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CIA Director Petraeus Quits Over Affair

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 10 November 2012 | 18.25

CIA Director David Petraeus has resigned over an extramarital affair - which officials say was uncovered by an FBI investigation.

According to his letter of resignation, General Petraeus asked President Barack Obama on Thursday to allow him to resign, and on Friday the president accepted.

The general admitted he had shown "extremely poor judgement" in having an affair.

"Such behaviour is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organisation such as ours," he wrote.

He had only been sworn in as director of the Central Intelligence Agency on September 6, last year.

Prior to that, he was a four-star general with 37 years' service in the US Army.

His last assignments in the army were as commander of Isaf, the International Security Assistance Force, and commander of US forces in Afghanistan and in Iraq.

The resignation took Washington's intelligence and political communities by surprise, coming as a sudden end to the public career of the best-known general in recent years.

Neither Gen Petraeus nor the CIA explained why he felt he had to step down over the affair, and whether his liaison presented a purely personal problem or raised security issues in his sensitive work as spy chief.

The affair came to light as the FBI was investigating whether a computer used by the general had been compromised, the New York Times and other US media reported, citing government officials.

General David Petraeus with his wife Holly General Petraeus with his wife Holly

In a statement released after the resignation was announced, Mr Obama hailed the "extraordinary service" of Gen Petraeus.

"David Petraeus has provided extraordinary service to the United States for decades," Mr Obama said.

"By any measure, he was one of the outstanding general officers of his generation."

The president said the CIA's Deputy Director Michael Morell would serve as acting director.

"I am completely confident that the CIA will continue to thrive and carry out its essential mission," Mr Obama said.

Gen Petraeus has been married for 37 years to Holly, who he met when he was a cadet at the US Military Academy at West Point.

Although the president made no direct mention of Gen Petraeus' reason for resigning, he offered his thoughts and prayers to the general and his wife.

He said Mrs Petraeus has "done so much to help military families through her own work. I wish them the very best at this difficult time".

The CIA has come under fire in recent weeks in the wake of the September 11 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Critics have questioned how much the intelligence agency knew about the likelihood and nature of the attack.


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Turkey Helicopter Crash: 17 Troops Killed

Seventeen Turkish soldiers have died after their helicopter crashed in southeastern Turkey in bad weather, an official has said.

The Sikorsky aircraft came down on Herekol mountain, in the Pervari district of Siirt province, according to Siirt Governor Ahmet Aydin.

The victims were members of gendarmerie special forces and there were no survivors on board, he said.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the crash which reportedly happened in thick fog.

The helicopter was transporting troops to Pervari, where the Turkish army has been involved in operations against Kurdish rebels for three days, security sources told AFP.

The military has been on Herekol mountain in an attempt to flush out militants from outlawed separatist group the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who have hideouts there.

Since the summer, there has been an upsurge in PKK attacks in southeast Turkey, particularly in the Hakkari region.

Turkish jets and helicopters have pounded PKK positions along the border with Iraq and Iran for three days, killing 42 militants, Hakkari's governor said.

Last month, a Sikorsky crashed in southeastern Diyarbakir province after it hit power lines, killing one soldier and wounding seven.


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BBC Boss 'Was Unaware' Of Child Abuse Slur

BBC director-general George Entwistle has said he has given no thought to axing Newsnight over a report that wrongly implicated former Conservative Party treasurer Lord McAlpine in a child abuse scandal.

He admitted he did not know about the Newsnight investigation until the day after it was broadcast and had not seen newspaper reports casting doubts on the probe.

The BBC boss said he had also been unaware of a tweet 12 hours before the programme aired, from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism - which worked on the report - suggesting it was going to identify a senior political figure.

"I didn't see that tweet. This tweet was not brought to my attention so I found out about this film after it had gone out," he told the BBC's Today programme.

"In the light of what has happened here I wish this was referred to me, but it wasn't. I found out about the film the following day."

Mr Entwistle said the 32-year-old flagship news programme had "a fantastic investigative record" and it would be "disproportionate at this stage to talk about closing Newsnight down".

However, he said the report on child abuse allegations was "unacceptable" and "should never have gone out", warning that staff involved in the programme could now face disciplinary action.

"We should not have put out a film that was so fundamentally wrong. What happened here was completely unacceptable," he said.

