时事经纬
04-06-09

奥巴马开罗讲话世界数百万人聆听

奥巴马在讲话中还说，让以色列和巴勒斯坦人和平地生活在各自两个国家符合以色
列、巴勒斯坦、美国乃至全世界的利益。他说，巴勒斯坦人必须放弃暴力，以色列
必须承认巴勒斯坦人的生存权利。美国不接受以色列继续兴建定居点的合法性。奥巴马总统说，阿拉伯国家必须帮助巴勒斯坦人民，并承认以色列的合法性。

巴格达炸弹爆炸9人丧生

伊拉克内政部表示，在首都巴格达一家咖啡馆发生的一次炸弹爆炸造成9人丧生，至少31人受伤。爆炸发生在巴格达西南部什叶派聚居区。

学生人质在巴基斯坦获释

巴基斯坦官员表示，本周早些时候被塔利班武装绑架的学生和老师已经获释。有关官员说，经过部族长老的谈判之后，这46名学生和2名教师已经被释放。一名塔利班官员告诉法新社说，“为了这个地区的和平利益”，这些人质被允许离开。

哈马斯、法塔赫再度发生冲突

安全官员表示，巴勒斯坦对立派系哈马斯和法塔赫成员之间在约旦河西岸发生武力
冲突，打死一名警察。巴勒斯坦当局表示，星期四在约旦河西岸城市盖勒吉利耶爆
发了枪战，忠于巴勒斯坦民族权力机构主席阿巴斯的武装力量包围了一名哈马斯逃
犯的住所。这是这个星期以来巴勒斯坦对立派系之间发生的第二起冲突。星期天，
以法塔赫为主的警方突袭了位于盖勒吉利耶的一所民房，目的是逮捕两名哈马斯高
级成员。有三名警方人员、两名哈马斯成员和一名旁观者在那起事件中丧生。这是
2007年以来巴勒斯坦人内部在约旦河西岸发生的最激烈的武装派系斗争。

美国代表团前往叙利亚

美国和叙利亚已经证实，由于美国希望推进改善和大马士革的关系，在未来的几个
星期里美国官员可能将前往叙利亚。叙利亚驻华盛顿使馆的官员们星期三对记者说，一个美国军事代表团不久将访问叙利亚，商讨限制伊斯兰激进分子越过叙利亚和伊拉克边界的途径。

中国对朝政策换汤不换药

美考虑制裁北韩新措施

联合国安理会五个常任理事国以及日本和韩国的外交官员星期三在纽约召开会议，
讨论针对北韩上个月进行第二次核试验所可能采取的惩罚性措施。上述外交官员表
示，正在酝酿中的新的制裁措施包括限制北韩与外界的金融交易、冻结北韩各大公
司的资产、以及实施武器禁运等等。美国、英国和法国一直在推动针对北韩5月25号进行的地下核试验作出迅速反应，但北韩的盟友俄罗斯和中国对制裁方案中的一些
内容提出疑问。

北韩问题 美高官热谈中国作用

美国政府一位高官表示，中国过去不愿意对北韩施加压力，但最近中国也认为北韩做得太过分。有分析认为，北核问题恐导致美国加强在东亚地区的军事力量，韩国和日本或可能出现‘核开发论’，这一点令中国担心。该官员还说，北韩的所有货物都必须经过中国港口和领空，因此，如果中国参与《防扩散安全倡议》(PSI)，会使北韩进出口核物质变得更难。这等于是对中国说，要想对北核问题明确说“不”，就干脆加入PSI为好。他表示：“北韩将搜查船只视为宣战并强烈反对，因此，中国担心对北韩船只进行盘查可能会引发武力冲突。”他还说，美国正在谋求同中国等国一同加强对北船只搜查的方案。他这番话可以视为在目前讨论的安理会对北制裁决议中纳入对核、导弹零部件及核物质的海上搜查方案后，将说服中国参与其中。

奥巴马政府公布“对北四大原则”

第一、韩半岛彻底实现无核化是美国不变的目标；
第二、绝不承认北韩是核武器拥有国；
第三、不容许北韩转移核武器和核物质；
第四、美国将在东亚同盟国防御问题上竭尽全力。

