Gold rises on debt talks; stocks up slightly

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK |

(Reuters) - Concern about the government's ability to avoid a default boosted gold for a 10th straight day on Friday, while stocks rose after strong corporate earnings from companies including Google (GOOG.O).

Investors' search for safe havens on fears over the outcome of debt talks also pushed up government bond prices.

An acrimonious stalemate between President Barack Obama and Republicans deepened on Friday in their negotiations over a plan to raise the debt ceiling while cutting the deficit.

Congress must raise the $14.3 trillion limit on America's borrowing by August 2 or the government will run out of money to pay all its bills. The White House and Republicans are wrangling over spending cuts and higher taxes in addressing how to bring down the deficit.

The two major ratings agencies warned they will strip the United States, the world's biggest economy, of its top-notch credit rating if it does not increase its borrowing limit to avoid a default.

"Everything that's bad is good for Treasuries even if there's a default," said Thomas Roth, executive director of government bond trading at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities USA Inc in New York.

There is a growing, though far from consensus, view that while a United States default would hurt the credit-worthiness of Treasuries, it would devastate stocks and risky investments even more, making investors scramble for Treasuries to store cash.

"Treasuries look the best of a bad lot. The U.S. will make good on its payments despite a short-term disruption," said Anthony Valeri, fixed income strategist at LPL Financial in San Diego, which manages $280 billion in assets.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 42.61 points, or 0.34 percent, to end at 12,479.73. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was up 7.27 points, or 0.56 percent, at 1,316.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was up 27.13 points, or 0.98 percent, at 2,789.80.

Google's earnings beat the most bullish forecasts late on Thursday, driving its stock up 13 percent to $597.62, making it the top gainer in the Nasdaq 100.

Energy and tech shares led the day's gains. The S&P energy sector index .GSPE rose 2.3 percent, while the S&P info technology sector index .GSPT gained 1.6 percent.

The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of leading European shares ended down 0.2 percent, while the MSCI All-Country World Index .MIWD00000PUS rose 0.2 percent.

Also gaining was spot gold, which was up 0.3 percent at $1,591.50 an ounce. It failed to hit a new peak after rallying to all-time highs in the previous two sessions, but stayed near the record of $1,594.16 hit on Thursday.

"The longer the debt talk drags on, the more you would want to own a safe haven like gold. The crude oil market is also rallying quite nicely, and that's a big element in support for gold," said James Steel, chief commodity analyst at HSBC.

EURO FLAT AFTER EUROPE STRESS TESTS

The euro turned flat against the dollar as the results of European bank stress tests only slightly relieved anxiety over euro zone debt woes.

In late afternoon New York trading, the euro was nearly unchanged at $1.4148, above a four-month low of $1.38376 hit this week.

Just eight of the 90 European banks surveyed by the European Banking Authority failed the stress tests, well below market expectations that as many as 15 lenders would need more capital to withstand a prolonged recession.

The test results, which were released after European stock markets had closed, measured the banks' ability to withstand a prolonged recession that did not build in the impact of a Greek default.

"To be honest, I am pretty skeptical of the results and find it hard to believe that only eight failed," said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington.

Euro zone leaders will meet in Brussels next Thursday to discuss a second bailout package for Greece and the financial stability of the euro area, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said on Friday.

The more investors fear that heavily indebted euro-zone governments will be unable to repay their debts, the more the yields on their bonds rise, dragging down their value in banks' balance sheets, erasing their capital, and increasing the need for yet more bank bailouts by stronger euro-zone governments.

U.S. Treasury prices rose modestly as the sovereign debt problems on both sides of the Atlantic fueled safe-haven demand.

Adding to concerns for the United States, S&P threatened on Friday to downgrade mortgage finance agencies Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) and Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB) and some financial companies if it removes the United States' AAA rating.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes were trading 13/32 higher in price to yield 2.91 percent, down from 2.96 percent late Thursday.

Wall Street's advance helped boost oil prices.

U.S. crude for August delivery settled at $97.24 a barrel, gaining $1.55 and rising for a third straight week. The September contract closed at $97.60, up $1.49, or 1.55 percent.

In London, ICE Brent for September delivery, the new front month, closed at $117.26, up $1.

(Additional reporting by Dominic Lau in London; Richard Leong, Frank Tang, Julie Haviv and Angela Moon in New York; and Steve Holland and Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Everyone braces for a wild British Open weekend

AP National Writer

SANDWICH, England — What figures to be a wet and wild third round at the British Open is under way with wind, rain and high scores.

The fourth hole, playing into the wind, already has proven to be a beast. The first six players to come through were a combined 12 over par. No one made a par until Gary Woodland, who is among the longest hitters in golf.

Of the first 22 players to tee off, Woodland was the only one under par.

Darren Clarke and Lucas Glover, tied for the lead, were still hours from teeing off. The forecast was for the wind to get stronger and the rain to fall even harder through the afternoon before easing late in the day.

With seven shots separating top to bottom, it could be anyone who goes into the last round atop the leaderboard.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SANDWICH, England (AP) - Rory McIlroy won the last major championship by a whopping eight strokes.

Don't expect any runaways at the British Open.

After the field was whittled down to 71 players Friday for what figures to be a wild - and perhaps stormy - weekend at Royal St. George's, only seven strokes separated the leaders from the guys who'll tee off first.

Darren Clarke and Lucas Glover were setting the pace after 36 holes. But no one can possibly predict how it will all shake out by the time the final shot is hit Sunday evening, a striking contrast to McIlroy's record-setting romp last month at the U.S. Open.

"I think you'll see a lot of chopping and changing at the top of the leaderboard," the 22-year-old from Northern Ireland said. "It's the most open Open I've seen in a long time. It'll be exciting to be a part of and it'll be exciting to watch over the next two days."

McIlroy was right in the thick of things after grinding out a 1-under 69 on Friday, leaving him just four strokes off the lead. But there's intriguing storylines all around. (Except for the home country. England lost three of its top players to the cut.)

There was plenty of experience, from 40-somethings Clarke, Thomas Bjorn, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Davis Love III to 52-year-old Tom Lehman.

There were plenty of big names, including Phil Mickelson and a rejuvenated Sergio Garcia, back chasing his first major title.

There was no shortage of major champions, led by the four who reign currently: Martin Kaymer, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen and, of course, McIlroy, eager to add the claret jug to his crown from Congressional.

He survived the first two days, catching the wrong end of the draw and winding up with the most difficult weather conditions both days.

Now, it's time to make a move.

"It was a grind," McIlroy said. "It would be nicer to be a couple better, but I'll take that going into the weekend. I'm very happy with my position."

A lot of guys were.

This championship is just getting started.

"There's still two days of tough golf and tough weather ahead of us," Clarke said.

Rain and strong winds were a prominent part of the weekend forecast, and everyone spoke confidently about being the one who could best handle the harshest conditions.

"One of the things I'm looking forward to is actually the bad weather," Mickelson said. "I hope it comes in."

Clarke, a forgotten figure as McIlroy and Graeme McDowell captured the U.S. Open the last two years, bounced back from a double bogey to make a 90-foot eagle putt and survived a few more hiccups on his way to another 2-under 68.

Glover, playing the kind of golf that won him a U.S. Open two years ago, has made only three bogeys in the opening two rounds. He had a 70 to join Clarke in the lead at 4-under 136.

But everyone who made the cut had a chance.