BBC Television Centre in White City, west London. BBC Television Centre in White City, west London

"I have taken clear and decisive action to start to find out what happened and put things right."

Mr Entwistle, who had moved quickly to try to limit the damage by appointing BBC Scotland director Ken MacQuarrie to produce a report into why basic errors were made, said he expected it to be on his desk by Sunday.

"Further action will follow from that - disciplinary if necessary," he said.

Pressed about his own position, he insisted he had no intention of resigning - although he accepted his future lay in the hands of the BBC Trust, which described the report as a "deeply troubling episode".

The Trust also offered its own apology in a statement, adding it had "impressed upon the director-general the need to get to the bottom of this as a matter of the utmost urgency and will expect appropriate action to be taken as quickly as possible".

Despite a number of requests, the BBC told Sky News it would not be making Mr Entwistle, or any other executive at the corporation, available for interview on Saturday.

Newsnight made an unreserved apology on air on Friday night  for the broadcast on November 2 after Steve Messham admitted the man who abused him as a teenager at a care home in North Wales was not Lord McAlpine.

The 70-year-old peer found himself at the centre of a storm of internet speculation after Mr Messham told the BBC2 programme he had been abused by a senior Conservative from the Thatcher era.

In a statement, the corporation said: "We broadcast Mr Messham's claim but did not identify the individual concerned. Mr Messham has tonight made a statement that makes clear he wrongly identified his abuser and has apologised.

Lord McAlpine, former treasurer of the Conservative Party. Lawyers say Lord McAlpine's reputation has been 'severely damaged'

"We also apologise unreservedly for having broadcast this report."

Earlier, solicitors for Lord McAlpine indicated they were preparing to sue for defamation, saying their client's reputation had been left in "tatters".

There will also be a "pause" in all ongoing Newsnight investigations while the BBC is suspending all co-productions with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Nevertheless, the disclosures come as another blow for the corporation which is still reeling from the Jimmy Savile scandal - including a decision to drop a Newsnight investigation exposing the late DJ as a child abuser.

Tory MP Rob Wilson, who was a fierce critic of the BBC over the Savile affair, questioned whether Newsnight could survive the latest fiasco.

He said Mr MacQuarrie needed to examine whether the programme on the Bryn Estyn children's home scandal had been an "over-compensation" for what happened over Savile or a "diversionary tactic" to draw attention away from the BBC.

The programme had included an interview with Mr Messham who described how he used to be taken from the children's home to a hotel near Wrexham to be abused by men, including one described as a former senior Conservative.

On Friday, Lord McAlpine finally broke cover to issue a vehement public denial of the "wholly false and seriously defamatory" claims against him.


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Lord McAlpine Denies Sex Abuse Allegations

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 09 November 2012 | 18.25

Lord McAlpine: Full Statement

Updated: 10:45am UK, Friday 09 November 2012

Tory peer Lord McAlpine today described reports linking him to the North Wales child abuse allegations as "wholly false and seriously defamatory". Here is his full statement.

"Over the last several days it has become apparent to me that a number of ill-or uninformed commentators have been using blogs and other internet media outlets to accuse me of being the senior Conservative Party figure from the days of Margaret Thatcher's leadership who is guilty of sexually abusing young residents of a children's home in Wrexham, North Wales in the 1970's and 1980's.

"It has additionally become apparent to me that a number of broadcasters and newspapers have, without expressly naming me, also been alleging that a senior Conservative Party figure from that time was guilty of or suspected of being guilty of the sexual abuse of residents of this children's home.

"It is obvious that there must be a substantial number of people who saw that I had been identified in the internet publications as this guilty man and who subsequently saw or heard the broadcasts or read the newspapers in question and reasonably inferred that the allegation of guilt in those broadcasts and newspapers attached to me.

"Even though these allegations made of me by implication in the broadcast and print media, and made directly about me on the internet, are wholly false and seriously defamatory I can no longer expect the broadcast and print media to maintain their policy of defaming me only by innuendo.

"There is a media frenzy and I have to expect that an editor will soon come under pressure to risk naming me. My name and the allegations are for all practical purposes linked and in the public domain and I cannot rewind the clock.