美高官：接班人已敲定 朝可能重返六方核谈

鸠山会晤中国大使就安理会对朝决议寻求合作

日本民主党代表鸠山由纪夫3日在党总部会晤了中国驻日大使崔天凯，希望中方为联合国安理会通过针对朝鲜再次核试验的新制裁决议提供合作“要通过严厉制裁提高实效性，以对话而非军事方式解决问题需要中国的合作。”

中国驻日大使称核武装论对日本有害无益

中国驻日本大使崔天凯3日对朝鲜核试验后日本国内有关核武装和先发制人攻击地方导弹发射基地的论调表示了担忧，强调这些主张对日本的长远利益及与邻国的关系有百害而无一益。他还表示自己并不知道朝鲜方面是否就金正日的接班人问题向中国做了通报。

全球和平指数日本第7中国第74美国第83

英国调查机构等2日公布了今年的“世界和平指数”，新西兰成为“全球最和平国家”。
伊拉克则连续3年列倒数第一。日本较去年下滑两位名列第7，中国列第74位。新加坡位列第23位、韩国列第33位、朝鲜位列第131位。美国仅在排行榜中位列第83位，但由于该国受恐怖袭击的危险性下降，因此较去年的第97位上升了14位。名次靠后的有津巴布韦第134位、俄罗斯第136位、阿富汗第143位、以色列第141位。

美高官称不会在2020年前要求中国削减排放总量

美国首席气候变化谈判代表乔纳森 潘兴日前表示，在2020年之前不会要求这些国家削减温室气体排放总量。

日本前首相森喜朗批评中国的援非方式

日本前首相森喜朗4日在东京会晤前联合国秘书长安南时对中国援助非洲的方式提出了批评，称“中国净做些修建剧院和体育场之类取悦民众的事，这样好吗？”森喜
朗强调，能在卫生、教育和基础建设等方面促进非洲自立的援助才是重要的，认为
有必要合理构建包括中国在内的多国援助框架。

调查：公众关注私营领域腐败现象

透明国际(Transparency International)的报告指出，该组织在全球进行的抽样调查显示，53%的受访民众认为私营经济部门是腐败的。透明国际政策和研究部主任罗宾.霍德斯说，私营部门在公众心目中的形象恶化是这个报告最令人忧虑的发现之一。她说：“报告结果显示，公众认为腐败和行贿受贿不再是政府部门独有的现象。他们开始把私营企业看成是腐败现象的共同参与者。”她说：“金融危机吸引了公众对私营企业的角色、以及保险公司、审计者等行使监督职能的机构的关注。我们认为，金融危机和缺乏透明度有最直接的联系。而现在，在坚固的基础上重建全球经济更加需要透明度。”

尽管和五年前相比有更多的受访者认为私营部门腐败，但这项调查发现，立法机构、行政机构、政党等公共部门在受访者的心目中形象要差得多。调查显示，6成以上受访者认为他们所在国家的立法机构是最腐败的部门；近7成民众说政党是最腐败的组织。在调查涵盖的69个国家中，有11个国家的民众说，司法机构最腐败。她说：“受访民众当中，平均每10个人就有一个在过去一年里有过行贿行为。在某些地区，这个比例高达40%。这说明腐败现象的严重程度。”

Obama Calls for Alliances With Muslims

Mr. Obama said Israel must curtail its expansion of West bank settlements and recognize Palestinian aspirations for statehood. “Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel’s right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine’s,” ... “The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.” “The only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security.”

“We have a responsibility to join together on behalf of the world we seek,” he said. “A world where extremists no longer threaten our people, and American troops have come home; a world where Israelis and Palestinians are each secure in a state of their own, and nuclear energy is used for peaceful purposes; a world where governments serve their citizens, and the rights of all God’s children are respected.”

Obama in Cairo: The Making of a Prophet?

Israelis Say Bush Agreed to West Bank Growth

Senior Israeli officials accused President Obama on Wednesday of failing to acknowledge what they called clear understandings with the Bush administration that allowed Israel to build West Bank settlement housing within certain guidelines while still publicly claiming to honor a settlement “freeze.”

The Israeli officials said that repeated discussions with Bush officials starting in late 2002 resulted in agreement that housing could be built within the boundaries of certain settlement blocks as long as no new land was expropriated, no special economic incentives were offered to move to settlements and no new settlements were built.