"Unlike often when you're in contention in a championship where it may be between six, seven, eight of you, now it's between the whole field," said first-round co-leader Thomas Bjorn, one shot back after 36 holes. "You've just got to go out there and knuckle down and see where it gets you to on Sunday afternoon."

Bjorn (72) was joined at 137 by PGA champion Kaymer (69), Chad Campbell (68) and Jimenez (71). The 29 players within four shots of the lead included McIlroy, who met his goal of getting to even par for the tournament with a spectacular save from a buried lie in the pot bunker in front of the 18th green.

McIlroy will play Saturday for the third straight time with Rickie Fowler, a fellow 22-year-old who fought his way to a 70 and then summed up the state of this British Open going into the weekend.

"It's basically a new tournament," the American said.

Not so for England's Luke Donald, who became the second No. 1 player this year to miss the cut in a major. His hopes ended when his ball plugged so badly in a bunker on the 17th that he had to play back toward the fairway, only to see it roll back into the sand. Donald at least was in good company.

Another Englishman, second-ranked Lee Westwood, also missed the cut and refused to speak to reporters. Yet another home-country favorite, Ian Poulter, headed home after a 78.

Even with a beloved figure like Clarke in the lead, nothing is drawing more attention than the weather.

The forecast is strong wind and increasing rain late in the morning, followed by heavy rain and even stronger gusts in the afternoon.

Depending on the weather, it could be a repeat of 10 years ago at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, when David Duval started the third round seven shots out of the lead and wound up with a share of the lead by the end of the day.

"There's an awful long way to go yet, and I believe the forecast for the weekend is very, very poor, which I quite look forward to," Clarke said. "But the course is going to play very, very tough. If that's the case, then the tournament is still wide open for an awful lot of players."

So many players, in fact, that it was easy to overlook Mickelson, who has never fared well at the British Open and suddenly finds himself within three shots of the lead going into the weekend.

"I'm looking forward to that challenge, and I'm hoping I've got the shots now to be effective in it," Lefty said.

The eclectic mix of contenders still includes 20-year-old amateur Tom Lewis, who shared the lead with Bjorn after the first round with a 65 and held it together until the end of Day 2. He three-putted the 17th and was fortunate to make bogey on the final hole, his approach shot headed out of bounds until it struck a fence post and ricocheted back onto a gravel road.

He shot 74, and was still only three shots behind.

On the other end of the spectrum was 61-year-old Tom Watson, who put on another memorable show with a hole-in-one on the sixth hole. He hit a pure 4-iron from 160 yards into the wind that took one hop and banged off the pin before dropping into the cup.

"They're all lucky when they go in," Watson said. "But that's what I was aiming at."

McIlroy was the favorite going into the British Open, and it's hard to rule him out now. At times the kid looked as though he was ready to make a move, only to miss a key putt or find a bunker that led to bogey.

Even so, McIlroy was right where he needed to be.

He had plenty of company.

Follow AP National Writer Paul Newberry at http://twitter.com/pnewberry1963

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/07/16/3225270/everyone-braces-for-a-wild-british.html#ixzz1SGTHvN9L

China urges Obama to cancel meeting with the Dalai Lama

Shanghai— Reuters

China urged the United States to cancel a scheduled meeting between President Barack Obama and exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama at the White House on Saturday, saying such a meeting would harm U.S.-China relations.

The White House announced on Friday that Mr. Obama would speak with the Dalai Lama about Tibet in their first meeting in more than a year. The announcement upset China, which was already on edge about the Dalai Lama’s meetings with U.S. congressional leaders and the potential for a U.S. debt default.

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This meeting underscores the president’s strong support for the preservation of Tibet’s unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity and the protection of human rights for Tibetans,” the White House said in a statement.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement on the ministry’s website: “We firmly oppose any senior foreign government officials meeting with the Dalai Lama in any way.”

Mr. Hong said China called on the United States to “cancel the decision for Obama to meet the Dalai Lama as soon as possible, and not do anything that could interfere with China’s internal affairs or harm China-U.S. relations.”

China accuses the Dalai Lama of being a separatist who supports the use of violence to set up an independent Tibet. The Nobel Prize laureate denies this, saying he wants a peaceful transition to autonomy for the remote Himalayan region that China has ruled with an iron fist since 1950, when Chinese troops marched in.

There was no immediate comment from the White House on China’s call for the meeting to be canceled.

Beijing warned the United States to stay out of its affairs last week after top lawmakers including House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, and top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi met the Dalai Lama during his 10-day visit to Washington.

Saturday’s meeting in the White House Map Room is expected to last at least 30 minutes and will be closed to the news media. The Obama administration said the question of Tibet is likely to come up during the meeting.

“The president will highlight his enduring support for dialogue between the Dalai Lama’s representatives and the Chinese government to resolve differences,” the White House said in the statement issued earlier on Friday.

Kate Saunders, a spokeswoman for the International Campaign for Tibet, a human rights group that works closely with Tibetan exiles, said Tibet’s capital Lhasa was “under virtual lockdown” ahead of the anniversary of the 1950 invasion.

“The meeting is a significant acknowledgment by the White House of the importance of direct discussion between President Obama and the Dalai Lama at a time of crisis in Tibet,” Ms. Saunders said.

China’s foreign ministry has alleged the Dalai Lama -- who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising -- is using his U.S. trip “to engage in activities to split the motherland” and has made clear its opposition to U.S. engagement on Tibet.

“The affairs of Tibet are a purely Chinese internal matter, and China resolutely opposes any country or any person interfering in China’s internal affairs on the issue of Tibet,” the Chinese foreign ministry said on July 9.

Mr. Obama last met the Dalai Lama in February 2010, in a visit that drew a strong denunciation from Beijing.

Saturday’s White House meeting comes at an extra sensitive moment for China, the United States’ biggest creditor, with leaders in Washington at odds over how to raise the $14.3 trillion U.S. debt ceiling in time to avoid default.

China holds more than $1 trillion in U.S. Treasury debt and would be particularly exposed should Congress fail to reach a deal by Aug. 2. A U.S. default could rocket up interest rates, sink the value of the U.S. dollar and hurt the global economy.

Beijing has urged Washington to “adopt responsible policies and measures to guarantee the interests of investors.” Mr. Obama has asked for congressional leaders to give him proposals by Saturday on how to advance talks on a deal.

How Harry Potter rewrote the book on reading

“

Adults are living increasingly as children,” a character in Lorrie Moore’s very grown-up 2010 novel, A Gate at the Stairs, complains. “Reading Harry Potter while every newspaper in the country goes out of business.”

They are “doing society harm,” British comedian Linda Smith agreed at the height of Pottermania, identifying such sociopaths as “a tiny minority of people who should not be allowed to vote.”

When not padding course lists with Harry Potter books and writing scholarly articles about them, some academics have also questioned the “cultural infantilism” that has made the classic children’s series a must-read for grownup dinner guests throughout the literate world. But if any publishers share the same view, they certainly aren’t saying.

Even as the Potter era officially ends with the release of the final film of the final book, they remain spellbound and enthralled by its power.

The adventures of Harry and his magical schoolmates have not only attracted an enormous number of adult readers – one in five of the 12 million copies of the books sold in their first decade in Canada went to adults, according to their publisher – they revolutionized the act of reading and with it the entire publishing industry.

“I don’t think there are any limits to the effect Harry Potter has had on the business of reading,” said Trevor Dayton, vice-president in charge of the children’s section at Indigo Books and Music.

