each side began the dialogue at 10:35 a.m. local time in the Kaesong industrial complex, according to the Ministry of Unification, which is in charge of inter-Korean relations. The talks were originally secluded for 10 a.m., but were delayed due to some technical glitches of communication lines.

There was no change in chief delegates. South Korea sent Suh Ho, director-general of the Unification Ministry's inter-Korean district support directorate, as top delegate, while the DPRK delegation was led by Park Chol-su, vice director of the General Bureau of the Central Special Zone Development Guidance.

The follow-up talks came three days after Seoul and Pyongyang agreed in principle to normalize operation of the joint industrial park at Kaesong, just north of the heavily armed border.

The DPRK also allowed South Korean businessmen to visit Kaesong Wednesday to bring back finished products and materials out of the complex and maintain facilities vulnerable to the humidity during the rainy season.

Three South Korean delegates along with 20 other officials crossed the military demarcation line (MDL) at around 8:30 a.m. before heading to the dialogue venue at Kaesong, according to the ministry.

Under the Sunday agreement, 59 managers from 59 South Korean companies crossed the MDL at around 9:00 a.m. to visit the factory park for maintenance work. Other company managers planned to cross the border in the next day to check their facilities.

Related:S. Korean president stresses over Kaesong complex complying with international norms

SEOUL, July 8 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Monday stressed over the importance of the Kaesong industrial complex complying with international norms. Full Story

Constructive Kaesong normalization boosted by working-level talks

SEOUL, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Working-level talks held last weekend between Seoul and Pyongyang advanced the process of normalizing the Kaesong industrial complex in a constructive way, South Korea' s Unification Ministry said Monday. Full Story

S. Korea to discuss constructive Kaesong normalization with DPRK

SEOUL, July 5 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's unification ministry said Friday that it will discuss how to constructively normalize the Kaesong industrial complex with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) at the working-level talks scheduled for Saturday. Full Story

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Compromise candidate appointed Egypt's prime minister

Economist Hazem el-Biblawi has been named prime minister and ElBaradei has been named vice president, a spokesman for the Egyptian government said Tuesday.

The report, from the Associated Press, came as the Muslim Brotherhood party rejected the transition timetable set out by the military-backed interim president.

Essam el-Erian, a senior Brotherhood figure and deputy head of its Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, rejected the transition timetable on Tuesday, telling Al Jazeera it takes the country 'back to zero'.

USA NOW

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Egypt Is Arena for Influence of Arab Rivals

WASHINGTON - Two of the Persian Gulf's richest monarchies pledged $8 billion in cash and loans to Egypt on Tuesday, a decision that was aimed not only at shoring up a shaky transitional government, but also at undermining their Islamist rivals and strengthening their allies across a newly turbulent Middle East.

The robust financial aid package announced by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates came a day after the Egyptian military killed dozens of Muslim Brotherhood members protesting last week's military ouster of Egypt's Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi. The aid package underscored a continuing regional contest for influence between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, one that has accelerated since the Arab uprising upended the status quo and brought Islamists to power.

Qatar, in alliance with Turkey, has given strong financial and diplomatic support to the Muslim Brotherhood, but also to other Islamists operating on the battlefields of Syria and, before that, Libya. Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, by comparison, have sought to restore the old, authoritarian order, fearful that Islamist movements and calls for democracy would destabilize their own nations.

The promise to provide so much assistance also highlighted the limits of American leverage: the United States provides Egypt $1.5 billion in annual aid, a small fraction of what the gulf states have promised. But the gulf intervention contrasted sharply with the Obama administration's uncertainty about how to respond to the military takeover, and more broadly, how to wield influence across an increasingly chaotic and fragmented Arab world where American interests are hard to define.

The White House has said it is reviewing the circumstances of the takeover before making a decision on the annual aid to Egypt - which some in Congress, notably Senator John McCain of Arizona, have said should be suspended, calling the takeover a coup d'état. But on Tuesday, the White House spokesman, Jay Carney, struck a somewhat different tone, saying the administration was encouraged by the timetable provided by Egypt's interim authorities for a transition to elections and a fully civilian government.

The Saudis and Emiratis were nearly buoyant at the military's move to oust Mr. Morsi. Both are deeply hostile to the Brotherhood's Islamist-cum-democratic agenda, which they see as a threat both to their own monarchical legitimacy and to regional stability. Qatar, by contrast, provided about $8 billion in aid to Mr. Morsi's government during his yearlong tenure, and Turkey offered loans of $2 billion.