"I therefore have decided that in order to mitigate, if only to some small extent, the damage to my reputation I must publicly tackle these slurs and set the record straight. In doing so I am by no means giving up my right to sue those who have defamed me in the recent past or who may do so in the future and I expressly reserve my rights to take all such steps as I and my solicitors consider necessary to protect my interests.

"On Tuesday, 6 November the Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Theresa May MP, made a statement in the House of Commons about the historic allegations of child abuse in the North Wales police force area.

"She explained that in 1991, North Wales Police conducted an investigation into allegations that, throughout the 1970s and 1980s, children in homes that were managed and supervised by Clwyd County Council were sexually and physically abused.

"The result of the police investigation was eight prosecutions and seven convictions of former care workers. Despite the investigation and convictions, it was widely believed, she said, that the abuse was in fact on a far greater scale, but a report produced by Clwyd Council's own inquiry was never published, because so much of its content was considered by lawyers to be defamatory.

"In 1996, the Rt Hon William Hague MP, the then Secretary of State for Wales, invited Sir Ronald Waterhouse to lead an inquiry into the abuse of children in care in the Gwynedd and Clwyd Council areas. Mrs May told the House of Commons that the Waterhouse inquiry sat for 203 days and heard evidence from more than 650 people.

"Statements made to the inquiry named more than 80 people as child abusers, many of whom were care workers or teachers. In 2000, the inquiry's report 'Lost in Care' made 72 recommendations for changes to the way in which children in care were protected by councils, social services and the police.

"Following the report's publications, 140 compensation claims were settled on behalf of the victims.

"Mrs May further said that the report found no evidence of a paedophile ring beyond the care system, which was the basis of the rumours that followed the original police investigation and, indeed, one of the allegations made in the past week.

"Last Friday, a victim of sexual abuse at one of the homes named in the report - Mr Steve Messham - alleged that the inquiry did not look at abuse outside care homes, and he renewed allegations against the police and several individuals.

"I am, as is now well known to readers of the internet and to journalists working for the print and broadcast media, one of the individuals implicated by Mr Messham.

"I have every sympathy for Mr Messham and for the many other young people who were sexually abused when they were residents of the children's home in Wrexham.

"Any abuse of children is abhorrent but the sexual abuse to which these vulnerable children were subjected in the 1970's and 1980's is particularly abhorrent.

"They had every right to expect to be protected and cared for by those who were responsible for them and it is abundantly clear that they were horribly violated. I have absolutely no sympathy for the adults who committed these crimes.

"Those who have been convicted were deservedly punished and those who have not yet been brought to justice should be as soon as possible.

"The facts are, however, that I have been to Wrexham only once. I visited the local Constituency Conservative Association in my capacity as Deputy Chairman.

"I was accompanied on this trip, at all times, by Stuart Newman, a Central Office Agent. We visited Mary Bell, a distant relative of mine and close friend of Stuart Newman.

"We did not stay the night in Wrexham. I have never been to the children's home in Wrexham, nor have I ever visited any children's home, reform school or any other institution of a similar nature.

"I have never stayed in a hotel in or near Wrexham, I did not own a Rolls Royce, have never had a 'Gold card' or 'Harrods card' and never wear after-shave, all of which have been alleged.

"I did not sexually abuse Mr Messham or any other residents of the children's home in Wrexham. Stuart Newman is now dead but my solicitors are endeavouring to locate a senior secretary who worked at Central Office at the time to see if she can remember the precise date I visited that Association.

"I fully support the decision (announced by the Home Secretary in the House of Commons on Tuesday) of the Chief Constable of North Wales, Mr Mark Polin, to invite Mr Keith Bristow, the Director General of the National Crime Agency, to assess the allegations recently received, to review the historic police investigations and to investigate any fresh allegations reported to the police into the alleged historic abuse in north Wales care homes.

"Although I live in Italy and have done so for many years and although I am in poor health, I am entirely willing to meet Mr Polin and Mr Bristow in London as soon as can be arranged so that they can eliminate me from their inquiries and so that any unwarranted suspicion can be removed from me.

"I wish to make it clear that I do not suggest that Mr Messham is malicious in making the allegations of sexual abuse about me. He is referring to a terrible period of his life in the 1970's or 1980's and what happened to him will have affected him ever since. If he does think I am the man who abused him all those years ago I can only suggest that he is mistaken and that he has identified the wrong person.