As if by magic, the books led a startling reversal in what once seemed to be the inevitable decline in the number of young readers – down 20 per cent in the United States throughout the 1990s, according to the National Endowment for the Arts, but up 21 per cent by 2008.

They were the first to demonstrate the previously unimagined marketing power of social media, with the gaps between books serving as ideal breeding grounds for the kind of early Internet chatter that became equally phenomenal with the advent of Facebook and Twitter. They were the first to turn passive readers into activist fans with insatiable appetites. They made book knowledge a universal cultural requirement, a pattern repeated by the massively bestselling Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. Not the least, they made formerly separate categories of children’s and adult books “almost indistinguishable,” according to Dayton.

“When I started with Indigo, Kids was a relatively small percentage of the business and the teen category within that was my second-smallest category,” he said. “Today it’s the second-largest category in the store. Fiction is one and Teen is two.”

Adults are currently responsible for borrowing a third of all Young Adult titles circulated by the Toronto Public Library, according to TPL children’s advocate Lisa Heggum, up from almost nothing a decade ago. “It’s a strong trend and I do think Harry Potter led the way,” she said.

Potter publishers initially encouraged the trend by introducing each new book in two editions – one with a cover aimed at children and a second with a deceptively grown-up appearance. “We thought we were being very clever,” said Jamie Broadhurst, vice-president of marketing for Raincoast Books, which published the books in Canada. “What we didn’t figure out was the fact that adults had absolutely no problem reading a book with a children’s cover.”

Spurred by Potter, the crossover appeal of children’s literature continued to buoy traditional publishing as it struggled against the rising tide of electronic innovation. Hardcover sales of children’s books in the United States increased by almost a third in 2009, during which time sales of adult books experienced a double-digit decline. At the beginning of 2009, adults older than 18 bought 70 per cent of all Young Adult titles sold in the country (including those bought as gifts), according to book research firm Bowker LLC. Last year, they accounted for more than three-quarters of all YA sales.

theglobeandmail.com

Turkey jails 14 over alleged anti-U.S. attack plan

(Reuters) - A Turkish court has jailed 14 people pending trial on charges of al Qaeda membership for allegedly planning an attack on the U.S. embassy in Ankara, state media said on Saturday.

The suspects were detained on July 12 ahead of the visit to Turkey of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was due to meet Turkish leaders in Istanbul on Saturday.

State-run Anatolian news agency said the court in the Turkish capital on Friday evening ordered the 14 be remanded in custody, while releasing one further person. One of the suspects had carried out reconnaissance on the U.S. embassy and other diplomatic premises.

Police seized 700 kg (1,500 lb) of ammonium nitrate, a key ingredient in improvised explosives, in a raid on a house in the province of Ankara this week, media reports said.

The police also carried out raids in two other western provinces after the explosives find, the Interior Ministry said.

Media reports have said the suspects, linked to a group active in Afghanistan, were allegedly planning to avenge the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces in Pakistan on May 2.

Turkish police regularly arrest suspected Islamist militants and describe them as having links to al Qaeda, though further details seldom emerge.

Al Qaeda militants were behind bomb attacks in 2003 that killed some 60 people and wounded hundreds in Istanbul.

(Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Tokyo candidate aux JO-2020 pour tourner la page du tsunami

Le président du Comité international olympique Jacques Rogge (d) salue le gouverneur de Tokyo Shintaro Ishihara le 16 juillet 2011 à Tokyo © AFP Kazuhiro Nogi

TOKYO (AFP) - (AFP) - Tokyo s'est portée candidate à l'organisation des jeux Olympiques 2020 pour donner un coup d'accélérateur au rétablissement du Japon éprouvé par un tsunami et un accident nucléaire.

"Nous voulons faire des JO-2020 le symbole de notre redressement", a déclaré le président du Comité olympique japonais, Tsunekazu Takeda, en annonçant officiellement la candidature samedi, en présence du président du Comité international olympique (CIO) Jacques Rogge.

Prétendante malheureuse aux JO-2016, la ville espère cette fois l'emporter pour organiser ses deuxièmes jeux Olympiques d'été, après ceux de 1964. Le Japon a en outre accueilli deux fois les Jeux d'hiver, à Sapporo en 1972 et Nagano en 1998.

L'archipel a été frappé le 11 mars par un séisme de magnitude 9 et un tsunami géant qui ont dévasté le nord-est de Honshu (l'île principale), faisant près de 21.000 morts.

La catastrophe a provoqué de surcroît un accident nucléaire à la centrale Fukushima Daiichi (située à 220 km au nord-est de Tokyo), ce qui a contraint à l'évacuation de 80.000 personnes et entraîné une pollution radioactive dans la région.

Les conséquences économiques, sociales et morales de ces désastres se font sentir dans l'ensemble du pays.

Mais le président du CIO s'est dit certain que le Japon allait "surmonter cette terrible crise, comme il l'a fait dans le passé", lors d'une cérémonie marquant le centième anniversaire du Comité olympique japonais.

Le président du Comité international olympique Jacques Rogge à Tokyo le 14 juillet 2011 © AFP Toru Yamanaka

M. Rogge a souligné que le mouvement olympique voulait utiliser "le pouvoir curatif du sport pour aider ceux qui reconstruisent leurs territoires", sans se prononcer sur le fond de la candidature nippone dont il a simplement salué l'annonce comme une "excellente nouvelle".

Pour l'organisation des JO-2016, Tokyo avait été battue par Rio de Janeiro. La capitale japonaise avait présenté une candidature "écologique", promettant une ville parsemée d'un million d'arbres et des Jeux sans émission de CO2.

Elle avait mis en avant un projet "compact", avec des sites regroupés au centre ville et un réseau de transports efficace, permettant à 70% des athlètes de résider à moins de dix minutes de leur lieu de compétition.

Coeur de la plus grande mégapole du monde, Tokyo avait provisionné 400 milliards de yens (3,5 milliards d'euros) pour les dépenses d'infrastructure, un montage financier salué à l'époque par les experts du CIO.

Le comité avait en revanche pointé le faible soutien populaire accompagnant le projet, un défaut dont Tokyo avait souffert face à la candidature de Rio, portée par le charismatique président brésilien Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Aux lendemains de la défaite, le gouverneur de Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, avait dénoncé des "promesses osées" lancées par Lula aux représentants africains et jugé que sa ville n'avait pas été récompensée à la hauteur de son mérite.

"Nous avons appris de bonnes leçons. Je pense que cela pourra être utilisé par Tokyo (...) pour une prochaine candidature olympique", avait-il ajouté.

Critiqué après l'échec de cette campagne qui avait coûté 15 milliards de yens (135 millions d'euros), M. Ishihara, 78 ans, a fait de la réussite de cette nouvelle tentative l'un des principaux objectifs de son quatrième mandat à la tête de Tokyo, dont il vient être réélu gouverneur en avril.

"Le Comité olympique japonais devra remporter une sanglante bataille" face aux autres prétendantes, a prévenu samedi ce trublion de la politique japonaise, connu pour ses positions populistes et son franc-parler.

Madrid, candidate défaite pour les JO-2012 et 2016, et Rome se sont déjà mises officiellement sur les rangs pour 2020. Istanbul et Doha envisagent de se présenter.

Les postulantes ont jusqu'au 1er septembre pour se faire connaître. La ville hôte sera désignée par le CIO à Buenos Aires en septembre 2013.

