Libyan rebel: I killed Gaddafi

Man confesses on camera to shooting Libyan leader twice in head and chest

by Israel News

A Libyan rebel confessed on camera Sunday to killing Muammar Gaddafi.

The provisional government in Libya is claiming Gaddafi was killed in a shootout in the city of Sirte, where the ousted leader had been hiding.

Watch Video - http://youtu.be/79UFRfXfMhk

However, following his death videos began to surface showing Gaddafi bleeding while being held by rebels, which raised the suspicion he was executed.

The rebel, who identified himself as Senad el Sadık el Ureybi, said: "We grabbed him, I hit him in the face. Some fighters wanted to take him away and that's when I shot him twice, in the head and in the chest."

He noted that Gaddafi didn't die instantaneously, and that it took half an hour. He said he didn't like the idea of Gaddadi being caught alive.

The video also shows a bloodied shirt which allegedly belonged to the dictator and a golden ring with his wife's name engraved on it. The claims cannot be confirmed as of yet.

Libya's liberation: interim ruler unveils more radical than expected plans for Islamic law

Libya's interim leader outlined more radical plans to introduce Islamic law than expected as he declared the official liberation of the country.

By Richard Spencer

Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the chairman of the National Transitional Council and de fact president, had already declared that Libyan laws in future would have Sharia, the Islamic code, as its "basic source".

But that formulation can be interpreted in many ways - it was also the basis of Egypt's largely secular constitution under President Hosni Mubarak, and remains so after his fall.

Mr Abdul-Jalil went further, specifically lifting immediately, by decree, one law from Col. Gaddafi's era that he said was in conflict with Sharia - that banning polygamy.

In a blow to those who hoped to see Libya's economy integrate further into the western world, he announced that in future bank regulations would ban the charging of interest, in line with Sharia. "Interest creates disease and hatred among people," he said.

Gulf states like the United Arab Emirates, and other Muslim countries, have pioneered the development of Sharia-compliant banks which charge fees rather than interest for loans but they normally run alongside western-style banks.

 In the first instance, interest on low-value loans would be waived altogether, he said.

Libya is already the most conservative state in north Africa, banning the sale of alcohol. Mr Abdul-Jalil's decision - made in advance of the introduction of any democratic process - will please the Islamists who have played a strong role in opposition to Col Gaddafi's rule and in the uprising but worry the many young liberal Libyans who, while usually observant Muslims, take their political cues from the West.

World power swings back to America

 The American phoenix is slowly rising again. Within five years or so, the US will be well on its way to self-sufficiency in fuel and energy. Manufacturing will have closed the labour gap with China in a clutch of key industries. The current account might even be in surplus.

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard / International Business Editor

Assumptions that the Great Republic must inevitably spiral into economic and strategic decline - so like the chatter of the late 1980s, when Japan was in vogue - will seem wildly off the mark by then.

Telegraph readers already know about the "shale gas revolution" that has turned America into the world’s number one producer of natural gas, ahead of Russia.

Less known is that the technology of hydraulic fracturing - breaking rocks with jets of water - will also bring a quantum leap in shale oil supply, mostly from the Bakken fields in North Dakota, Eagle Ford in Texas, and other reserves across the Mid-West.

"The US was the single largest contributor to global oil supply growth last year, with a net 395,000 barrels per day (b/d)," said Francisco Blanch from Bank of America, comparing the Dakota fields to a new North Sea.

Total US shale output is "set to expand dramatically" as fresh sources come on stream, possibly reaching 5.5m b/d by mid-decade. This is a tenfold rise since 2009.

The US already meets 72pc of its own oil needs, up from around 50pc a decade ago.

"The implications of this shift are very large for geopolitics, energy security, historical military alliances and economic activity. As US reliance on the Middle East continues to drop, Europe is turning more dependent and will likely become more exposed to rent-seeking behaviour from oligopolistic players," said Mr Blanch.

Meanwhile, the China-US seesaw is about to swing the other way. Offshoring is out, 're-inshoring' is the new fashion.

"Made in America, Again" - a report this month by Boston Consulting Group - said Chinese wage inflation running at 16pc a year for a decade has closed much of the cost gap. China is no longer the "default location" for cheap plants supplying the US.

A "tipping point" is near in computers, electrical equipment, machinery, autos and motor parts, plastics and rubber, fabricated metals, and even furniture.

"A surprising amount of work that rushed to China over the past decade could soon start to come back," said BCG's Harold Sirkin.

The gap in "productivity-adjusted wages" will narrow from 22pc of US levels in 2005 to 43pc (61pc for the US South) by 2015. Add in shipping costs, reliability woes, technology piracy, and the advantage shifts back to the US.

The list of "repatriates" is growing. Farouk Systems is bringing back assembly of hair dryers to Texas after counterfeiting problems; ET Water Systems has switched its irrigation products to California; Master Lock is returning to Milwaukee, and NCR is bringing back its ATM output to Georgia. NatLabs is coming home to Florida.

Boston Consulting expects up to 800,000 manufacturing jobs to return to the US by mid-decade, with a multiplier effect creating 3.2m in total. This would take some sting out of the Long Slump.

As Philadelphia Fed chief Sandra Pianalto said last week, US manufacturing is "very competitive" at the current dollar exchange rate. Whether intended or not, the Fed's zero rates and $2.3 trillion printing blitz have brought matters to an abrupt head for China.

Fed actions confronted Beijing with a Morton's Fork of ugly choices: revalue the yuan, or hang onto the mercantilist dollar peg and import a US monetary policy that is far too loose for a red-hot economy at the top of the cycle. Either choice erodes China's wage advantage. The Communist Party chose inflation.