"I conclude by reminding those who have defamed me or who intend to do so that in making this statement I am by no means giving up my right to seek redress at law and repeat that I expressly reserve my rights to take all such steps as I and my solicitors consider necessary to protect my interests."

McAlpine of West Green

8 November 2012


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Britain To End Financial Aid To India In 2015

Britain's controversial £280m-a-year aid programme for India will end in 2015, the Government has announced.

The UK will reduce its support to the fast-developing country over the next three years, saving around £200m ahead of the cut-off.

International Development Secretary Justine Greening said programmes already under way would go ahead but nothing new would be approved.

Future British support for India will be limited to skills-sharing in areas like trade, investment and health and will be worth around £30m-a-year.

The move follows criticism that the Government is imposing drastic austerity measures at home while handing out a fortune in aid to rich, developing nations.

Justine Greening Popular move: Justine Greening

India has become a focus of the anger because it has its own space programme and a booming economy that is growing at 8% a year.

Indian finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said last year that the country no longer wanted or needed the grant, describing it as "a peanut in our total development expenditure".

The decision will also delight Tory MPs who have attacked Prime Minister David Cameron's commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on overseas aid.

Ms Greening said: "After reviewing the programme and holding discussions with the government of India this week, we agreed that now is the time to move to a relationship focusing on skills-sharing rather than aid.

"India is successfully developing and our own bilateral relationship has to keep up with 21st century India. It's time to recognise India's changing place in the world.

"It is of course critical that we fulfil all the commitments we have already made and that we continue with those short-term projects already under way which are an important part of the UK and government of India's development programme."

British support beyond 2015 will involve a hub of British development experts working with the Delhi government, and a programme of private sector investment.


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'Excited' Welby New Archbishop Of Canterbury

New Archbishop Faces Big Challenges

Updated: 11:11am UK, Friday 09 November 2012

The Bishop of Durham has been officially unveiled as the new Archbishop of Canterbury - in what is seen as a meteoric rise in the clergyman's career.

The Rt Rev Justin Welby, 56, was only in his current job for a year and will now become the spiritual leader of the 77 million-strong Anglican Communion.

Eton-educated Bishop Welby is a former oil executive with 11 years in the industry who turned to the church in the early 1980s.

The clergyman, who is a member of the House of Lords, is on the parliamentary committee looking at banking ethics in the wake of the Libor-rigging scandal.

The bishop is reportedly set to keep his place on the committee despite his new appointment.

He is apparently known for his outspoken criticism of corporate excess and is likely to be a champion of banking reform and a key figure in discussions of business ethics.

The Rt Rev Justin Welby will have his work cut out in his new role as Archbishop as he takes over the leadership of an institution battered in recent years by rows over women bishops and gay priests.

He will take up the mantle from Dr Rowan Williams, whose tenure has been marked by a bruising war between liberals and traditionalists in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion over the issue of homosexuality.

The new appointment also comes as the Church of England stands poised to give final approval later this year for the introduction of women bishops following several years of tortuous negotiations and the departure of some Anglican bishops to the Catholic Church.

The long-running war within the Anglican Communion over gay people will be a very difficult issue for him.

But Bishop Welby's skills in conflict resolution and peace building will stand him in good stead in dealing with the warring factions in the run-up to the next worldwide meeting of Anglican bishops, the Lambeth Conference, due in 2018.

Bishop Welby, who is himself opposed to gay marriage, is also well travelled, particularly in Nigeria.

And he understands the viewpoints of both conservative Nigerian Anglicans and those of the liberal US Episcopalian Church which is strongly divided on the issue.

The new Archbishop, who was first ordained as a deacon in 1992, will also have to face declining Church congregations.

Bishop Welby is clearly keen to turn this around, and in his first sermon after becoming Bishop of Durham last November, he reportedly called on churchgoers to rekindle Christian faith in the North East and "reconvert" the region.

While Dean of Liverpool before this, he instigated a five-year plan to double congregation figures, and saw them rise considerably during his leadership.

Being the public face of the Church of England in the 21st century also means being able to deal with the demands of the media and 24-hour news.

Bishop Welby has already shown that he embraces social media with an account on Twitter, and the 2,500 followers that he currently has are set to rise dramatically now he has been named as the new archbishop.