Heavy clashes erupt in western Libya

By Peter Graff

BIR AYAD, Libya | Sat Jul 16, 2011 5:45am EDT

(Reuters) - Heavy clashes between rebels and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi broke out on Saturday on the front line in Libya's Western Mountains at the town of Bir Ghanam, as insurgents seek to push toward Tripoli.

Sustained gunfire and volleys of artillery could be heard from the village of Bir Ayad, 15 km (9 miles) south of Bir Ghanam. Rebels at Bir Ghanam hold the high ground on the outskirts of the town, their closest position to the capital, Tripoli, about 80 km (48 miles) away.

Ahmed, a rebel fighter in Bir Ayad, said a convoy of about 15 vehicles from Gaddafi's forces tried to approach Bir Ghanam, but the rebels fired at it and the convoy retreated after a about an hour of shooting.

Rebels in the Western Mountains have made steady progress in recent weeks after repelling assaults by Gaddafi's forces. Their target is the town of Garyan, which controls the highway south from Tripoli.

But the rebels have been hampered by divisions, ill-discipline and supply problems.

Rebel leaders won recognition as the legitimate government of Libya from the United States and other world powers on Friday in a major boost to the insurgents' campaign to oust Gaddafi.

Western nations said they also planned to increase the military pressure on Gaddafi's forces to press him to give up power after 41 years at the head of the North African state.

Recognition of the rebels, announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a meeting in Turkey of the international contact group on Libya, is an important diplomatic step that could unlock billions of dollars in frozen Libyan funds.

The decision came as reports circulated Gaddafi had sent out emissaries seeking a negotiated end to the conflict, although he remains defiant in his public utterances.

In a speech on Friday evening broadcast as thousands of his loyalists rallied in street demonstrations, Gaddafi rejected international recognition of the rebels.

"Trample on those recognitions, trample on them under your feet," he told his supporters. "They are worthless."

He said he enjoyed the support of millions of Libyans who yearned for death, martyrdom and suicide.

The Istanbul conference attended by more than 30 countries and world bodies also agreed on a road map whereby Gaddafi should relinquish power and plans for Libya's transition to democracy under the rebel National Transitional Council, or TNC.

"Until an interim authority is in place, the United States will recognize the TNC as the legitimate governing authority for Libya, and we will deal with it on that basis," Clinton said.

The decision to recognize the rebels, who have been waging a five-month military campaign against Gaddafi, meant the Libyan leader had no option but to stand down, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said.

The U.N. secretary-general's special envoy to Libya, Abdul Elah al-Khatib, will be authorized to present terms for Gaddafi to leave power, but Britain said military action against Gaddafi would be stepped up at the same time.

The political package to be offered Gaddafi will include a ceasefire to halt fighting.

In the rebels' stronghold of Misrata, the head of the local council, Khalefa Zawawi said, "What happened today at the conference in Turkey was a boost for the National Transitional Council."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague told Reuters that at the same time as al-Khatib pursued a political settlement, "the military pressure on the regime will continue to intensify."

China and Russia, which have taken a softer line toward Gaddafi, were invited to the contact group meeting for the first time, but decided not to become involved.

U.S. officials said the decision to extend formal diplomatic recognition marked an important step toward unblocking more than $34 billion in Libyan assets in the United States but cautioned it could take time to get cash flowing.

(Additional reporting by Souhail Karam, Andrew Quinn and Ibon Villelabeitia; Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Governors reflect partisan divide in debt debate

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Governors nationwide are nervously watching the debt-ceiling debate in Washington, fearing that a partisan impasse could rattle financial markets and slow the economic recoveries they desperately want for their states.Yet many of them are sticking to the same partisan loyalties and talking points that are making it so difficult for President Barack Obama and Republican lawmakers to find a way to avoid a borrowing cutoff, which could force the government to default on some of its bills.

In fact, some of the harshest rhetoric was heard this weekend in Salt Lake City, where the National Governors Association is holding its annual meeting.

At stake is "the full faith and credit of the United States of America, and we have Republican members of Congress that say 'Faith and credit, baloney. We don't care about that,'" said Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat.

He called those lawmakers "the same yahoos who didn't pay for two wars," a reference to the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions, which President George W. Bush launched while cutting taxes.

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, said Republicans should be a moderating voice in the debt talks. He criticized House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and "the dinosaur wing of the Republican Party" for adamantly opposing tax increases on the wealthy, which Obama and demands as part of a deficit-reduction package.

Republican governors defend their party's lawmakers. Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad laughed at the notion that "dinosaurs" are heading the GOP effort in Washington.

"The dinosaurs are the ones that spent all the money," he said "This is the new energy."

"I don't think Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan are out of touch," Branstad said. "I think they might be a little more bold than most politicians have historically been. But maybe the times call for that."

Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, chairs the House Budget Committee and authored a major spending plan passed this year by the House.

Despite the rhetoric, governors in both parties agreed that failing to problem could gravely injure state economies.

Noting that dozens of Chinese political and business officials are attending the governors' meeting here, Schweitzer said potential investors from Asia and Europe might steer away from Montana and other states if they feel the U.S. government is in fiscal disarray.

"The amount of havoc that would be created in the financial markets would make Greece and Portugal and Ireland and Italy look miniscule," said Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy, also a Democrat.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin said the impasse in Washington created uncertainty, which employers hate when deciding whether to expand their businesses. But he said he was not surprised because Washington decisions are usually made based on what will win the next election.

"What states are better at doing is courage," Walker said. "It's having the courage to make decisions that some might view as more about the next generation than about the next election."

But neither Walker nor other governors here found any fault with specific stands taken by their party in the debt showdown.

Branstad strongly defended Cantor's opposition to new taxes, even if they were to hit only wealthy people.

"This anti-wealth rhetoric actually hurts the economy," Branstad said, "because it makes these people afraid to invest for fear that whatever they make is going to get confiscated."

"Those are the people you want to invest in great jobs," he said.

Branstad, who notes that he has never lost an election in his long career, said Republicans credit much of their 2010 campaign success to a fiercely anti-tax stand. He said voters sent a message last fall: "The last time the Republicans had control of the Congress, they lost their way on spending. And you'd better not do that again."

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who strongly considered a presidential bid this year, echoed those remarks, even as he left the door slightly ajar for a possible compromise.

"I think a tax increase would be terrible," said Barbour, who once chaired the national Republican Party. But Republicans might have to grimace and accept a compromise, he said, if they can win deep spending cuts and cost-saving changes to Medicare and Social Security.

"At the end of the day," Barbour said, "you have to look at the whole package."

The governors here differ widely on how that package should be shaped. But to a person, they say they desperately want an end to the debt brinkmanship in Washington.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Crise de la dette: la Grèce vers un "défaut partiel" de paiement, une première en zone euro.

AFP

Une femme devant une banque à Athènes le 12 juillet 2011 Louisa Gouliamaki AFP

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La mort dans l'âme, après 18 mois d'une épuisante course contre la montre, la Grèce, acculée par l'ampleur de sa récession et la cacophonie de ses créanciers, est poussée vers la catégorie des pays dits en "défaut partiel" de paiement, une première en zone euro. Evénement

Mardi, certains pays européens partenaires et créanciers du pays ont brisé un tabou en laissant filtrer que l'option d'un "défaut partiel" de la Grèce sur sa dette de 350 milliards d'euros, était sur la table, en échange d'une poursuite de leur perfusion financière, ce qui poserait alors la question de son maintien dans la zone euro.