The tensions between Qatar and Saudi Arabia are older and broader than the Arab uprisings that began in 2011. Saudi Arabia, which prefers to work its checkbook diplomacy quietly and behind the scenes, sees itself as the regional leader. But the Qataris have for years fashioned an outsize foreign policy, often rebuffing Saudi Arabia's perceived interests, using its wealth and Al Jazeera, the television network it built, to play a decisive role in some of the region's most volatile and important events.

Qatar, host to the largest American military base in the Middle East, has also eagerly financed Islamists in Tunisia, Libya, Syria and Egypt, often siding with the Muslim Brotherhood or its affiliates, like Hamas. Qatar angered the Saudis (and the Obama administration) by supporting Islamist rebels in Syria and providing some heavier weapons, like shoulder-fired missiles, against American advice.

Suddenly, some of the tables have turned on Qatar.

With the rise of the Brotherhood, the Saudis had largely cut off aid to Mr. Morsi's government and ignored American requests to help Egypt manage a worsening economic crisis. After Mr. Morsi was ousted by the Egyptian military, the Saudi and Emirati governments were quick to issue strong statements of support for the transition. On Friday night, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia personally called Egypt's army chief, Gen. Abdel-Fattah el Sisi, to reinforce his backing for the caretaker government, newsunews.blogspot.com reported.

'This is clearly a setback for the ideology that Qatar and Turkey support and encourage,' said one Arab official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to antagonize two powerful nations. 'If political Islam was a stock, it would have gone down dramatically over the past week.'

Qatari officials declined to comment on the rivalry. But one Qatari official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Qatar's financial aid in the past had been to the Egyptian people, not any individual figure or party.

The Qataris suffered two other, lesser setbacks in recent days: on Monday, 22 journalists at Al Jazeera resigned en masse, citing what they said was the station's biased coverage of the Brotherhood. Al Jazeera's bias in favor of the Islamist group has often been cited as a grievance against Qatar's rulers, who are accused of using the station as an arm of their activist foreign policy.

Also on Tuesday, Ghassan Hitto, the prime minister of the main Syrian exile opposition group - who was seen as favorable to Qatar - resigned. Although the reasons for his resignation were not clear, it was generally viewed as a concession to Saudi Arabia, which had signaled its discontent with him.

Some analysts say Qatar has already begun to rein in its aggressive and eclectic foreign policy, which has included a willingness to engage with Iran that infuriated its Saudi neighbors. Last week, Qatar's government joined Saudi Arabia and others in issuing a message of support to the transitional government installed by the Egyptian military, even as its allies in the Brotherhood protested furiously against what they called a military coup.

'It's starting to look as if the Qataris have ceased playing the role of troublemaker and freelancer in the region, and falling in behind the Saudis,' said Peter Harling, an adviser with the International Crisis Group. 'Events are allowing the Saudis to assume a regional leadership role that no one else can play right now.'

Despite Qatar's strong financial support for Mr. Morsi's government, some analysts say Qatari officials had privately become very critical of his many blunders over the past year. 'The Qataris were not happy with the decision to take Morsi out, but they were not so happy with Morsi, either,' said Mustafa Alani, an analyst with the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center.

The shift in Qatar's role may also be related to the accession last month of the new Qatari emir, Sheik Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Mr. Alani said. The emir led a joint Saudi-Qatari committee formed in 2007 to reduce tensions between the two countries, and he is widely thought to take a less aggressive approach to foreign policy than his father, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the former emir.

Qatar's support for the Muslim Brotherhood was seen by some analysts as a policy based on pragmatism rather than ideology - it was viewed as a populist group that could deliver results, unlike its more secular and often more fractious rivals. That perception, too, may change now that the Brotherhood has been deposed in Egypt. Turkey's support for Brotherhood affiliates was more a matter of shared principles: Turkey's governing party is a mildly Islamist and populist group. But Turkey's own struggles with a domestic protest movement in the past two months is likely to curtail its appetite for foreign adventures.

The Qatari and Turkish financial aid to Mr. Morsi's government last year helped him to avert painful economic reforms being urged by the International Monetary Fund as the price for its own $4.8 billion aid package. The United States believes those changes - including a reduction of food and electricity subsidies - are necessary to help bring Egypt out of its crushing deficit and economic malaise.

But the Saudi and Emirati aid may serve the same purpose, staving off unpopular decisions and limiting another potential avenue of American influence over Egypt's next government.