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Surgeon Faces Inquiry Over Breast Cancer Ops

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 08 November 2012 | 18.25

A surgeon is to face a criminal inquiry over allegations about his treatment of more than 1,000 breast cancer patients.

West Midlands Police said they were liaising with the Crown Prosecution Service to determine the course of the investigation into the conduct of Ian Paterson.

Mr Paterson is alleged by a law firm representing some of his former patients to have performed up to 1,150 "unnecessary, inappropriate or unregulated" operations.

Thompsons Solicitors, which is pursuing negligence claims for several women, said Mr Paterson worked at a number of NHS and private hospitals from 1994, including those run by Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, which covers hospitals in Sutton Coldfield, Solihull and Birmingham.

An investigation into Mr Paterson by the General Medical Council potentially spans up to 700 cases of an unregulated procedure that involved leaving some breast tissue behind after a mastectomy, Thompsons said.

It is further alleged that up to 450 women could have had invasive breast surgery when a biopsy might have been sufficient.

Still of Ian Paterson Mr Paterson is alleged to have performed "unnecessary" operations

The Medical Defence Union said in a statement: "Mr Paterson is co-operating fully with the GMC investigation. He cannot comment further due to his duty of patient confidentiality and the ongoing investigation."

Sky News' Health and Science correspondent Thomas Moore said the GMC has been looking into Mr Paterson for some time, adding that conditions were imposed on his practice in July 2011.

Mr Paterson's GMC record shows that the Interim Orders Panel ruled that he "must not carry out breast surgery" and that he should "confine his medical practice ... to general surgical work and out-patient consultations with patients with breast disease".

Kashmir Uppal, a senior medical negligence solicitor at Thompsons, said she believed patients had been subjected to needless worry and risk.

She said the law firm was also liaising with the GMC to assist its investigations.

"The women who have come forward so far have been very brave," Ms Uppal said.

"Hopefully all who have had unnecessary or inappropriate treatment will seek reassurance or justice."

In a statement confirming the police inquiry into Mr Paterson, who has not been arrested, Detective Chief Inspector Matt Markham said: "West Midlands Police can confirm it has received a referral from the General Medical Council in relation to allegations about the medical practices of a surgeon who previously worked in Solihull.

"A criminal inquiry has been launched and the force is working closely with the Crown Prosecution Service to determine the course of the investigation."


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Bradley Wiggins In Hospital After Bike Crash

Tour de France cycling champion and Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins is recovering in hospital after a crash with a van.

Wiggins, 32, was thrown off his bike when he was in a collision with a white Vauxhall Astra Envoy outside a petrol station.

A police source said his injuries from the crash were thought to be very serious at first, but later it appeared he suffered a number of broken ribs and cuts and bruises.

Wiggins Crash Scene A bike can be seen as police deal with the accident. Picture: The Sun

The accident happened at about 6pm on Wednesday in Wrightington, Lancashire, near to his family home in Eccleston, between Preston and Wigan.

Sky News understands that father-of-two Wiggins was on a mountain bike on his way to meet a group of local cyclists.

The driver of the Astra, a local woman, was uninjured.

Lancashire Police said: "Police were called to the scene of a road traffic accident at Crow Orchard Road in Wrightington at about 6pm.

Wiggins Wiggins has won a total of seven Olympic medals

"A cyclist has been involved in a collision with a white Vauxhall Astra car. The rider of the bike, a 32-year-old local man, was taken to hospital by ambulance with injuries not thought to be life-threatening. His family have been told."

Crash investigators visited the scene but the road did not need to be closed.

Garage attendant Yasmin Smith, who went to Wiggins' aid, told Sky News: "There was a loud screeching of tyres and a rather big bang. A customer said there'd been an accident so I shot out to see a gentleman on the pavement.

"He did look in a lot of pain with his ribs more than anything - he kept holding himself. His colour changed in his face and he was deteriorating within minutes with the pain.

Bradley Wiggins And Liam Gallagher At GQ Awards GQ Man Of The Year: Wiggins with singer Liam Gallagher

"I didn't realise who he actually was until he got into the ambulance - I was more concerned about his health."

In a statement on its website, Team Sky said: "We can confirm that on Wednesday evening Bradley Wiggins was involved in a road traffic accident whilst riding his bike near his home in Lancashire.

"He is being kept in hospital overnight for observation but the injuries he has sustained are not thought to be serious and he is expected to make a full and speedy recovery.