Officiellement, Athènes n'a aucune intention d'arrêter de payer une partie de sa dette, ce qui serait l'équivalent d'une faillite déclenchant une déflagration dans toute la zone euro et au delà. La Banque centrale européenne campe aussi sur la même ligne.

Néanmoins, les solutions discutées en urgence pour mettre sur pied un deuxième paquet d'aide à la Grèce --à Rome vendredi-- impliquant les créanciers privés risquent d'être analysées par une ou l'autre des agences de notation financière comme un "événement de crédit".

Ce qui, dans leur jargon, signifie la rétrogradation du créditeur en fond de classement, à "défaut partiel".

Le sommet extraordinaire de la zone euro annoncé vendredi soir pour le 21 juillet devrait permettre d'y voir plus clair sur les modalités du deuxième plan international d'aide à la Grèce, dont certaines des solutions étudiées associent justement les créanciers privés appelés à échanger leurs obligations contre d'autres à échéance plus longue ou à réinvestir l'argent qu'ils ont prêté à Athènes dans de nouvelles obligations, lorsque leurs titres arrivent à échéance.

Dès mardi, le ministre des Finances Evangélos Vénizélos a pris les devants en tentant de rassurer les Grecs sur les implications d'un classement du pays dans la catégorie "défaut partiel". "Le mot +défaut partiel+ terrorise sans qu'il y ait de raison", a-t-il dit, en appelant les Grecs à la "discipline, au calme et à la dignité".

"Il ne faut pas confondre une évaluation" du type de celles faites par les agences de notation, "et un fait économique réel", s'est-il démarqué.

Depuis plus d'un an, de nombreux acteurs des marchés, gourous de Wall Street ou de la presse financière de la City de Londres, affirment que la Grèce ne pourra pas s'en sortir malgré l'aide de la zone euro et du Fonds monétaire international, qu'elle fera défaut sur sa dette et en profitera pour sortir de l'euro afin d'activer plus vite sa relance économique via une dévaluation.

Athènes les a qualifiés de spéculateurs, attirés par l'encaissement de juteuses primes sur les CDS (assurances sur les défauts de paiement).

Le Premier ministre socialiste Georges Papandréou explique depuis des mois aux autres gouvernements européens, souvent conservateurs, qu'il faut pour éviter un défaut, tout en réglant la crise de la dette et de l'euro, souder l'ensemble de la zone, en lançant des euro-obligations.

A l'autre bout du spectre, la gauche radicale parie sur un défaut de paiement effectif: "Il n'y a plus de doute maintenant. La Grèce va faire défaut", a dit à l'AFP Costas Lapavitsas, professeur d'économie à l'Ecole Orientale et Africaine de l'Université de Londres.

Partisan d'un arrêt unilatéral des remboursements au nom de la défense du peuple contre l'hégémonie des marchés, il estime que la Grèce devrait effacer au moins 60% du total de sa dette pour relancer son économie réelle.

Alors que M. Papandréou mettait en garde jeudi sur les enjeux "cruciaux" des jours à venir, un haut responsable bancaire du pays, qui a requis l'anonymat, a confié à l'AFP que la Grèce était entrée cette semaine "en terrain inconnu".

Néanmoins, la Grèce et la zone euro "peuvent s'en sortir", estime Yannis Varoufakis, professeur d'économie à l'université d'Athènes.

A trois conditions: "Les Européens doivent unifier vite les larges parties de la dette européenne, recapitaliser les banques en difficulté à un niveau européen et lancer un programme d'investissement massif".

"Aux Etats-Unis lorsqu'une banque basée à New York est en difficulté, ce n'est pas l'Etat de New York qui procède à la recapitalisation, c'est le gouvernement fédéral", dit-il.

Syrian activists discuss ways to oust Assad

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian opposition figures said President Bashar Assad's autocratic regime has lost its legitimacy and urged him to step down at simultaneous meetings Saturday in Damascus and Turkey to discuss ways for a peaceful transition to democracy.

• 

  AP

  Lebanese protesters burn an Iranian flag during a rally in solidarity with Syrian anti-government protesters, in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, on Frida.

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AP

Lebanese protesters burn an Iranian flag during a rally in solidarity with Syrian anti-government protesters, in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, on Frida.

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Some 400 people are taking part in the "National Salvation Conference" in Istanbul where participants were expected to come up with a working paper and elect a unified opposition front composed of Syria-based opposition figures and those in exile.

Opposition figure Mashaal Tammo told The Associated Press that a similar conference that was to be held in Damascus in tandem was canceled after security forces fired on protesters Friday, killing at least 28 people, most of them in Damascus. At least 14 of those killed died near a hall in the Damascus neighborhood of Qaboun, where Saturday's conference was to be held.

However, a small group of opposition figures, including Tammo, met in a private location in the Syrian capital Saturday and spoke by phone with the conference in Istanbul.

One of the main organizers of the joint Damascus-Istanbul conference is Syria's most prominent opposition figure, Haitham al-Maleh. The 80-year-old lawyer who has spent years in Syrian prisons for his political activism recently left Syria, fearing for his life.

Addressing the conference on Saturday, al-Maleh denounced Assad's "Fascist" regime and praised the "heroic people of Syria" rising up against it.

"The regime had kidnapped the entire state, and we want it back," he said. "This regime cannot rob us of our freedom."

Al-Maleh said the aim of the conference was to "discuss alternatives to move the country from this darkness to a bright tomorrow."

Tammo, addressing the conference by phone from Damascus, said Assad had lost his legitimacy to rule and called on him to step down. In an emotional speech, he said the "the existence of the regime was no longer justified," and called for a peaceful transition to a civil, pluralistic and democratic state.

Assad is struggling to crush the four-month-old uprising against his family's 40-year rule. Activists say the crackdown has killed some 1,600 people, most of them unarmed protesters.

The government disputes the toll and blames a foreign conspiracy for the unrest, saying religious extremists — not true reform-seekers — are behind it.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians mounted the largest protests Friday since the uprising began, pouring into areas where the government crackdown has been most intense in a sign that security forces cannot break the revolt.

Syrian authorities fired on the crowds, killing at least 28 people and wounding more than 300, activists said.

In a significant show of the uprising's strength, thousands turned out in Damascus, which had seen only scattered protests. Until now, much of the dissent against Assad has been in impoverished, remote areas.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

A Gentle Reminder of Paul McCartney’s Survival and Vitality

The cheerful, childlike doggerel of “Hello Goodbye” — ”I don’t know why you say goodbye/I say hello” — struck an unexpected note as Paul McCartney sang it on Friday night to start his two-night stand at Yankee Stadium. “Who is this Derek Jeter guy?” Mr. McCartney joshed. “Somebody said he’s got more hits than me.”

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At 69, Mr. McCartney is not saying goodbye but touring stadiums and playing marathon concerts. Friday’s set ran two-and-a-half hours, with Mr. McCartney constantly onstage, and it had 35 songs, not counting a few additional excerpts. He played half a dozen instruments (though he didn’t show off his drumming), sang with only a few scrapes in the voice that’s familiar worldwide, and looked like he was having a boyish romp as he navigated what endure as some of rock’s oddest hits. His hair grew more tousled with every song.

The set drew on Mr. McCartney’s various outlets from the 1960’s on: the Beatles, Wings, his solo albums and his once-pseudonymous project The Fireman.