Foreign exchange effects are subtle. They take a long to time play out as old plant slowly runs down, and fresh investment goes elsewhere. Yet you can see the damage to Europe from an over-strong euro in foreign direct investment (FDI) data.

Flows into the EU collapsed by 63p from 2007 to 2010 (UNCTAD data), and fell by 77pc in Italy. Flows into the US rose by 5pc.

Volkswagen is investing $4bn in America, led by its Chattanooga Passat plant. Korea's Samsung has begun a $20bn US investment blitz. Meanwhile, Intel, GM, and Caterpillar and other US firms are opting to stay at home rather than invest abroad.

Europe has only itself to blame for the current “hollowing out” of its industrial base. It craved its own reserve currency, without understanding how costly this “exorbitant burden” might prove to be.

China and the rising reserve powers have rotated a large chunk of their $10 trillion stash into EMU bonds to reduce their dollar weighting. The result is a euro too strong for half of EMU.

The European Central Bank has since made matters worse (for Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France) by keeping rates above those of the US, UK, and Japan. That has been a deliberate policy choice. It let real M1 deposits in Italy contract at a 7pc annual rate over the summer. May it live with the consequences.

The trade-weighted dollar has been sliding for a decade, falling 37pc since 2001. This roughly replicates the post-Plaza slide in the late 1980s, which was followed - with a lag - by 3pc of GDP shrinkage in the current account deficit. The US had a surplus by 1991.

Charles Dumas and Diana Choyleva from Lombard Street Research argue that this may happen again in their new book "The American Phoenix".

The switch in advantage to the US is relative. It does not imply a healthy US recovery. The global depression will grind on as much of the Western world tightens fiscal policy and slowly purges debt, and as China deflates its credit bubble.

Yet America retains a pack of trump cards, and not just in sixteen of the world’s top twenty universities.

It is almost the only economic power with a fertility rate above 2.0 - and therefore the ability to outgrow debt - in sharp contrast to the demographic decay awaiting Japan, China, Korea, Germany, Italy, and Russia.

Europe's EMU soap opera has shown why it matters that America is a genuine nation, forged by shared language and the ancestral chords of memory over two centuries, with institutions that ultimately work and a real central bank able to back-stop the system.

The 21st Century may be American after all, just like the last.

'The Switchblade': U.S. Army unveils its latest weapon to kill militants - tiny kamikaze drones

• New drones weigh less than 2kg and launch from tube
• Wings fold out as it flies into air and then dive bombs
• Operators can order drone to lock on to human target

 

By Mark Duell

It quietly hovers before dive-bombing and blowing up a human target.

This ‘kamikaze’ drone - small enough to fit inside a soldier’s backpack and dubbed the ‘Switchblade’ - will soon be available for use by the U.S. Army.

The impressive robotic craft weighs less than 2kg and launches from a tube before its wings fold out as it flies into the air, reported AFP.

The U.S. Army is paying manufacturer AeroVironment $4.9million for the drones to help it develop a new way of killing suspected militants.

The drones have a miniature electric motor and transmit live video from overhead, which helps soldiers identify the enemy, reported AFP.

The operators can then send a message to the drone ‘to arm it and lock its trajectory onto the target’, the company said in a press release.

The drone will fly into a target and detonate a small explosive - but it can still be disarmed at the last moment even if it is heading for a kill.

The California company said it is this feature that makes its drones unique and gives ‘a level of control not available in other weapon systems’.

Larger Predator and Reaper drones are currently used by the U.S. to find suspected militants in Pakistan and other countries, reported AFP.

These drones have caused a political headache as civilian casualties can be caused when they drop powerful missiles and large bombs.

But AeroVironment said its Switchblade combines ‘onboard explosive payload with precision while minimising collateral damage’.

'Switchblade provides a revolutionary rapid strike capability to protect our troops and give them a valuable new advantage,' a spokesman said.

The Army's Close Combat Weapons Systems (CCWS) signed a $4.9million contract for the drones with AeroVironment in June.

Bill Nichols, of the CCWS project office, praised the Switchblade as 'an ideal weapon for today's fight (and) the future' with 'unique capabilities'.

The Daily described it as 'a smart, remote-control grenade with wings'.

But human rights advocates claim drones can help the military carry out assassination campaigns abroad that the public will never find out about.

Eurozone crisis could cause collapse of global banking system, warns Citigroup's Willem Buiter

The world banking system could collapse if eurozone leaders fail to curb the region's sovereign debt crisis, according to Citigroup's chief economist Willem Buiter.

By Angela Monaghan

"If things get out of hand in the euro area, no bank in the financial integrated world will stand," he told a parliamentary committee.

Mr Buiter, a former member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, said the recapitalisation of banks and other systemically important institutions should be a priority in the region.

"If they don't, we are setting ourselves up for a financial crisis following the sovereign crisis," he said, giving evidence at a session of the House of Lords EU Economic and Financial Affairs Sub-Committee on the eurozone crisis.

Mr Buiter said he was not hopeful that "a grand plan, a grand design, [or] even a big bazooka for that matter" would emerge from the European leaders summit in Brussels on Sunday, or at the G20 summit in Cannes on November 3 and 4.

"There will be some progress, but very limited," he said. "It's going to take months, probably well in 2012, before we have clarity about how Spain and Italy will be ring-fenced, guaranteed funding, how the banks will be recapitalised and how much of them will end up being majority state owned - I expect a significant number of them."