"We will announce more details in due course."


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Sandy Victims Suffer As New Storm Hits US Coast

By Nick Martin, Sky News Correspondent, in New York City

A second storm has battered the northeast coast of the United States adding to the misery felt by many after superstorm Sandy.

Heavy snow and strong winds have hit parts of New York and New Jersey, which brought down power lines and caused traffic delays.

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg said a number of care facilities and nursing homes were evacuated in areas hardest hit by Sandy.

But he insisted he was not recommending a mass evacuation following the latest bad weather.

"We haven't and won't order the kind of large-scale evacuation that we did in advance of Hurricane Sandy but, if you experienced significant flooding during Sandy, then you should consider taking shelter with friends and family at a safer spot or using one of the city's storm shelters," he said.

But communities hit by superstorm Sandy struggled amid the bad weather.

In Staten Island, one of the areas most affected, the task of clearing up debris was made more difficult and a government aid station was forced to close.

Hundreds of residents, displaced last week, had to spend last night in shelters run by state officials.

East Coast Of US Set For Winter Storm Major airlines cancelled flights in and out of the New York City area

Lorraine Orobello left her home in the middle of the storm because she had run out of food.

The 54-year-old said she had been turned away from the federal food station and had turned to another aid centre for help.

She said: "It's hard. All I want is some soup or a peanut butter sandwich.

"I shouldn't be coming out in this weather but I have nothing back home - just a few tins of tuna and a small heater to keep warm.

"But I'm an American, you know, we get on with things. We'll get through this."

Major airlines cancelled flights in and out of the New York City area ahead of the storm. Sandy last week led to more than 20,000 flight cancellations.

New York City has also closed all parks, playgrounds and beaches and ordered all construction sites to be secured.

More than 600,000 businesses and homes are still without power due to Sandy and at least 120 people have been killed in the US and Canada.

Around $32m (£20m) has been raised so far to help victims after around 10,000 donations came in from across the US.

Sandy started as a hurricane and killed dozens of people in the Caribbean.


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Foreign Policy: Obama Facing Iran Dilemma

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 07 November 2012 | 18.25

The biggest foreign policy issue facing newly re-elected President Barack Obama is the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran.

Tehran says it is not seeking nuclear weapons, the Americans and others disagree.

Mr Obama is on record as saying he will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.

Next year is widely predicted to be the year when Iran will cross a red line set by the Israelis, and possibly the line hinted at being the limit of American patience.

The Israeli red line, which could trigger military action, is Iran having enough enriched uranium to be able to make a bomb. The American red line is an Iranian decision to make that bomb.

But, if the Israelis attack, the Americans may feel they have to join in to ensure the Iranian nuclear project is destroyed.

It is a scenario that will take up a lot of the president's thinking, and one which has consequences that might even keep 'No drama Obama' awake at night.

He may offer Iran the 'grand bargain', which many analysts believe is what Tehran really wants: diplomatic relations, trade, and security guarantees.

If that fails - and the Iranians are master at dragging out negotiations - then the phrase 'all options are on the table' will be increasingly heard.

In the short-term, another foreign policy issue requiring attention is Syria.

The US administration is deeply suspicious of the Syrian opposition and does not wish to arm a divided movement which has elements that one day might turn their guns on Americans.

Mr Obama will seek to help unite the opposition and ensure the more moderate elements come to the fore. That is a difficult task and he has few tools in the diplomatic box to achieve his aims.

In the longer term, the relationships with Russia and China need attention.

Mr Obama's much vaunted 'reset' of relations with Moscow has not gone well. He will need to come to an understanding with President Putin over Syria, Iran, and Afghanistan. His deeply held desire to reduce the number of nuclear weapons each country holds will also be revisited.

Mr Obama has already told us that the USA's strategic global position is pivoting towards the relationship with China.

This inevitable move carries with it inherent difficulties. The USA must ensure it does not antagonise Beijing, while at the same time reassure Washington allies in the Far East who fear the rise of China.

The president began his first term vowing to concentrate on the Middle East peace process. He made zero progress.

The time is not yet right for him to focus again on the Israelis and Palestinians, but as he nears the end of his final term, he will, like Bill Clinton before him, attempt to solve the problem which has bedevilled generations of American diplomats.


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