His concerts now are a gentle reminder of his survival and vitality. He paid tribute to John Lennon — with his lovely, imagined afterlife conversation, “Here Today” — and to George Harrison, starting out Mr. Harrison’s “Something” by playing it on a ukulele Mr. Harrison gave him. The exultant “Back in the U.S.S.R.” has outlasted not only the corporate name B.O.A.C., the airline mentioned in the lyrics, but the U.S.S.R., as well.

As always, melody let Mr. McCartney put across musical and verbal non sequiturs few other songwriters could get away with: songs such as “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five,” with its sudden interlude of Beach Boys harmony, or “Let ‘Em In,” which switches from piano bounce to military tattoo, with whistling, and has lyrics that juxtapose Martin Luther and Phil and Don (the Everly Brothers?). Melody easily carried Mr. McCartney through idiom after idiom: toe-tapping country in “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” hard rock in “Helter Skelter,” lilting ballad in “I Will,” something like ska in “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” and the quasi-Slavic oompah in “Mrs. Vandebilt” (Mr. McCartney announced that they loved it in Ukraine).

There was more than a little familiarity to the concert for anyone who attended Mr. McCartney’s 2009 shows at that other new ballpark, the Mets’ Citi Field, or listened to and watched the resulting live album of CDs and DVD, “Good Evening New York City” (Hear Music). Once again, he wore suspenders over his white shirt. Two-thirds of the songs were the same, often in similar groupings and with the same arrangements and first-time surprises, like appending Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady” to “Let Me Roll It,” or segueing “A Day in the Life” into “Give Peace a Chance” — a V-sign waving epiphany for the crowd — or explaining that the civil-rights movement inspired “Blackbird.”

But through his career, Mr. McCartney has been reluctant to tamper much with arrangements from his albums. And it’s unlikely he’d want to deprive a full stadium of the chance to sing along with the “na-na”s of “Hey Jude,” or that he’d skip the pyrotechnics and fireworks display for “Live and Let Die,” or that he’d omit songs like “Yesterday,” “Let It Be” and “Band on the Run” (performed with video footage from the photo session for the album cover).

For freshness, Mr. McCartney tossed off a Beatles song that, he announced, he had never performed live: “The Night Before,” with its skiffle bounce and barbershop harmonies. And some of the songs that weren’t on the Citi Field set lists were the most vital ones: particularly “Maybe I’m Amazed,” from his newly reissued 1970 solo debut album “McCartney” (MPL/Hear Music), with its startling harmonic swerves and a vocal that fervently illuminated the song’s affection, happy incredulity and deep need.

Mr. McCartney has a trouper’s ability to make the routine look and sound spontaneous. His voice reveled in the songs, hinting at little improvisatory variations; after them, he raised his instruments overhead in a mixture of exuberance and pride in musical craftsmanship. (When he sang “I’ve Got a Feeling,” the video screen didn’t show a heart — it showed pulsating speakers.) He perseveres, and entertains, by directly reconnecting to his songs across the decades and still having fun.

nytimes.com

Now, Timberlake accepts date with female marine

hindustantimes.com

Life of two friends turns upside down when they add sex to their friendship....

Justin Timberlake has followed in the footsteps of his Friends With Benefits co-star Mila Kunis, after having accepted the video invitation to the upcoming Marine Corps Ball from a female marine officer. After encouraging Kunis to accept officer Scott Moore’s video invitation to the ball,

Timberlake has reportedly accepted a similar video invitation from Kelsey De Santis.

“I don’t feel backed into a corner at all,” Fox News quoted Timberlake as jokingly saying when asked whether he would attend the party.

“I’ll tell you what, I accept. But not because she shouted out one of my songs, which I do love ... and not because she had all those beefcake military guys behind her to try to intimidate me, although that probably would have worked by itself,” he said.

“I don’t get asked out, ever, so I was very flattered by that,” he added by calling the invitation an ‘honour’.

LA braces for 'carmageddon'

Los Angeles - When the sun rises above Los Angeles on Saturday, residents in this car-dependent, traffic-choked city will see a rare sight: a 16km stretch of one of America's busiest highways turned into a virtual ghost road.

Interstate 405, a highway normally so clogged that locals like to joke that its name is shorthand for "traffic that moves no faster than 6 or 8kph," is closing for 53 hours for a major construction project.

As crews worked feverishly to get the freeway open in time for Monday morning's rush-hour, residents have been making plans for weeks to stay off local roads, lest they trigger what officials dubbed "Carmageddon."

Such an event could back up vehicles from the 405 to surface streets and other freeways, causing a domino effect that could paralyze much of the city.

With warnings having been broadcast through television, radio, social media and flashing freeway signs as far away as San Francisco, much of the city's nearly 4 million residents appear ready to stay off the roads.

Traffic through the section of freeway that will close was lighter than usual during Friday evening's rush-hour.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he thinks traffic will move smoothly if motorists take his advice to stay close to home throughout the weekend.

"We can either say we survived Carmageddon or we survived the Carmageddon hype," he said.

Sense of humour

If people listen, there will be no shortage of activities awaiting them.

They can snag free popcorn at movie theaters along the 405 or drop in on Michael Jackson's dermatologist for 25%-off Botox injections so that frazzled commuters won't look quite so frazzled.

Those who do want that real road warrior look might consider swinging by T-Man's Tattoos (located just off the 405) in the San Fernando Valley.

"If you come on in and mention you're in town because you're stuck from Carmageddon, you can get 1% off tattoos and piercings," proprietor Howard Teman said.

Along with all the gimmicky promotions and attempts to cash in ("I Survived Carmageddon T-shirts are being sold all over the place), there have also been months of planning.

Construction crews have been gearing up, but so have police, fire and medical officials seeking to ensure that everything goes smoothly. Or, if it doesn't, to ensure they are prepared to handle any emergency.

Heavy equipment needed to demolish a section of a 50-year-old bridge as part of a $1bn freeway-widening project, was already in place Friday, hours before the 405's midnight closure.

Sections of the bridge's pilings that are being torn out had been marked and prepped in advance.

The city fire department put two dozen additional engines, fire companies and ambulances into service, placing them in neighborhoods that firefighters might have a hard time getting to from jammed roadways.

Much of the section of freeway that is being shut down winds through a hillside pass near Beverly Hills and other communities that are susceptible to brushfires.

Wildfire season, however, hasn't reached its peak yet, Butler said. Besides, this weekend's expected humid weather should further reduce the threat of a fire.

The UCLA Health System, which runs the huge Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Centre located near the 405, put three helicopter companies on standby to transport patients and human organs.

The centre also stockpiled extra medical supplies and 5 200 boxed lunches for its staff.

For those who do stay home, Time Warner Cable promised to have technicians in the affected area ready to fix any TV-related problem.

The company was also activating a special "Beat the Traffic" channel with 24-hour reports from the Los Angeles Regional Transportation Management Centre.

Some people were throwing Carmageddon parties at their homes, while others left for their destinations well before the freeway shut down.

- AP

Obama considers new round of US debt, deficit talks

President Barack Obama will decide on Saturday whether to summon lawmakers for a new round of debt and deficit talks, weighing the chances of progress as both sides stick to their positions on spending and taxes.

President Barack Obama, who has spelt out the consequences of a US default, is looking for way to break an impasse with Congress.

Reuters

Congress must raise the $14.3 trillion (£8.8 trillion) limit on US borrowing by August 2 or the government will run out of money to pay its bills, causing turmoil in global financial markets and potentially forcing the United States into another recession.