When Israel signed on to the so-called road map for a two-state solution in 2003, with a provision that says its government “freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements),” the officials said, it did so after a detailed discussion with Bush administration officials that laid out those explicit exceptions--Israel agreed to the road map and to move ahead with the removal of settlements and soldiers from Gaza in 2005 on the understanding that settlement growth could continue.

But a former senior official in the Bush administration disagreed. “There was never an agreement to accept natural growth,”... “There was an effort to explore what natural growth would mean, but we weren’t able to reach agreement on that.”

A second senior Bush administration official said Wednesday: “We talked about a settlement freeze with four elements. One was no new settlements, a second was no new confiscation of Palestinian land, one was no new subsidies and finally, no construction outside the settlements.” He described that fourth condition, which applied to natural growth, as similar to taking a string and tying it around a settlement, and prohibiting any construction outside that string. But, he added, “We had a tentative agreement, but that was contingent on drawing up lines, and this is a process that never got done, therefore the settlement freeze was never formalized and never done.”

A third former Bush administration official, Elliott Abrams, who was on the National Security Council staff, wrote an opinion article in The Washington Post in April that seemed to endorse the Israeli argument.

The Israeli officials acknowledged that the new American administration had different ideas about the meaning of the term “settlement freeze.” Mr. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have said in the past week that the term means an end to all building, including natural growth.

But the Israeli officials complained that Mr. Obama had not accepted that the previous understandings existed. Instead, they lamented, Israel now stood accused of having cheated and dissembled in its settlement activity whereas, in fact, it had largely lived within the guidelines to which both governments had agreed.

US president defends Iran's right to peaceful nuclear energy

"any nation - including Iran - should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty." Obama said, the US would "proceed with courage, rectitude and resolve" to solve the Iranian nuclear issue. His vision, as he laid it out in the speech, was for "a world in which no nations hold nuclear weapons."

Full text of Obama's Cairo address

Peres: Time is ripe to end conflict

"The time is ripe to end the Israeli-Arab conflict"..."Support from the entire Arab world will provide legitimacy for the Palestinian Authority as it approaches the difficult task of making and then implementing historic compromises," Peres wrote. "At the same time it may reassure Israel that the painful concessions it will make will be rewarded by a broader, more enduring comprehensive peace across the region." He went on to say that while the Arab peace initiative was a positive step, Israel should not be expected to agree to all of its clauses as it did not take part in its formulation. Meanwhile, he acknowledged that Israel too could not impose its own wording on other parties, and that common ground must be sought.

Iran: Obama's speech can't fix US image

Khamenei said that efforts by the new American administration to change the "ugly, detested and rough" face of the United States will not be earned solely by "words, speech and slogan." He said the Muslim world is instead looking for practical changes to US policies.

Also Thursday, Hamas made seemingly conciliatory statements ahead of Obama's address. In a letter to Obama, Hamas Foreign Ministry official Ahmed Youssef welcomed Obama's outreach to Muslims and wrote that his group is committed to a "just solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Americans 'negative' about Muslims

As Barack Obama, the US president, seeks to mend the image of the US in the Muslim world, a new survey indicates almost half of Americans have a negative opinion about Muslim countries.
The 46 per cent of respondents who held an unfavourable view of Islamic nations was up five per cent from 2002, while just 20 per cent said they held a positive opinion.
About 60 per cent of Americans feel that the Muslim world considers itself at war with the US, and there is a widespread impression that Islam encourages violence - 45 per cent of respondents in a 2007 poll associated the religion with violent attacks.
On the other side, surveys of Muslim countries show only about 25 per cent of people approve of US leadership.

Joel Fitzgibbon resigns as Defence Minister

Mr Fitzgibbon was forced to apologise to parliament late on Tuesday night for failing to declare accommodation paid for by the private health insurance company his brother Mark heads, NIB.

In March, the minister was forced to correct the public record after it emerged he had not declared travel paid for by controversial Chinese-Australian businesswoman Helen Liu.

The resignation comes after it was revealed ministerial staff in the defence portfolio instructed a general to attend meetings with his brother at which defence health contracting was discussed.

Major-General Paul Alexander, who is in charge of defence health services, told Senate estimates staff of a junior minister and Defence staff told him to attend the meetings attended by Mark Fitzgibbon.