Congressional leaders met with fellow lawmakers on Friday to gauge support for a deal, but movement appeared limited.

Republicans want a deficit-cutting deal in order to raise the debt limit, but they disagree with Democrats on how to do it. The White House wants some tax increases on wealthy Americans to be part of a package; Republicans reject that.

On Friday, Mr Obama, a Democrat, called for Republicans to provide a "serious plan". John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, said the White House had no serious plan of its own.

As the two sides bicker, the consequences of not reaching a deal are looming.

Le journal du mercato

Luka Modric reste courtisé par Chelsea (Panoramic)

Retrouvez les dernières infos du mercato. Ce samedi, Chelsea hausserait son offre pour Luka Modric, Lyon s'activerait dans le sens des départs et d'une possible arrivée...

par Rédaction Sport24.com, le 16-07-2011

: Maxime Josse n’est plus un joueur de Sochaux. Le défenseur et le club ont résilié la dernière année de contrat les liant, précise le FCSM. Maxime Josse a porté 39 fois le maillot sochalien en Ligue 1 depuis 2005. Il avait été prêté deux fois à des clubs de Ligue 2 durant cette période. L’ancien international Espoirs s'est engagé en faveur du club bulgare du PFC Litex Lovech.

: Jonathan dos Santos va quitter Barcelone. Le jeune Mexicain s'est en effet entendu avec les dirigeants de Saragosse pour signer un contrat de 4 ans. Barcelone conserve tout de même une option prioritaire pour un éventuel rachat de son contrat.

: Courtisé par de nombreux clubs en Premier League, Charles N'Zogbia devrait quitter Wigan pour Aston Villa selon L'Equipe. Les dirigeants des Villans auraient ainsi formulé une offre de 11 millions d'euros pour l'international tricolore. Wigan aimerait que le chiffre monte aux alentours de 14. N'Zogbia aurait pour rôle à Villa de compenser les départs de Stewart Downing et Ashley Young.

: Chelsea s'entête sur le dossier Luka Modric. Après avoir déjà formulé deux offres à Tottenham pour le milieu croate, une première de 25 millions d'euros et une deuxième de 30 millions environ, les Blues devraient cette fois proposer près de 35 millions selon le Daily Mirror. Suffisant pour faire céder les Spurs ? Pas sûr...

: En parlant de vente à l'OL justement, Le Parisien affirme dans son édition du jour qu'Aly Cissokho serait tout proche de rejoindre Liverpool. Les deux clubs seraient en effet en passe de tomber d'accord sur un transfert pour environ 10 millions d'euros, malgré la dernière saison très décevante du latéral gauche rhodanien.

: Selon L'Equipe, Lyon n'aurait absolument pas abandonné la piste Delvin Ndinga. Conscient que Maxime Gonalons se retrouve un peu seul dans le costume de milieu défensif, Rémi Garde aimerait bien voir arriver l'Auxerrois, mais l'AJA n'est absolument pas vendeur. Et l'OL, toujours dans l'attente de conclure une ou deux ventes (Michel Bastos, Kim Källström, Aly Cissokho...), n'a pas les finances nécessaires aujourd'hui pour faire changer d'avis les Bourguignons...

Bonjour et bienvenue sur Sport24.com pour suivre l’actualité des transferts en direct

Le mercato en images :

sport24.com

Troisième divorce pour Jennifer Lopez, qui se sépare de Marc Anthony

AFP

Jennifer Lopez et son mari, le chanteur Marc Anthony,le 23 mai 2011 à Hollywood Mark Ralston AFP/Archives

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La chanteuse et actrice américaine Jennifer Lopez et son troisième mari, le chanteur Marc Anthony, ont annoncé vendredi au magazine People leur divorce à l'amiable après sept ans de mariage.

"Nous avons décidé de mettre fin à notre mariage. Cela a été une décision très difficile à prendre. Nous sommes parvenus à un accord à l'amiable", expliquent les deux artistes dans un communiqué commun transmis au magazine.

"C'est un moment difficile pour toutes les personnes concernées", écrivent-ils encore, demandant que leurs vies privées soient respectées.

Jennifer Lopez, 41 ans, et Marc Anthony, 42 ans, s'étaient mariés en juin 2004 lors d'une cérémonie secrète à Beverly Hills, près de Los Angeles. La chanteuse avait donné naissance à deux jumeaux, Max et Emme, en février 2008.

Jennifer Lopez, surnommée J.Lo par ses fans, est issue d'une famille portoricaine de New York, tout comme Marc Anthony, un chanteur de salsa très populaire en Amérique latine.

J.Lo a commencé sa carrière au cinéma en 1997 dans le film "Selena", avant de devenir une star mondiale de la chanson. Son premier album solo, "On the 6", est sorti en 1999 avec le tube "If you had my love".

Après une pause en 2008 à la suite de la naissance de ses jumeaux, la chanteuse est revenue sur le devant de la scène comme l'une des trois juges de l'émission de télévision "American Idol" cette année, avant de lancer son dernier album, "Love", en avril.

Son futur ex-mari, Marc Anthony, qui en est à son second divorce, a vendu 11 millions de disques et doit effectuer une tournée aux Etats-Unis en septembre. Il joue aussi le rôle d'un inspecteur de police dans une série télévisée américaine, "Hawthorne".

A l'écran, les deux époux avaient joué un autre couple, le légendaire danseur de salsa Hector Lavoe et sa femme, Nilda "Puchi" Roman, dans le film "El Cantante" en 2006.

Selon People, le couple préparait encore au mois de mai une nouvelle émission de télévision, dans laquelle il partirait à la recherche de nouveaux talents dans 21 pays d'Amérique latine.

Jennifer Lopez avait participé samedi dernier, sans son mari, à un dîner avec le prince William, son épouse Catherine et des stars d'Hollywood à Los Angeles lors de la tournée nord-américaine du couple princier britannique.

Quelle place pour les juifs tunisiens?

L'histoire trimillénaire de la communauté juive perdure sous le ciel révolutionnaire. Mais à ce jour, est-elle toujours la bienvenue en Tunisie?

L'intérieur de la Ghriba, la synagogue située sur l'île de Djerba dans le Sud tunisien en mai 2011. REUTERS/Anis Mili

Egypte Ennahdha Habib Bourguiba Israël juifs laïcité Palestine religions révolution tunisienne

Les juifs tunisiens ont toujours gardé des liens étroits avec leur terre natale, ce qui dans un sens ne manquait pas d'intéresser économiquement le gouvernement tunisien. Des centaines de milliers de touristes, et parmi eux de nombreux Israéliens, consacraient leurs vacances à vaincre la nostalgie d’une terre volontairement abandonnée.

Le pèlerinage de la Ghriba sur l'île de Djerba, la plus célèbre synagogue d'Afrique du Nord, devenait un must tandis que de nombreux entrepreneurs juifs du Sentier, le quartier juif de Paris, ouvraient en Tunisie des ateliers de confection à bas coût pour fournir des emplois vitaux à une population à la recherche de débouchés. Les liens restaient étroits et les officiels n’hésitaient pas à s’en gargariser.

Contre la normalisation des relations avec Israël

Or la Tunisie nouvelle, sous influence islamiste comme l'observent certains, refuse toute «forme de normalisation avec l’Etat sioniste» jusqu’à exiger de l’inscrire dans la nouvelle Constitution selon le «pacte républicain» adopté par la commission de réforme politique tunisienne sous la présidence du professeur de droit Yadh ben Achour. La presse arabophone a publié le contenu de ce pacte qui définit la Tunisie comme un pays «démocratique et libre, sa langue est l'arabe et sa religion est l'islam». Le mouvement islamiste Ennahdha avait insisté sur son inclusion.

Pour soutenir ce projet, quelque six cents personnes ont participé le 10 juillet à un rassemblement à Tunis pour s’opposer à toute normalisation des relations avec Israël. Ahmed Kahlaoui, le président du Comité tunisien de lutte contre la normalisation avec Israël, aurait menacé de mort tout Tunisien essayant de nouer des liens avec l’Etat hébreu.

«Nous allons les dénoncer, publier leurs noms. Aucune personne libre et digne ne peut reconnaître l’Etat sioniste coupable de massacres parmi les Palestiniens».

Outre les slogans et pamphlets anti-Israéliens, les organisateurs ont placardé un appel au boycott de produits israéliens et d’une dizaine de multinationales dans les secteurs alimentaire, cosmétique, informatique et vestimentaire.

Les dirigeants tunisiens tuent le tourisme juif

Il s’agit en fait d’une déclaration de guerre contre les juifs de Tunisie qui affichaient des liens étroits avec Israël, car aucun Tunisien musulman n’est sioniste. Les quelque 1.500 juifs vivant encore en Tunisie ont quelques inquiétudes à se faire car ils disposent tous de liens familiaux avec l’Etat juif ce qui les rend suspects de sionisme. Ils risquent d’être contraints à préparer leurs valises. Quelques artisans de Djerba, l’île du Sud tunisien, une poignée d’industriels, des rabbins miséreux et des retraités attachés à leur terre devront donc oublier le parfum du jasmin.

Au nom de principes politiques, les dirigeants ont décidé de tuer le tourisme juif en créant d’abord une panique locale. Mais ils semblent déterminés à masquer les divergences des nouveaux acteurs de la Tunisie qui cherchent à trouver un consensus dans la définition de l’ennemi commun: Israël. Le temps de la récréation de la révolution puis de la démocratie est révolu pour des tunisiens qualifiés d’intelligents, de chaleureux et de cultivés. Les meneurs inspirés par les islamistes auront eu gain de cause; les juifs ne se rendront plus sur les tombes de leurs ancêtres qui ont peuplé une Tunisie ouverte durant plusieurs siècles.

L’ex-président Habib Bourguiba avait vis-à-vis d’Israël une position dite «modérée» parce qu’il ne cherchait pas la confrontation et qu’il était partisan d’une stratégie d’étapes progressives comme celles qui avaient mené son pays à l’indépendance de 1956. Parce que l’Etat juif était alors en position de force, grâce à ses alliés irréductibles, il prônait la dichotomie dans les exigences politiques:

«Pour moi, une étape n'a de valeur que si elle permet à coup sûr la suivante, exactement comme la marche d'un escalier qui vous porte à la marche au-dessus. Je n'aurais pas accepté l'autonomie interne comme étape si je n'avais été sûr qu'elle fût décisive et ouvrait la voie vers l'indépendance», déclarait Habib Bourguiba.

Il faisait preuve de pragmatisme et, dans une certaine mesure, d’opportunisme qui lui permettait d’évaluer la force de ses adversaires sans pour autant les affronter.

L'attitude ambivalente de Bourguiba

Les nationalistes tunisiens n’avaient pas mesuré l’inquiétude qu’ils généraient en prenant fait et cause pour les pays arabes à la création de l’Etat d’Israël en 1948. Avant l’indépendance, Habib Bourguiba, chef du parti Néo-Destour, avait déjà apporté son soutien à la cause palestinienne lors d’une visite en Palestine en 1946. Il avait accepté de présider une délégation de nationalistes maghrébins qui rédigea, le 4 mars 1946, un mémoire sur la question palestinienne à la commission d'enquête anglo-américaine. En exil au Caire, il rejoignit «les frères algériens et marocains» lors du vote des Nations unies qui a donné naissance à Israël.

Il aurait pu saisir l’alibi de la reconnaissance d’Israël par les deux grandes puissances, Etats-Unis et URSS, pour marquer son originalité et isoler les juifs tunisiens d’Israël. Considérés comme des citoyens trop attachés à leur terre natale, ils ont souvent été accusés d’être à l’origine des troubles du pays. Les émeutes de 1948 et de 1956 à la suite de la Campagne de Suez entraînèrent l’exil volontaire de plus de la moitié de la population juive qui se dirigea vers le nouvel avenir israélien. Les émeutes liées à la Guerre des Six-Jours de 1967 avaient provoqué des pillages et l’incendie du symbole juif, la Grande Synagogue de Tunis.

Habib Bourguiba avait tardivement adopté une position qui aurait pu rassurer sa communauté juive et lui permettre de participer à l’essor de la Tunisie indépendante. Il n’a jamais sauté le pas en reconnaissant le droit à l’existence d’Israël qui aurait contré les missions des envoyés sionistes chargés de favoriser l’émigration des juifs de Tunisie. Le premier discours positif n’a été tenu que le 3 mars 1965 au camp palestinien de Jéricho. Il avait alors conseillé aux dirigeants palestiniens de prendre en main leur cause nationale sans l’aide des pays arabes.

Il avait suggéré en 1948 et en 1952 aux pays arabes de reconnaître l’Etat d’Israël mais il ne s’engagea pas lui-même dans cette voie qui aurait pu le propulser à la tête du leadership arabe. Expatrié en avril 1953, il avait chargé son bras droit, Hédi Nouira, de confirmer au journal israélien Haaretz que «le néo-Destour était prêt à exercer son influence dans les pays arabes en faveur de la paix si Israël aidait un peuple opprimé et épris de sa liberté à obtenir son indépendance». Il avait promis des liens officiels avec Israël une fois la Tunisie indépendante, «sans prendre part au boycottage proclamé contre cet État par la Ligue arabe».

Dès 1965, le président Bourguiba défendit sa volonté de nouer des liens avec Israël. Il exposa ses idées lors de son voyage officiel au Caire en février 1965 et, le 13 décembre 1969, il chargea son représentant à l'ONU de manifester son intérêt pour un compromis entre Arabes et Israéliens «sans vainqueur ni vaincu». Mais il n’eut pas le courage d’affronter les pays arabes sous la coupe de l’égyptien Nasser.

Bourguiba eut cependant une attitude ambivalente vis-à-vis d’Israël. Il a accepté d’accueillir en Tunisie, en septembre 1982, les Palestiniens chassés du Liban par l’armée israélienne et dont aucun autre pays arabe ne voulait. Pendant douze ans, Tunis fut la capitale de l’Organisation de libération de la Palestine (OLP). L’ex-président tunisien en profita pour pousser Yasser Arafat à fonder sa stratégie sur le réalisme qui lui permit de signer les accords d’Oslo de 1993. Mais la présence des Palestiniens a laissé des traces puisqu’ils ont pu infiltrer les mouvements islamistes résolument contre tout dialogue avec les sionistes.

Les développements actuels prouvent l’influence des milieux islamistes qui cherchent à isoler la population tunisienne du monde occidental pour qu’elle ne soit pas contaminée par les idées démocratiques. Ils trouvent dans les juifs de Tunisie l’alibi pour rompre avec le modèle européen.

Jacques Benillouche